I hope you got to enjoy the nice weather earlier this week! This week, Roach had his best trimming session yet, continued our bareback rides, "re-introduced" the saddle, spent a fair bit of time on Pick Me Up Off the Fence with the saddle, & spent each day tied at the trailer with the "big kids" as they got saddled & ridden.
Roach had made leaps of improvement. In regards to the trimming, it was easily our best trimming session yet. He really only lost patience on the last hind foot (right hind). He stood perfectly with his left hind both behind him & pulled forward while I rasped any remaining flare.
Roach has handled being saddled consistently again quite well, even with the wind. No bucking & anytime that he did get a little worried (the wind played a big part in that), it was obvious that he thought through it & sought me out versus feeling the need to get out of Dodge. We also spent a fair bit of time working on Pick Me Up From the Fence while saddled. He's really got the moving up to the fence thing down. This exercise allows me to simulate a number of things safely from the fence. It's been a great place to flap the stirrups around from both sides, introduce weight in the stirrups, & sit in the saddle, just as I did while he was bareback. Roach gains a lot of confidence from this exercise (nearly falls asleep, lots of licking & chewing, etc.), so I wanted to do all but ride him from this position. While standing tied, Roach had apparently never shaken with the saddle on, so the first couple of times that he did that, he startled himself. By the end of the week, it was no longer an issue.
Next week, we should begin riding in his pen while saddled.
Next week's update will be posted on Friday.