Baby's First Saddle

Today was a big day for Miss Zoey. She got to wear her first saddle ever and, I am happy to report, was a freakin' rock star. I lunged her first to let her blow off some steam. She cantered a few laps, squealed and played a little, and then was ready to stop and stand there. I caught her, swung the pad on and off her a few times from both sides, and then picked up the work saddle. I set it on her back, gave her a few pats, and went to her off side to swing the cinch down. She stood there, totally relaxed. She did take a step forward once I started to do the girth. I asked her to stand still with a "whoa" and a light tug on the lead rope. She stopped and let me finish girthing her up.

She stood there watching me as I unclipped the lead rope and tried to follow me back to the center of the round pen. Once I picked up the whip, she moved into the trot. She squealed and hopped a little when she felt the stirrups banging on her sides. OT and I were cracking up at the way she was flinging her front feet in front of her and slamming them into the ground; she was not sure that she approved of this new contraption strapped to her. She never really bucked hard and, after a few laps of protesting a little, she settled down and trotted quietly. When I asked her to move into the canter, there was no bucking or hopping around. I was so proud of her!

Looking all grown-up!

So far, she has been completely sensible about everything. She has been wearing a surcingle for the past several days and the saddle, as an extension of that, was not unfamiliar enough for her to have a melt-down over. Such a good girl.

We did measure her with a stick on concrete...15.2+ at her withers and 15.3+ at her hip. Since she does not actually turn 2 until April 26th, I am pretty happy with that.

My plan is to get the saddle on her a few more times, maybe introduce ground driving lightly. I find myself continuously contemplating how much to do with her. Right now, she is not being asked to do very much and none of it is strenuous. She is asked to work in the round pen for less than 5 minutes/day and quite a bit of it is at the walk. She has been wearing a surcingle in her stall for a few hours/day. Her and Reba are getting turned out together at night.

Mentally, she is doing great with this schedule. She is thrilled to see me anytime I walk by her stall. They are stalled behind the roundpen, so her and Reba both spend quite a bit of time looking over the round pen wall watching us work the other horses.

I am still in no rush to get on her by any certain date. She is obviously still growing and I want her to have time to just mature. I do like the idea of introducing all this groundwork stuff slowly so that she has time to process it. I find myself amazed by how intelligent and trainable she has been so far (I know, I know, I am biased!). She really seems to enjoy the work. I love her personality. When we measured her today, she just stood there and watched. So many of the young ones are concerned by the measuring stick the first few times. Zoey has that personality that I really like: bold and self-confident. I feel like, as long as I go slowly and don't overwhelm her, that personality will serve us really well in the future. I think she is going to have a lot of heart under saddle. Love love love!

And, for your viewing pleasure, here is some video of the princess under saddle: