All The Kings' Horses

 After having several weeks of no lessons, Gia and I were back at it with Suzin today.  We warmed up with several transitions between walk to trot and trot to canter.  During the transitions, I worked on getting her to yield to my inside hand, and leg yield to the outside, and go forward.  She was very resistant in the beginning, but definitely improved as we went along. Suzin also had me work on really refining my half halt cues at all gaits - I had to feel my position correctly in the saddle, then increase Gia's tempo using only my seat bones, then stretch up with my spine, but down and back with my shoulders, then tighten my abs, then maybe add a slight squeeze with one or two fingers.  As soon as Gia yielded, I had to soften, and then start all over again.  Gia picked up on things very quickly, and I was able to get a much softer shape to her body!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a little nervous about a few things, but was generally not too bad.  I had been avoiding the muddy area for a while, since she was a bit too anxious about other stuff, but today we ventured back there again.  She stopped at first, but then I encouraged her on, and she went nervously.  Once she got over it, I gave her a treat.  We went back and forth over it a few times, and she got a treat each time.  She was pretty good with it by the end.

 I worked with Gia lunging over jumps in the round pen on Monday.  She was very business-like, and didn't offer a lot of drama when I asked her to move out at the trot or canter.  I had her trot three ground poles in each direction, with good rhythm and balance, and then had her do the same at the canter.  I gradually raised the poles until they were up to the 4th rail of the round pen.  She was really using her body quite well!

  It's me, Hi...I'm the problem, it's me (by Danielle Bryant, from two days ago) For a few years now, I have been contemplating the idea of doing an in house clinic solely around Gia. I wondered if I would have enough material or interest to warrant doing such a clinic. Turns out, I had plenty of both!  10 people joined me for 3.5 hours of talking, demonstrating, and working with Gia. Gia tends to garner interest and intrigue. She can also be a polarizing creature! I grouped the clinic members into three groups: those who loved Gia, those who were interested in learning more about her, and my favorite group - those who are terrified of her. Each group had to come up with 3 things that they wanted to learn, see or do with Gia. Surprisingly, there were not a lot of overlaps so we had lots of material to work with. While the clinic was focused mainly around Gia, there was a lot of basic horsemanship involved. Gia tends to expect things done a certain way and if it is not done

 I schooled Gia on her flatwork in the arena today.  After a nice stretch at the walk, we worked on walk to trot transitions.  She was a little resistant at first, but then softened as we went along.  We worked on suppling work at the trot as well - changes of bend and direction, leg yields, etc.  Then we worked a lot on her trot to canter transitions, as well as maintaining her balance, tempo and straightness during the canter.  She was quite resistant to a lot of that work, but I was able to get her to soften as we went along, and we did have a lot of nice moments!

 I schooled Gia in the field with the jumps today.  I mainly focused on my position being correct, then making corrections with her - slowing down, straightening with leg yields, bending, transitions, etc.  When she felt good, I pointed her at a jump.  We had a LOT of good jumps today!  I can even say I had FUN on her today!

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a little looky and nervous about a few things, but didn't really stop at anything in particular.  She did have a lot of moments on the trail where she was able to relax!

 I took Gia to the Pipe Opener at the Carolina Horse Park yesterday.  We entered the Starter division combined test again.  Danielle lunged her while I was schooling other students, and she said that Gia was fairly quiet, even sluggish.  Under saddle, she walked fairly quietly up to the warm up arena, and stayed fairly relaxed.  She looked around, and was a little nervous, but not overly tense.  After some walk work, where we did circles, changes of direction, leg yields, etc, I asked for trot, and she was much like she is at home - a little resistant to the up transition, but not anxious otherwise.  We did the same work at the trot, and she remained fairly relaxed.  When we started working on canter she did get a bit more tense.  Our first transition and canter were good, but after that, she was distracted, fussy, crooked, getting wrong leads, some bucking, etc.  Finally, I had to go in the ring, so I decided we would just make the best of it.  She had over a week off prior to this, s

 I was out of town for the last week and a half, so Gia had a vacation as well.  I started her back today with some flatwork.  After a nice, relaxing free walk, I picked her up to medium walk, and worked on some walk to trot to walk transitions.  As one would expect, she was a bit stiff and resistant for a bit, but she did soften, eventually.  We also did a little bit of leg yielding and bending, and a little bit of collecting and lengthening at the trot.  Then we worked on trot to canter transitions.  She was also a bit resistant in her body for that work, but no hint of naughtiness.  Other than the resistance, she felt much like she did a week ago.  Not bad for having over a week off!  At the canter, I worked a little on her straightness and balance, and then let her finish with a long walk.

I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was looky and blowing about lots of stuff on the way to the trail, but she did keep moving her feet, for the most part.  Once on the trail, she was still a little nervous, but kept moving at a fairly decent pace.  

 I took Gia out for a jump school in the field today.  She felt a little tense starting out at the walk and trot, but after a few minutes, that seemed to go away.  I took her over a few low jumps to start, but all she did was trot them.  She did manage to canter after one jump, and we cantered up to a barrel jump that I don't think I've taken her over before.  I added more leg and a little more whip, and she went right over it!  I also took her over the ditch, and the up and down banks, at a trot.  She did those beautifully!  We finished out by working on getting, and keeping, a good canter, on each lead, up to a jump.  That was really hard for her, and she did think about getting naughty once, but she managed to get one good round in each direction.