I Am So Proud of Him

There is something about Thursdays. I don't know what it is, but almost every Thursday for several weeks in a row has been rainy. Why Thursdays? It is inconvenient since that is one of the two week days I get to see Gambler. A day in the cross-ties, however, can be just as productive as a day in the arena. Today proved that fact.

My mom and I got to the barn just after four, as the sun was beginning to set. I think it was at least, it was too cloudy to tell, but the light had a dusky quality. We pulled up to the barn and scared a little rabbit.

Sorry for the blurry quality, it was pretty dark.

We had to trek out into the pasture to bring the horses in. They came about half way up to the barn only to turn around and run back out into the far end of the pasture. Thank you for that. When we walked out to them, Gambler came right up to me to be haltered. I thought that was really sweet, especially due to how windy it was. Normally when it is windy and he is freaked out he runs away from me, so it was a nice change. And let me tell you it was windy! Windy and freezing cold. The wind was gusting up to 30mph, or that's what the weather report said, it felt even stronger than that.

Gambler enjoying his hay.

"Do you hear the wind too?"

The door was completely shut so the wind couldn't blow into the barn, but you could still hear it outside. I kept an eye on Gambler (notoriously afraid of wind) to see how he would handle it, but he was surprisingly chill. Since he wasn't too upset, I put him in the cross ties and gave him an in depth grooming session. Then I spent some time on bridling, which I will go over in more detail later.

Okay, the wind is a little bit scary . . . 

He is looking back at Kezi in her stall.

Mare mentioned that the saddle might not fit Gambler any more (he has definitely gained some fat and muscle over the last few months). So I wanted to check out the fit of the saddle without the saddle pad. I've never saddled him in the cross-ties before so I brought out the saddle pad first and "sacked him out" with it. 

"Mom you left something on my back . . . "

"But why can't I eat the camera?"

He was okay with the saddle pad, so I brought out the saddle and put it on him. It seems to fit pretty well, but it could be pinching in a couple places. I found this test where you set the saddle on the horse without a pad or a cinch and pull on the stirrup. If the saddle fits well, it shouldn't move much. Well the saddle passed that test. I think that I'll check the fit again, this time with the pad I'm using now. There is a foam pad I might check out too.

Kezi is so distracting.

I can easily get my hand under the saddle in the front, but it's not loose, which is about right. It doesn't seem to interfere with his shoulders either.  

There is plenty of clearance above the withers and an open channel all the way down his spine.

Silly goof refused to stand square, which of course meant the saddle was a little crooked.

It might be pinching a little under the stirrups, I couldn't get any fingers under there.

Same spot on the other side.

Overall it looks pretty good.

At this point I went back to work on the bridling. Gambler has never had an issue with the bit, he loves to chew on it. I could hold the bit in front of him and he would take it into his mouth. Then a few days ago I put it in his mouth without realizing how cold it was. Normally I would warm up the bit in my hands before putting it in his mouth. It just took that one bad experience to throw him into full head-tossing hard-to-bridle madness. So today, I set out to right a wrong.

I spent a while just approaching and retreating. I would put one arm around Gambler's head and hold the headstall on his nose, pressing the bit to his lips. If he tossed his head I held it there until he stopped and then I took the bridle away and praised him. I did that several times until he no longer tossed his head when I just held the bridle there. Then I stuck my thumb in the corner of his mouth and just asked him to open his mouth while I held the bit to his lips. Once he had that down. I asked him to just put the bit in his mouth for a second, then to hold the bit for a little longer, then I put the bridle on (I took off everything but the cheek strap and the throat latch so that the bit would fit nicely over a halter). I rubbed him and praised him and then took it off again. 

At that point I took a break to check the fit of the saddle. When I came back we went through the whole bridling process again, but it took less time and when he got it on, he didn't even chomp at it. He just sat there in the cross-ties, ignoring the bit like a "broke" horse. I was so proud of him.

I had to clip the cross ties to the other part of his halter so they wouldn't interfere with the bit.

Look at those ears.

S that was our wonderfully productive day, despite the wind and cold. I also did a bit of work with picking up his feet. He is improving slowly but steadily. I'll probably explain the process in detail at a later date.