Jake's First Real Ride

No Fuss, no Dust, no Bucking, no Rearing. BORING ! ! Just the way it ought to be. Worked on Jake some more with bomb proofing. Used plastic bags, ropes, strings, belts, surcingles, all sorts of things. When he was relatively calm, started working on preparing for the mount. Started with hopping up and lying across his back from both sides, then finally moving him to the fence and mounting him. This was done in stages over the course of about an hour and a half. By the time was I as astride, Jake had learned the following:

1. I was not going to hurt him.

2. Steering with the reins.

3. Stopping.

We do not get on the horse until all that is very clear. Now, the one thing that is difficult in this first ride is that Jake does not really understand his forward cues very well. So the rider is using the rein to lead him as she slowly starts acquainting him with the leg.

This is Jakes third ride. I rode him the first couple of times to make sure that he was going to be safe enough for my intern, then she got on him and rode him around. The first two rides were about 5 minutes long each and were as uneventful as this one. Jake was a trooper and we are very proud of him.