Gia - sessions 1180-1183 - more musings from Danielle and Gia

Monday 12/1/25 thru Friday 12/5/25:

This week was a little of the same and a few new things. We started out Monday and

Tuesday with the carrot ball and grooming like normal. As this has been going well, it is

almost time for me to see how she does with others. Before that, I wanted to make sure

that I was clear on how she felt with me doing the grooming. Going into this, I have

been fully aware that no matter what method I find for Gia to be groomed will involve 3

steps. First, I will find a method that works. Secondly, I will teach Heather what that

looks like and see if she can groom Gia with similar results. Finally, I will teach the

grooms and see if they are able to get similar results. Remember the idea of this

challenge is to make it possible for more people to work with Gia safely and effectively.

At any point, I may have to go back to the drawing board to make modifications. So, to

be sure I was fully aware of where we were, I mostly spent the time watching Gia the

first two days for small behavioral indications.

Often, I will tell my students that learning to communicate with horses is learning a

completely new, unspoken language. Neither they nor the horse are fluent in each

other’s language. While a horse may comprehend certain spoken words and many of us

can interpret a few clear “words” the horse expresses, we cannot explain the more

subtle words or actions. There is a fine line between acknowledging that the horse is a

sentient being with its own thoughts, feelings, and emotions and not saddling (pun

intended) them with human idiosyncrasies. Horses are like people in that they all have

different thresholds of tolerance, different personalities of their own and that they get

along with, and many have people they hold near and dear to their hearts. However,

horses don’t manipulate a situation or feelings. They tend to feel their feelings, express

them, and move on. A horse is not going to sit down with you and tell you that they feel

as if you don’t value their personal time when you take them away from food. They will

either accept your role as alpha and move away or they will tell you in their language.

Either way, it is important that your communication (in this case-we are leaving the hay

to work) stays consistent. IF a horse uses their primary form of communication to tell

you they are angry, it is not personal, nor is it an attack on you. It is simply how they talk

to each other. I could go on and on, but one of my favorite things to do when I have a

few minutes is just to watch the horses interact with each other. It helps me to learn their

language.

After doing this and feeling pretty confident on what Gia was telling me Monday and

Tuesday, I spent a little extra time working with her on her blanket and fly sheet. Every

day, Gia has to get her blanket or sheet on and off and it isn’t always her favorite.

Obviously, this is a good thing to practice to make everyone’s lives easier!

On Wednesday, I switched it up and worked on pulling Gia’s mane. Typically, Gia is a bit

more well kept as I focus on the details while the grooms do her basic grooming.

However, with all the challenges faced over the past few months, coupled with her

taking some time away from the show ring, she’s gotten a bit shaggy. Mane pulling used

to be something Gia HATED with passion. Heather spent years working with her on it. It

is still not her favorite, but she had gotten a lot better until her surgery last year. She

was a lot head shy for months after that and we are still working through some small

issues. The biggest challenge with Gia and doing her mane is that she likes to pull back

to try and get away. I worked on pulling her mane while reminding her to step forward

and rewarding her when she kept her feet still. I still have a bit to go, but we definitely

made progress!

Finally, on Friday, it was test time. Heather was going to groom Gia with the carrot ball!

Now, obviously Heather knows how to groom a horse. She also knows Gia and can

read horse body language. But I was there to watch, guide and interpret to her the small

things based on the knowledge I had gained by working with Gia over the past few

weeks with this project. Also, it was good practice for me to talk her through it so I can

do the same for the grooms. Gia was great! A few minutes into the session, she looked

up from her carrot ball to see me watching. There was a second of recognition and then

she looked back to see who was grooming her. She stopped to say hi to Heather and

allowed her to move on. Behavior wise, she was pretty consistent with Heather.

Comparatively speaking, she ate a bit faster with her carrots and more vehemently, but

this is a tool we gave her to regulate her own emotions, so that was perfectly fine! It

actually meant the carrot ball worked. There were a few spots where Gia wasn’t happy,

but she relaxed much quicker than she had been. Most exciting for me where the few

times Gia was visibly debating how she would react but chose to continue on with her

ball and display submission or relaxation. Ultimately, it was a great session and Heather

said she had fun grooming Gia again!

Hopefully, we continue on with this positive work into next week!