First time in the saddle

Ride #2:

First thing was to put the bareback pad on and she had no issues with it, so I figured we do all the groundwork with it on. I worked on her circling game and got her to canter both directions. Now it was time to step it up and get closer to saddling. So I tied a lead rope to the bareback pad and had the heavy clasp end dangle and bonk around while she was running around. She definitely didn't like it at first but then got used to it.

So then it was time for the saddle...

She was fine with saddling, and cinching so I went ahead and had her walk around to give her time to feel the difference and get used to it. Then I went ahead and moved her up into a canter. She did a bunch of hops and jumps and little bucks but finally settled into a rhythm for half a lap and so I gave her a break. Lots of licking and chewing. Then off again the other way with a little less bucks and jumps and was able to get a couple strides of a nice canter a little quicker. She was super sweaty and breathing hard so since she was happy to just stand I figured that it would make a great time to practice mounting.

Up and down and up and down and she did not seem to mind at all. She wanted to go play with the other horses and that was our main distraction but me jumping and standing in the stirrup was not an issue. So on I went and we ended up riding around at a walk practicing the cue to go. Stopping was easy, getting going is harder. We ended at a great note and next time hopefully we will trot and have reins on both sides (as long as I can control my urge to pull on both and use one at a time).