Interesting observations.....

So today Watson had an official visit..lol.... A lady down the road keeps and breeds Spanish horses and had a couple of saddles for sale, so she popped in with a dressage saddle, she had paid a fortune for it, used it for 6mnths then her horse changed size

So rather than confronting Watson with a stranger throwing a saddle on his back, we went off for a lovely stroll in the forest... I let him off his lead rope, and to her surprise he did his usual trick.. following me everywhere..etc.. had a little show off with his tricks and then just took her o see our breath taking views.. was very enjoyable, she quite liked Watson, thinking him to be quite a character, and definitely besotted with me... We chatted and strolled and eventually ended up home again...

She went to her car to get the saddle, firstly when I went to take a look at it and handed her the rope, he really didn't like the idea, he didn't stand as still and def lost the chill out zone..

As soon as she pu the saddle on him he threw his head up slashed his tail and pinned his ears back a little, all of which were quite subtle changes but quite detectable.. she slowly tightened the girth and I took his mind off it with some sweets... It made me think theres still a lot of work there.. I wont be getting a saddle and jumping on and off for a hack, I worked out a plan in my head...

The plan was to just get him used to having the saddle on and doing nothing, maybe having a saddle on for his meal, then off again, then on for a walk and then take it off, maybe doing this for a further week, till he returns to chill zone, as he got quite worked up and ready, go, go go... type thing and I really don't want that until I ask that of him, I'm quite a fuss for discipline and dont like a horse preempting my ideas..

So then I thought after he then returns to chill zone then maybe on the walk somewhere I will just pop on and then get off again, all being repeated until he remains calm and not asking to go go go..

Then the other work will start with discipline, stop go, sensitivity, total control... bomb proofing my way....  Walking over sheets of plastic, rolling barrels with noses, loud bangs, guns going off all sorts, just like police horse training, all my horses go through this with me.. I find it fun and ts character building and confidence giving for them... A horse should be able to go every where and anywhere over any terrane and at what ever speed you ask.. So there yo are thats the plan lecture over... lets see how it all goes..

So I realized from today that hes really quite a sensitive lad, not really enjoying change and even experiencing quite a bit of stress, which comes over as impatience .. thats it now I know that I need to work with it all... night ..