Refresher Course

My mom suggested that I leave the saddle and breast collar on Nine over night. So before feed time me and Fiance did a little work with Nine; we adjusted the breast collar so it was strapped to the dee rings of the saddle instead of the ring that is tied to the horn (if you look closely at the pictures below you'll see what I mean). Nine did much better with this once he had some time to just relax with the saddle. So I got that adjusted, then we lunged Nine a bit to get him used to his feeder (a part of an old barrel with holes cut in it for handles) being upside down in the middle of his round pen, and then with me standing on top of the feeder/mounting block. He did okay with this, but we didn't have much time, so we took Nine for a short walk to the goat pen, around the property a bit, through a small puddle (he was perfect), then back to the corral for dinner. While Fiance closed the gate behind us, I lead Nine up to the mounting block so he could see me on it one more time before we called it quits, and he came right up to me! He even let me take off his halter from up there.

This morning I was happy to see the saddle still in place, but also with some fresh gunk decorating the fleece cinch, because this means he felt comfortable enough to relax and lay down with the saddle on. After he was done eating me and Fiance played with Nine a little; we picked up his front feet while he still wore the saddle, and I took the saddle off while Fiance held Nine. This went much smoother than I feared; Nine usually hates anyone on his near side when he's wearing the saddle, I suppose because he think that person will tighten the cinch more. But once he figured out that I was loosening the cinch he stood still. When the cinch fell away from his belly he gave this great big sigh of relief. The he calmly stood while I flitted from side to side, taking my time about putting the cinch over the saddle, and nicely wrapping the latigo around the horn. Then I lifted the saddle right off his back! He was barely sweaty, another good sign as it indicates he didn't spend all night fighting to get the saddle off while I wasn't looking.

After that Fiance (who is developing quite the relationship with Nine!) brushed him off and played with Nine a bit. We worked some more on Nine's back feet, using the lunge whip to ask him to lift the foot, then slipping a loop of the whip's string around his leg. This worked extremely well for me, as I am so scared around his back feet these days. I think he is almost ready for picking them up sans string again, but I will take it extra slowly this time! We even introduced him to the new saddle. He accepted the new saddle blanket without any fuss, but the saddle was a bit different. It does have stirrups after all, which the old training saddle does not have, and the stirrups on the riding saddle are even tied up on top making the saddle look even bigger! But, Fiance got Nine to smell the new saddle and got it almost on. Then we had visitors and had to stop, but it was still a nice progressive day!

Tomorrow is the vet appointment; we are picking up the trailer we have been borrowing today so Nine can practice loading for a bit tonight, and we'll have most of tomorrow morning and early afternoon to work on it some more. Based on the ease with which Nine loaded in Pauls Valley Oklahoma, I don't think we'll have any trouble at all. Even so, wish us luck!