Gia - sessions 1285-1288 - Sometimes you must fall to rise up

June 22-26, 2026: 

Many years ago, when I was a young child, my grandfather corrected me when I (in my very grown voice) informed him “I was an equestrian” because I had started taking lessons. He quietly and kindly, which was his way, informed me that I was a horse rider, not an equestrian. Before I could call myself an equestrian I had to do the following things: be bit by a horse, be kicked by a horse, be stepped on by a horse and fall off of a horse. Rest assured, by these standards, I became an equestrian MANY years ago. However, that has always resonated with me. Not that any of those things are pleasant or desirable, but they are part of the game. If you work with horses, these things will happen. Often times, they are preventable and, at least in part, errors made by people. However, to err is human and I have certainly made my fair share of mistakes. I could qualify by my grandfather’s standards as an equestrian solely by my work with Gia. I add all of this to be 100 percent transparent. As I mentioned, I fell off of Gia last week. That was not a surprise. I knew it would happen eventually. What was unexpected was what was missing this week: fear. I have fallen off more times than I can count. Most of the time, I come away with little to no pain or injury except for my ego (that gets hurt every single time). I’ve also had my fair share of broken bones, sprains, bruises, etc. The fall I had off Gia last week, as documented in her blog, did not result in any pain. But I expected my brain to get the better of me and cause me to be a bit more timid in the saddle when I got on her this week. I thought a lot about it this weekend and replayed the fall, but also the many times I did not fall over the past months. I surprised myself in a way, that I allowed the fall to boost my confidence, not hinder it. If you’ve been reading this blog for years, you may recall the first time Heather fell off Gia. Similarly, she was not injured in any way, but she noted it was something she had been dreading. Gia is tall, wide, and long. Mounting and dismounting her is a feat that accentuates her size. However, once you are up there, your eyes (*should) be up and her height can become less intimidating. But, in the back of your mind, you always expect that fall to hurt a LOT more because she is a LOT bigger. I think for both Heather, years ago, and myself, last week, getting through the first fall was something we needed to move forward with confidence. Which brings us to this past week:

Work with Gia this week was great! As I previously mentioned, I added in ground poles all over the arena to help keep Gia’s focus. On Monday, I added this into our routine and after the ride, I noted that not only did I feel confident and unaffected by the prior fall, but Gia hadn’t bucked once. On Tuesday, we did have a bit of bucking at the start of her trot, but quickly we worked through it, and I was able to get her into work mode quite quickly. Gia has days where she is just resistant to getting moving. Her way of telling us her feelings involves the horse equivalent of stomping her feet and slamming doors. Staying calm, cool, and asking her to move forward without becoming emotionally charged (which would fuel her already very big feelings) is pivotal to having a successful ride. I was able to do this and after a few minutes, Gia was great. Wednesday and Friday’s rides were very similar: phenomenal! We worked on bending, figures, poles, and adjusting tempo of her trot. Gia really enjoyed the fact that I let her do a bit of her favorite thing under saddle: lengthening her trot. Heather has mentioned this many times, but as expected, Gia can COVER some ground at the lengthened trot and she really loves to do it. I believe I mentioned in a blog post a few years back about the first time I rode Gia’s lengthened trot how shocking it was. She has only gotten better and it is still so fun! I had a lot of fun working with Gia this week and we are almost done with her trot rehab. Next week, fingers crossed all goes well, I will start asking Gia to do some work at the canter. The canter has been a consistent challenge for Gia so we will see how we do. I want to ensure that I am setting Gia up for success so I will be riding Gia in my group lesson (a newer experience for her, but we’ve done it a few times before) Wednesday night. This will allow me to get coaching and guidance from the woman who knows her under saddle the best: Heather. Fingers crossed we keep moving in the right direction.

- Danielle