Gia - session 1091 - groundwork with Ashley

 Ashley, one of Gia's grooms, wrote Wednesday's blog:

"I had the privilege of doing Gia's work today. Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. When I went to get Gia out of the field this morning to groom her and tack her up for Heather to ride, she exhibited behaviors that I have never seen Gia do. Maybe others have but I haven’t. Normally she’s a doll for me but it’s taken a long time for us to get that way. She charged at me with her mouth opened, ready to take a chunk out of me. She kept turning her booty towards me and pinned her ears back. After stepping away, yea I know I let her beat me, and texting Danielle and Heather, I went back and she let me put the halter on and walk up nicely. Until she tried biting me several times when we got to the gate. Danielle asked Heather if she could work with me with Gia and that be her work for the day. Heather agreed so Danielle, Gia and I went and into the arena.

 Danielle let Gia loose in the arena and walked me through everything on what to do. While walking up to Gia, I needed to act confident, which I pretended to do, and Gia started turning her booty towards me. Danielle had me get Gia's feet moving by whacking the ground with the whip and continued to do this until she turned her whole body towards me, with her head low and licking and chewing. I put the halter on her and she stood still. After a few seconds, I took the halter back off and walked away from her. We did this 3 times with each time Gia getting better and not trying to kick me, to where the 3rd time she stood still when I approached her. Then we worked on keeping Gia out of my space when walking her around. I walked Gia forward a little bit and I turned around to back her up while using a whip and the lead rope. Of course, the first time was messy with Gia backing up slowly and me barely tapping her to move, totally lacking confidence. Gia acted like she didn’t even care to be backing up. She didn’t look at me as I am in charge, but Gia was in charge. Danielle entered the arena and showed me what to do. She took the whip and tapped her chest while tapping the halter on Gia's nose. Gia moved quickly and got straight out of Danielle’s space because Danielle was stern, not aggressive, and showed Gia she was the boss, not Gia. I took over again and we did this for 3 times as well with the last time Gia immediately backing up when I turned around barely using the whip. We ended it there and I was able to walk away gaining more confidence and skills to deal with Gia better when she throws temper tantrums."

 - Ashley S.

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