Gia - session 697 - hunter show

 I took Gia to the Pleasant Hill Farm hunter show yesterday.  I started out lunging her in the rope halter.  Since she was so naughty last time, I decided to lunge her a bit longer than usual - until she was completely done with her antics, and VERY tired.  It took a while, but I think she was a much quieter horse when I rode.

Under saddle, I started by warming her up in the VERY crazy warm up arena.  She was quite nervous with all the horses going in all different directions, so quickly and so close to her.  I really worked on getting her to focus on my leg and hand, rather than all the action.  At the walk and trot, she was fairly good.  When I started jumping, and a little cantering, she was ok, then she started throwing in some small bucks.  Each time, I reprimanded her, then went on.  I don't usually advise this, but since she really loves to jump, if she bucked between lines, I pulled her out and made her behave before I let her jump again.  By the end of warm up, she was jumping several in a row with no bucking.  She definitely sees the jumps as a reward!

I entered her in the Short Stirrup over fences classes, but I, of course, went un-judged, since I'm obviously not 12 and under 😊.  We did our three rounds back to back.  She started out ok, but threw in some small bucks.  I really worked on getting her more in front of my leg, and by the last round, she was able to go without bucking at all!  We even had a nice canter on our closing courtesy circle!

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