Day 20

Still trying to solve the bucking and saddling issue. But first I should mention that when I went to feed them this morning, guess who was looking a little sheepish, with head hanging low, hose tangled around his feet, a bale of hay strewn in his stall, the door open, the grain bin lid off and the manure fork in his stall? Yes, it was Ceasar. He was caught red handed. I put him in the pen with bucket of water and checked him later to see if his system was still working. It was.
I met with him at 11 this morning for our session.
I started off real slow and easy. He caught me and I put the halter on him and just played with him a few minutes, not getting his excitement up any. Then I got the lariat out and commenced to sacking him out with that. Then about 20 minutes into our session I put around his girth and commenced to flank him out. I discovered earlier just with my hand putting pressure on his girth that he was somewhat sensitive there. So I kept that up till he relaxed. I did that with the lead rope also. Now it was lariat time. My goal is for him to find the rest place by standing and facing me even though there is alot of pressure on the girth. So first I did this at the place where the cinch would be. He moved off and after some time he would stop and get release. Then I started to lead him by the girth, teaching him that release comes when he yields to the pressure. Then I moved it back to where the flank cinch would go and went through the same process. Then at his belly. Here he did some bucking, but he soon settled down and I could put lots of pressure on him, pulling with all my weight and he would just stand there, then come towards me. When I could move him off and he still would not buck but would slow down and face me, I quit. I will try this tomorrow too.
Then I put the saddle on and before he could run I off I just kept disengaging him with softness and then asked him to move off. When he offered to go fast and maybe buck I shut him down by disengaging him and then sending him again. Soon he was able to go off without bucking, but he still took off like a shot. So we worked on moving off slowly. I didn't ride him today, we ran out of time and I wanted him to see that we won't always ride when I work with him. This was a baby backwards step to hopefully fill in some holes in his training. I am just trying to help him understand that it is going to be alright. We ended on a relaxed note. So I believe the session was real productive. We will do the same tomorrow only I will move through it a bit faster and also ride him, hopefully.