Read yesterday's post concerning Stitch if you have not done so. This morning I spent 45 minutes handling him. The noodle that terrified him yesterday was his comforting friend this morning. He lunged softly on a limp lead line. I scratched under his girth line. He wore a saddle pad as if it was nothing.
So I did a test saddling. He took the saddle with no resistance but was highly stressed. He bucked around the round pen until he got tired. Then I ran him around and had him go through all gaits with the saddle on.
And his next session......will be several steps backward. Yes, I could continue to saddle him until he was comfortable with being saddled. I could take quite a while. During that process one of the two of us could get hurt.
So I will go back to the monsters. Using a plastic bag tied to a crop, a small jug of rocks that is very loud when shook, a small tarp, and a large plastic feed bag filled with aluminum cans which makes an amazing racket. These monsters will give him confidence. They will teach him that when he stops moving the monster instantly stops.
It gives him control of his immediate universe which is the goal of all of our training--the contract between man and horse--if you comply you can count on the pressure stopping instantly, 100% of the time. Simply exposing a horse to monsters gives neither the confidence that monster training does, nor does it instill in the horse the concept that pressure immediately ceases with compliance.
After he conquers each monster he will take a saddle without stress.
How long will he take to conquer the monsters?
I do not care.
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