What could have been a disaster...

Actually turned into a good thing.  Here goes.

Vegas is doing so well with training that I have considered throwing my leg over her a couple of times already.  But before getting back into horses I promised my husband that I would take every possible precaution against getting hurt.  In Vegas' case, that means getting her used to carrying a dummy before I ask her to carry me.  So, this morning I made a riding dummy. 

And old pair of jeans stuffed with empty feed bags, and old boots

With the saddle, you can see how I secured it to the saddle horn

Things started off very well. The dummy smelled good due to being stuffed with feed bags, and Vegas accepted it without a problem.  Then I asked her to move off.  She went well to the left, so I asked her to turn and go to the right.  I was so impressed that I pulled out my camera and started recording.

Yeah, so you know all those hay strings I had to hold that damn dummy on?  They (and I) totally failed.  This video shows only the beginning of the freak-out that went on for 10 or 15 minutes.  I was trying not to have a heart attack - was she going to fall, or try to go through or over the panels, or over me???  Eventually the dummy's legs were both hanging off her left side and she started a reining spin to the right that would have been very impressive if I wasn't worried about her hurting herself.  She kept wanting to stop but then the dummy would come around near her shoulder and she would do a few more spins.  She finally got to the point that she was tired of spinning and it was sinking in that she was still alive, which is when she stopped.  She was still pretty freaked out so I had to wait until she settled a bit.  I kept talking to her and after a few minutes of encouragement, she approached me.  I removed the dummy and kicked myself repeatedly while we just hung out together for a while.  I was so pissed at myself - so sure that I'd just given Vegas a complex that I was not going to be able to fix.  Instead of helping this mare, I may have just created a huge problem that requires a professional.  Ugh, I hated myself for a while.

While we hung out and I told her what a great horse she was (she didn't slip, she didn't run into me or the other crap I had in the middle of the pen, and holy crap, she actually listened and approached me a few minutes after the incident) I thought about ways to secure that dummy.  I went and got a few double-ended snaps and two more hay strings.  I looped the hay strings around each leg and attached a snap, with the idea that I would attach the snap to a ring on the saddle on each side.  I started sacking her out with the dummy again and although she was a little tense, she allowed it.  Then she let me put the dummy on the saddle.  I fastened the dummy to the saddle and we just hung out for a few minutes again.

She was relaxed and I was almost certain that the whole two-legs-on-one-side thing wasn't going to happen again, so I asked her to move off at a walk.  The dummy started flopping around but she kept her cool for half a round, then started trotting.  Then it shifted (far) to the outside and she stopped.  Hmm.  I turned her around and the same scenario played out again - whenever it felt to her like the dummy was going to fall, she stopped and looked to me for direction.  I praised her and called it a day. 

So, Vegas took my failure and turned it into her success.  Instead of panicking when the dummy started slipping, she stopped.  I would like to think that that will translate over with a rider, but I may just be fooling myself. Either way, this mare is really a special horse and I hope that when the time comes, she gets a truly great home.