Lungeing with saddle

Howdy ya'll!!



Guess what? YESTERDAY I SAT ON VALLEY WHEN SHE HAD THE ENGLISH SADDLE ON HER!!

Lemme start from the beggining:



So I was sitting inside, when I had the sudden urge to canter across the pasture on Valley. I thought to myself, the only way I can do that anytime soon, is to go work with Valley so I can get her trained. So, I grabbed my helmet, handy stick and string, and my Clinton Anderson leadrope and headed outside. I decided to go ahead and feed both horses since I was going to have Valley out anyway, and I didn't want Chloe standing inside the pasture doing nothing. So I grabbed Valley's other leadrope and halter, and headed towards the shed where I feed Chloe and Valley.



After I fed them, I left Valley tied up, but shortened her leadrope. I got a saddle pad and put it on her. Then got the English saddle, and put it on Valley. After I tightned the girth as much as I could, I untied her, and took her down where she usually grazes.

My dad was there watching, and I started to lunge here, and she was doing small bucks. They wern't exactly bucks but close to it. I wanted to get her 'bucking' on camera, so my dad went to get the video camera. It wasn't charged, so we had to wait till it charged some.

When the camera was done charging, my mom came down with it. She filmed, my dad watched, and I lunged. : ) Valley 'bucked' here and there. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. I wish I had a round pen, so I could put here in there and let her buck, instead of my attempting to lunge her while she was bucking.

After a bit, I stopped lungeing Valley, and called my dad over. He held Valley close by the leadrope, and I lowered the stirrups. And then I put my left foot in the stirrup, and I..

*drum roll please* thank you

..mounted!! That was the first time I'd ever been on Valley while she had been wearing saddle. My dad s..l..o..w..l..y.. led Valley a few steps. I felt like I was a little kid riding a pony for her first time. It kind of was actually. Valley's a horse, but pony sized, I had someone leading me SLOWLY, and it was my first time for being on Valley with a saddle! Lol. So kind of the same. Not really. Nah.

Anywhoo...

I then told dad to hand me the leadrope and step away from Valley and I. I took the leadrope and flexed Valley on both sides, then I practiced turns with her. She did great! It felt really weird for me to be sitting on her while she's walking with a saddle. Before when I've sat on her bareback, she would walk around to graze, but it felt different with the saddle. She did great on her turns, and I was HAPPY! I'm glad mom got that on film. :)

Turning

After I fed the horses today, I took Valley down to graze, and hopped on her back. Valley was getting too close to a tree, so I pulled the leadrope out to the left to get her to turn, and used my left leg, to push/tap her left side to get her to turn, and she did! I was like so happy!!

I did it a couple, more times, then went inside to get my helmet incase she decided to buck, and I didn't want to take the chance of falling off and hitting my head on something.

I asked my mom if she could come watch me do it once, so she did. I did it once for her, then she went back inside.

I did the turning thing with Valley twice more (I think), once on each side, then when I tried the third time, and she got mad. She started bucking (not really hard or anything, just lightly). I figured she would before she actually did it, and I jumped off, and immedately made her back up a few feet. When I let her stop, she licked her lips (sign that she's thinking about what she did), then I got back on her, did the turn one more time (so she wouldn't think she gets me off her back by bucking), then put her back in the pasture.

Hopefully I'll be motivated to work with her tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that and the d-- ok. I think you got it. Oh, you don't? OK well then, and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on...

Valley the actress

Hey!
Just a quick post.

You've probably already read on my other blog that Valley was in Luke and Zack's movie! She is such a good actress!! Yesterday, Luke sat on her, and I was holding the lead rope. She had her ears pointing towards Luke (unsure way, not mad), and she moved around a bit.

Today, Zack got on and off her (roughly!!) a lot, and she did great! She was tied to a tree, and I was behind the tree (unseen by the camera) holding Valley's lead rope. She didn't move really, and she didn't seem to care a whole lot. Zack didn't stay on long, he just jumped up (real rough like), and sat there for a few seconds, then jump off.

It was funny (and coolio!) because, like, Zack would get on her, and she'd be unsure about it, and ready to jump if she needed to, but as soon as Zack got on, I got on, and she didn't care at ALL. She completely relaxed. It was funny!

-Sarah

P.S. I got to post about another thing that happened today, but I got to go to bed, so I'll post about that later.