First thing was have her pack the saddle, uncinched, to the round pen , which meant down the hill, squeeze between the fence and the trailer that is parked in the lane, past daddy Beamer's pen and on to the round pen. We started with rope work again, that is, Shayla did while I videoed.
As you can see we got a little more thorough, moving the rope to 3 different positions including flanking her. I guess she will never make it as a rodeo bucking horse! What a good li'l filly.
Since that went so well we moved on to saddling her. We just threw the saddle on and cinched it up, including the back cinch. Snug enough to keep it in place if she did get to bucking and not so tight as to constrict her breathing or worry her. The back cinch was done up snug against her belly.
The aim was to make it a good experience, keep her happy and that's pretty much how it went.
She has been wearing that saddle every day at feeding time for a couple of weeks now, so it is familiar to her. And all the sacking out I did last fall and winter paid off.
She did get a little looky on the right side, trying to inspect that thing attached to her. But pretty much the whole session was relaxed and on a loose leadline.
Love the way her forelock hairs look like an upside down heart
After we were done we uncinched her and had her carry the saddle back up to the hill to the barn.
Then it was time to do something with Ice, and Shayla decided that she would saddle her up and pony her from Rose and we would introduce her to the river. This would be her first real trail ride saddled up.
Once again, things went really well.
She did super, the only thing that surprised her was when she was led into the river, she jumped a couple of strides and then went across like an ole broke horse.
She took her back across a deeper part that was up to her stirrups and she was very good. What a cool li'l 2 yr old!
On the way back we went the route that took us through the big cement barriers that Gussie had her little wreck at. She did get amped up and worried, so I got off and led her slowly through and then used the blocks to climb up on to get back in the saddle, trying to make it all a good experience for the silly red mare.
There is a video of Ice's day, but since Shayla said she is going to fire up her blog again I'll leave it for her to show, and I'll post a link to it once she has it up.
All in all, a pretty rewarding day!
Riding day 65
5 comments:
We have some of those same barrier blocks. They’re scary at first.
Good Mesa! She’s a rock star! It seems easy for her.
You and Shayla have been so busy this last month with rides and training. You’re living the life. ❤️
Must feel rewarding to accomplish so much with the younger horses!! You sure keep it interesting for them, and you as well. That is a tight squeeze between the barriers.
:) Fun days for you! Gussie looks like she did great going through the barriers...I wonder what she doesn't like about them.
What a good little filly- and she's very cute too!
Sounds like great things are coming her way!
BTW- I love the picture of you on Beamer on your header!
Barbara
Far Side- those barriers are where we had our mini wreck- Tay had gone through first and stopped right there to sniff something and Gussie just about stepped on her. causing the dog to freak, and Gussie freaked too and tried to turn to get away from the dog, but couldn't because she was in that narrow space. So we had a li'l rodeo, and Gussie scraped her leg but I stayed on and the scrape wasn't too bad. Gussie is an emotional horse and hangs on to bad memories.
Post a Comment