Gia - sessions 1215-1217 More of the same, brief but good!

 Monday Feb 9th-On Monday, we split the time grooming Gia. She was probably happier with her time being groomed by Ashley than me, for once. It’s past time I tackled Gia’s very thick, large mane. Having her mane pulled has never been a preferred activity of Gia’s. The goal is for her to stand still and allow me to pull it neatly. She prefers to throw her head up. This isn’t an uncommon reaction, but with Gia, when she throws her head up, she hits the roof of the barn…we will continue to work on this with Gia and hopefully soon, get her mane washed, as well. Stay tuned…

**Tuesday and Wednesday-I (Danielle) was out of town. I know Gia saw our favorite chiropractor, Dr Jim, while I was gone. He confirmed she was sensitive to her feet, but due to a condition called thrush. This is very common especially with weather conditions as weird as we’ve had lately. Despite being in a drought, we had a lot of “moisture” (frozen) sitting on the ground for quite a while. We should be able to treat and eliminate the thrush pretty quickly! As always though, when a problem arises with Gia, we need to be willing to listen to what she’s telling us. I will say Heather and I have gotten much better through the years at “hearing” her and when we do, we can fix a problem much quicker.

Thursday, February 12th-I worked a few horses on Thursday that were pushed aside when I was out of town. Unfortunately, I wasn’t doing anything fun but was at a family member’s funeral. I wouldn’t choose to go away mid workweek, but that’s not how these things work. However, with horses, consistency is key. I didn’t have a lot of time (or help) to work with Gia, so I made this day’s work a quick one. I did pick out her feet (She seemed confused that I hadn’t groomed her first) and treat them for thrush. She was very good at this. Maybe she gets that we are helping her? Then I just brushed her mane with a comb and gave her some snuggles. She enjoyed most of this session!

Friday, February 13th-I decided to let Chloe do almost everything with Gia. We still didn’t tackle her feet, but I want to wait until they are all better before having the grooms pick her feet out. I don’t want to set back any of the hard work we’ve all been putting in. Here’s what Chloe had to say:

"Gia did great today. She really enjoyed the curry comb and even dropped her left hip for me so I could really get in there! She did lift her back leg a couple of times, and her chest and belly button area seemed to be her trigger points, but using Danielle’s method helped us work through it and we were able to have a positive grooming session. I love how this whole process helps people understand and recognize Gia’s intentions. She isn’t trying to be mean: just tell you that area is sensitive! Perhaps she does need to work on her communication skills: but then again, who doesn’t?"

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