All The Kings' Horses

 As I continue to heal, I continue to work with Gia on the lunge line over jumps, and on long lines on her flat work. Monday 9/22 - I took Gia out in the field and warmed her up on the lunge line, focusing specifically on her obedience to going forward, and not pulling on the line when she did so.  If she pulled on me, then she had to stop, and then go forward again.  She remembered things fairly quickly, so we moved on to practicing the same things over a few jumps.  She was doing quite well, so by the end, I had her try a combination over the skinny barrels to the very skinny water trough.  She did it beautifully! Tuesday 9/23 - I worked with Gia on the long lines in the arena.  The vet was out for fall vaccines and checkups, so I didn't have as much time with her as usual.  We were still able to get in some transitions and flexions at the walk and trot.  She was nicely obedient and soft! Wednesday 9/24 - We went back out in the field on the lun...

 This week was more of me healing my tailbone and not riding, and more lunging and long lining for Gia.   Monday 9/15:  I lunged her in the field, starting with a light warm up at the trot.  Whenever I asked her to go forward, she was not allowed to pull on the line.  If she did, she had to stop or slow down until she wasn't pulling anymore, and then go again.  We did lots of transitions like that until she could go forward nicely in each direction without pulling or leaning.  Then she had to do the same thing over jumps, and she had to go forward when she landed from the jump.  She wasn't allowed to land and quit, or land and drag her toes.  Once she would go forward without pulling, she was able to jump much more freely too! Tuesday 9/16: I started Gia on the long lines in the arena at a fairly loose trot to get her warmed up and get her muscles moving and blood flowing.  Then I brought her back to the halt, and worked with her in...

 Sorry guys, I know I am sooooo far behind!  I have had a LOT going on in my personal life, in addition to the usual craziness that I always have going on, but I am starting to catch up!  (I think)  I'm going to try a weekly synapsis to get you all caught up on what Gia has been doing though. 😁 Going back to the week of 8/12-8/16 - I had three dressage rides that week and one jump ride.  Even on the jump day, I was working with her at all gaits (yay!).  I was doing a lot of work on suppleness - flexing left and right at the poll, as well as making sure she kept the poll lifted when necessary.  Sometimes she would get a little behind, so I worked on making sure she went forward, and we did a lot of transitions between, as well as within, all the gaits.  I was even able to work a little on the stretchy trot that week, which we haven't done in a while! For the week of 8/18-8/20 - This was a short week for me and Gia, since I took a brief break (YES...