Maraschino's first ride

It was a bit chilly till the wind died down but we made some great progress with Maraschino.

I put the rhythm beads on him, the cherokee bridle and the bareback pad - all without any reaction from him. The jingle bells are a bit loud for him sometimes as they go over his ears but he was really good.

I had a play with him, we did some walking on the tarp, backed up onto the tarp, looked at the barrel and the cows, and then some circle in trot and canter, and I got two trot circles!

He did a nice squeeze in between the tire and the round pen and Michelle started by just leaning on him, then jumping up next to him - all of which he was fine with because I've done all that with him right from day one practically. The only glitch we had was the end of the savvy string came loose and flicked him in the eye so we took it off after he over-reacted a little, and then didn't swing ropes over his head - just not today. We didn't want to stress him out.

So then I was charged with having him online basically while Michelle got on and took turns putting her knees up and rubbing him etc, he moved forward the first time, but I positioned him again after going 360 round the tire and after that he was fine. She was armed with carrots so every time he looked round at her he got a carrot which he thought was pretty cool.

So it wasn't too long before she was able to get her leg over and sit up - literally about 10 minutes. And she sat there for a while and rubbed him, gave him carrots etc.

Then it was my job to move him in a way that everyone would be safe, since Michelle didn't have reins. I moved him forward then immediately stopped him by lifting the rope and moving his HQ over.

All he really did was stumble a little, trying to get his balance and figure out how to move forward with Michelle on top. Then when stopped he looked round at her shoes which looked very much like carrots in all fairness.

We walked forward again, then stopped after a few steps and repeated that a few times, went backwards, and then Michelle got off, then back on again and by this stage he was walking out with me with his head down and relaxed and he licked and chewed.

Then Michelle had a go with the rope at directing him forward, left and right - and he was so soft and so responsive!

Just like that!!!!!!! How cool is that...

Here's the money shot!

Thanks Michelle. xx