Gia - sessions 1262-1268 - lots of challenging days!

 I got a little behind with Gia’s blog last week so this week will cover two weeks!

Monday, May 11- I ended the last blog with a head’s up that there was a new delivery at the farm. A lot of the week will be dedicated to helping her adjust. Heather is in the process of giving the arena a major upgrade: TruTex footing! Currently, she still has a bit of work to do to prepare the arena, so we have 4 very large packages (mattress size) of fiber footing next to the arena. This also means that all the horses have to walk past the packages to go into the barn. Many of the horses were a bit bothered by the giant white bags, but they moved on past it quickly. Gia, however, as expected, needed some more time. I expected Gia would have a hard time with the change, so I had Ashley bring her in and head towards the barn by exiting through the further gate. I was prepared to step in and help out if needed. As expected, Gia stopped in her tracks and planted her feet while snorting once she saw the packages. I came over and led Gia in. She was more willing to walk with me but was still nervous. For her work this day, we ventured to the bags with a clicker and treats. The goal is simple: touch the scary things. The action is a lot harder. It took quite a bit of time and patience for Gia to be willing to touch each bag. She knows clicker training very well and is willing to try, but these were a challenge. Not only did I ask her to touch them from outside the ring, but I asked her to walk into the arena with me and approach the opposite sides of the bags. It took a while, but eventually we were able to touch all but one of the bags.

Tuesday, May 12- Gia was willing to slowly walk into the barn past the bags with Mariana. She was, however, a bit more antsy about her grooming. I’m sure this is because her anxiety level was already raised due to the bags. I worked with Mariana on predicting Gia’s behavior and trying to stay one step ahead. If I am able to predict that Gia is going to react, I usually tell her to quit and oftentimes, she will not even do the naughty behavior. Now that the grooms are more comfortable with her, I want them to start watching and anticipating her actions. After completing her grooming, Gia and I again worked with the clicker and the big, scary bags. She was much faster touching the bags on Tuesday and touched all of them from outside the arena and inside. She did a great job facing her fears.

Wednesday, May 13- Gia did much better walking past the bags. Ashley was able to lead her in and only briefly looked at the bags. When I worked with her, I started with the clicker and Gia walked right up to the bags and touched them without issue. We went into the arena, and I lunged her in the corner by the bags. She was very distracted at first and quite spooky whenever she had to move past them. It took a few minutes and a lot of transitions and changes of directions, but Gia was able to work through her anxiousness until she was paying attention to me.

Friday, May 15- I had intended on Friday to lunge Gia by the big, scary bags and then hop on. However, the barn received a very nice gift of a table (with umbrella) from a student. It was set up by the arena. Gia walked over to the bags but stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the table. I already had the clicker, so we worked through that and lunged in the corner again. There is always next week to ride! Gia has a lot of nerves, and I want her to feel comfortable when she is working.

Tuesday, May 19- By Tuesday, Gia had accepted the bags and table. However, as is always the way, we had a new challenge. The barn aisle had been under maintenance for awhile and the mats were placed back down on Tuesday. In an attempt to keep them flat, we had cinderblocks holding the corners of the mats. Most of the horses were willing to walk over the blocks, but I wanted to work with Gia coming in myself. Therefore, I had Mariana take her to the tree to groom. Historically, areas aside from the main crossties have proven to be difficult for Gia to cope. This still seems to be the case. Gia was better than she had been in the past, but still needed to work on her feelings at the tree. Mariana was able to work through the grooming with Gia and I let that be Gia’s work for the day. This was a big step for both of them.

Wednesday, May 20th - Gia made more forward steps! She still needed to go to the tree for grooming as I wasn’t available when she first came in. Gia was actually quite well behaved for the grooming at the tree with Ashley. I’m glad she made progress in working with others at the tree. However, when Ashley went to saddle her, Gia had other feelings. She became quite anxious and began picking up her feet and stomping. Ashley waited for a moment of relaxation and pulled the saddle off. Ashley came to get me and let me know what challenges she was having. I went to work with Gia on the saddling at the tree and she did pretty well. These episodes show me how she is learning and what I can do to help her. Just like most of us, Gia’s patience and attitude are affected by her stress level. This was still a huge improvement. I then took the remainder of the time with Gia to work on her walking into the main crossties with the cinderblocks. I had the clicker with me and gave her a click and a treat when she walked into the barn. She did a fantastic job. Considering how spooky Gia can be, she handled this challenge very well.

Friday, May 22nd - Friday led to big steps forward! Gia walked into the barn and stood in the main crossties with Chloe. She was able to handle grooming and tacking even with the obstacles around her. I was finally able to hop back on! Gia definitely saved up some energy and excitement over the two weeks of not being ridden. She was anxious and all of a sudden, remembered the bags. Gia skidded to a stop and tried to back up when we were walking. I put my focus on keeping her feet moving and attention on me. It took a few minutes, but after a few more little silly things, Gia was ready to move on. Once we got moving, she was much more relaxed and accepting of my commands. Hopefully soon, we will get to work without the harrowing first few minutes! I was happy with how our ride ended.

 - Danielle