All The Kings' Horses

 We decided to free jump a bunch of the horses today, and Gia was one of them.  Free jumping is where we set up a couple of jumps, about two strides apart, and set up a "chute" to funnel the horse through so that they get to the jumps with no rider aboard.  It's a great way to build confidence with jumping, teach a horse how to figure out their striding, get them used to "scary" jumps, and see how high they are capable of jumping.  Gia has done it twice before, but in the past, she was still trying to figure everything out, so we didn't go very high, or challenge her in any way.  Today was different!  She knew exactly what she needed to do, and quickly figured out how much to adjust her stride so that she would get to the jumps correctly.  I worked on keeping her very relaxed before entering the chute, and she even corrected her leads every time!  It was a very successful free jump session for her.  She ended up jumping 3'10" high, with a 4'8&qu

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  We started with a nice stretch at the walk, then moved up to medium walk, all while bending and changing direction.  Then we worked on walk to trot transitions.  I really focused on getting her to stay soft during the transitions.  It took much fewer transitions before she was giving them to me more correctly.  We also worked on throwing in some halt transitions here and there, as well as a little rein back. Our main focus today was on a lot of suppling work - turn-on-the-haunches, shoulder-in, renvers, leg yield, etc.  Some of it was easy for her, some of it was a bit harder, but I was able to get a decent reaction from her with everything.  She was only slightly naughty today - just tail swishing, nothing more, but I corrected even that small amount as quickly as I could.  I didn't ask for canter today, but she did offer it to me a few times.  It was all very polite, almost like an apology, but I mostly ignored it ... for now...

 I worked with Gia on the gymnastic today after warming up with some stretching at the walk, and some walk to trot transitions. She was a little quick over the poles at first, so I added a halt afterwards a few times.  Once she was more consistent, I added a large crossrail, then a vertical, then another vertical.  She was jumping fairly well today, so I worked on getting her to bend on a smallish circle each time after she went through the line.  She was getting a bit more supple by the end.

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She started out very anxious and expressive, like she usually does when I take her on the trail.  This time, however, I had brought some treats with me.  I gave her a tiny treat every 10-15 steps, and  she quickly stopped worrying about what was going on around her, and relaxed a little bit.

 So, today's dressage lesson started like most of the others usually do.  I had Gia stretching down at the walk, then bending and leg yielding, before I did a few free walk to medium walk to free walk transitions.  Then I worked on softening her at the walk, in preparation for trot transitions.  Those were going better than usual today.  I added bending, leg yielding, shoulder-in and shoulder-fore at the trot.  Gia also felt like she wanted to do a few turns-on-the-haunches, so we played with that at the walk.  Then we did a lot more transitions - trot to halt, halt to trot, trot to halt to rein back to trot.   She started thinking about the canter before I really asked for it, so I allowed it.  She was actually quite nice at the canter today!  We did a lot of transitions - trot to canter to trot, walk to canter, halt to rein back to canter.  I was using very soft cues, mostly with my seat bones, and she was responding very well!  She was even staying soft and starting to stretch i

 I worked with Gia primarily on a gymnastic today.  We started out with a relaxed and marching free walk, then medium walk, then walk to trot transitions.  Those went about the same as they have been, but I might have gotten a good transition a tiny bit quicker today.  After a brief trot warm up, I pointed her towards the trot poles to a large crossrail.  She had a hard time finding her feet today, so we had to adjust the distance between the poles and X.  Once we did, she found it a little easier.  After that, I added a large vertical about one stride away.  That jump was no problem at all.  She still struggled with the crossrail, but I think part of that was that she was trying to trot it instead of jump it.  We did make it a vertical, and that helped a lot.

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started with a relaxed but marching walk, and added some stretching and bending as she warmed up.  Next, we worked on walk to trot transitions.  She was resistant, as usual, but I kept pushing her through until she softened.  I also worked on making my cue more subtle, since she seems to prefer that.  I thought about applying both seat bones right before I applied my leg cue.  She seemed a little less resistant once she understood what I was asking for.  I also worked on a little bit of canter in each direction.  At first, she was too excited, and explosive, especially when I was sitting the trot into the canter.  I started making sure I was very clear about when I wanted her to trot, and when I wanted her to canter, and I posted the trot to help with the clarity.  That apparently helped, and she gave me a few transitions that were really nice!

 I had intended to work on lunging Gia over some jumps today, but she had other plans.  I don't know if it was the crisp weather, or the "new" object she was worried about on her way in the arena, but she was quite full of herself today!  I ended up just working on getting her to relax and be obedient on the lunge line.  She had to stop when I said stop, and she couldn't go until I said go.  After a few laps of that, she decided it wasn't worth the extra effort, and started showing signs of relaxation - lowering her head and licking and chewing.  We did a little more, to confirm she was good, and then I let her end her session.

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin this morning.  We started with a nice stretch at the walk, and then worked on getting walk to trot transitions without resistance in my hand.  I had to push her through a few times with my leg, but then she was softer.  I did a little shoulder-in work with her, and then jumped right into the canter work.  I kept the canter brief, and worked on a lot of trot to canter, and walk to canter transitions.  I found that she prefers to take the canter cue from my seat bone, rather than my leg.  She seemed more relaxed and less tense when I asked that way.  Eventually, she started to anticipate and get a little frustrated, so we switched gears, and worked on some counterbending on a circle.  I also let her do a little bit of trot lengthening since she likes it so much!

 I started Gia out this morning with some stretching and bending at the walk and trot, as well as some walk/trot transitions.  Once we were warmed up, we worked on a small gymnastic.  We started with just trotting over 6 poles.  She was a bit quick at first, so I worked on regulating her speed, and then adding circles at the end to help with the bending afterwards.  Once that was more consistent, I added a large crossrail.  She figured out her footwork a little quicker today than she did last time we did the gymnastic.  She cantered away from the jump almost every time.  Each time she cantered, I worked on helping her balance with inside leg and outside rein.  It was hard for her big body to make the tight turns in my arena, so we worked on her bending whenever we lost the canter.  When all that was better, I just added one more pole, about one stride after the crossrail.  She had no problems with that addition.

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was quite nervous, as she has been the last few times.  I had a few treats leftover from another horse, still in my pocket.  I decided to try stopping every so often on the trail to give her one.  It definitely distracted her from whatever was bothering her about being out there.  She was still quite resistant to go over a small branch that was down, but it was a little easier than last time.

 I worked with Gia on the long lines today.  I mainly focused on keeping her soft during up transitions.  She was against my inside hand fairly equally in both directions, going from walk to trot and trot to canter.  She was very responsive to my voice cues, but it did take her a few tries to stay softer in my hands.

 I worked with Gia today on a small gymnastic.  She started out very relaxed and stretchy.  I did a few walk/trot transitions.  She was a little bit resistant at first, but gave in quicker than usual.  After a bit of trot work, where I asked her to bend and leg yield, I put her over some trot poles, then added a crossrail.  She was a little bit inconsistent.  Sometimes she trotted through well, and took a nice jump.  Sometimes she went too fast and landed awkward and long, putting her too far out for the second pole.  Sometimes she was a little slow, and didn't even jump the crossrail.  I ended up only adding another pole, where a jump might go about 1 stride out from the first jump.  Once she was more comfortable and consistent with all that, I let her be done for the day.

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was about as jumpy as she usually is out there.  There was only one place she didn't want to go forward, but we worked through it.  I also worked on keeping her looking straight ahead, rather than to one side or the other.  She felt slightly better by the end.

 I decided to work with Gia in-hand this morning, and help her get more comfortable with the pigs.  They are currently living in a pen that is inside Gia's field, so she can get up pretty close to them.  For the first few days, Gia and the other mares stayed a very far distance from them.  They wouldn't even get close enough to their round bale to eat because that meant getting too close to the pigs.  Gradually, each day, they have been getting closer and closer.  They are very comfortable eating their hay now.  Gia has even been spending the last couple of days right next to their pen, checking them out.   Today, I took her inside the pen to meet them even closer.  She spent a lot of time sniffing around and checking everything out.  The pigs never stayed still enough for her to actually touch them, but she got close.  She did pin her ears at them a few times, so I quickly yanked on her rope halter and let her know that was not acceptable behavior.  The pigs were not crazy abo

 Gia and I worked with Suzin today.  She started out with a very relaxed and stretchy free walk.  As I picked her up to medium walk, there was some resistance to my hands, so I worked on softening her and using lateral work to help.  Same when I went to pick up the trot.  I used a lot of shoulder-in, leg yields, bending, travers, renvers, and just going back and forth until she was more supple and more obedient to transitions.  I also worked on trot to canter transitions.  She had a few small naughty moments during transitions, so I worked on getting her correctly bent beforehand, and asking extremely softly for the cue.  I only cantered a few steps, and tried to bring her back before she became unbalanced.  Most of the down transitions were not that great, but her last one was much more obedient and responsive!