Julie Carpenter Clinic at Jade Ranch
Day 2
Day 2 started off pretty much the same way as Day 1 - we met and talked about what we'd done the day before, and what we were going to do today. Again, Sunny and I were the first ones in the round pen. On this day, we worked through the same things we had done on Day 1, but then we added the saddle. The saddle had come in on Wednesday evening, and Sunny had only had a saddle on three or four times before, so this was a pretty big deal
We started by putting her in the middle of the round pen, so she had room to move, if she had to. When we were in the middle, I started by putting the saddle pad on and off several times. When she was comfortable with that, I got the saddle, let her sniff it for awhile, then tossed it on her back. No reaction. I tightened the girth a little. No reaction, so I walked her around a little. Tightened the girth again. Walked her around. No reaction.
Since this was relatively quiet, Julie had me pull her halter and send her out around the round pen at a walk - still no reaction. A trot. No reaction. Canter - whoops! Reaction! She bucked her way around the round pen, then settled down. We did it again and she was calm, then sent her the other way - same thing, although her right side is always her sketchy side.
When she softened, we quit and let someone else take over. Julie sent Sunny to the arena, still saddled, to be by herself and work out how she felt about the saddle. She just stood by the fence very quietly.
Meanwhile, in the roundpen, Birgit worked Conrad, one of Julie's rescue horses in the round pen - he was beautiful, and she handled him beautifully.
When Marcia brought Bart in, he rolled and then just settled in for a nap, lying down, so she went over and sat on him!
In the afternoon, the group saddled up again, including Sunny and I, and headed to the arena. While the riding group worked on various things, I sat on the fence and started putting weight on Sunny from above, and, using the mounting block, leaned on her from the side.
