Gia - session 25 - I am back at work with Gia
So, I had to take a bit of a hiatus with Gia recently. A few weeks ago, I dislocated my right ring finger (yes, I'm right handed :/). I have been spending the last few weeks figuring out how to function, work, ride, etc. I've also been doing a little pouting, and it was quite hot, so I wasn't really in the mood to mess with Gia. I've basically just been trying to get used to my new, temporary, "normal", and only doing the things that were absolutely necessary. And Gia was not one of those things. However, the cooler weather helped to improve my mood, and I am starting to get over my pity party. And I was starting to miss working with Gia, and getting a little envious watching someone else do it :). So, I started back with her on Friday.
She has been doing quite well with someone else grooming her, so I turned that task over to my assistant for the day - Danielle. She was pretty quiet for Danielle. We did have the clippers turned on in the crossties, and positioned a little closer to her. She did check them out at first, and then completely ignored them the rest of the time.
Once in the round pen, I proceeded to send her around at the trot and canter with the boat bumpers attached at the girth area. She was quite relaxed with that, and even a little lazy. Then I moved the bumpers back to her flank area and attached the lunge line. As soon as I started to send her out, she started to act up - pinning ears, snaking her head at me, making like she was going to come at me. All in an attempt to intimidate me to let her off the hook, which is exactly what she tried to do with Katie on Wednesday. She doesn't like this part of the work - it's hard, it's scary, she doesn't get it and she's frustrated with it. She is hoping that if she can intimidate us, we will back off and stop making her do it. It's worked for her in the past with other people. The good news is, that this type of behavior is kind of like a "last stand" that a lot of horses make right before they decide it's not really worth it to keep fighting, so they just give in. As long as you can keep at it, and win this little battle, they will usually give up and submit, and then you can move on with the next step of training. So, that is exactly what I did. Every time Gia tried one of her intimidating moves, I fussed at her with a loud buzz sound and made her work harder. If she was really adamant, then I ran at her intimidatingly to scare her more than she was trying to scare me. However, when she moved off without any misbehaving, or bucking, or ear pinning, then I lovingly told her "good girl!" and allowed her to rest and receive some rubs on her forehead. She only tried it a few times, and by the end, she was moving off much more relaxed.
This may happen again, but most likely, it will be less intense. It may taper off, or it may stop completely. In the past, Gia has been a little slow to let go of something really hard like this, so she may continue this game a few more times too. Every horse is different and only time will tell ...
She has been doing quite well with someone else grooming her, so I turned that task over to my assistant for the day - Danielle. She was pretty quiet for Danielle. We did have the clippers turned on in the crossties, and positioned a little closer to her. She did check them out at first, and then completely ignored them the rest of the time.
Once in the round pen, I proceeded to send her around at the trot and canter with the boat bumpers attached at the girth area. She was quite relaxed with that, and even a little lazy. Then I moved the bumpers back to her flank area and attached the lunge line. As soon as I started to send her out, she started to act up - pinning ears, snaking her head at me, making like she was going to come at me. All in an attempt to intimidate me to let her off the hook, which is exactly what she tried to do with Katie on Wednesday. She doesn't like this part of the work - it's hard, it's scary, she doesn't get it and she's frustrated with it. She is hoping that if she can intimidate us, we will back off and stop making her do it. It's worked for her in the past with other people. The good news is, that this type of behavior is kind of like a "last stand" that a lot of horses make right before they decide it's not really worth it to keep fighting, so they just give in. As long as you can keep at it, and win this little battle, they will usually give up and submit, and then you can move on with the next step of training. So, that is exactly what I did. Every time Gia tried one of her intimidating moves, I fussed at her with a loud buzz sound and made her work harder. If she was really adamant, then I ran at her intimidatingly to scare her more than she was trying to scare me. However, when she moved off without any misbehaving, or bucking, or ear pinning, then I lovingly told her "good girl!" and allowed her to rest and receive some rubs on her forehead. She only tried it a few times, and by the end, she was moving off much more relaxed.
This may happen again, but most likely, it will be less intense. It may taper off, or it may stop completely. In the past, Gia has been a little slow to let go of something really hard like this, so she may continue this game a few more times too. Every horse is different and only time will tell ...
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