Tangled with Cash
4 April 2011 00:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronI 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.
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no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2011 23:24 (UTC)And that is *quite* the saddle...
no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2011 23:27 (UTC)I'll get a proper one made at some point...
no subject
Date: 5 Apr 2011 08:17 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Apr 2011 10:17 (UTC)Now I just have to set things up so he's ready for someone to offer him a good home, so I don't have to...
allezbleu again
Date: 11 Apr 2011 20:54 (UTC)an excellent saddle for stickability in breaking sharp youngsters is an australian stock saddle - much better than western saddles and very comfy too. Im sure youll probably encounter then in oz if you havent already ;)
i hope you dont find my comments too upsetting!
Re: allezbleu again
Date: 11 Apr 2011 21:29 (UTC)Having more structure than an English or Aussie style saddle, the weight is better spread, making it easier for a horse to carry and the structure also made it much easier for me to get on from the ground, which was part of the goal as I didn't want to have to have to deal with a phobia of mounting blocks for a two minute circuit of the school. Easier to fix one thing at a time.
It's always a judgement call and I certainly wouldn't use that saddle with him for anything more than I did - if you see the photos in my latest post he's working in an english saddle - but the fit is not as bad as you think and for the job I needed to get done with that horse at that time, it was good enough.
The problem I have with regular western saddles and with most things with knee-rolls is that my legs aren't the same shape as everyone else's and they tend to fall in the wrong place, so I prefer my slick fork or a really spare dressage saddle. I'll probably get to try a proper stock saddle while I'm out there in the next few weeks so I'll know more how I feel about those then...