Gia - sessions 1125-1142 - A lot has happened over the last month!

 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!  I managed to get away!) to visit my dad in Marquette, Michigan for several days.  Before that however, we had a dressage lesson with Suzin and two jump days.  Suzin had us doing a lot of dressage figures throughout the arena, and we even worked on some shoulder-in!  On the first jump day, Gia was quite perturbed by all the mud in one part of the field, so we went back and forth through that until it was no big deal.  We also worked on some cantering in the field, as well as the "mattress" jump and the skinny barrels.  She is still a bit sketchy about the mattress, but she was a little more comfortable by the end of the session.  The skinny barrels were a breeze! 

While in Michigan, I was climbing on some rocks to get a good picture, and I slipped and fell ... right on my ass. 😖 So, I've been dealing with a VERY bruised and sore seat ever since. Thus ...

For the weeks of 9/1-9/12 - I have been alternating long lining Gia in the arena with lunging Gia in the field over jumps.  When I long line her, we work on flexing at the poll at the halt, walk, trot and sometimes canter.  We are also able to get some leg yield at times, as well!  I also have her work on things like transitions when the flexions are going really well.  When we lunge in the field over jumps (after warming up of course), we have done a variety of things!  We started out by playing over the trot
logs that I have laid out.  I also use a clicker every time she does a good jump or a good movement, and she gets a treat (not necessarily every time, but often enough).  Then we might jump something medium sized before moving on to a more difficult jump.  One jump in particular that we have been working on is an overturned water trough.  I have poles branching off of it on either side to help guide her, but it is still easy for her to glance off of it, and she does.  But she has gotten it several times, along with a huge "Good Girl!" and and immediate treat, and then we end with that and go in.  I have also had her keep the jumps small and just work on staying balanced before and after the jumps, which is no easy task for a big girl like her that likes to rush and not pay attention.  It requires a LOT of transitions, but the clicker helps her to understand, and she has been doing a LOT better with that as well.

Hopefully, when my butt feels better, and I'm back in the saddle completely, I will be able to ride the results that I have created with all the groundwork! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 So, the last 6-7 months have been a bit crazy.  You may be wondering why I wasn't blogging, and partly that was due to my own injury, and partly that was due to Gia's surgery. Let me back up. Early in July last year, I had a "bit of a fall" off of Phillip, while schooling cross country.  I immediately knew something wasn't quite right, but luckily, it didn't hurt too bad.  When I stood up, I could feel my right arm dangling quite a bit from my shoulder socket.  When I visited my doctor a few days later, he confirmed that I definitely had injured my shoulder, but he couldn't tell me how bad it was without an MRI.  We discussed doing PT first vs an MRI first, and we both decided PT would be the route to go first.  Unfortunately, there was no improvement after two weeks, so I scheduled the MRI.  It took a few weeks to get on the schedule, and then another week to get in to see the doctor for the results, but basically, I had F'd it up real good...
Read more

Carolina Horse Park Pipe Opener - and our first show back since both our surgeries!

Image
 Gia and I ventured out to the Carolina Horse Park this past weekend for our first horse show since our respective surgeries!  My long stretch spent out of the saddle gave me a lot of time to really think about my riding. And, when I was able to get back in the saddle, I was able to pick up pretty much where I left off without losing much, if any, ground.  I'll get more into that in my next blog, since this one is just about the show ☺.  But, suffice it to say, Gia and I felt ready and excited!  For the last few months, she had been looking longingly at the trailer leaving her behind a few times.  She would even run down the fence line, along the road, as the trailer slowly drove away without her in it.  And I was really missing showing, since I lost practically the last half of last year, including one of my favorite shows of the year. We started the day off warming up for dressage.  The ring was quite empty at first, since we were one of the fir...
Read more

Gia - sessions 1055-1058 - Something different ...

 Danielle and I went to a clinic last Thursday 4/3, that was recommended to me by a friend, and I've been raving about it ever since!  The clinician's name was Pippa Callanan , and you can click on the link to learn more about her.  She blends natural horsemanship with classical French dressage.  I LOVED it!  I found her saying things, even verbatim, to what I tell my students.  There is so much to tell from this clinic, but as I will be incorporating things from it as I go, I will just tell you stuff as I incorporate it.  (Although some stuff I'm already doing anyway 😊). So on Tuesday, April 8th, Gia and I had a lesson with Suzin for the first time in quite a while, since before both our surgeries.  One thing I saw from the clinic was that I was pretty much doing the same things that she was, especially when I stuck with my natural horsemanship stuff and my classical dressage stuff, and a lot of that classical dressage stuff was originally taugh...
Read more