All The Kings' Horses

This has been an eventful week here in Knightdale! We are currently in the middle of an ugly winter storm that has brought little snow and lots of ice. This week the farm was a buzz with storm preparations. Some of those even involved Gia… Monday January 19th - On Monday, I worked with Gia at a “new” location. Primarily, Gia has been working in our main crosstie area. However, I would love for her to be able to be groomed in multiple locations. Due to her very large size, we are limited to only a few grooming spots, though. We have a tree with a tie that can be used for large horses to be groomed. I have groomed Gia here many times in the past, but of late, it does seem to be a bit triggering. I opted to try and work with her at the tree and take it very slowly. As it turned out, this was a good plan. For whatever reason, Gia was very anxious standing at the tree. As an added challenge, I cannot easily use the carrot ball at the tree. As soon as I started working with Gia, she was obvi...

 This blog is a long one as it spans two weeks. Gia has been working hard at her 2026 resolutions (with a little help from me: Danielle)! Monday 1/5/2026- I worked with Gia on her grooming in the cross ties. Gia had, unfortunately, started the year with a bit of a virus [veterinarian tested, and NEGATIVE for EHV]. It was nothing major, most likely just a cold, but Gia is a bit of a baby when she isn’t feeling well. She tends to be a bit short-tempered, so I really took it easy on her when she wasn’t quite 100 percent. Just like many of us, when we don’t feel well, we are not able to process new information. Because Gia is quick to take steps backwards, I opted to keep it simple and slowly reintegrate the work I’ve been doing. I was pleased that Gia was accepting grooming and ready to move forward. Tuesday 1/6/2026-While Gia is currently on a hiatus from regular grooming/work, there are some employees that still must work with her daily: our feeders. This will probably not come as a...

Monday Dec 29, Tuesday Dec 30, Friday Jan 2: Happy New Year! With the holiday this week, Gia and I had a slightly shorter week. I continued to do more of the same work. We worked on blanketing and grooming with mixed success. The past two weeks have been a bit crazy around the farm between holidays, field movements, schedules being off (farrier, hay, feed, in addition to ours!), etc. All of that can lead to some tension in both the horses and the people. Gia had mixed reactions this week and we definitely have some 2026 resolutions! I just need to get Gia onboard….stay tuned for those adventures.  - Danielle