Gia - session 857 - dressage

 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, and her haunches fall out to the right.  So, once I was able to get the haunches-in, I worked on keeping the bend to the left with my left seat bone heavier, leg yield right, and small taps on her left shoulder with the whip, and keeping her haunches to the left with my right leg a little further back.  

When it felt good, I asked for canter.  When I felt her losing it, it was typically because the shoulder was trying to shift back to the left, so I pushed it back over to the right, and asked for canter again.  It took a few times of back-and-forth, but we eventually got it.  It didn't last long, but it was ok, and there was no naughtiness.  We repeated everything in the other direction, and the canter was very good!  It's obviously a much easier direction, so she had no trouble keeping the canter much longer.  I finished by going back to the left for one more canter transition.  Again, it took a little back-and-forth, but this time, she had a lovely transition, and even kept it much longer - about as long as her canter to the right!

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