Bridget

After our ride with Rose and George yesterday, I took Bridget out. I tied her up to the fence, took the burdocks out of her mane,  plonked the Cashel saddle on her back, cinched it up, and took her for a walk. On our return, I lead her over to the kitchen steps to practice mounting the way I did the other day with Rose and George.

It went pretty well, although I didn't get to the putting-foot-in-stirrup stage. After a few times, she resisted when I tried to lead her back into position by the kitchen steps. Normally when Bridget resists, she gets bossy and foot-stampy. This time, though, she just became a little pathetic. She pressed her head gently into my chest and then rested her chin on my shoulder. If that wasn't a "pleeeeease", I don't know what is. So I let her quit.

Today, we repeated the exercise. On our walk she was exceptionally polite and didn't push ahead or shove me over or anything. And when some neighbors in a car stopped to chat for a minute, she didn't go (like she usually does), "This is sooooo boooooring. Let's gooooo."

Back home, we tried the mounting thing again. This time I got as far as putting my foot in the stirrup. However, the Cashel saddle slips too much on Bridget, as she is completely barrel-shaped. (No offense.) Like yesterday, she finally got fed up with returning to the kitchen steps, but she resisted being lead back to the pasture. So I had a few tries mounting from the ground. Bridget stood very quietly on a loose rein, but the saddle kept slipping, so I called it a day.

Then I let everyone out on the lawn til suppertime.