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Gia - sessions 1250 - 1253 expect the unexpected

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Last week, I mentioned that things with Gia were progressing and I had a plan. I also mentioned that things could always change. Well, this week was a bit of both! Basically, it was just another week living and working with Gia. Gia and the scary jump! Tuesday 4/21/26 - We took off Monday this week after a great show held by Castle Farm for their students on Sunday. Almost all of the lesson horses worked hard on Sunday, so we gave everyone the day off on Monday. Heather and I also took the day off (as much as we ever do...). Gia did not participate in the show, but she was an active spectator most of the day. She seemed quite intrigued by all the new jumps and activities. A few times, we even had to halt the classes because Gia came galloping up through the fields. As you can probably imagine, that can be quite the distraction and earth shaking. Gia seemed glad to be back to work on Tuesday morning and was very well behaved for her grooming, stretches, and saddle. However, things took...
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Gia - sessions 1246-1249 - Gia's getting back in the groove!

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This week was an exciting one for Gia. It has been the first week where everything went according to plan in a long time! Monday April 13th-On Monday, Ashley started grooming Gia. She was particularly good. After her grooming, I began working on her stretches. One of Gia's stretches is a belly lift. I must run my finger, or an instrument like a hoof pick or a comb, along the underside of Gia's belly encouraging her to lift her back. At first, she was a bit jumpy and picked up her foot. As soon as I told her to put it down, she obliged and realized what we were doing. These stretches are not new to her, but it has been a while since we have used them. I suspect she will get reaccustomed to them very quickly. After her stretches were complete, I worked on the saddle, for which she was very well behaved. I took her out into the arena next to do her rehab ride of 5 minutes of walk. For whatever reason, she was quite tense and anxious when I got on her. I started off taking her in a...
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Gia sessions 1242-1245 - one small step for Heather, one giant step for Gia!

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 Monday April 6th - On Monday, I had Ashley groom Gia. I made sure not to let Gia know, but I had plans for some changes this week. Gia was very good. Just to clarify: Gia is not perfect. She is an animal with free choice. The goal of the work has been for Gia to get used to others grooming her and educating the grooms on how to read Gia’s body language. Everyone has been doing a great job with their respective roles, and I feel it is time to take a step forward! Tuesday April 7th - On Tuesday, I did not have a groom when it was time for me to work with Gia. I decided to see how far I could get with putting on the saddle if Gia behaved for grooming. Gia was very well behaved, and we got through her grooming very easily. I was curious as to how Gia would act with the saddle as it had been a while. She was very well behaved. Even when I discovered her girth no longer fit and I had to take the saddle off and put it back on with another girth, she stood well for me to make adjustments....
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Gia sessions 1234-1241 more grooming with the grooms!

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 Gia has been doing a lot more work without me (Danielle). I have been leaving her to the grooms to handle and see if they can work through any issues. When new things arise, I will step in and give them a hand! All the grooms and Gia have been doing well with this new challenge. For the week of March 23rd, I will share some notes from the grooms to show how paying attention to the small details makes a HUGE difference. First, Ashley noticed that as she has become comfortable again with Gia, she was perhaps going a bit too fast with her. We are quite busy and we do tend to try to get through things quickly. As Gia became better behaved, Ashley let down her guard a bit and went faster. As you all know, Gia does not like things done differently. She became nervous and anxious. However, as a result of all the work we have done, Ashley was able to identify not only Gia’s behavioral shift, but also the root cause. As a result, she was able to change her behavior and Gia was perfect. Als...
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Gia sessions 1222-1233 - the grooms are grooming!

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From Danielle: Gia’s Blog February 24th - March 20th Well, clearly, I got a bit behind in writing Gia’s blog for the past few weeks. To say it has been a bit busy around here is an understatement! Heather was in the hospital for surgery and I was trying to keep things afloat, we got in a new (super cute) horse for training, and we even had a brand-new addition to the Castle Farm family born on St. Patrick’s Day. With Heather being out of commission, I have slowed my goals for Gia. Prior to Heather’s injury, I felt a need to get Gia back and ready to ride. However, since Heather will be out of the saddle for a while and I haven’t been able to clone myself, riding is still a while off. I decided to really focus on letting the grooms work with Gia WITHOUT me supervising. There have been ups and downs, but overall, I think everyone is feeling more confident and comfortable. (Both horse and humans) Soon, I will reintroduce the saddling process with Gia, but thanks to everyone’s hard work, I...
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Gia sessions 1218-1221 Various grooms and good behavior!

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Monday, February 16th-Ashley and I worked together with Gia again. The grooming went well so I asked Ashley to go ahead and pick out Gia’s feet. I am still watching over the process with her feet, but she has been more agreeable to having them touched lately so I figured it was time to move onto something new. Gia was very well behaved for having her feet picked. However, Ashley noted to me that her feet smelled terrible. Horses’ feet never smell great, but we all become accustomed to that “normal” smell. I have no sense of smell any longer, but I still knew immediately what Ashley was talking about: thrush. As I mentioned last week, Dr Jim had noted Gia had thrush in one foot. We had been treating that one, but not her others. It is not surprising that thrush popped up in her other feet and I was able to quickly get on top of treating them. Thrush is one of the smells that is imbedded in my brain and while I can’t physically smell it any longer, I sure can trigger that memory. It’s al...
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Gia - sessions 1215-1217 More of the same, brief but good!

 Monday Feb 9th-On Monday, we split the time grooming Gia. She was probably happier with her time being groomed by Ashley than me, for once. It’s past time I tackled Gia’s very thick, large mane. Having her mane pulled has never been a preferred activity of Gia’s. The goal is for her to stand still and allow me to pull it neatly. She prefers to throw her head up. This isn’t an uncommon reaction, but with Gia, when she throws her head up, she hits the roof of the barn…we will continue to work on this with Gia and hopefully soon, get her mane washed, as well. Stay tuned… **Tuesday and Wednesday-I (Danielle) was out of town. I know Gia saw our favorite chiropractor, Dr Jim, while I was gone. He confirmed she was sensitive to her feet, but due to a condition called thrush. This is very common especially with weather conditions as weird as we’ve had lately. Despite being in a drought, we had a lot of “moisture” (frozen) sitting on the ground for quite a while. We should be able to treat...
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