Gia - session 680 - dressage with Suzin

 Gia and I started our dressage lesson today with a good stretch at the free walk, and a good medium walk.  We worked on getting her a bit steadier in the medium walk, without slowing down.  It was a tedious process, but every time she got a little busy with her head, I had to close my leg until she softened and quieted.  It was very subtle, but she did make some nice changes.

We did a lot of transitions between medium walk and working trot, and down to medium walk and halt. I worked on catching her at the right moment - immediately after softening, to ask her to go more forward, or make an up transition.  I worked on making the down transitions just by quieting my seat or slowing my seat.  We also did a bit of turn-on-the-haunches, as well as shoulder-in to get her straighter and more obedient to my aids.  

Finally, we did do a little bit of canter.  It wasn't much, but we worked on a more collected trot to canter transition.  She wanted to quit a few times, because she isn't strong enough yet, and she did buck a few times, but as soon as I grabbed the neck strap and stopped pulling back, she went forward better.  She has VERY big gaits, that are nice and fancy, but sometimes hard to keep up with.  When I don't keep up, she gets frustrated and bucks.  Holding the neck strap helps me to keep up with her, for now.

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