All The Kings' Horses

I started Gia out on the lunge line again today.  She was a little distracted because my neighbors had a ton of people over, and she was really trying to see what was going on.  I was able to get her refocused on me though, and we started over the poles at a trot.  She didn't stop this time, just hesitated the first few times through, but then she went very smoothly over the poles in both directions. I took a little more time at the mounting block today because she has been a bit impatient.  It took a couple of tries to get her in place and still before I could mount.  Once on, I had to remind her to stay still several times before she finally stood for three seconds without trying to move.  Then I asked her to walk on.  She was a bit more tense today.  Possibly because of all the extra stuff going on, but possibly simply because I made her stand more still today and she didn't like it. Right away I started her walking over the poles scattered about the arena.  In the begin

I'm a little behind in my writing, thanks to a very busy week.  I worked with Gia on Monday.  I started her out on the lunge line, and I had Rebecca put a bunch of poles all around the arena, each in sets of two, about 9 feet apart, so that Gia could trot or canter through them.  On the lunge line I had her go over them at the trot and canter.  The first time through, she stopped a few feet before the first one.  I allowed her to stop and take her time to check it out and see that it was no big deal, then she continued through at a walk.  Each time she approached the poles she got closer before stopping, and then just came down to a walk, and then just hesitated slightly, and finally went through with no problems at all.  Each time she got over the poles, even if she stopped first, I praised her verbally.  She really likes being told when she does a good job, so that really helps to boost her confidence and makes her want to do even more then next time.  I had her do this process i

     Hi everyone! This is Danielle. Heather asked me if I wanted to write up Gia’s blog entry from Friday, and, of course, I said sure. I’ve been helping Heather out once a week for over a year now so I’ve gotten to know Gia pretty well (and vise versa). I grew up working with Amazing Arabians, so I have a bit of experience with working with horses that can be a bit spirited and spooky.            Awhile back, Heather had mentioned in a blog post that Gia spooked while being led and planted her feet. A few days after that, when I was leading her in, she thought for a minute about doing it with me. It didn’t work for her the same way it had a few days prior. Gia is big, young, and powerful. Just like kids, horses will test people. Also like kids, it’s a lot harder to break bad behaviors with horses if they are allowed to get into a habit. So, Gia and I began a new routine of walking different paths into the barn or past “scary” things. Ironically, Gia can be scared of silly things

I worked with Gia yesterday after Zion had gotten her groomed and tacked.  She was very polite and patient with Zion (who is still learning stuff about handling horses).  I started her out on the lunge line to help with energy and distractions.  She was not as distracted as her first day back, and was quite obedient to what I was asking for.  There were a couple of poles in the arena in her way.  They were set at a distance where she could trot one step in between or canter 1/2 a step in between (a bounce).  She was nervous about them at first, but I think she enjoyed the rhythm of them, especially at the trot, because she started to seek them out rather than avoid them.  Once she was warmed up, I hopped on.  Since she had seemed to enjoy the poles on the lunge line, I decided to keep up the positive vibes and momentum and walk and trot over the poles while riding.  She went over the first pole rather dramatically.  As she approached it, she put her head down to check it out, (which

This past Friday marked one month since Gia was first sick.  The vet had said to give her the entire month off just to make sure she would be back up to speed.  So, on Friday I wanted to ease her back into the idea of working again.  I had Danielle work with her on coming back into the barn, grooming and walking around the farm checking out various "scary" things.  I didn't want to put her under real pressure yet, and I wanted to see how her behavior would be.  A month off can go one of two ways...  However, Gia did fantastic!  Her attitude was great!  Danielle really put her to the test with some of the scary obstacles in the woods, and Gia was nervous, but she handled it, and seemed to enjoy getting the attention again. So, on Monday, I put her back to real work.  The girls brought her in to groom and tack her, and she was very polite for them.  I brushed her face and forelock, and she seemed more accepting of that.  Once bridled, I took her out in the arena to lunge

Just a quick update about Gia - she spent a couple of weeks in solitary confinement, only to find out that what she had was due to a failure of one of her vaccinations she received in September, and that she was never contagious at all.  Oh well, better safe than really sorry!  In the 32 years that I have had horses, I have never had this happen before, and my vet said he's only dealt with it five times in his career, so it's definitely just a fluke thing.  She was really only sick for a few days, but spent the rest of the time in quarantine just in case what she had was contagious.  However, she is still a little wheezy when she works, so I am giving her another week or so off before bringing her back to work.  I don't think I'll really need to bring her back in slowly, since she wasn't doing too much in the first place, but I'll play it by ear and see how she feels.  I did have to work her a little while she was sick.  A few times, she got a little bit of a na