Gia - sessions 1153-1156 - change of plans - grooming ground work

Gia has recently had a behavior change.  I'm not sure exactly why, but regardless of why, I am putting her riding work on hold for a little bit, and taking a step back to work on her behavior on the ground, and to help her become a better equine citizen around her people.  She hasn't always been the easiest horse to groom, but lately, she has taken an extra turn for the worse.  Her reactions to being touched or curried or brushed in any way, especially in a way she doesn't like, have become a bit extreme - stomping her front feet, trying to bite, trying to kick with her back feet.  She has always been a bit "displeased" with anyone's touch other than myself or her favorite groom, Danielle,.  If a groom was ever having trouble with her, as soon as Danielle would step in to help, Gia would act as if nothing at all had happened, and she was happy as a clam, even leaning into being brushed, and acting like it was her favorite thing ever.  If ever a horse had a favorite groom, it was definitely Gia!  However, she has even become grumpy with Danielle at times as well.  Hence, the step back to behavior modification:

Tuesday - I coached Mariana through "grooming" Gia.  It's not really about getting Gia groomed or clean, it's more about getting Gia comfortable with Mariana and her touch.  She used the curry comb, and as soon as she hit a spot that Gia didn't like, she stuck with it until Gia gave a sign of relaxation, or even a sign of something positive, like her ears going even the tiniest bit forward.  There were a LOT of spots that Gia "didn't like", and it took a while, in the beginning, for Gia to give a positive response, but she did start to give them, and even possibly gave one or two a little quicker by the end.  I did have to coach Mariana to keep her eyes on Gia's ears and expression the entire time, for the tiniest reactions, positive or negative, so that she could be sure to reward at the right moment.  I also had to coach her to "groom" very slowly, so that she could catch just the right "spot" that triggered Gia's negative reaction.  

Wednesday - Danielle worked with Gia on the grooming.  One of the grooming tools that we have for Gia is a pair of grooming gloves.  She has LOVED these in the past.  Danielle noticed that she was way more reactive to the gloves, so she tried the regular curry comb, and she was much less reactive to that.  When Danielle initially used the curry comb, Gia thought she was going to hate it, so she turned quickly towards Danielle, but instead of pulling away, Danielle stopped and let her check it out.  Gia took the curry comb from Danielle in her mouth and dropped it on the ground! 😅 So, Danielle picked it up and repeated trying to groom her with it.  Gia turned again, non-aggressively, and took it again, and dropped it again!  The third time that Danielle attempted to use the curry comb, Gia turned her head towards Danielle, but did not take the brush.  Rather, she touched Danielle's shoulder, sighed and then turned back around and relaxed into the grooming.  Perhaps she realized who was brushing her?  Perhaps, Danielle has a slightly different feel when she grooms?  Again, who knows.  But her behavior still needs to change with other people.

Friday - I worked with Gia on her grooming.  I decided not to use a brush at all, but rather just to touch her with my hand.  I had to get some Swat on her belly where she had some fly bites, so I started there.  I had to find where on her belly she needed the Swat, so I started up front.  As soon as I placed my hand on her underline, she immediately reacted VERY negatively.  I just kept my hand in place, not moving it around like a curry, but not REmoving it when she tried to intimidate me with her naughty behavior either.  As soon as I saw a glimpse of positive behavior, I immediately took my hand away and told her "good girl".  I didn't say anything to her at all when she was being naughty.  I repeated all of this as I placed my hand on her belly further and further back until I found where I needed to apply the Swat.  Her behavior never improved for the initial touch of my hand, but she did always eventually give me a positive behavior.

Saturday - Danielle started by just touching Gia with her hand all over like a curry comb.  There was one spot where Gia flicked her ears back, so Danielle paused in that spot, but Gia almost immediately relaxed.  Otherwise, Danielle did not illicit the violently negative behavior that the rest of us did this week.  After Danielle "groomed" Gia entirely with her hand, she switched to the real curry comb.  She started off using the brush softly, but after a few minutes Gia was leaning into it, so Danielle increased the pressure as well.  When Danielle approached the belly area with the curry comb, Gia tensed momentarily, then relaxed into it, and even stretched her neck out and obviously enjoyed it.  Danielle was able to curry Gia all over her body with very little negativity, and certainly nothing to the degree that I or the other grooms had experienced this week.  

So, it appears that Gia's issue is not a "physical" issue.  It's not a problem with where she is being brushed or with the brush itself.  Her problem seems to be with the PERSON who is doing the grooming.  Since she is currently offended by me grooming her.  I plan to be the one that takes on that task starting next week.  We'll see how it goes ...