Wednesday was spent with the horses – apart from a good lunch with a friend. I rode Benny in the morning whilst my friend watched, he was as good as gold. Didn’t have to do much ground work – just the usual sequence of:-
Let him catch me
Halter with a hug
Touch him all over – whilst grooming
Pick up and place feet – it is important to have control over the feet.
Get a good standstill
Saddle with savvy etc
I do use the rope around his hindquarters to test flexion before mounting, and always ask permission before mounting by testing his standstill and then just putting one butt cheek in the saddle before placing myself in the saddle. I have looked at videos of me in the past mounting and I seem to have done this for some time even before I got involved with NH.
The afternoon Benny had a session with Pat Carlton a chiropractic practitioner. He was out at the poll and a little sore in his nearside wither area, so we saddled to check it was OK. The saddle didn’t seem to pinch or bridge ( I am getting a western saddler out to check to make sure). Then I hopped on board to check out if my position was causing any problems. I know I am stiff on my left pelvic area and can’t always go with the movement – well it was this that was causing the saddle to tip to the right and put pressure on the left of Benny.
So I need to book a session for me with Pat and then Benny will feel much more comfortable.
This is why it is important to check yourself as well as the horse – Pat likes to check horse and rider – I wish more horsey back people would do the same.
Positive Horsemanship. 