Wyoming's Weekend...

Saturday was an absofreakinlutely gorgeous day! The only thing I might have changed was the degree of the winds, but that just added to the training.

I just knew that Wy would be wearing a saddle this weekend - gut feeling! Like I have said, he is very curious and even tho he might be leary of new things at first, he does not over react. We did a lot on Saturday!

Here are the two boys at sunset...thought it was a nice picture of the two of them. They are brothers.



I was not going to make the same mistake I made with Tiger. The heavy saddle stayed in the barn where it belonged. :-)
I pulled out my fuzzy blue pad and the blue Wintec saddle - the thing only weighs 6 or 7 lbs...easy enough to carry around while making introductions.

The pad does not seem to phase him. I let him sniff around on it, then I rubbed it all over him while scratching good spots, and he was fine.



Wearing a pad on the head without freaking out is important....to me. :-) I want him to know he is going to be okay...I won't let anything bad happen to him. The first time he tossed his head a bit, but the 2nd time he took it like a mustang!



Here comes the Wintec saddle! We walked around with it on and he did not react or act like he needed to 'escape' the thing on his back. Good Wy!



WYOMING SAYS: "HMMMM, SMELLS LIKE HORSE."



WYOMING SAYS: "HMMMM, SMELLS LIKE OLD COW."



After putting the saddle on and taking it off a few times, I later grabbed it again and just flung it over him. No worries mate!



TIGER SAYS: "IF I DON'T LOOK, I WON'T BE NEXT."



We did trot around the pen a few times each direction with the saddle on, and it did not bother him. I also started working on lifting all 4 feet.
Here we have the front....



And here we have a rear...



I am not as agile as I used to be. I can jump up and down next to them, but getting up there just doesn't work like it did when I was younger. So when I was working with Tripp I had this board set up as an obstacle. I started jumping on it one day and it concerned him, so I had to jump more until he did not care. At the same time I realized that I could use it as a mounting tool! So once Wy stands still with me jumping and making crazy movements, I will use it to help me hop up there bareback. He did not mind me leaning over him.



We also played with the ball. It is a lot different playing with the ball yourself! When you play with the ball yourself, it doesn't land on your head and stay there! I rolled it up and down his back, along his neck and around his legs. He thought it was weird, but he let me do it.



Sunday was more of a laid back day for both boys. I want to be able to walk into the pen without them thinking I am going to make them work every single time. I also want to be able to walk up to them without any reservations - no flinching, etc. So every time I walked by, I would go in the pen, walk up and pet on them a while, then leave. I also don't like bothering horses when they eat. I don't want to be bothered, so I show them the same respect. At the same time I want them to know that IF I want to pet them while they are eating, it is okay. So I have been doing that too. Not long...just long enough.

This afternoon I rode Tripp for a while. First I took him for a walk, then we headed to the round pen. We had a great little work out! Then I headed to the area with the donks, llama and the mustang pens. There were a couple of things I wanted to accomplish here. I wanted to see how he would handle the llama. He and the llama sniffed eachother a while, and I think the llama has a crush on Tripp. Tripp did not seem too concerned about Chase at all. Then I hopped on and rode around a bit, and even when I was going around the mustang pen one direction, and Chase came RUNNING at us from the other direction, Tripp didn't stop until I asked him. Of course this is a lot different than riding down the road and seeing a field full of llamas....someday we will get to experience that. :-)
The other thing I wanted to accomplish was riding around the mustang pen and having Tiger and Wy see me up above them. Tiger could care less and was not going to give us the time of day. Nosey Wy just could not stand still. He followed us around and kept sticking his nose out trying to make friends.

As far as I am concerned....Mission Accomplished! It started raining late morning and it was cold and windy. I made a couple trips out to visit and be a nuisance of myself, but nothing like yesterday.

Until later....Karen and Tripp