There hasn't been a whole to report for the last several days. I gave him a few days off over last weekend. He did get to meet my other boys and they got along fairly well - although he is really not impressed with my colt, who thinks he's big and bad and rules the roost.
On Wednesday he got to meet a friend of mine. She was about to get up to him in the arena while he was loose and get ahold of his halter. She patted and poked and rubben him all over. The worst he tried to do was walk around her i a circle a couple of times, but he already knows "Whoa" and he stopped and stood for her. It was good to see him react favorably with a new person. A big part of my training with him is going to be having many different people handle and ride him. I want him to be at ease with other people, in case he does go to a new home in June. Mustangs have a tendancy sometimes to bond with one person and be distrustful of others, so it's always a priority with me to try and have other people work with them too.
Yesterday, Thursday, he wore a saddle pad and saddle for the first time. It was the second time I had tried to get a saddle pad on him - the first time he'd danced around and bolted away several times. He was starting off on the same foot and the friend who'd met him on Wednesday happened to call me in the middle of it. I told her what was going on and she said "Just put it on him, he's fine" I told her I didn't want to rush him, but she said her impression was that he was smart enough to handle a direct approach. Her advice was to be matter-of-fact and just do it. So I threw the pad up on his back and he walked around a bit, kinda unsure, but after a few more tosses of the pad, he was fine. I went around to the off side and threw it on and he didn't even react.
One thing I've noticed with this horse is that it doesn't seem to be as imprtant to expose him to things on both sides. General horse training knowledge says that when you are training a horse, it is like you are trainging two horses - the right side and the left side. Whatever you do on one side, you need to do on the other. I've found that to be true, but with this horse things are different. After he is exposed to something on one side, reacts to it, and then accepts it - I can go around to the other side and he is almost always immediately accepting. It is interesting for sure.
I told my friend that I had hoped to saddle him, but I thought that might be too much. Again she told me to just do it, he would be fine. So, I took her advice and gave it a whirl. She was right. I showed him the saddle and then put it on his back. He circled around a bit and wasn't sure what to do, but then he calmed down. I didn't cinch the saddle as I ran out of time, but I put it on him and took it off three times.
I had taken the camera out with me, but had left it outside of the arena. So I snapped a (crummy) pic with my cell phone:
After I took the saddle and pad off, I led him back through the arena, down through the barn and into his stall. I noticed a dramatic improvement in his leading, he was finally walking alongside me, instead of drifting along behind like he's done all along. Also, when it came time to go into his stall, he walked right in with me instead if hesitating. I think my friend was right and I've been kind of babying him all along. He needs a more direct matter-of-fact approach. I've been moving along at the pace I normally would, but it seems like that's just too slow for him. I think he's been bored with me!
I did some "relationship" work with him last night as well. When he first saw the saddle, I'd put it up on the roundpen fence. He was unsure about it and I had him loose in the round pen. I was talking to him and petting him and then walking away. A few times he actually came over to me. When I was talking to my friend, she said she'd noticed that he always faces me, always watches me and seemed totally relaxed around me. She saw that when I went to catch him in the arena, he was standing with his head down and hind leg cocked. I think even though I haven't been sure about it, he and I are building up a good relationship.
I'm excited about our next session and I'm planning to do more work with the saddle, hopefully I'll get it cinched up in the next day or two. I'm curious as to what his reaction will be. So far, even though he's been unsure about many things and has spooked now and then, he hasn't really blown up about anything. I'm curious if he will buck like a madman with the saddle for the first time or if he'll just accept it like he has everything else so far.
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