Since I have finally got River under saddle, and with a rider too! I’m starting to ride her. First I started off with getting a bridle and putting it on her rather loosely. And just letting her go around and get used to a bit. Then I tightened it to the appropriate level for her, and lunged her with a long rein, steering her with the bit for when to turn and such. She got it pretty fast and so we just did that the rest of the time for that day. The next morning I came to check her, and started with that again, but with a saddle too, so she had all the tack on. We just did that, taking breaks every now and then. That was the second day. On the third day, I got on her again, with a bridle on this time, and started to apply pressure to her sides with my heels. She moved forward, and I pulled lightly with my right hand to turn her, and she moved! So i rode around the pen in alternating directions, went down the middle, did figure eights and a serpentine like movement. She did have some quarrels not wanting to go a direction, so I pulled a little bit more, and squished her more with the opposite heel, helping her turn. That was the third day. On the fourth, I lead her to my arena, and lead her around to let her check to make sure the arena was safe. I left her for a little, and watched her until I was certain that she knew she was safe. Then I tacked her up and mounted, and started walking the perimeter, then picked up into a trot, and at the very end of when i worked with her, we cantered for a little. Afterwards i cooled her down and took her back to the pen.
@Dontay13 for tack and arena @Ghostsonqs for River @Mythopianpegasus for round pen @-TheConjuring for the rider
