Gia - session 892 - hunter show

 I took Gia to a hunter show yesterday to get some extra schooling in.  We entered a 2' division, but went unjudged, so we could put our focus on the stuff we've been working on rather than the ribbons (for those that don't know me, I'm just a little bit competitive ☺). 

We had been to this venue many times, but we had to park in a different location due to all the rain.  It had a little bit of an eerie feel to it, to the horses, so they were all a little spookier than normal.  When I was lunging Gia, she was a bit wilder than usual - calling to the other horses almost constantly, looking frantically around, etc.  I just kept pushing her around the circle, and then stopping her and changing direction, until she finally got tired and gave ME her attention rather than giving it to everything else.

Warming up started fairly well, but it was quite empty too.  We worked on leg yields, straightening, shoulder-in, haunches-in, mostly at the trot.  We started over a few jumps, and those were ok.  She was worried about a few of them, so I helped her by keeping her straight and focused, and she eventually got over them.  When more people started coming in to warm up, Gia started to get more anxious, so I started to ride her more deep and low and forward.  She did throw in a few bucks, but I was able to get her back on track.

For her classes, I only entered the 3 jumping ones.  She started out a bit tense, but gradually started to relax, move more forward, and even lengthen her neck!  My focus was on being able to get a canter I liked whenever we were in between jumps.  She was a bit quick, and (believe it or not, ha ha) has a big stride.  When needed, I would take a rather large half halt to get the canter I wanted, but then I was able to relax quicker and let go more, until I needed the next half halt.  She did pretty good about keeping her canter, especially towards the end.  She was even getting quicker about changing her leads!  I could also feel her learning to start holding herself at a better canter tempo.  By the end, we had a pretty decent round!

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