Gia - session 814 - hunter schooling show

 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 lengthening.  There were a few "minor" moments of bucking, but most of it was fairly good.

We did get to school in the show ring a few minutes before her actual classes.  It was a little crazy at that time, so we mainly worked on relaxing at the walk, especially when others came galloping up behind her and flying by (she's not a big fan of that).  We did get to school over all of the jumps beforehand though, and they were all ok, even the ones I thought she would be worried about (the ones with straw bales around them, and the stone walls).  

I entered her in the 2' division (mostly because I didn't want to wait around until the end of the day for the bigger classes).  She had a couple of moments in the show ring, but was actually a lot better overall!  She struggled to get her right lead, but I didn't push it.  We got through all our courses with very little drama!