Gia - sessions 1037-1039 - flat work and jumping

 I've been crazy busy this week, so no time to write.  Gia and I worked on flatwork on Monday and Wednesday, with jumping on Tuesday.  

On Monday we focused on impulsion and suppleness.  We mostly stayed at the walk, and worked on her responsiveness to my cue.  I want her to pay more attention to the tiniest cue I can give her, so I only gave her leg cues that would feel like I'm touching her like you would touch your touchscreen phone - using no
muscle at all.  When she didn't respond at all, or promptly, I reinforced the cue with a tap of the whip.  Eventually, she was moving much more forward, with hardly any effort on my part.  Then I worked on encouraging her to bend her ribcage around my inside leg, and we finished with a nice, long stretch!

On Tuesday we went out to the field and focused on impulsion, straightness and obedience to the aids.  Once she was forward, I could start to ask her to become straighter, by keeping my position as correct as possible on top of her, and then allowing her body to find its straightness underneath.  And then we played over several jumps.  She was feeling a bit out of balance, so she mostly trotted, but I did get a little cantering out of her by the end.  I think this was also the first time that she didn't stop at the first attempt of the day when I pointed her at the flat tires!

Finally, on Wednesday, we were back on dressage.  She seemed a bit stuck and tight, so we started off with


a walk on the trail, in hopes that would help her loosen up a bit.  It did!  When we got back to the arena, we did a little work at the walk and trot on impulsion and straightness.  She was much more obedient and supple, and we were able to get a lovely return on our investment!

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