Ride'em, Cowboy!

[midnightsjane]

We had a mini rodeo today. LOL. We've had some problems getting Dusty to go forward, a common problem with young green horses. It's not that she's bad, it's just that she's a bit stuck, and the woman we had riding her just wasn't comfortable with pushing her. So Sue found Jake, a real cowboy who has spent time breaking horses in Alberta who is now working in this area, and got him to come today so we could see what he could do with Dusty. The introduction was a little, shall we say, eventful. Dusty was very good, didn't freak out when he put his western saddle on her and got on...until he kicked her forward and she bucked a little. Suddenly it all went OMG yeehaw rodeo..somehow the girth of the saddle broke and Jake was on the ground, and the saddle was under poor Dusty's belly. She did a very good imitation of a bucking bronco until the saddle fell off. Sue brought out her western saddle, Jake put it on and got back on the horse. Dusty was pretty unsure of things, but she wasn't too bad. The saddle was too big for Jake, so I brought mine out..it was like a western saddle fashion show. Third time lucky, and the rest of the ride went quite well. Jake is a great rider, just what we need to get the young horses going; he's not afraid if they buck or take off, and he can stick to them like a burr.
This might be the start of a good partnership; he's looking to build his business, and we have a series of horses in the lineup to start over the next couple of years. I am going to start Rochelle at the end of the summer, so I'm really happy that we may have found the right person to work with.

After that was over, I rushed home so I could see the season finale of Doctor Who. Wow. I don't know if I can wait for the Christmas special!