Gia - sessions 1198 - 1205 Gia and Danielle make some BIG progress and have some fun too!

 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 surprise, but there are times when Gia uses her size to try and intimidate the feeders into giving her their attention and food! She is exceptionally large and, perhaps, a bit hangry at times. However, Gia (and her “mean girls” field mates) have learned to respect the space of the feeders and they, in turn, have learned to deal with the girls in the field. Often when we have a new feeder, they choose to do some one on one work with Gia and me to become more comfortable with her. I enjoy these opportunities as I am able to show people a different side of Gia. It also helps them to see that Gia is not always perfectly behaved for me, but to see how I handle it and move on. For this session, we started with a bit of a demonstration of natural horsemanship using focus work in the arena. In this exercise, my goal is to have Gia accept me as the alpha and to show me the respect that she would show an alpha horse. If I move my feet, she needs to move hers. If I walk, she follows. If I move towards her, she needs to back up. All her focus should be on me and indicating that she is submissive to me. Heather and I have done a TON of this type of work with Gia, so she is familiar and happy to comply. I genuinely believe she thoroughly enjoys these encounters. After demonstrating this and feeling Gia was completely focused on me, I moved forward with her work and took her to the crossties. I wanted to address a common issue the feeders face. Regularly, the feeders must put on/off Gia’s blanket and/or flysheet. Gia oftentimes picks up her left hind foot to test what her handler will do. If they back off, they have essentially “told” Gia that she is the alpha and has the upper hand. This seemed like a good thing to work on after the focus work. Whenever Gia picks up her foot, I firmly tell her to put it down. If she does not immediately put her foot down, I will tap her leg with a whip. It is important to note that this is not a punishing hit or a painful one. Usually, Gia responds to my verbal cue, but needs the reinforcement from others. After working with our new feeder, I ended our session with a little game where I was working with Gia on bowing. We did this a long time ago and it is quite difficult for Gia to get her very large body down to the ground, but it is a fun game to play with her. Sometimes, Gia will literally put her giant head on the ground and try to balance!

Wednesday 1/7/2026-I was alone with Gia, and we reviewed her work with the carrot ball. This was in preparation for some changes. *spoiler alert* Gia has been getting a bit overstimulated with the carrot ball and frustrated when it runs out. I used this session to watch and see what her body language had to tell me.

Friday 1/9/2026- I began Gia’s work with myself grooming. Gia was quite responsive and I did the curry comb and hard brush. These two brushes can be the ones that could possibly cause some discomfort if a horse is sensitive or has any unseen injuries such as a cut or scrape. Gia was cooperative and seemed to enjoy her grooming on this day! I decided to have our groom assistant, Chloe, step in and try Gia’s soft and mane brush! These two are Gia’s favorites. I was coaching Chloe through reading Gia’s body language. Every time Gia became anxious, I had her stop and wait for a sign of relaxation. When Gia demonstrated that, Chloe would give her verbal praise and break. During this process, there were a few times when Gia needed this redirection, but mostly, her carrot ball did the trick! By the time Chloe had moved on to brushing Gia’s mane (she loves her hair played with) she was stretching and
relaxing. Gia stretched her neck out and showed many signs of relaxation and enjoyment.

Monday 1/12/2026-I continued working with Gia and her grooming in the crossties. I began without using the carrot ball, at all. Previously, whenever Gia began to show signs of being anxious during grooming, I would stop and allow her to relax. As I was grooming Gia, I began to realize that she had figured out the cues to make me stop and was doing so quickly. I want to push her window of tolerance, so I changed the rules a little bit. As I was grooming Gia if she didn’t like a certain area, I would still stop and allow her to process, but when she relaxed, I did not move away. I praised her and continued. It took Gia a few times to understand, but I also equally praised her for relaxing without an anxious precursor. This all went very well. It also helps that Gia is beginning to shed so grooming feels good right now. I will take all the natural help I can get. Finally, it’s about time to work on putting the saddle back on Gia. I do want to do it gradually, however. Before I put the saddle on, I want Gia to allow me to put her saddle pad on without a reaction. So, I brought out the carrot ball. The challenge I have recently faced with the carrot ball is how quickly she moves on. However, I figured it would be a useful tool to use when putting the saddle pad on her back as this is a quick action. I allowed Gia to have her carrot ball, and I slowly placed the saddle pad on her back. She was fantastic! There was not any tension or anxiety related to the saddle pad, so I placed it on her back and took it off three times. That is where we ended the session and both of us were quite pleased!

Tuesday 1/13/2026-Tuesday was almost a complete repeat of Monday. Gia was a bit more comfortable with the changes I implemented on Monday. We had another fabulous session with zero reaction to the saddle pad!

Wednesday 1/14/2026-On Wednesday, I started doing the same work with Gia and grooming. Everything was great so I added something new: HER SADDLE! Now, obviously, Gia has had a saddle on many, many times, but it has been a long while. One reason I wanted to really be sure she was ready is due to the size discrepancy between us. In order for me to properly place Gia’s saddle, I need to stand on a stool. This would not have been safe when Gia was acting out or moving around. Safety needs to be our number one priority. After three good sessions with the saddle pad, I felt confident adding in the saddle. I have been using the stool occasionally to groom Gia’s back and rump for a few weeks, but she generally enjoys that so using the stool for the saddle can be a bit different. However, all went great! I used the carrot ball and placed Gia’s full pad, half pad and saddle on her back. I adjusted the position of the saddle all without her getting upset. I did not add the girth into the mix yet as I want to wait until I have 3 good sessions like this first, but that will be the next step! After that, Gia will be ready to start riding again. It will be a slow process to get her back in riding shape, but we are getting close.

Friday 1/16/2026-While the goal of getting Gia back under saddle is of course a priority, we do still need to keep working with her and other people. Essentially, Gia has 2 paths of her training depending on when our groom assistants are available or working with other horses. When I can incorporate them into the work, I am helping them learn and observing how Gia is doing with others. I do not expect her to be perfect, but she does need to respond to their commands. Remember, our goal here is that other people can groom and saddle Gia safely and effectively as I am not always available. We ended up being able to have Chloe help us again and we built upon our work from the prior week. I had Chloe begin with taking off Gia’s blanket and reinforcing the expectation that she would keep her feet down. Then I had Chloe do most of her currying and hard brushing. I noticed an increase in anxiety from Gia when Chloe approached the area of her chest and belly with the brushes. I didn’t want to push it as we were having success with grooming in other areas. Gia seems to not be sure yet that the brushes on her belly will not irritate her as they did before. She did allow me to step in and curry those areas quite happily. I want her to feel respected but also reinforce those things that will be done and, with time, by anyone. Chloe did a fantastic job listening to Gia’s body language and they had a great session. Additionally, Gia saw our amazing chiropractor, Dr Jim Meyer, on Thursday. We LOVE Dr Jim and all he does for our horses. Gia, however, is not a fan. This isn’t personal, but doctors are scary and they must find where the pain is to help ease it. I will say, though, Gia was great for her appointment on Thursday. Even Dr Jim commented on how gentle and well behaved she was! She got some extra snuggles from both Heather and me for her gold star behavior. Hopefully, these positive trends will continue as 2026 progresses.