All about horses

Part 3

Now that you have your bridle on your horse and you can lead him properly ,you can groom him quietly ,and you might even be able to hand graze him a little bit which ,they like you ,can prepare to saddle him .

Check and make sure all your equipment is safe and repair if needed .

Your horse is becoming a companion and will look forward to you doing things with him.

Saddling should be done in a tight ly enclosed area such as a horse stall .

The stall should be enclosed enough with high wall so that the horse cannot jump out. Putting the saddle on is an important start for your horse so having an extra handler to hold him steady would be a good idea. Horses can be claustrophobic about the girth so you just start with simply putting a saddle pad on his back .

After he is quiet about this you can then put the saddle on his back .

Hold the saddle there without putting the girth on .

Do this several days in a row making sure that The Horse is OK with just that feel of the saddle pad and then finally the saddle pad and saddle on his back. The Handler should be talking to him and patting him to keep him nice and quiet.

The day that you decide to add the girth will be the most important day .

Make sure that there are no distractions and once again with the horse in a confined area gently tighten the girth .

Do it up as instructed in my previous blog and don’t make it too loose .

If you do that the saddle may slip and cause the horse to startle and buck .

You may consider feeding him his regular grain or pellets and lead him carefully one step at a time inside the box stall .

Get him used to the saddle by picking his feet .

Once he is used to the saddle we can begin to walk the horse out in a larger area such as an indoor arena or a small paddock.

It’s much better to lead a young horse with the bit and bridle on you will have more control.

Do not allow him to eat anything with the bit in his mouth .

If you are stringent about this the horse will realize that when the bit is on that means work and he will come to respect you for that .

You will avoid later calamities when you ride especially on the trails if you insist on this.

Please check my earlier blogs for correct procedure to put on the bridle .