Another important first!

Today, New Year's Day 2011, I saddled Rory for the very first time.  I hadn't yet put my saddle away after riding and once I had Rory on the crossties I wondered if it would fit Rory and what he would think about it.  When I picked the saddle up and walked up beside Rory he huffed at me a little and shifted away.  I persuaded him to sniff the saddle and walked along his left side.  He backed up a bit and shifted away again, then stood quietly when I patted him.  As expected he stepped forward when I lifted the saddle up over his back.  I moved with him and put the saddle down gently when he stopped.  After a few more steps he stopped and I patted him, gave him a bit of carrot and then checked the fit of the saddle.  Right now it's a tiny bit wide at his withers, but  otherwise it's a good fit.  I wasn't sure my girth would be short enough so I held it up to see what the chances were and it looked reasonable.

I took the saddle off, and saddled him up properly with saddle blanket, pad and girth.  Rory shifted a little when I took the saddle off, and regarded the saddle blanket with some uncertainty.  It's been a while since I had the saddle blanket on him so I went through a quick session of rubbing it over him, dragging it off his bum, and flipping it onto his back several times.  Very quickly Rory relaxed as he remembered the routine.  When I brought the saddle back, as he had the first time he moved away, and then forward as I lifted it up over his back.  I snugged the girth up tight enough to be sure it would stay in place if he jumped and there were still a couple of holes left to go even tighter.  All we did was walk up and down the barn, but Rory was comfortable enough to be looking around and ignoring the saddle on his back.  I considered taking him for a walk in the arena, but it was raining quite heavily and I didn't feel like going over.  One step at a time - there's no reason to hurry his training.

Happy New Year to all of Rory's fans!