I saddled Mojo for the first time this year, he was very good. He was in the school loose so had the opportuntiy to leave if he felt he needed to do so. We then walked around a bit before the bridle was presented, he stuck his nose in and stood whilst I fastened the buckles.
Mojo sidled up to the mounting block as soon as I stood on it and allowed me to get on. With a little moral support from a friend I asked him to “walk on” which he did and we got half a circuit of the school no leg pressure or rein contact.
Below are the photos my daughter took on her moble phone – as I left my camera in my car.
Mojo stood still for the most of todays saddling, he did fidget a bit on the first one but this second session was better. I pulled on the stirrups and jumped up and down a bit too.
Saddled and bridled Mojo with no fuss, fidgeting or moving away. Even though the old bitted bridle has a browband that is a tad too small. He stood whilst I fiddled with it and adjusted the cheekpieces. Then we went for a walk with a headcollar and the saddle in place.
Now it is getting better weather (although not over the weekend as the weather forecast isn’t too good) we can start to do some mini treks in hand.
Then I need to get Liz to ride him again and sit on him myself – I will wait until he is OK with people being clumsy get on and off. I am not as agile as I used to be and sometimes get a little stuck dismounting.
I also cut the dreadlocks out of his feathers – so he looks a bit raggedy now. They grow so quickly it wont be long before they look OK. Roll on the warm weather when I can wash them.
A bit slow at adding new posts but over the last week we have been refining the cue to come to the mounting block.
It was very windy in this clip, the barn seems to funnel the wind. So I only showed Mojo the saddle.
We did some work at coming to the mounting block, I sent him to a cone and then stood on the mounting block and called “taxi’ he comes to stand next to me but sometimes over shoots and bumps in to me. I have to be careful not to reinforce his swinging out again too. This is little snippet, the cone is just out of shot – I must be better at siting the video camera.
A few days earlier I went back to getting more impluse control round the cone square – when I am further away he gets frustrated. So I went back to working on getting Mojo walking calmly round the pole and cone square. He was still a but frustrated at times but better than when I am further away. I also tried to use a variety of reinforcers – scratches and treats.
Not really sure it all went to plan as he did try to bite the target.
A longer video this time – warts and all.
The saddling didn’t go too well as he decided to walk off before I fastened the girth, I just held the saddle and walked with him then said ‘whoa’ – he stopped and I gave him a lip curling scratch and removed the saddle.
Today I saddled him with no problems at all, and put on his bridle. Didn’t do anything else so he learns that tack doesn’t always mean he has to do anything.
Mojo being saddle – he was very good, a bit fidgety due to the noisy tractor coming round the corner and collecting hay from the barn. I didn’t get it done up as the girth seems too small and I didn’t want to try too hard to get it fastened. It did go up last time but I need another person to gently hold the saddle in place. At no tme during this was he restrained and he was free to leave at any time.
Mojo bending to touch a target, I am trying to get duration and he seems to understand the counting. We have got up to 4 as we did with the barrel last time.
Tried it with the feet too and managed 3 before I felt him want to put it down. I clicked before he felt like he was going to snatch them back. Missed that off the video as my camera switched itself off.
Hopefully he can be ridden soon and stay calm and relaxed about it. Love this little horse – he has such an expressive character.
Positive Horsemanship. 