Courage Goes Full Cowpony (minus cows. for now.)

Alyssa has been learning the ropes of eventing this summer. Yesterday, we turned the tables and decided to play western pony with my little man C-rage. It started out as a fun idea to dress him up (which I will take any excuse to do), but it turned in to a really fun training exercise and now I totally want a western saddle.

Although I guess I should get that whole jump saddle thing sorted out first. (Maybe we'll talk about this tomorrow.)

Me: "He's doing something western. OMG TAKE A PICTURE!"

Anyways. Alyssa brought a shit ton (slight under approximation) of western tack, since she actually rides/shows western. I picked out what to use based on very strenuous criteria--what looked cutest?

I like geometric saddle pads with sparkles, ALL THE BOOTS, and slobber straps. Also my horse really doesn't need to go in a curb.

So apparently this is what he does when I don't pull

As we tacked him up, we realized that he has never been in a western saddle before. Ever. As evidenced by the fact that he was a little panicky and tense. I threw him on the lunge line and let him scoot around until her figured out that the giant leather contraption wasn't going to eat him, and then hopped on.

Alyssa gave us a bit of a mini western lesson, which was super cool. We talked about moving forward and the horse being responsible for himself and then we just went. I didn't steer at all and let him pick the path. He could do anything he wanted, as long as he trotted.

I will say that I might take the jumps out next time I try that, but it went really well. It was an extension of what we've been working on in normal tack, but this was a really easy way to just plain NOT MESS WITH HIM and let us figure it out.

Cuz who needs reins?

I was also totally blown away by how he carried himself. I expected ears up my nostrils, but he just relaxed and reached forward, pretty much the whole ride.

Then Alyssa hopped on. I'll admit to only walking and trotting, but she thought loping looked like fun. (See what I did there? I said loping. That makes us legit.) He did his usual "good-enough-to-get-by-without-actually-giving-it-up" routine.

Rewarding the release

Alyssa made him canter and canter and canter (oops, can't help myself) with the same idea we'd used at the trot--just go forward and take care of yourself, giant horse.

We also practiced one rein stops a little bit. I'd always thought that they were sort of barbaric and strange, but she explained and executed them in a very soft way that made sense.I will say, western certainly isn't my first equine language, but I really loved what we were able to do. It's basically all the same things we've been working on under jump tack, but it's a little bit different approach. I think it worked well for both of us and I can't wait to try it again.

Plus we're that much close to goal: chase cows. :-D