All The Kings' Horses

  Danielle here, again. This week I embarked on my mission to find a way to keep Gia happy while being groomed. We tried a few different things, and, possibly, an answer! Monday 11/17/25 - There is a horse enrichment toy called a lick-it. It’s basically a hanging round tube that holds a lickable treat. Our horses are kept on turn-out 24/7 typically, but we do have a few toys available for them when they have to go on stall rest. The lick-it is one of these that we use. We also have used just the treat portion as a way to distract some younger or finicky horses during vet or farrier visits. I decided to try this first with Gia. I started by getting her treated for her wounds and fungus before the grooming. She was okay with this and, thankfully, the fungus issue has almost completely resolved. Next, I put the lickit in a feed pan in front of Gia and untied her from the crossties. She was quite interested in it at first but became frustrated that she couldn’t take a big bite out of t...

I am stepping away from riding and working my own horses for a few weeks to get a few big projects completed.  During that time, Danielle will be working with Gia and writing her blog.  They had a busy week last week ...  Gia’s Blog 11/11-14/25 Danielle here. I worked with Gia last week on grooming and treating her fungus. I will say it was an interesting week! On Tuesday, I worked with Gia in the same manner as I had been for years. I am familiar [to her], and she is a bit more patient with my touches. It is not necessarily a favoritism situation as much as I provide her with an expected, consistent experience. However, our mutual affection for each other does not hurt (usually…). Before the show, I had some time to bring in Gia and give her an antifungal bath with prescription strength shampoo. My hope was that this would get the fungal issue under control. Additionally, Heather was able to find her a flysheet that fit her while we were at the show. So, we came into thi...

 Monday 11/3/25 I started with Gia by treating several wounds she has - just minor cuts and scrapes, but it's better if I just go ahead and get those out of the way first.  She also has a bit of fungus here and there - near her shoulders, elbows, and a little under her belly.   When I have been working with Gia on the grooming, I have been doing it with her off the crossties, and just with her leadline attached to her halter, but without having her tied to anything fixed. On this day, I noticed that when she became anxious about a place that she didn't like to be touched - her shoulder, elbow, belly, etc., she would tense up and start to get upset, but because she was loose, she started to seek out something to eat.  She started to use food as a distraction.  Not really surprising, since I often have used grain, or allowed her to graze, as a distraction from something like having her mane pulled or being clipped.  So, I would allow her to go for it, an...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, so I apologize for just now getting around to Gia's blogs.  I have been doing a lot of detective work with her issues going on, and I do think I have figured it out.  It also might explain some attitude that we see in other horses we have. Monday 10/20 - I once again worked on massaging Gia's neck.  She really has gotten into this and is pretty much enjoying it, for the most part. Tuesday 10/21 - Ditto Wednesday 10/22 - Danielle worked with her on this day since I wasn't feeling well.  She also massaged her neck, and said that Gia was great for it!  (Gia's always great for Danielle though, so take this one with a grain of salt 😉) Friday 10/24 - I was back at it again.  I massaged her neck, treated a few wounds that she had, and groomed her a little, as well.  She did fairly well with all of it.  If I came across a spot that she didn't like (expressed by ear pinning, turning to bite, trying to kick, etc), I kept ...