A Beautiful Day

Well, we didn't get our lesson. The truck wanted the day off (dead battery). So that is postponed but I had a good conversation with Angie, the trainer.

The weather yesterday was glorious, so we had a horseplay day. Halla was not thrilled.

She was having an especially bad day yesterday. I'm not sure if she was expecting something bad because we had a bad ride (we did end on a good note) or if she's hormonal or what, but it really doesn't matter. My job was just to go with the flow and try to create a positive interaction.

We are going to work on giving to the halter or bit in any situation, whether it be stressful or not. Starting with not. We are going to go back to the snaffle. She was very pleasantly surprised by that. She gave nicely laterally and vertically and gave me a nice back-up as well (on the ground).

Aren't they cute? It's hard to get either of them to stay back for a picture.

Juniper got to try on the treeless saddle at liberty. She could leave if she wanted to, and she did, but being a curious donkey in need of love and entertainment, she came right back every time.

She thought about it a lot.

And decided it's not so bad.

Especially with a little support from a friend.

 When I cinched her up it made her uncomfortable and she moved into me, so that was a little awkward. But that was the most interesting moment. Of course she has been saddled twice before with a pack saddle, but that was a long time ago.

Halla wanted nothing to do with a saddle, which was fine because I didn't want to ride her! We worked on disengaging the hindquarters, and separating the cue of lateral flexion while standing still, then disengaging the hindquarters. She wanted to anticipate a lot. Also, I had to be very patient to let her think for a moment after a release of pressure, to let her get to the let-down, or lick and chew, to know she was fully ready to move on. I think with her laid back demeanor she's been rushed, which hasn't allowed her to truly be comfortable.  Then later, she got bored with my waiting on her. It's a fine line we walk. :)

After a nice big lunch, Liam wanted to ride Sawyer. Yay!

 Not the greatest pics, but I have to take what I can get with this boy.

Scout wanted to come out so badly he eagerly came when I called him (twice because I couldn't find his halter). You can barely see Liam and Sawyer just above the fence rail in the picture below.

Mmmmm. Coffee. These Contigo cups are the best! They don't leak! Throw them in your saddle bag, even!

I had spent the morning organizing the tack room in the trailer, moving saddles, and I put my fleece seat saver on my new Cashel saddle, which is already comfortable without it. So I rode. I shouldn't have, because I was almost toppling over sometimes walking. But Scout is really good in our round pen dojo. We only stepped outside it for a few minutes.

I even got John to ride his horse by telling him how soft and cozy the new saddle is with the fleece on it. :) I am going to buy him one of these saddles too. I found an even cheaper one that's in better shape! Hope she doesn't sell it to someone else or have second thoughts about shipping it. I'm going to sell the roper and the Circle Y. I love saddles. But I especially love this Cashel saddle.