Bertie's first long reining lesson today. He's never worn a saddle or a surcingle before so we take the precaution of fitting a breast girth to make sure that the surcingle cannot slip back if he reacts and gets thinner! Before the girth is done up, the breast girth is attached to the surcingle with a piece of twine which would break under pressure. Once the first side of the girth is done up, the breast girth is attached to one of the rings. In this way the horse doesn't have to be over-girthed from the outset.
I always, always do the preparation exercises with a young horse to make sure that I spot any possible concerns that the horse may have before putting two reins on him.
Bertie was soon into his stride. He's a lovely young horse.
I delegated my entire session with Ivy to David today. It's been a while since he had the opportunity to work with an Exmoor pony. It was good to see just how much progress she has made, accepting everything we have done so far from a tall stranger.
