Gia - session 695 - flat lesson with CDP

 Gia was acting especially anxious when I came out to put her on the trailer today - lots of dancing in the crossties, and pooping.  I put her right on the lunge line, first thing, and lunged her until she was being obedient to my cues to halt and trot.  It took her longer than usual, but once she was more humble and obedient, I loaded her on the trailer.

We have recently found that her favorite treat is a carrot.  So, armed with a nice, fresh, long carrot, I led her to the trailer (there was hardly any stomping of the hind boots), and she was even excited to get on the trailer!

At CDP, she was much less anxious, and actually worked really well!  We worked on leg yield and bending at the walk and trot, as well as lengthening and collecting the trot.  We also worked on haunches-in, and then the canter.  There was NO bucking!  There might have been a tiny tail swish, but that was about it.  She was hesitant to keep the canter the first couple of times, but once she did, we worked on collecting the canter, and then going forward, and then making the trot transition on purpose, instead of falling out of it.  Definitely a better end to her day than it started!

As an aside, we also used a carrot to get her to put her head down so that Danielle could wash her mane.  I had bit off a piece of a long carrot, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  Rather, she demanded that I let her bite her own piece off the long carrot.  As a test, I hid the long carrot, and just offered her the small piece.  She sniffed it suspiciously, but would not eat it.  This might help to explain a lot ...

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