Ariana continued
By the end of week 2 we had the saddle on and girth tight with Ariana. She strode around in circles confidently despite the strange thing wrapped around her.
Between sessions I would walk her around the big barn, inside and out, letting her get used to it. We started walking her through the trees and by the pond, trying to go ahead and desensitize her to odd sights and sounds now, BEFORE I'm on her back.
Surprisingly enough, she was fine the first day we took her away from her herd, the 1/4 mile or so down the driveway and into the big, empty, 14-stall barn. So fine that we brought her into a prepared stall, turned some circles, and threw on a saddle. I want to end this paragraph with, "She's such a brave girl!" but the truth is, she's an Arab.
She's smart, but prone to flightiness. She trusts us, and we've been doing stuff with her in stalls every day, so she's good for us in the stall (which is the whole point of doing this every day!). But I'm sure once we get her going outside the barn she'll find plenty to spook at.
Today was the start of week 3!
Ariana played hard-to-catch today. After about 5-10 minutes we had her haltered and walking up to the barn. Up there we tried to groom her but she'd rolled in so much muck there was no way she'd be clean without a bath. I might try to work on that tomorrow.
Once "groomed," we put the bridle on her for the first time. Surprisingly, she took it easy and without a fight. I put the crown piece over her ears and she started playing with the bit. She didn't really stop playing with the bit for about ten minutes. We put the halter over the bridle to let her just get used to the feel of the bit in her mouth without having anyone yanking it around, and as we saddled her up she started to settle.
By the time we took off her saddle, she'd mostly stopped playing with the bit (not that playing is a bad thing). I'm sure it'll be a few more days till she's completely relaxed with the bit in.
Between sessions I would walk her around the big barn, inside and out, letting her get used to it. We started walking her through the trees and by the pond, trying to go ahead and desensitize her to odd sights and sounds now, BEFORE I'm on her back.
Surprisingly enough, she was fine the first day we took her away from her herd, the 1/4 mile or so down the driveway and into the big, empty, 14-stall barn. So fine that we brought her into a prepared stall, turned some circles, and threw on a saddle. I want to end this paragraph with, "She's such a brave girl!" but the truth is, she's an Arab.
She's smart, but prone to flightiness. She trusts us, and we've been doing stuff with her in stalls every day, so she's good for us in the stall (which is the whole point of doing this every day!). But I'm sure once we get her going outside the barn she'll find plenty to spook at.
Today was the start of week 3!
Ariana played hard-to-catch today. After about 5-10 minutes we had her haltered and walking up to the barn. Up there we tried to groom her but she'd rolled in so much muck there was no way she'd be clean without a bath. I might try to work on that tomorrow.
Once "groomed," we put the bridle on her for the first time. Surprisingly, she took it easy and without a fight. I put the crown piece over her ears and she started playing with the bit. She didn't really stop playing with the bit for about ten minutes. We put the halter over the bridle to let her just get used to the feel of the bit in her mouth without having anyone yanking it around, and as we saddled her up she started to settle.
By the time we took off her saddle, she'd mostly stopped playing with the bit (not that playing is a bad thing). I'm sure it'll be a few more days till she's completely relaxed with the bit in.