A little golden riding horse

[glenatron]

Now that Cash is settled and starting to feel sounder on his feet, it seemed like a good time to get him thinking about working again. After some nice groundwork the last couple of days I thought it might be good to get on him today.

It still took a while to get him ready to wear the saddle - with him you can't take anything as totally read, so it's safer to do some work with a rope around his barrel than to have him get anxious when you girth up and risk tangling in the saddle. We did most of our groundwork with the saddle so that he would be accustomed to it. Also because the girth had to go up a whole lot once he had breathed a bit.



Just got on. Because I'm treating him as a restart I'm effectively going through the mounting process much as I would with a baby, making sure he is comfortable with each step, taking nothing for granted. Once I am settled in the saddle he gets a pony treat, which helps him settle and over time will give him the idea he waits before he goes.


He was finding it a little hard to flex to the rein. He's obviously done enough riding that he has learned to pull. We can fix that easily enough.


He doesn't look as ridiculously small with me as I though he might. He seems to carry me quite comfortably.


I'M RIDING A SPARKLE!!!

It was only about five minutes riding but he did really well and I think it gives us a nice foundation to build on. Cash is a very clever little horse and I'm very proud of him.

Comments

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He's the type of horse who thinks that pretty much everything is the end of the world for the first thirty seconds and then realises it hasn't killed him and does well. I think he'll get a lot better with it, but it will always tend to be his nature. I expect our first few rides out to be somewhat snorty.