All The Kings' Horses

Merry Christmas! With the holiday this week, Heather and I actually took 2 days off to relax! With cool nights and warm days, the horses have also been enjoying a little break. We’ve seen just about every horse sleeping in the fields! However, Gia and I did get some exciting work done this week! Monday, December 22nd - I basically reviewed the grooming with Gia and the carrot ball. For some reason, Gia came in a bit agitated on Monday. She was impatient with her carrot ball and was tossing it around. Interestingly, she was quite patient with me. One thing I have been focused on with Gia lately is picking her hind feet. She has been very good at picking them up and letting me clean them. But, when I put them back down, she sometimes picks them up like she is going to kick. It is not directed at me, but it does seem somewhat like a threat. Basically, she’s acting like a teenager slamming a door. I have been speaking to Heather about it. In and of itself, this is not unusual behavior for ...

 Monday 12/15/25 – On Monday this week, I (Danielle) had planned to work with Gia on the grooming and the saddle pad. However, during grooming, I actually found a small lump on her belly near her umbilicus which we will be monitoring and following up with the vet at our next appointment if it is still present. It is highly unlikely that the lump is anything other than a small reaction to a bug bite or allergen, but, with Gia, nothing is small! This is also a great example of the reasons why we thoroughly groom our horses regularly. Many times, while teaching, students are rushing through the grooming to get to riding. We try to instill in them that the grooming is just as, if not more, important than the riding portion. Additionally, I found Gia getting quite anxious towards her back legs. I know from experience that this can be a sign that Gia’s teats need to be cleaned. This isn’t a glamorous job, by any means. Gia has rather large (shocking, I know) teats. As a result, they tend...

Monday December 8th thru Saturday December 13th, with Danielle: The past few weeks and months, you’ve heard a lot about Gia’s grooming. However, there are a lot of things Heather would like to see Gia do better with on the ground. We strongly believe in the idea that a good ride starts with a good experience on the ground. Boundaries, expectations, and moods don’t begin when you sit in the saddle. This applies to all horses, but some more than others. Gia is definitely a horse where every relationship and interaction has a significant impact. On Monday, I began by working with Gia on her grooming. She was pretty well behaved for all of this and has settled into a routine. However, I don’t think she’s quite ready to turn over to everyone for grooming yet. There are still a few little nuances, particularly with her hind feet, that I want to work through first. So, as I do this, I am also moving forward with the next step of her grooming: saddling. Saddling has not been a major issue of h...

Monday 12/1/25 thru Friday 12/5/25: This week was a little of the same and a few new things. We started out Monday and Tuesday with the carrot ball and grooming like normal. As this has been going well, it is almost time for me to see how she does with others. Before that, I wanted to make sure that I was clear on how she felt with me doing the grooming. Going into this, I have been fully aware that no matter what method I find for Gia to be groomed will involve 3 steps. First, I will find a method that works. Secondly, I will teach Heather what that looks like and see if she can groom Gia with similar results. Finally, I will teach the grooms and see if they are able to get similar results. Remember the idea of this challenge is to make it possible for more people to work with Gia safely and effectively. At any point, I may have to go back to the drawing board to make modifications. So, to be sure I was fully aware of where we were, I mostly spent the time watching Gia the first two d...

Monday 11/24-Wednesday 11/26  From Danielle: Gia Blog-Short and Sweet (the week!) I worked with Gia again this past week on her grooming. With Thanksgiving on Thursday, Heather and I only worked horses Mon-Wed this week. This week’s mission was to find a way to keep Gia occupied a bit longer. Seeing as I have had consistent success with the carrot ball, I wanted to continue that, but I needed to figure out a way to keep Gia occupied and still. After reading one of the comments on last week’s blog from one of my students that Gia reminded her of a special ed student, I had an idea. With the same student, earlier in the week, we had been discussing self calming techniques. Her classroom came into the discussion, and we talked about how she has accepted that if a student is in their area, they can make a mess or do whatever they need to do to calm themselves. As parents, many of us have sent our kids to their room when we need them to reset or give us a chance to reset. This gave me a...

  Danielle here, again. This week I embarked on my mission to find a way to keep Gia happy while being groomed. We tried a few different things, and, possibly, an answer! Monday 11/17/25 - There is a horse enrichment toy called a lick-it. It’s basically a hanging round tube that holds a lickable treat. Our horses are kept on turn-out 24/7 typically, but we do have a few toys available for them when they have to go on stall rest. The lick-it is one of these that we use. We also have used just the treat portion as a way to distract some younger or finicky horses during vet or farrier visits. I decided to try this first with Gia. I started by getting her treated for her wounds and fungus before the grooming. She was okay with this and, thankfully, the fungus issue has almost completely resolved. Next, I put the lickit in a feed pan in front of Gia and untied her from the crossties. She was quite interested in it at first but became frustrated that she couldn’t take a big bite out of t...