Day One: I of course didn't do anything with Heri on day one, just let her settle in to her temporary home. Day Two: I tried long-lining on the ground in a bareback pad and halter. She definitely knew what she was doing, although she did get a little riled up at a few points. Day Three: I lunged her. I was originally planning on bringing my flag, but I lost it somewhere in the tack room... luckily, she was great at reading my body language so we went off of that. Day Four: Seeing as I didn't want to make her arena sour, I took Heritage out on a fun in-hand walk on the trails. We ended up going almost two miles walking and trotting to help her start to build some muscle. Day Five: On day five I decided to try and put on a bridle. This session only lasted about ten minutes, and she only had the bridle on for 30-60 seconds before removing it. She was great and pretty much nonchalant about the whole thing. Day Six: I lunged her in the bridle. I had found my flag by now, but I decided she didn't need it and, once again, she was great. Towards the end of the session, I just had her stand by the mounting block. Day Seven: I started getting Heritage used to weight and pressure on her back. This was another quick session as I didn't want to overwhelm her, but she was amazing! Day Eight: [day off] Day Nine: I helped her get used to a saddle. She cared as much about this as she did about the bitted bridle, which was not much. I also lunged her a little bit in indoor arena just to expose her to a new environment, and although she was a little spooky initially she settled down nicely. Day Ten: I long-reined her with a full tack set. She did amazing and went just as nicely as she did with the bareback pad. Day Eleven: Today I just got her used to weight on saddle. She was great. Day Twelve: I was planning on doing the same thing as day eleven this day, but Heritage was so great that I decided to have a quick sit. She was incredible, I only stayed on for about 15 seconds before hopping off. Day Thirteen: Seeing as how great she was the previous day, all we did was have an in-hand walk around the pastures. Day Fourteen: I set up a little tiny crossrail and free-lunged Heritage in a bareback pad. She was super distracted at first, but once she focused she was amazing.
