Cheyenne –- 07/20/09

I worked mostly with tacking and untacking Cheyenne tonight.  She’s not afraid of the saddle, but she was nervous about the whole situation and wasn’t very tickled about the idea of having something on her back.  She danced around a bit the first time, even though I barely had the girth tight enough for her to feel it.  Once she was standing quietly with the saddle on, I’d take it off and walk her around a bit.  Back to the saddle, put it on again and if she stood quietly I’d tighten it up a little more than the last time.  Walk her around, take the saddle off.  We kept doing this until the girth was as tight as it needed to be and she was still accepting it graciously and without tap dancing on my toes.  I just walked her around the pasture with the saddle on the last time, then back to our starting place to untack and end the session.  I didn’t want her to associate the saddle with work just yet, since she had such a hard time accepting it in the first place.  We’ll see how she is next time!