Gia - sessions 806, 807 - schooling and show at War Horse

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 whole schooling, there was no bucking!

On Sunday morning, I started her out with a bit of lunging.  She was a bit more energetic, probably due to spending the night in the stall.  She eventually settled down and focused.  In dressage warm up, I tried to find a quieter area to warm her up (I've been thinking that might be part of the problem, since she usually relaxes more when she goes in the show ring),  She did seem less claustrophobic, so I do think that helped.  After warming up with walk and trot, and focusing on putting her in the outside rein, and lots of changes of bend, we started to attempt the canter.  It wasn't great at first, but she didn't buck, she just didn't keep it for very long - no big deal.  We kept working on it, and ended up having several good ones in each direction.  Another change I made, that I thought would help me feel more secure, is that I opted to ride in my jump saddle, rather than my dressage saddle.  Our dressage test wasn't too bad!  She was a bit tight and tense, but I worked on keeping her in the outside rein, and she really tried.  Her first canter was a bit rough, and we lost it at the beginning, but we did get it back.  Her second canter was much better.  And the best part - NO BUCKING!!

Warm up for stadium went fairly well, much like the day before.  She also did great on course!  She had some tension, and a few missteps, but once again - NO BUCKING!!

Warm up for cross country also went fairly well.  On course, she was anxious at first, but then got into a really good rhythm.  She did try to stop at jump four, but I got her through it.  She did stop at jump nine, but I took a breath, and we circled, and she went right over it with no problems.  She still finished the course well under time!  And finished the entire show day with NO BUCKING!!

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