Sangria: Haltering, Round Penning & 1st Saddling!

Yesterday morning, I arrived to the barn to feed the horses. I had removed Sangria's halter the night before and was curious on how she would be when I went to put it back on. Luckily, she didn't give me a lot of trouble. She evaded me a few times, but not so much out of fear... Within a couple of minutes I had her halter on. What a good girl!

Sangria got to spend the entire day out in the pasture yesterday. I felt as though she had progressed enough in the gentling process to be able to spend the day in the sun. Of course, I had my heart in my throat as I turned her loose in her small hot wire pasture. Each of our turn out paddocks are approximately 50' wide by 300' long. Plenty big enough to stretch legs and nibble on the early Spring grass.

After turning Sangria loose, I hung out for a couple hours. I wanted to be sure that she wouldn't run through the hot wire. She touched it three times, the third time accidently touching it with her forehead as she grazed the grass on the other side. She flew backwards and wouldn't go near it again. It was so nice to see her out with the rest of the ponies!

Later that afternoon, Jenny and her EMM Mustang MissFire came up for a meeting and quick exercise session with our horses. I was curious on how Sangria would be to catch in the pasture. I was surprised when she eagerly walked up to me (with her pasture mate), and allowed me to snap the lead rope to her halter. (I wasn't brave enough to take the halter off while in the pasture for the first time!)

I took her over to the horse trailer and tied her up. She's still learning to be patient and stand tied to the trailer, but she's doing better each time!

Jenny and I took our mustangs down the street to the local boarding facility, Four Gables Farm. They have a lovely arena and perfect round pen for starting horses. Getting to this facility required walking down a semi-busy road. To be honest, I was really nervous about taking Sangria down the road. I wasn't sure I could hold on to her if she spooked and bolted. I also didn't know how she would react to scary things like cars, mailboxes, dogs, etc. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. She was perfect and walked along quietly with my mare, Dandy and I.

Yesterday was Sangria's first session in the round pen. It took her a few tries to understand what I was asking, but soon she was responding well to my cues. She has this funny way of paying attention to me, but also paying attention to everything else going on around her at the same time. She is very alert!

Since our session was going so well, I decided to go ahead and attempt saddling Sangria for the first time. I didn't know what to expect - she's taken things in stride so far, but who knows if the saddle would invite a rodeo. Amazingly, she was very curious about what I was doing, but also extremely trusting. She let me put it on with little to no issues! There was no bucking or fear. She did pin her ears at the stirrups bumping her sides, but that's it! Good girl!

Since she was so accepting of the saddle, I decided to try some mounting exercises. She was a little bit nervous, but nothing like what I expected! She really was awesome! She let me step into the stirrup and lean over her on each side. I was really not expecting how solid she would be!

I haven't swung my leg over yet - there are still few exercises I'd like to do with her first, but she's coming along alot more rapidly than I expected. I keep looking for signs that I'm pushing her too fast, but if anything, I'm not going fast enough for her!