I went down early this morning to mess with Buddy a little, since someone was coming today to take a look at him. I did not plan on getting on him.
I have saddled Buddy two other times and he is solid as a rock, so I generally saddle him over by the tack shed. Again, the groundwork has led him to be a pretty calm solid gelding.
I did all of the basic things I did yesterday to start with. I want to make sure there are no holes in what we are doing today. A horse is a living, breathing, thinking animal...what he sees on a daily basis can change how he reacts to stimuli. So, no holes means...where is his attitude / brain today.
Everything went as expected and he was pretty solid on the ground. So I leaned on the stirrups a little, bounced around him and jumped toward and into him. I want him to be ready for anything.
He did really well, so I thought "I'll just step into one stirrup". He never flinched. So I stood in one stirrup, and laid across the saddle, on both sides several times. He did really well.
I next thought, "this is going good, I think I'll just swing a leg over". Again, he just stood there like I had been doing this forever. So I asked him to move out a little. I didn't try to direct him, i just wanted him to get a feel for me on his back. He was hesitant (which is to be expected), but eventually stepped out and did fine. I even asked for a give or two.
Later when the buyer (Krystal) came, I basically did most of this over again. Except I did ask him to give me some lateral flexion, which I didn't do earlier. I think he really did well.
Upshot is, Krystal bought him and I agreed to put 30 rides on him. He's going to be fun and I think she will enjoy the journey with him.
I have saddled Buddy two other times and he is solid as a rock, so I generally saddle him over by the tack shed. Again, the groundwork has led him to be a pretty calm solid gelding.
I did all of the basic things I did yesterday to start with. I want to make sure there are no holes in what we are doing today. A horse is a living, breathing, thinking animal...what he sees on a daily basis can change how he reacts to stimuli. So, no holes means...where is his attitude / brain today.
Everything went as expected and he was pretty solid on the ground. So I leaned on the stirrups a little, bounced around him and jumped toward and into him. I want him to be ready for anything.
He did really well, so I thought "I'll just step into one stirrup". He never flinched. So I stood in one stirrup, and laid across the saddle, on both sides several times. He did really well.
I next thought, "this is going good, I think I'll just swing a leg over". Again, he just stood there like I had been doing this forever. So I asked him to move out a little. I didn't try to direct him, i just wanted him to get a feel for me on his back. He was hesitant (which is to be expected), but eventually stepped out and did fine. I even asked for a give or two.
Later when the buyer (Krystal) came, I basically did most of this over again. Except I did ask him to give me some lateral flexion, which I didn't do earlier. I think he really did well.
Upshot is, Krystal bought him and I agreed to put 30 rides on him. He's going to be fun and I think she will enjoy the journey with him.
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