Gia - session 1040 - jumping ... er ... flatwork

I warmed Gia up on Friday with a main focus on impulsion first.  She was a bit resistant to go forward to begin with.  I doublechecked I wasn't applying any opposing aids, or sending any mixed messages, and then I gently kept asking her to move on.  When she responded, I immediately relaxed and verbally rewarded her before asking again.  That part is soooo important to her, especially.  She gets mad at me if I don't reward her. 😂

(Not my version of the jump, but where I got the idea.)
As she became more forward, we were able to work on becoming more supple and straight, and then we got to jump.  We had to stay close by, since the vet was here for spring check ups, in case he needed to chat with me.  So we didn't go out in the field, but that gave us a chance to play with the box jump that I had set up in the arena for everyone else to play with, but had yet to play with myself.  Gia mostly trotted
it.  I was hoping she would trot in and canter out, but I think she found it a bit intimidating.  Which is fine.  I decided to try cantering in to see if that helped.  However, as I started asking for the canter, we came back to the issue we had at the beginning of the ride where she didn't want to go forward.  So we ended up working on that flatwork for the rest of the time.  I worked through this impulsion snare the same way I did with the trot.  Every time she resisted, I doublechecked that I was not applying any opposing or conflicting aids, and then just kept asking softly until she finally understood and responded.  As soon as she did, I relaxed and verbally praised her.  By the end, she was giving me the right answer much more willingly!

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