All The Kings' Horses

 I lunged Gia over jumps in the round pen today.  I started her with three ground poles, spaced about 9-10' apart.  I had her trot and canter through them, until she was steady and rhythmic.  Gradually, I raised all three poles, until they were about 2' high at their highest end.  She was doing very well with all that, so I added a towel draped across, and then the towel on the ground under the jump.  There was very little hesitation, and she went right over both obstacles in each direction!  Finally, I added another obstacle.  She did stop at it once, but it's possible that she just didn't have a good approach, because she came back and did it very well in both directions.  Apparently, she has recently decided that these are not scary jumps.  News to me ...

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was very quickly startled by one of my pieces of tractor equipment that was covered by a tarp.  It took her a lot of time working on relaxing, then taking a step or two forward, then relaxing again, and repeating all that several times, before she touched it. I clicked each time she relaxed, and was planning to click and treat once she touched it, but she did a touch-and-bolt, so I had to re-approach.  We got there a little quicker the second time, then she touched it all over, with lots of clicks, and treats. We proceeded into the woods, where she seemed fairly relaxed.  When we came back out, I had wanted to hop off on the tailgate of the truck that was in the middle of the driveway where someone was unloading gravel.  I've slightly strained my ankle, so I've been trying to dismount (especially from great heights) onto some sort of stool or landing.  Gia would absolutely NOT get the side of her body close enough to the tailgate

 I worked on some dressage stuff with Gia today.  She started out quite nicely with a good stretch at the walk.  When I first picked up the trot, she was very resistant and fussy, so I worked on softening her with lateral work, while riding her very forward.  We did a lot of shoulder-in, leg yield and haunches-in at the walk and trot, and a lot of transitions.  She was becoming less resistant as we went on.  I was also able to get a good canter transition in each direction.  I could feel her wanting to bunch up and buck, but I kept her moving forward, and she wasn't able to.  Her canter to the left was the hardest.  She kept losing her haunches to the right, and thus, losing the canter.  When I was able to keep her haunches in, she was able to keep the canter.

 I worked with Gia lunging over jumps in the round pen today.  I set out three poles, about 9 feet apart each, and asked Gia to trot, and canter through them.  As she progressed, I raised them all up, and eventually added a towel over the middle one.  There were times when she did things very correctly, and there were times when she was much too fast and wild.  Towards the end, she wouldn't slow down at all, so I turned it into a "natural horsemanship" session with jumps.  Each time she sped up, I made her change direction, and kept her moving until she showed signs of submission.  By the end, she was much better.

 Gia and I had a lesson with Suzin today.  I had hoped we were turning over a new leaf, but things did not start out that way.  She started out with a fairly nice stretch at the walk, but when I picked her up and asked to trot, she shook her head, pinned her ears, and swished her tail.  Suzin had me immediately start to ride her very low, very deep, and very forward.  I did a lot of changes of direction, as well as transitions, looking for her to start behaving better.  She was better, but still wanted to be a little naughty when asked for an up transition.  Eventually, we moved into more lateral work, including shoulder-in, renvers, leg yield, etc.  She was mostly doing well with that.  At one point, she got fairly resistant, and broke, haughtily, into a canter, while I was trying to get her to do shoulder-in.  So, we did shoulder-in at the canter.  I didn't ask for any canter on purpose today.  By the end, she was more obedient, and giving me what I asked for more willingly.

 Gia and I had a lesson at CDP today.  Danielle was not feeling well, so I was on my own for the day.  I tried to get out to the barn a little early, but, inevitably, I was running a little behind.  Gia seemed to be in a good mood when I put her boots on and walked her to the trailer.  Then she stopped ... and refused to get on the trailer ... again ... and again ... and again.  Not a great start to an already crazy busy day.  Danielle heard all the ruckus, and eventually came out to rescue (one or both of us), and between the two of us, we eventually got Gia on.  No idea what bee is in her bonnet lately, but I sure hope it buzzes off soon! I left 15 minutes later than I planned, but I actually ended up getting there with plenty of time to be ready for my lesson right on time.  I filled Charlie in on Gia's antics of the past week, and asked him to lunge her before I rode today, hoping for a "reset".  Except for backing up perfectly, at first, she did quite well on the lun

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  It was quite windy here, and she was a little jumpy at everything blowing around.  She paused for a few minutes before heading into the trail.  Once on the trail she seemed more comfortable.  Until we came to the new creek on the trail.  We got 4 inches of rain last night, so the "muddy area" on the trail was quite flooded, and was actually more like a creek.  She stopped there for a long time.  I let her relax, and then urged her forward. She would go about one step forward, then try to back up a bunch.  Backing up is not allowed, so I kicked her or smacked her with the reins (I had not brought a whip) until she went forward.  We went through that dance several times.  I was finally able to get her to put one foot in the water, so I hopped off and led her the rest of the way through.  As she got through each wet section, I gave her a treat.  Hopefully, she will be more willing next time.

 Today was not a great day with Gia.  I started out warming up at the walk, and decided to try ponying Butch as well, so I could get his handwalking in at the same time.  (He has been rehabbing from a strained suspensory, and we have to hand walk him twice a day).  When you "pony" another horse, you basically lead them in hand while you are sitting on another horse.  When I've done this with the other horses I ride, they have all been fine with it. Gia was NOT a fan of ponying Butch.  She kicked out at him, almost immediately.  I ended up switching him to a lunge line instead of a leadline, so he could stay farther away.  She still didn't really like it, but we were able to get it done.   After that, I took her out in the field for the rest of her warm up, before we started jumping.  I had only been trotting a few minutes, and she was a bit crooked, so I was leg yielding her over, when she let out one of her gigantic "launch-bucks".  Those are what I call th

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  We worked on a lot of lateral work and transitions between all gaits to encourage softness, especially on her left side.  When I was able to get halt to walk, and walk to trot transitions without resistance, I asked for canter.  I was only able to get one canter in each direction, but they were both pretty good.

 I worked with Gia in the round pen over jumps today.  I had someone powerwashing the truck and trailers near the round pen, so she was very nervous about all the noise and equipment.  It happened to be on the same side as where I set up the jumps, so it took a few laps around before I got her to go over the warm up poles.  Once she did, she started to relax.  She worked over a pole at the trot and canter, then a small vertical, then a larger vertical, then an oxer.  All that went fairly well, and she even seemed to balance a little better tracking right today.  Next, I put the towel over the oxer - she jumped it with no problems at all!  Same with the towel on the ground under the oxer!  Finally, I added a couple of silver crinkly decorations.  She was a little hesitant, but actually went over them all but once, when tracking left.  Much improved over last time!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a bit nervous about getting to the head of the trail.  I allowed her to stop and stand until she relaxed, and she stood there for a while.  We had a nasty storm yesterday, and it is cold and breezy this morning, so she had a lot to take in.  When she did finally move forward, she was more relaxed than usual, for the most part.  Her walk was big, but relaxed.  She did look around and tense briefly about a few things, but she quickly relaxed each time.

 Gia and I were invited to hang out with a few friends last night, and have some jumping fun.  Unfortunately, I don't think Gia is ready to "have fun" yet.  We warmed up with a little walk and trot, nothing specific.  Then we started to "play" over a pole and crossrail.  Those went fine, but as the jumps got higher, she got a little more "revved up", and started to drop her head upon landing from the jump, which led to her throwing her hind end way up in the air.  It wasn't a buck, but the "jump" felt really big and dramatic (shocker, something dramatic coming from Gia).  We ended up working on some flat work - mostly haunches-in, and lateral work, until she started to stretch out more, and became less tight overall.  We did get some nice canter moments though!

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  It was cold and breezy, and she started out a bit tight in her body.  We did a bit of stretching at the walk, and a lot of walk/trot transitions, then she started to feel better.  We worked all over the ring on changes of bend and direction and transitions.  She was feeling a lot looser, so I started to ask for the canter.  That got her a bit tense again, so I worked on mixing things up.  We did all sorts of lateral work, including haunches-in, turn-on-the-haunches, leg yield, shoulder-in, etc.  I also threw in halt transitions.  As she became more obedient, I tried the canter transitions again.  They were much better, and I was even able to work on straightening her body at the canter, and getting some stretch!

 I gave Gia an easy day today, and just lunged her over jumps in the round pen.  She warmed up with a pole on the ground at the trot and canter, then a small vertical, then a larger vertical, then an oxer.  With all that, she was very balanced and correct when tracking left, but less balanced tracking right.  I could see her trying to correct herself, though, to make it work.  Then I started adding "scary" items to jump.  With a towel laid on the ground under the jump, she did stop suddenly on the first approach, but quickly got herself together and sailed over it.  With the towel draped over the jump, she also stopped on the first attempt, but then regrouped and jumped it just fine.  With the boat bumpers that I laid under the jump, she didn't bat an eye.  I had her go over the jumps several times in each direction, partly to desensitize her to the "scary" item, and partly to allow her time to figure out what to do with her body to jump it correctly.

 Gia and I had our final show of the year.  It was the show for our drill team, and they also had some fun game classes! Danielle lunged Gia in the morning, when we got to the show.  She seemed fairly relaxed.  Under saddle, for our warm up, she also felt pretty relaxed.  She even did her canter work without bucking!  We went through our routines for both drill team tests with very few issues.  In the show ring, Gia was a little worried about crossing some mud to get in, but was otherwise ok.  She was a bit tense overall, but nothing too dramatic.  She went through both routines with no drama.  She did get a couple of wrong leads in the canter work of the first level test, but considering she could barely canter at the beginning of the year, and this test was written for me to ride Butch not Gia, and we were hoping she was only going to be subbing for him for part of the year, and she ended up having to completely take his place, she did fantastic! After the important stuff, she got to

 I lunged Gia over jumps in the round pen today.  I started her out much like I have been in the round pen lately - pole, then small vertical, then larger vertical, then oxer, at trot or canter.  She was super relaxed about all of it, and VERY well balanced tracking left.  Her balance to the right was a little harder for her to keep.  When she was warmed up, I place a towel on the ground under the oxer.  She did stop at it the first time, but not as abruptly as last time.  She went over it fairly well the second, and repeating times, in each direction.  Next, I placed the towel over the oxer.  That also went fairly well, although she may have jumped it a little big.  Finally, I placed a "horse toy" under the jump to act as filler.  She had no problem with that one.