Today's antics

Bourbon is nearly ready for our first ride, I believe.   First, we saddled up then did some desensitizing with the plastic bag - he is absolutely terrified of plastic bags!  I have no idea how this all started but his owner told me that at one point, she tied plastic bags to his saddle and turned him loose in the round pen...this may have had an effect opposite of what was actually intended.  What I have been doing is tying a bag to the end of my stick and wiggling it around in front of us as we walk. This way, I'm between him and the bag, and he's 'chasing' it and (hopefully) building his confidence.  We did this yesterday and definitely made progress.  Today he was doing so well that I thought it'd be a good time to start swinging it up over our heads - Bourbon thought this was a terrible idea. I heard hooves scrambling, saw the lead line falling away, and turned to watch Bourbon crow-hopping away.  He was brave enough to let me approach him to about 10 feet with the terrifying horse-eating monster scary bag before I threw it aside and caught him.  He was snorty for a few more minutes, and then everything was fine again.  I did take the opportunity to tie a string around his neck and throw it over the saddle horn, to discourage future bucking/crow-hopping but it wasn't needed.  We did some more chasing of the bag, then went into the round pen.  He did great today - no rushing, no bucking, calm turns when asked, trotting when asked, walking when asked, stopping when asked.  I was impressed.  So, I figured it would be a good time to fit my bridle to him - and then I realized that I left one of the bit-hangers at home, darn it!  Instead, I did a lot of rocking the saddle and jumping next to him like I was going to mount up.  He did fine so we practiced lining up to the mounting block.  I leaned onto the saddle and touched his rump, etc.  I'm just making sure that he knows what's coming and that he's relaxed about it.  He is starting to trust that I'm going to do things gently and slowly, which is something I believe he needs. 

Oh, and apparently Bourbon has never seen a person put on a helmet before...and watching him watching me was hilarious.  He shuffled backwards as I put it on my head, then streeeeeeeetched until he could sniff it (yes, it was still on my head), then he was cool.  He has the goofiest personality.