Gia - session 860 - hack on the trail with Danielle

 Gia and the Big, Scary Rock (with Danielle)           

 

Gia is very schedule and detail oriented. She loves to work, and finds comfort in everything being as she expects it.  However, as we all know, life doesn’t always happen the way we expect. Gia is at a point now where she needs to learn to be a little more flexible in her routine, but that comes in baby steps. Lately, whenever I have people out to help me groom, I’ve tried to step back and allow Gia to get accustomed to other people working with her. This is hard for Gia. Other people aren’t doing anything wrong, but to Gia it feels wrong as it’s not what she’s used to. (I have been Gia’s primary groom for the better part of her life).


Today, we really mixed things up for her! Rather than Heather riding Gia today, I took a turn at the reins. I have ridden Gia a few times in the past and have done lots of ground training work with her, but she is obviously not used to me riding her.  I was prepared for her opinions to be known, but she was actually very good! We started out in the arena doing a little walk/trot work, and ensuring Gia moved forward when I asked. After that, we ventured out for a hack on the trail. She was fantastic today walking past all the scary things on the way to the trail. She was practically perfect on the trail. On the way back to the barn, however, we passed one of the large rocks that line the driveway. The same rocks have always been there, but this one in particular must have given her a mean look 😉. All of a sudden she gave a little spook, stop and a big snort at the rock. I gave her a minute to calm down and asked her to move forward which she did. I gave her big praise which she loves and we finished our ride. All in all, Gia did fantastic with the change and was super!

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