All The Kings' Horses

 I took Gia to CDP for a dressage lesson today.  She was a little tense and spooky at ... grass...sigh. We tried a few circles near the spooky area, but she still refused to go forward, so I allowed her to stop and relax in front of it, then pushed her forward.  After a few times of that, she was much better. Meanwhile, in the dressage arena, we worked on the same stuff - medium walk, working trot, collecting, lengthening, leg yields, haunches-in, shoulder-in, transitions, and canter.  Everything went pretty well today, even the canter work!

 I took Gia out to the field to jump today.  We started with hills at the walk - stretching uphill and collecting downhill.  She was pretty quick, but also pretty obedient.  Then I added trot work, also with the hills, but also a little collecting and lengthening and bending and haunches-in around the field.  She was fairly obedient and relaxed.  I really focused on keeping both reins connected, but quiet, and using leg to make the majority of corrections.  To help my body find the right position, and stay relaxed, I used the grab strap on the saddle as well.  I asked for a little canter, and she was REALLY good - no bucking, responsive, relaxed!  We cantered to several jumps.  My main focus was on steadying her canter so that she could find the right spot to the jump.  We were able to get several nice ones!

 Gia and I had drill team practice today, offsite.  We started with our walk/trot quadrille test.  Gia was super relaxed and very obedient throughout the whole test.  It was actually the best that our group has done all year! Next up was the First Level test that I am doing with Amanda.  It was better than last time, but she was still a bit electric in the canter work.  She was fantastic for the walk and trot work, and very obedient.  However, by the third time we ran through the test, she had actually calmed right down, and we were able to get all our canter work in!

 I worked with Gia free-lunging over jumps in my round pen today.  I started with a ground pole, then a small vertical, then a taller vertical, then an oxer.  She did all of those quite nicely.  However, when I added a towel over the middle of the jump, she stopped hard and refused to go forward.  I had to really get after her to get her over it the first time.  Once she did, she got a treat (she had also gotten treats for the previous, easier, jumps).  I sent her back and forth over it several times.  It did get easier each time, but she never really seemed confident over it.

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She never hesitated, and never stopped or refused to go forward.  She was looking around at stuff, but she was also very relaxed the whole time!

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  We started with a nice, relaxing, swinging free walk.  We worked on free walk to medium walk transitions - getting her to soften as she came up, and keeping her engaged behind.  In her walk to trot transitions, she wanted to come a little against my hand, or just get quick in the walk.  I helped her soften, and then found the right moment to ask for the trot.  We did a lot of walk/trot transitions, bending, leg yields, and shoulder-ins, all in an effort to get her straighter, and all the while, I tried to lengthen her neck whenever I got a good reaction from her.  We mixed in some canter transitions as well.  Most of them were pretty good, even soft!  We did have a couple of moments where she was switching her lead on the back legs, which feels a bit like a small buck.  When I was able to get her straighter, she went right back to being nice and soft in her transitions!

 I took Gia to CDP for a dressage lesson today.  We worked in the dressage arena, which she hasn't been in in a while.  She was a little distracted almost the whole time, but not bad.  Charlie had us working on a variety of different exercises - transitions, collect, lengthen, leg yield, haunches-in.  It all depended on how Gia reacted, as to what we would do.  We really mixed it up, and only did a little canter, but the canter we did do was pretty good.  She had a little trouble with the right lead today, so I had to do a little more haunches-in, tracking right, for her to get it.  Afterwards, she saw Cameron for some bodywork, and he found that she was a little restricted in her right shoulder, right elbow and the right base of her neck.  All of that could explain the difficulty with the right lead.  Hopefully, after her chiropractic adjustments, and acupuncture, she feels a lot better!

 I took Gia to a schooling hunter show at Sharon Oaks Stables yesterday.  I started out by lunging her.  It was very uneventful, even at the canter.  She was looking around, but was not really fast, no antics, and was very obedient and relaxed. Under saddle, when I schooled her before her classes, we were lucky enough to be almost completely alone in the warm up ring.  That really makes a difference in her confidence and relaxation right now.  She was fairly relaxed, but did get upset at times.  She was worried about a few things on the side of the arena, and that really never got better, but it wasn't too bad.  I worked with her at the walk, trot and canter, as well as over a single jump up to about 2'3".  When I remembered to keep an equal feel in her mouth, regardless of whether it made her crooked or not, she was much better.  She was also better when I remembered to keep my leg on her snugly.  We did a lot of transitions between all gaits, as well as collecting and le

 I took Gia up to the round pen to lunge her over jumps today.  She started out quite nicely, and was measuring her steps to the pole, then the small vertical, then the taller vertical.  Then I added a "scary" element - a towel draped over the jump.  She was only slightly concerned, but she didn't stop in either direction.  Finally, I added a piece of wood underneath the jump (like a liverpool).  That was definitely scary enough to get her to stop the first time.  The second, third and fourth times, she jumped it off to the side.  Finally, she jumped it more centered and square.  She reacted the same in both directions.

 I took Gia out to the field today for some flatwork and little jumping.  We started with walking up and down hills.  She had to be very straight and collected down the hills, and then stretch down very low as she went up hill.  She did pretty good with that, although she was a bit tense at first.  She was a little less tense when I asked for trot work.  We worked on being very straight, collecting, lengthening, and a little haunches-in.  Then I started asking for canter.  She was a little tense, so I threw in down transitions to walk and halt, as needed.  I did get several nice canter transitions, and then worked on stabilizing the canter, and not allowing the stride to get too big.  That was hard for her, but she had a lot of good moments, especially to the right.  If we managed to keep it together long enough, then I put her over a jump.  We only went over a few small jumps, whenever the canter was good.  She did have a hard stop at the flat tire jump.  I made her face it, and kept

 Gia and I had a lesson at CDP today.  She started out a little more tense than usual.  I started with bending and leg yielding at the walk, and included going over poles.  When she felt a little better, I added trot.  We continued to work on straightness with long serpentines and very straight lines.  We also worked on collecting and lengthening the trot, and then added leg yields and haunches-in, as well as transitions to walk and halt, as needed.  When she felt good, I threw in a canter transition, and cantered over ground poles.  She had a hard time holding herself together with the ground pole, but as she gets stronger, that will get easier.  Throughout the ride, she did relax, and there was no bucking!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a little anxious about several pieces of equipment around the farm that were in different places.  We stopped and relaxed, clicked and she got a treat at each one.  On the trail itself, she was pretty good.  She never stopped or hesitated.  She did look around a lot, and was a little quick at times, but responsive when I asked her to slow down.

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  We did a lot of work on bending, and then straightening, which really helped to fix a little head tilt that she has developed.  It really forced me to work on polishing up my aids, and "feeling" more. We worked at the walk and trot, with a lot of it at the walk.  Gia is very sensitive, so I have to be just as sensitive to be correct!

 I took Gia to CDP for a lesson today.  We started out with stretching at the walk, as well as leg yields, bending, changes of direction and bend and haunches-in at the walk.  We moved on to walk/trot transitions.  I repeated those until she was softer and not against my hands in the bridle.  It did take a few in each direction before I got what I wanted.  At the trot, we repeated the leg yields, bending, and haunches-in, and we added in transitions to walk and halt, collecting and lengthening.  Finally, we added canter.  She was a bit against me during the transitions, but other than that, they were the best canters we've probably ever had!  She NEVER bucked, and the canter was soft and relaxed.  I was even able to collect it a bit, and she "held" herself in the canter!

I took Gia to the War Horse event this weekend at the Carolina Horse Park.  We schooled on Saturday, when we arrived.  I lunged her to start, and she was quiet and relaxed, even at the canter.  Then we headed off to warm up for stadium schooling.  She felt fairly relaxed on the walk up to warm up.  Definitely the most relaxed so far!  In warm up, she was good at the trot, and over the first few jumps.  When she landed in canter, she did throw in a small buck once, but it was more of a lead change - just a very dramatic lead change... sigh.  On course, she was fairly good as well.  A little wobbly and nervous, but she listened, and cantered most of it, and there was no bucking! Next, we moved on to cross country schooling.  She was still fairly relaxed when we warmed up over a few logs.  We practiced over all the starter jumps (2'3").  There were only two that she didn't really like, so she stopped at those.  I did get her over them the second time though.  Throughout the w

 I took Gia out to a different field to lunge over a few jumps that she doesn't normally go over.  However, she does live in the field with these jumps.  She warmed up nice and relaxed with her trot for a few laps in each direction.  Then I had her go over the black pipe and white pipe jumps, and those were no problem.  After each successful jump, I clicked the clicker and she got a treat. When I pointed her at the large tire jump, however, she stopped to check it out.  After just a few seconds, she did go over it, and we repeated the process to make sure she was good.  The same things happened when I sent her over it in the opposite direction.  After that, she decided to throw a bit of a temper tantrum, and went flying around on the lunge line, even throwing in a giant leap and buck.  I just allowed her to wear herself out with her galloping.  When she was finally tired, and ready to be more obedient, I pointed her at the jump again, in each direction.  She went over it with no pr

 Gia and I had a lesson with Suzin today.  We started out with a nice stretchy free walk.  I picked her up to medium walk, and she was submissive and obedient.  When I asked for trot, she went against my hand a bit, so I had to do some positioning and softening during the transitions until I was able to get several with no opposition.  Then I worked on some bending and changes of rein and straightening exercises.  Finally, we went to work on the canter, using transitions from the walk.  Suzin helped me to get her very straight before I asked.  I had to catch the right moment, and then ask super soft, barely even touching her.  We had some tense moments, and a few moments of bucking or leaping forward (I was almost unseated on one particularly large leap, but Gia stopped as soon as she felt me unbalanced, and moved to catch me).  I was able to get several nice canter transitions, both up and down!

 I took Gia out to the field today.  We started with walking and trotting up and down hills - focusing on stretching, being very straight, and getting into the outside rein.  It was definitely more difficult for her when going downhill.  Then I started asking for the canter.  We mostly worked on it from the walk, because it's easier for me to catch and correct her, but if she trotted a little, I didn't exactly stop her.  She only bucked a little, but she did struggle to get the transition while staying in the outside rein, especially tracking right.  I did end up getting several decent canters from her, and even jumped a few jumps out of the canter!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was the best behaved she has ever been back there!  She didn't hesitate to go forward at all.  She did get a little quick at times, and I slowed her down each time.  But, most of the time, she walked at a fairly relaxed pace!

 Gia and I had drill team practice today, offsite.  Our first test to practice was the one where we have to walk, trot and canter.  The walk and trot work went well, but the canter work did not.  There was a lot of bucking and jumping around whenever she had to canter.  I worked to keep her in the outside rein, but it was difficult for both of us.  After we had finished our first practice (everything else went well, despite her bucking), I schooled her at the canter while the next team got ready to ride.  I was able to get a decent canter in each direction.  When we practiced with the second team, with only walk and trot work, she did great!