The next step

I sat on both my horses today.

No, that wasn't a typo. I sat astride my Gwenevere today.

The day started with pulling Coriander out of the pasture and wading over to the indoor to work on circles (we both need tons of practice with those). After some solid work on his part, including not losing his mind when some snow slid off the roof, I brought him back home and pulled Gwen out for some mounting block work.

She had done really well with mounting block work on Friday so I decided to step it up a notch. I stepped into the stirrup and weighted it, she didn't care, so I stood up in it. She still didn't care. I repeated this a few times and switched sides. She still didn't care. I leaned over her back with all my weight. She couldn't have been bothered. Then I put my leg over the saddle and when she still didn't care, I slid onto her back.

She did pop her head up at first, but that's all she did. I immediately gave her a treat and dismounted. After taking a cry break, I sat on her again. All in all I slid on and off her 12 times today, 6 times on each side.

Sadly the event was not without casualties:

My treat bag got caught on the saddle horn when I dismounted. It was on its last legs and was a poor design anyway so I'm not mourning the loss. I think I'm going to make something more like a fanny pack next time.

I'm planning on doing the same routine with her a couple times a week for the next few weeks until she really doesn't care about me sitting on her. Then we'll try for a couple of steps. Meanwhile I'll still pony her off her brother and take her for walks by herself to get her more comfortable with the outside world.

We've taken the next step to making my girl a riding horse!