Tangled with Cash
I mentioned Cash a couple of posts back. We've been working together each week now- basically a session every Sunday, so I guess this was our fifth. Last week happened largely in the field because he didn't want to be caught and the other horses in his field didn't want him to be caught so I spent a long time teaching him to catch me. Then we did a little work, put my saddle on him and once he had quit broncing ( his standard reaction to pressure around his middle, which he finds it very hard to accept ) he started to realise he could still move with it on and that was where we quit.
Today we started out by doing a little work with the rope around his girth, to get him happy with moving with that there, first steady and then moving and changing as we walked along. Once I was happy with where he was with that from both sides I put the saddle on and got ready for some bumpiness.
Saddle goes on...
Cash then came with me for a gentle walk and trot with my saddle on.
He was absolutely perfect. Working on the right rein he wanted to drop behind me and I had to push him on a little, but once he got used to it he was great. A couple of times he got stuck ( the original problem that lead to me being asked to work with him ) but he found his own way out without needing to buck.
I'll just talk about using my saddle here. Cash is going to be ridden in regular tack for most of his life, no doubt, but I have an idea that if a horse can accept a big, heavy, western saddle with all it's dangly stuff, flappy stirrups and general nonsense, then he will be fine with the smaller, simpler English tack. Secondly, when you get on a horse for a first ride ( and he has been ridden before but with no foundation this was effectively a start, but as he had been so badly scared before we started at square -3 rather than square zero ) you have two choices if things get bad. Either you get off quick and do a bit more on the ground, or you stay with them. In the first case you want to be bareback, that is how Steve does his starting.
I don't have the balance to be reassuring to a horse bareback, so I went for the alternative of using a saddle that I'm pretty sure I can stay on in most situations. I can still get bucked out of it, for sure, but my saddle gives me the best possible chance not to and to get the situation under control again, so that's what I went for.
At this point, as you might expect, my camera battery went flat. Here are some low resolution phone pictures from the end of today's session.
Leaning over...
Sitting on the pony. He has a breastgirth on now because I didn't want the saddle to slip back as that would be disastrous for his confidence and my staying with him and having that on the saddle allowed me to be confident without having to cinch up so tight. It's not a great fit on my saddle though so it lies a bit low.
And away we go. He did absolutely brilliantly - I didn't need to use my leg or push him on really, just asked him to bend and he stepped off following the rein. We did a big, calm, gentle circle with him voluntarily keeping moving forward and then I called a stop and got off.
If there is anything in my horsemanship so far that I can honestly feel proud of it is the work I have done with this pony. Of course, he did all the hard stuff, I just had to help him through it as best as I know how, but he's done so well and I'm ever so pleased.
Today we started out by doing a little work with the rope around his girth, to get him happy with moving with that there, first steady and then moving and changing as we walked along. Once I was happy with where he was with that from both sides I put the saddle on and got ready for some bumpiness.
Saddle goes on...
Cash then came with me for a gentle walk and trot with my saddle on.
He was absolutely perfect. Working on the right rein he wanted to drop behind me and I had to push him on a little, but once he got used to it he was great. A couple of times he got stuck ( the original problem that lead to me being asked to work with him ) but he found his own way out without needing to buck.
I'll just talk about using my saddle here. Cash is going to be ridden in regular tack for most of his life, no doubt, but I have an idea that if a horse can accept a big, heavy, western saddle with all it's dangly stuff, flappy stirrups and general nonsense, then he will be fine with the smaller, simpler English tack. Secondly, when you get on a horse for a first ride ( and he has been ridden before but with no foundation this was effectively a start, but as he had been so badly scared before we started at square -3 rather than square zero ) you have two choices if things get bad. Either you get off quick and do a bit more on the ground, or you stay with them. In the first case you want to be bareback, that is how Steve does his starting.
I don't have the balance to be reassuring to a horse bareback, so I went for the alternative of using a saddle that I'm pretty sure I can stay on in most situations. I can still get bucked out of it, for sure, but my saddle gives me the best possible chance not to and to get the situation under control again, so that's what I went for.
At this point, as you might expect, my camera battery went flat. Here are some low resolution phone pictures from the end of today's session.
Leaning over...
Sitting on the pony. He has a breastgirth on now because I didn't want the saddle to slip back as that would be disastrous for his confidence and my staying with him and having that on the saddle allowed me to be confident without having to cinch up so tight. It's not a great fit on my saddle though so it lies a bit low.
And away we go. He did absolutely brilliantly - I didn't need to use my leg or push him on really, just asked him to bend and he stepped off following the rein. We did a big, calm, gentle circle with him voluntarily keeping moving forward and then I called a stop and got off.
If there is anything in my horsemanship so far that I can honestly feel proud of it is the work I have done with this pony. Of course, he did all the hard stuff, I just had to help him through it as best as I know how, but he's done so well and I'm ever so pleased.