Bareback

Hey all! Yesterday Mom and I went out and wormed the horses again (day two of five). I got Woody under halter, took the syringe, let him sniff it, he offered to put it in his mouth, so I moved it to the back of his mouth and squeezed the medicine out and he stood still and swallowed it. He really did great! Mom went next and Charlotte's worming lesson really seemed to pay off. She was fine with the syringe near her mouth, and didn't make a fuss with it in her mouth either. She did great, except when Mom did put the paste in her mouth, she spit large quantities out. She behaved good, just spit it out. They tried a couple more times and got more in her.
I then did some stuff with Woody making sure he was with me, and got our bridle and practiced bridling. When I first took his halter off he moved away, so I moved away from him and he drew back to me, I let him stay there for a minute, processing, then I put the bridle near his head and played approach and retreat until he accepted it. Then, I opened his mouth, slid the bit in, and put it over his ears. He threw his head up when it when over his ears, so I asked him to lower his head, took it out and played Friendly with his ears, rubbing them and bending and folding them. I tried again and he did much better. I got on him bareback, and my plan for the day was to sit on him and help Mom with riding Charlotte. She tacked her up with my saddle and the Cradle Bridle, she did well, and practiced getting on and off her for a minute. While they were practicing this, I played around with turning Woody's front end. I picked up the rein and held it out like a direct rein, and I lifted it up a bit. I held there, waiting for the message to get to his feet (I could tell he was thinking) and he stepped over his front end without moving his hind end! It was really neat. We did this a few more times and then did some indirect rein too. I was also able to bend his head around. place my hand on his flank and push against him like the porcupine game from the ground and he moved his bum over! Anyways, once she was on, she immediately started working with getting Charlotte with her. After several minutes of turning and waiting for her thought to come around exercises, Charlotte seemed in a better place. They rode all around the pasture, and Woody and I would follow them around, watching and helping. I was really pleased with how Woody was listening to me on his back, and he didn't try to speed up going down the hills either. I pointed out to Mom that it seemed that she was following Charlotte's thought more than Charlotte was following hers. She started playing around with being more particular, and Charlotte shaped up even more after that. We rode around a bit, and rode all around the pasture looking for fresh poop and seeing if there was anything in it (supposedly the Powerpac makes all kinds of interesting stuff pass through). Fun, right? It was fun cuz the horses were both doing well and Mom and I were too. I hopped off, took off his bridle, and walked back to the barn with him following. There is something about the way a horse wants to be with you after a ride that is just amazing. Anywho, they did really well.
I mentioned to Mom that I would like to begin to learn a bit of Roman riding. First I need to stand up on his back, and she said I could try sometime. I think that would be so interesting to do and would certainly improve my balance. I can kneel on his back already, but I haven't trusted myself to stand up yet. We'll see what happens!!
~Eden