January 24, 2010 – Saddle blanket introduction

This last week Rory came into the barn several times to repeat his star cross tie performance. The second time I introduced him to a saddle blanket. I have a heavy woven western saddle blanket (the kind that is doubled for use) and proceeded to flip it onto his back after allowing him to sniff it. From there I dragged it off, flipped it back on, dragged it up his neck and back over his bum. He wasn't too sure about the deal and twisted himself around on the crossties ending up with one tie over his head and the other under his chin. He didn't panic, but allowed me to rescue him and set him back up properly again before proceeding with the blanket business.

After a bit I opened it out from double folded to the single folded large size and repeated the flipping, dragging and sliding off. He rolled his eyes and wanted to scoot away a few times, but stayed put with very little effort from me. He got lots of neck rubs and reassurance and in the end he was wearing the blanket comfortably. I tied it in place with a spare lead rope and then we walked up and down inside the barn - I didn't want to take him outside in case he decided he needed to escape the blanket and slipped on the icy footing in the process. He found the tack trunk far more concerning than the rope and blanket.

We did the blanket and rope work again yesterday and he was just as good this time.