All The Kings' Horses

 Gia’s Blog Jun15-19: Gia enjoys being groomed by a new groom, Nyx! This week there was a lot more of the same work for Gia. She continues to work well with the grooms and is becoming more and more accepting of multiple people handling/grooming. This is great news as we are in the midst of summer and bug season! As for the riding, I (Danielle) continue to work with Gia on increasing her trot minutes each day. We also work through her tension at the beginning of each trot set. Luckily, she is generally pretty quick to settle down into a routine and get to work. At the trot, I have been encouraging Gia to do more figures, shapes, and adding bend to her work. Friday proved to be a bit more exciting than I had planned, however. When I went to hop on Gia, her saddle started to slip as I put my foot in the stirrup. I had, of course, just tightened her girth prior to mounting, but I guess I could’ve gone a hole tighter! As I felt the saddle slip, I attempted to step down onto the mounting...

As is always the case, life is so busy. I will try and catch up here by giving you all some weekly synopses with the highlights. May 25-29, 2026 - What a week this one proved to be! I think I need to just start putting things into the universe via this blog. In the last entry, I mentioned how I hoped that Gia and I could get off to a better start to our work each day. Ironically, or maybe not so much, I personally had a breakthrough in a ride on another horse early in the week. The other horse *name redacted to protect the mostly innocent* was having a bit of a dramatic day. As I was riding through their feelings, I felt noticeably confident and realized I could ride through the silliness and I was able to breathe and work through the ride. It felt like a huge mental breakthrough. Personally, my riding journey has had a lot of (literal and figurative) ups and downs. When I was younger, I felt invincible and had no fear…even through major injuries. As I have gotten older, I’ve struggled...

 I got a little behind with Gia’s blog last week so this week will cover two weeks! Monday, May 11- I ended the last blog with a head’s up that there was a new delivery at the farm. A lot of the week will be dedicated to helping her adjust. Heather is in the process of giving the arena a major upgrade: TruTex footing! Currently, she still has a bit of work to do to prepare the arena, so we have 4 very large packages (mattress size) of fiber footing next to the arena. This also means that all the horses have to walk past the packages to go into the barn. Many of the horses were a bit bothered by the giant white bags, but they moved on past it quickly. Gia, however, as expected, needed some more time. I expected Gia would have a hard time with the change, so I had Ashley bring her in and head towards the barn by exiting through the further gate. I was prepared to step in and help out if needed. As expected, Gia stopped in her tracks and planted her feet while snorting once she saw th...

 Monday May 4-“May the fourth be with you”….Gia was channeling a charming Bantha on Monday. She was very well behaved for her grooming, stretches, and saddling. I debated on just hopping on without lunging, but I decided that I would stick with my routine. I am glad I did because while Gia started lumbering along like a steady Rontos on the lunge line, all of a sudden she started running and bucking on the line as if she was being chased by a herd of Nexu. However, this only lasted a minute and she calmed down right away. I hopped on in hopes she wasn’t going to toss me into a Sarlacc’s den. She was a bit tense at first and needed a few taps with my lightsaber to keep moving but by the end of the ride she was calm and sweet as a Porg. Kudos to anyone who followed along! Tuesday May 5th - It’s Cinco de Mayo and I needed a margarita! I guess Gia just isn’t a fan. I started off the morning with a feeder check-in note that Gia (who has been much improved in her feeding behavior of late...

This week proved to be another week of excitement and Gia keeping me OFF my toes! Monday 4/27/26- For whatever reason, Gia was having a bit of an “off” day. Ashley was grooming her while I was working with another horse and shortly after she brought her in, she came to report that Gia was not acting as well behaved as she had been in the prior weeks and months. Ashley stated that Gia was very well mannered for her fly sheet and did not even pick up her foot, but when she went to curry comb her, she acted a bit irritated. Ashley worked with her until she relaxed but then came to check in with me. As I’ve stated many times, this process with Gia is a journey to help both Gia and others learn to work together. As we all know, not every day is a good day. I’m so glad Ashley stopped and acknowledged things were amiss before it escalated too far. After I was finished working the other horse, I went into the barn and observed Ashley grooming Gia. I did notice that she was acting agitated and ...

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...