Gia - session 665 - Combined training show

 I took Gia to the Carolina Horse Park this weekend for the second combined training competition of the year.  She lunged very well - fairly relaxed, right from the start, very little hollering and yearning for her friends, very focused.

She was a bit more tense in warm up, and it took a lot of walking in circles with bending and leg yields before I felt like she was ready to trot.  Once we did trot, it was ok.  A little tense, but no dramatics.  I used her neck strap to make sure I stayed out of her face, allowing her to move forward, without feeling like I was out of control if she went too forward too fast.  For the test, I had to remove the neck strap, but it felt the most relaxed so far!  We ended up scoring a 29.06%, and received an "8" for our trot circle to the left!

When I brought her out for the jumping phase, she seemed even more relaxed.  I used the neck strap to warm up, and she walk, trotted, cantered and jumped with no dramatics.  I let her relax for a bit, then jumped a few more.  However, I did not start out with the neck strap, and she proceeded to throw in a few bucks.  As soon as I started to use it, everything changed, and she felt much better!  I used it throughout her whole course.  She did feel like she wanted to buck a couple of times, but never really followed through.  She ended up jumping clear, but did have a few time penalties.  We finished in second place for the day!

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