All The Kings' Horses

I worked with Gia on her dressage today.  We started some free walk and medium walk.  I focused on getting her to soften and quiet her body in the walk.  When that was better, I moved her into the trot.  Her first several transitions were not that great.  She was very against my hand.  I did a lot of circles, changes of bend and leg yields to encourage her to get off my hands and legs.  I have to remember to keep my legs on and my knees soft.  As she improved, I added a little bit of canter, still working on the same basic things.  She did ok.  It was still hard for her to stay off my hands, especially when tracking left.

 So, I was supposed to have a lesson at CDP today, but Gia had other plans.  She decided she wanted to work on getting on the trailer this morning.  Our best guess is that we repaired a hole in the trailer with duct tape, and she did not approve.  She would put her front feet on the ramp, but that's as far as she would go.  So, Danielle and I settled in for the long game with our patience, and long whips, on either side of her.  Anytime she went backwards, we started tapping on her (blanketed) behind, and stopped the second she went forward.  She also tried to run out the front corners, so we took turns blocking her there as well.  Basically, there was only one way she could go.  Forward!  Anytime she did go forward, we immediately stopped and told her "Good girl!".  We praised her anytime we noticed signs of relaxation as well.  She got to a point where she would not go any further, so we upped the ante.  We only stopped urging her forward when all FOUR feet were on the

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  It was quite windy, and there were several things she was quite worried about, especially a few tarps and other things flapping in the wind.  We (barely) got past them and made it onto the trail.  She stayed fairly relaxed, but alert, on the trail.  When we came back out, she was still quite nervous about the flapping things, so I had her walk back-and-forth past them several times, until she was less anxious.

 I worked with Gia in the arena at home.  The idea was to work on her jumping, but since "jumping is dressage with obstacles", as I always tell my students, we actually did a LOT of flatwork, and only a few actual jumps.   I started by working on the walk - trying to get it steadier, more relaxed, straighter in her body, more supple.  Then we did some walk/trot transitions.  The first few attempts yielded resistance on her part, but then I got a really good one.  At the trot, I worked on much the same stuff as I did at the walk - leg yields for suppleness and straightness, bending, changes of direction, collecting, lengthening.   Whenever she felt good, I pointed her at a jump.  We started with a large crossrail, and took it in both directions.  Upon landing, I worked to get back to the good trot we had before the jump.  Gradually, she was getting the idea, getting softer, getting more obedient.   Then we tried a little canter work, doing all the same stuff we did at the trot

 Gia and I had a dressage lesson with Suzin today.  We started out with a nice stretch at the walk.  As I picked her up to medium walk, Suzin had me focus on a lot of tiny details, like not letting her "touch" my hands, and I worked to keep all my moves slow motion so that I could catch her moments quicker.  Our first walk to trot transition was amazing!  The rest were pretty good too.  We did a lot of transitions, a lot of changes of bend and leg yields.  She was very soft on the right and stiffer on the left.  Eventually, I asked for canter, and we got a lot of nice moments there as well.  I was able to get her to canter right off my seat bone, get her more collected and balanced at the canter, and even had one good down transition which I asked for.  We finished with a few trot lengthenings.  She had "canter on the brain", so I had to remind her to not canter, when I asked for the lengthening.  I eventually got several good ones in each direction.

 Gia and I had a lesson with Charlie today.  It had been a while, due to the holidays, me getting sick, and untimely weather, so it was nice to be back!  We mainly focused on leg yields at the walk and trot, and eventually, at the canter.  We did a lot of changes of direction, as well as transitions.  We also did a lot of work on collecting and lengthening the trot.  When all that was good, and she was more supple and obedient, we added canter work, doing all the same things.  She had a lot of good moments (and NO bucking!).  I was able to get some baby leg yields at the canter, as well as some collecting and balancing (of her giant stride) at the canter!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a bit nervous about some new stuff on the way to the trail.  We stopped and relaxed at each scary thing.  She managed to make it onto the trail, through one lap, and back to the barn all in one piece!

I worked with Gia in the arena over fences today.  We warmed up with some walk and trot work - low, deep and forward, since she was a bit tense from the cold and high winds.  She was very resistant in her first few transitions, but once she was moving better, everything started to go more smoothly.  I had a variety of jumps set up in the arena.  I put her over whatever seemed good at the time.  My main focus was on getting her back to a "good" canter after the jumps.  She tends to get strung out and too fast.  I worked on collecting the canter, gradually, which often ended in a trot, but eventually she will build the strength to hold a better canter for longer periods of time.

 The ground was too frozen to ride today, so Danielle and I worked with Gia on her "pole dancing" 😂😂.  Every time she took a correct step straddling the pole, I clicked, and Danielle gave her a treat.  She got it very correct right away, so I decided to go for three correct passes.  The second one took a bit longer, so we just ended after that one.

 I lunged Gia over jumps in the round pen today.  I used ground poles on either side, about 9' away, to help her get the correct take-off and landing.  It also helps her use her hind end better.  As I raised the jump, I also raised the ground poles a little.  Once the jump was high enough, I put a towel over it.  She did stop suddenly on the first trip, but went right over it the second and successive times through.

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a little hesitant to get onto the trail.  There were several new things, so I think she just needed a minute to check stuff out.  Once she relaxed, she went forward quite willingly.  There were a couple of guys working on a fallen tree with a chainsaw, about 50 feet from the trail, and she didn't bat an eye about them at all.  However, there was a newly downed tree alongside the trail, with a VERY scary looking stump that we had to stop and check out and worry about for several minutes.  Other than that, she did really well!

 I took Gia to the Pipe Opener CT at the Carolina Horse Park yesterday in the Starter division (walk/trot/canter dressage, and jumps are 2'3").  I started out by lunging her.  She was doing fairly well, and I was about to bring her in, but then there were a couple of loose horses that got her a bit distracted and upset, so we had to go a bit longer.  (It was VERY windy yesterday!)  It took her a little while to get to dressage warm up.  I let her stop and look at everything, and relax, before encouraging her to step on.  We stopped a lot.  Once in the warm up, she was REALLY GOOD!  We worked through all our usual stuff, but she was very obedient, fairly relaxed, and even cantered ok! Our dressage test went fairly well.  We got several 8's, but we did get a 4 for our right lead canter.  It was quite tense and tight. However, we scored fairly well - 33.3% and started in third place.   Her warm up for stadium also went really well!  She jumped well, and when she cantered, she

 I took Gia out in the field to jump today.  She was feeling quite frisky, so I rode her very low and deep and forward at the walk and trot.  She was very resistant at times, so I did a lot of softening and sending her forward.  When she felt obedient, I went over what ever jump was closest.  After the first few, she wanted to explode, but I put her right back to work on low, deep and forward.  After a few of those, she was much better, and we ended with some decent jumps.

 Gia and I worked with Suzin today on our dressage.  We started with a nice, stretchy, relaxed free walk, despite the windy, cold weather leftover from yesterday's storms.  She is often resistant when I go to pick her up to medium walk, so we worked on staying soft, long in the neck, flexed, and bent to the inside as we made the transitions back and forth.  It was a lot harder than it sounds, both physically and mentally, for both horse and rider.  There are so many tiny details to pay attention to during these transitions.  When they were smoother, we did the same thing going from medium walk to working trot and back.  Because we spent so much time at the walk, that part was actually not too bad.  She worked fairly well and fairly equally in both directions.

I lunged Gia over jumps on a lunge line in a rope halter today.  We started with a little refresher on lunging in the rope halter - stop when I say "stop", go when I say "go", turn and go the direction I ask.  She was perfect with all that.  I also encouraged some canter work, and she was kind of blasé` about it until I used the clicker for her obedience.  She perked up after that, and was eager to canter in both directions.  She was also eager to trot and canter over the pole on the ground, then the large crossrail, then the large vertical.  The only thing she had trouble with was cantering over the jump when tracking right.  She kept drifting to the left after the jump.  I added a pole on the ground afterwards, and that helped her out a lot.

  Gia and the Big, Scary Rock (with Danielle)              Gia is very schedule and detail oriented. She loves to work, and finds comfort in everything being as she expects it.  However, as we all know, life doesn’t always happen the way we expect. Gia is at a point now where she needs to learn to be a little more flexible in her routine, but that comes in baby steps. Lately, whenever I have people out to help me groom, I’ve tried to step back and allow Gia to get accustomed to other people working with her. This is hard for Gia. Other people aren’t doing anything wrong, but to Gia it feels wrong as it’s not what she’s used to. (I have been Gia’s primary groom for the better part of her life). Today, we really mixed things up for her! Rather than Heather riding Gia today, I took a turn at the reins. I have ridden Gia a few times in the past and have done lots of ground training work with her, but she is obviously not used to me riding her.  I was prepared for her opinions to be known,

 Today was a pretty crappy day weather-wise - very cold, lots of rain, very breezy.  Definitely not my ideal weather, but if you want to succeed with horses, you have to get out there even when you don't really want to.  I decided today was a good day to work with Gia on her "straddle pole" in hand again.  We haven't done it in a while.   For those of you who aren't familiar, I have a long piece of 2-3" PVC pipe, probably about 8-10' long.  We set it on the ground in the cross tie area (so we can stay dry ☺).  Danielle led her, while I guided her back end, and kind of her middle as well.  She has to walk along the pole, straddling it, both left legs on one side as she goes, and both right legs on the other side.  This is one of the physical therapy exercises that Cameron (her personal bodyworker) gave us to do with her.  It's actually a LOT harder than it sounds.   She definitely remembered the exercise, and we could tell she was really trying to conc

 I took Gia out in the field for some jumping today.  We started at the walk, and right away, she was "put off" by a very wet area in one field.  She was very resistant to go through it, so I kept my leg on, waited for her to relax, and "clicked" when she did finally go through.  We went back-and-forth several times, until she was more relaxed.  At the trot, I used a lot of leg yield to encourage more bending to the inside, since she was constantly trying to look at stuff around her.  She was fairly receptive to that work.  As she improved, I added in some jumps.  She was a bit sluggish at first, but then she picked up her pace, and landed at the canter after the jumps.  We played with the canter around the field, and I mainly just tried to keep a correct bend, with her haunches more to the inside.  She was landing on her left lead fairly well, but not her right.  She did a little tail swishing during her first canter, but never did anything naughtier than that.

 I had to cancel my lesson with Suzin today, because we had a lot going on at the farm with the farrier, vet, arena, etc.  I ended up getting to Gia at the end of my other rides, but I actually had enough time for a decent ride.  She was a bit against my hand today, but fairly relaxed.  I did a lot of work on softening her, at all gaits, especially at the halt.  She gradually stayed soft throughout transitions, etc.   I moved on to work on lateral work.  She was a bit tighter on her right side to start out with, so we did a lot of exercises to loosen that side, regardless of which direction we were travelling - shoulder-in right, shoulder-out left, leg yield towards the rail tracking right, leg yield away from the rail tracking left.  When we got to haunches-in, that was  much harder for her tracking left (with a left bend, and putting the haunches to the left.  This is also typically the direction that is hardest for her to canter, since she ends up losing her shoulder to the left, an