Blanche has begun her foray into our training program, where she is proving to be a quick study. Based on how she is for the handling we’ve done so far (tremendously reasonable and very sweet), it maybe shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that she would be similarly minded when we began our groundwork. For each new stimulus, she was responsive but not hugely reactive (her initial reaction was to ‘honk’ — a variation on the snort).
Her history is unknown, and while she is gentle for all-over brushing, has been a very polite girl for the vet as well as the farrier, and is soft on the end of a lead rope, we are doubtful that she has been saddled before. While the rope work we did with her to prepare her for that first (?) saddle went off without much of a hitch, there exists the possibility that she is just the relatively unbothered type. Trotting and loping out with a rope around her belly did not generate any bucking, which is a good sign that the presence of a cinch won’t be world-ending, and she was able to easily change eyes and yield her hind on the same rope.
Throwing a pad up on her back was also a non-issue, and also bodes well for that first saddling being a successful one. We anticipate that it will happen sooner than later for Miss Blanche, and that riding days will follow soon thereafter!
