Gia - sessions 1121-1124 - more of the same, but adding more suppleness and more canter work

 I'm going to wrap up another week all at once:

Monday August 4th:

I worked with Gia lightly on some dressage.  This was her first day back since her injury.  She only had a week off, which isn't enough time for muscle to start to atrophy, but I wouldn't want to come back hard after a week off, so I don't make my horses come back hard either.  We worked at the halt, walk and a light trot.  I mainly had her focus on flexions at those gaits, lifting her poll, and transitions.  It was a nice reminder of the basics.

Tuesday August 5th:

We had a lesson with Suzin, where we still kept things fairly light, comparatively speaking. 😊 We mainly worked at the walk and trot.  Suzin had us working on our steadiness at both gaits.  It is very painstaking work, at least on my part (and probably on Gia's).  There are a million things that can fall apart, and they all tend to do so at the same time, but I have to keep them all together at the same time in order to keep Gia steady, and I have to stay relaxed or she gets tense, thus leading to more unsteadiness.  My students would LOVE this work! 😏😆 It's definitely a skill to keep building on.

Wednesday August 6th:

This was our jumping day, but I focused more on the flatwork - suppleness, flexions, etc.  When she felt good, or we had a good moment, we approached a jump.  I believe all but the first jump were good!  She is definitely feeling more confident in her body and abilities!

Friday August 8th:

Back to flatwork - we worked on a little bit of everything, and added some canter.  I focused on flexions and suppleness in the beginning at the halt and walk and trot.  As we warmed up, we also worked on straightness and transitions.  When we got to the canter, Gia was eager to try it, and even more eager to get it right!  Wanna know what she wasn't eager to do?  Buck!!!!  She is really enjoying this work, and really understanding it well.  And it is really helping her to understand how to use her body more correctly so that she doesn't get frustrated and upset.  It's awesome!


On another note, if there are any questions about anything I am doing with Gia, please feel free to let me know in the comments section of the blog or on Facebook.  I love questions!!

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