In Tasmania – Day 2 Saddling

So today the sun came out, no clouds were to be seen and the breeze was gentle. Finally good weather! I leaped out of bed in the morning and immediately went outside to make the most of it. In Tasmania, I’ve learned, the weather switches dramatically at the drop of a hat.

I saddled Gold and Pearl for the second time and it was great to see their development. Gold was wonderful. She was calm while being saddled and went out in a nice circle (not a single buck!). I sent her over a jump, under some low hanging branches and circled her in all gaits… nothing! Boring!

Let’s make this more interesting, I thought, and tied a plastic bag to the horn of the western saddle.  Even that didn’t bother her too much. Of course, she kept an eye and an ear at it, but was much more calm than I expected. She is usually a very skeptical horse, but was really thinking and actling like a partner (instead of a prey animal) today.

Pearl was a bit of another story. Saddling her was much easier than it was yesterday, but as she went out on the circle to move her feet for the first time, she hunched her back as if she wanted to start bucking, but didn’t… Phew! After moving her around a bit on the ground with the saddle on and observing how she began to relax, I decided to introduce the plastic bag to her, too. Since Pearl is a reactive horse and spooks more than Gold, I didn’t put the bag directly on the saddle.

Instead, I tied it to the tip of my carrot stick (whip) and got her used to it. She was very reactive and was uncertain about what the moving bag meant. So I kept at it for a good hour and ended the session when she let me touch her legs with it (she almost fell over the first time I did that), keeping her legs still.

It was a big session for Pearl but I’m happy with how it developed and think I ended it on a good note.
When she went out in the pasture, she thought, „Aaaaah, finally a good roll!“
After thoroughly rolling around in the hay, she came over and greeted me over the fence. Well, that’s a good sign! Let’s hope it gets even better tomorrow.

This post is also available in: English (Englisch)