Gia - sessions 792, 793, 794 - show at Portofino, lesson at CDP, flat at home

 I've been going through a tech upgrade, and due to that, I wasn't able to Blog for the last few sessions.  So, I'm catching up here:

Sunday, September 17, 2023 - CT at Portofino, and XC schooling:

I took Gia to the Portofino show for her first Starter level combined training.  She lunged very quietly at walk, trot and canter.  Her under saddle warm up was atrocious though!  After doing a little walk and trot work, where I practiced keeping her busy, I wasn't able to get more than about 5 steps of canter without some ferocious bucking.  I finally had to go in my class, feeling like it wasn't going to go well, but I had no other choice.  Not sure what happened, but she ended up cantering very well!  No bucking at all!  We scored a 31.33%, which put us in second place out of 9 entries!  Her stadium warm up was a little better.  There was a little bucking, but not as bad, and she really focused on the jumps.  We went double clear in stadium, and finished in first place at our first Starter CT!  Later, in the rain, we went out and schooled on the cross country course.  We jumped a variety of jumps from GAG up to Beginner Novice heights.  We went under and over the bridge (led by our trusty little pony, Dover!).  We went through the water, but hesitatingly, at first.  We went over the ditch and up and down the banks with very little issue.  By the end, she was cantering around the course very easily, and jumping whatever I pointed her at!


Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - lesson at CDP

After telling Charlie how things went at the show, we decided I really needed to focus on my release with Gia.  He had me keep her busy with the usual stuff, but after each request was met, I made a big deal of the release.  We worked at walk, trot and canter, and with leg yields and haunches-in.  She was very willing with everything, and I don't think there was any bucking.


Wednesday, September 20, 2023 - flat work at home in the arena

I worked on much the same stuff as I did on Tuesday - walk, trot, canter, leg yield, haunches-in, RELEASE!  I was having a little trouble with keeping her straight before the canter transitions though.  When she was crooked, she was more likely to buck (we did have a few little bucks).  I started doing walk to canter transitions, which helped me catch the deviations a little quicker.  She was quite tense for a while, but the last few were much more relaxed and obedient! 

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