Day 3

Day 3 went really well! Rosie got to be the only horse to get saddled in class and she did spectacular, not that I expected anything different, but you never know. We worked more on bending on the circle, flagging, the bag, the tarp, and the old saddle. Rosie did really well with all of the different tools and didn't offer much resistance to any of them so Eric used her as a demo horse to show the next steps in progression toward saddling.

One thing I did notice is that when he introduced something new to her, like the saddle pad and saddle, he didn't let her smell it at all and instead said that she could see and smell it just fine from a distance and by allowing her to smell it you invite spooking or striking at it. He also said that by just going up to her with it if you'd already completed all the prior steps you will have less of an issue by not really letting her think on it too much essentially and just doing it. I feel very differently about this. I really encourage my horses to smell things first, in fact I like to drive them from Zone 3 (middle of the rib cage) to different things and let them build their confidence by approaching and retreating until they offer to become curious and investigate. For me personally I do a lot more with the saddle than Eric did before I saddle a horse...even one who's been saddled before if I am not familiar with that particular horse. I like to send my horse to the saddle, let them smell it, paw at it, walk around it, between me and the saddle, etc to build all around confidence rather than just trying to avoid them thinking too much and getting worried by just putting it on. I think you could create problems that way if a horse is just tolerating something without accepting it totally. If the horse has the potential or tendency to strike at it then it probably isn't going to be confident with the saddle on it's back. I suppose my way is a greater investment of time, but I like this kind of thing and choose to be particular on wanting my horses to be as confident as I can help them to be and to want to do things rather than feel they have to do them or tolerate them.

The other note I had that caused some thought was when Eric was desensitizing her to his long rope. He had a big loop in the end of it and had it around her hindquarters, between her legs, and around her middle. He created some pressure with it in those areas and released when she began trotting. I think that it's good for a horse to yield to pressure in any direction, but maybe at a more advanced level than these colts. If you want her to be confident with it and realize that the only right answer when you're scared is to relax and stand still then doing something new and uncomfortable and encouraging them to trot forward from it I feel might teach them to react unfavorably. Say you're roping and a rope gets slung between it's hind legs you want the horse to relax and stop not jump forward from the pressure. I might ask Eric more about this. I'm sure he had a reason, it just seemed contrary to normal desensitization methods. If I wanted to have the rope between her legs and have her in motion to feel it I'd encourage her to walk forward with my body/lead rope/proper send rather than putting life into the lariat.

At the end of the session I went in the pen to play with her saddled and began to flop the stirrups around and it really bothered her. I need to get a string to tie on to the stirrup so I can stand farther away and allow her more drift while she is learning to become confident with the flapping stirrup.