Gia 2/24/25

 I worked with Gia today on some light flatwork.  We mainly worked on stretching and thinking about "where she wanted to be".  

If I am in the correct position - feet flat and weight evenly distributed across the stirrups, seat bones evenly weighted, upper body aligned with her spine, thumbs up, elbows in, shoulders behind hips, one pound of pressure in each rein - then where does the horse's body "want to be"?  If I stop trying to control her, and just follow her, and just focus on staying in my correct position, where does she go in the arena?  Does her ribcage bulge left or right?  Does her nose point left or right?  Does she stretch down low or reach up high?  Does she drift one way, or the other?  Can I follow her without tension creeping up somewhere?

Then ...

Can I start to affect her, but only with a light leg aid?

And when I do, what other adjustments have to be made after that happens?  Did I maintain all of the above position points?  If not, what fell apart?  Where did I get tense?  What do I have to pay attention to
more?

And what if she doesn't respond to the light leg aid?  - Add a thump of the leg or a tap of the whip.  

What if she gets quicker?  - Bring the shoulders back to slow her down.

What if she does too much?  -  Use a lighter aid the next time.


These are the "questions" I asked myself as I worked with Gia today at the medium walk, free walk, and working trot, and a little bit of canter.  We mostly just "played" around, not working on anything in particular, just seeing "where she wanted to be", and if I could keep my position, and then affect her, and then keep my position, and what happened after that, and then figure out what to do next.  My psychologist calls it something like "curious play" and says we should all do way more of it as humans 😆.  Horses love it too!

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