I want to ride...

...I want to ride so bad I can taste it!

I haven't spent as much time with Jet as I would have liked to, mostly because Sunny has taken so much of my time. Jet gets petted and patted (she likes to be stroked and didn't like that thumping of the hand), she gets out to visit Pig (someday I'll need to take pics), and basically just hangs out at my side as I walk around the yard. It's been enough for her to settle in and relax, as the thumping of the hand no longer causes her any concern.

A week ago I decided to pull off my jacket and toss it onto her back. Fueled by a successful session with Sunny, I also brought the saddle out and set it on her. As I mentioned before, she was more interested in the grass beneath her feet than the saddle upon her back.

I just came in from ten or so minutes with her. Same sort of stuff, just walking around, over the tarp, then standing at the rail. I tossed the blanket and saddle up there; just the second time it's been up but the first time without her grazing. She actually had to absorb that a foreign object was perched atop her back. She looked at it, but wasn't frightened. Not at all the sensitive baby she came home as six weeks ago.

I rocked the saddle back and forth, dropped the right stirrup down, then the girth. Interest, but no major concern. Like Sunny, she's a little ticklish behind the elbows, but I reached under her belly and brought up the girth. I didn't tighten it because with the past few days of rain the paddock is nothing but slick clay. We were outside in the yard, and I didn't figure I'd take the chance of her jumping away should she spook at the feel of it. I could have tied her, but then I'd have a torn up yard, and if you knew how particular City Boy is about his lawn, even alongside the horses, you'd understand :)

But with the saddle sitting up there, I did climb the rail and sat above Jet's head. I wanted so badly to be able to swing my leg over her back!

A little more ground work~and a few days of sun to dry up that paddock~ and I'll do it. She's ready from an emotional standpoint. A nice easy walk around the paddock...I can feel that old saddle beneath me already.