Today I popped over to see Charlotte at her new yard to do some final stages of Buster's preparation for starting. Although his bridle needs to be altered to make sure the noseband is in the right place, Buster accepted his bit nicely and we did some introductory work on softening and steering. I also showed Charlotte how to short-rein him. This technique is brilliant for shorter horses and ponies given that you can gently bump-bump along their sides which desensitizes them to the feel of a leg and you can introduce them to direction from the bit. Charlotte also sat on him for the first time.
