Since I made it a goal to buy a Western Theraflex, I decided to actually discuss buying one. And the good news is, I might have found one. That's still a might, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
So, I was thinking about the Theraflex and riding: I've had a lot of good opportunities lately as far as riding goes due to that clinic last weekend, so I've had it on the brain recently. And Moose has done really good recently: we even accidentally did some more liberty stuff 2 days ago. So, our relationship is definitely improving!
Well, I decided to bite the bullet and maybe try to ride today. But the important thing here was I wasn't direct-line about it. I said I want to ride, yes, but I'm not going to be stupid and get myself hurt. So, I went and haltered him, and brought him inside the barn. I tried tacking him up with Bella's saddle this time to see if that one would fit him a little better. It seems like they're both pretty equal to me. But tacking up went smoothly, except for 3 times when I had to take him outside to show Bella that indeed he has not left, and is actually where he was 2 seconds ago when you were looking at him. Silly girl. And he was in a pretty LB mood today, so all was good. There didn't seem to be any cinch issues.
So, I got my helmet and put a 22' on him and back into the pasture we went. We did some Circles. I tightened the cinch. I had him trot, and walk. No cantering today, because he's still got the Scratches on his back leg, but I thought he seemed fit to trot. We changed directions a few times, and he wasn't doing it very well, so I put some pressure on him to change a little better. When I back up for the change, he likes to just pretend I haven't moved at all, so I have to stop him, and then send him the opposite way. He does this a lot. So, this time when I asked for the change, I backed up, and he still was trotting off, of course, so I stopped him and then immediately said "you should be gone!" because we've been doing this for long enough that he should understand there is a pattern. So, he jumped a little when I smacked the ground for him to leave, but I just took a mental note. If I remember quickly, he licked his lips farther on the circle. Next time I asked for the change, I had to stop him again, but when I started to increase my intensity like "you should be. . . GONE!!" he kind of jumped and trotted off, before I got to the "gone" part. It was a little wierd, but I let it go. So, then he was trotting around the circle doing just fine, I brought him in. Tightened up the girth a little more. Backed him up, sent him to the right. He did fine. Then, "all of a sudden for no reason at all" he threw a bucking fit. I interrupted the pattern hard throughout the whole thing. The saddle flew upwards, so the back of it was up in the air, and the pad flew out the back. I'm guessing that scared him even more. He was still bucking, but now he tried to run and buck. I was able to hold on, since he didn't pull hard like Bella does, and still keep Phase 4ing him with the rope. Then, the saddle flipped over and now was under his belly. :-0 Now, his brain kicked in, and he backed up, but there was obviously still a boatload of tension there. I had an extreme RBI at that point. So, I moseyed up to him, and tried to undo the saddle without scaring him more. Well, I couldn't do it alone, so with my mom's help we got the saddle off, and Moose didn't freak out. Needless to say, he was pretty listless after that.
We spent the whole rest of the session just chilling, since I wasn't sure if he was introverted, but I could definitely see that he wasn't the same Moose I had had before. Like I said, he was pretty listless. So, I wanted to see where he was at mentally, so I tried doing some stuff with spins. He looked fine. So, I got down on my knees to see if we could do a figure-8 with me down low and not moving. He did it fine. Seemed alright, but just kind of shocked, maybe. So, we just hung out some more. Bella was giving my mom some issues, being a sassy pants, and trying to swing her butt at mom, so she got a lesson in leadership today. Turns out little miss teddy bear actually does have a 'tude every now and then! But this was great for Moose, so he could just relax without my focus on him. It took him at least 15 minutes to come off adrenaline from the bucking incident.
I'm trying to think what in the world caused it this time. I mean, when he bucked from the bareback pad, that was entirely my fault for being direct-line, but I don't think I really was today. Yes, I wanted to ride, but I wasn't saying I have to ride right now. I wasn't pressuring him. And I know he has an issue with Zone 3 confidence/ the girth but I did approach and retreat with it during saddling and he was fine. After I circled him a little, I even took it off, because I had to move the saddle up further, so that was a big retreat for him. The only thing I can think of is maybe when he wears the saddle, he feels threatened by the pressure I put on him? Like when I got assertive about him doing the changes, he was being a little silly. Maybe he attributes Phase 4's when he's wearing the saddle to being the saddle's fault. So, maybe I'm firmer with him when he's wearing the saddle, because I'm actually thinking of this as preparation for riding instead of just playing. . . . that's a possibility. The other thing is maybe just the saddle noise scares him. This one did bounce a little when he was trotting, so it made some noise.
But I learned from this, there's a reason I'm not riding him (just confirms it, since I doubt myself even now and then). We might need a back-cinch for that saddle. Moose has a somewhat-extreme form of claustrophobia/fear with Zone 3. And I need some help :)
