Luna's First Halter Story

After we had finally gotten back to Earth from Planet Vashta with our shipment of already tagged and claimed Neravontiis, we had unloaded the herd. I had taken my Neravontiis home, and began to work on my Ridgeback Young Mare for Halter Training. She's still a bit young for Riding but is more than ready to learn halter training and other ground work. After I had allowed the young mare to settle in for a few days, I had began to rework the first touch and gaining her trust day by day for a few days more before introducing any props. Over the couple of days bonding with the young mare I had learned about her and had chosen a name for her as well. I learned that she seemed to have a liking for fabrics and that she is quite curious. The name I had decided be great for her is Luna, Phantom of the Night.

One late night after caring for my all my animals on my ranch, I had grabbed a halter and large neravontii blanket. I strolled in the dark night and set the blanket and halter on the gate of Luna's Pasture. I whistled to Luna, and waited for her to approach. She walked up to the gate cautiously and curiously. I reached out for her to sniff my hand then opened the gate and moved into the pasture with Luna. She whinnied then trotted away, but in a circle, returning to check out what I had brought to her pasture. She sniffed at the blanket as I held it out to her and whinnied and snorted then nuzzled the blanket. She began to rub her face against the blanket then rubbed a little to aggressively knocking me to the ground. Luna got spooked and took off for a few seconds. I got back up and opened the blanket up. I swooshed the blanket around some to get her used to the object and it's movements. I approached her with the blanket and rubbed it over her neck and back a few times on both sides each before attempting to toss the blanket over her back. When I got the blanket onto her back and rubbed it around she seemed to be relaxed rather than spooked of the new object. After I had gotten her used to the blanket I buckled it to her, then grabbed the halter and helped her learn to trust the halter before putting it on her head and making her feel trapped. I swung the lead rope around until she got used to it's movements which took about 15 minutes. I then swung the lead rope around her neck and gave a gentle tug and drawing her in at the same time with body langue. I stopped then patted her lightly on the face before lifting the halter up to her face. She didn't really react so I slipped the halter onto her head. She seemed to get nervous but was more curious of what was around her face and if was something she could play with.

I slipped the halter on and buckled it then swung the lead rope over her neck and allowed her to roam her pasture and get used to it. Luna dashed off causing the lead rope to fall from her back and dangle. She had stepped on the lead rope causing herself to trip.
She got back up and just stood in place for a moment then when moved felt a tug due to her standing on the lead rope as it dangled on the ground. I walked over to Luna speaking to her softly. She looked over at me and nuzzled her face up against my jacket as I grabbed hold of the lead rope. I bent down to pick up her foot that was on the rope to help her figure things out then lead her to the gate. She seemed surprisingly seemed to do well with the halter and lead well for her first time. I walked Luna around her pasture with her attempting a few times to try and tug and pull and once even almost got away. After about 10 minutes of walking I had removed the blanket and halter and let her go for the night and work on her more the following days.

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Luna's First Sadle

After about half a year of ground work and preparing the young mare to be riden I worked on getting her used to vehicles, loading in the trailer, walking on a trail being ponied or lead by foot 6 times already. A year of training has gone by and I felt that she was mature enough to start being riden. First things first, time to get her used to the saddle!

I had already cared for all my Neravontiis and even had worked on training for a couple of my other Neravontiis before I took a break and prepared myself to tack up my giant and most large neravontii I own. I finished my dinner and headed to the stable to grab grooming kit and the tack. I had made 2 trips to bring all the stuff to the round pen where I had planned working on Luna for her first saddle. I grabbed the halter and headed over to collect Luna from her pasture. She was waiting at the gate for me ready for whatever was next to happen today. I slipped on her halter and lead her to a post outside the round pen and began to groom her before preparing her for the saddle!

I had gotten Luna groomed and ready to start tacking up. I lead Luna into the round pen and swing the lead rope over her neck and allowed her to walk off as I shut the gate and hurried for the saddle. I picked it up and moved quickly to the round pen and shut the gate behind me before walking up to Luna and letting her sniff the large object in my arms. I swung it around in small circles gradually large swings towards her repeatedly. Luna kept moving to the side and away from saddle in my arms. After about a minute she gave up on moving away. She then was no longer bothered by me swinging the saddle. So I moved to her other side and swung it couple times before starting to bump her with the saddle.

After working on getting her used to the saddle I had grabbed her lead rope and tied her up to the fence and practiced setting the saddle on Luna's back and removing it a few times from both sides before finally leaving it in place and fastening the saddle to Luna. Luna nipped at the sir then faced me and nudged me a bit to roughly causing me to fall to the ground. I got back up and continued to buckle the saddle and then unbuckled the lead rope to allow Lunna to roam the round pen and get used to the feeling. She began to bounce and buck around unsure of the feeling. After doing a few ground work practices and running her around the round pen, half an hour had passed by and it was time to let Luna go back to her pasture and take a break for the day.

Luna's First Ride Story

After around 16 days of getting Luna properly used saddles and harnesses, and different ground work, even a trail ride being ponied with a saddle on. I even have done warm ups for the past few days putting weight on both sides in the stirrups.

My staff had already prepared the tack and props needed for the first ride over by the small indoor arena. I went to get Luna who was waiting at the gate of her pasture curious of what was going on today. I stroked her on the nose, then swung my arms around her neck as she lowered her head over the gate. I hugged her face then kissed her on the jaw then slipped her halter on and swung the lead rope over her neck. I went to the entrance of the gate and opened it. I partly shut the gate before walking up to Luna. Before I started to walk towards her she had made a few steps towards me with her ears perked up. I smiled and stroked the mare on her face then swung my arms around her neck and gave her a tight hug again. I then moved along side her jumping up and down beside her. With just barely the top of my head reaching the height of her back. I laughed then gave her another big hug for her no reactions to my crazy jumping up and down.

I grabbed her lead rope and lead her out of the pasture and to the small indoor arena where I planned on mounting her for the first time. I lead her to a post and tied her up then gave her some light scratches and pets before grabbing a brush to groom her. I spoke her Luna as I brushed some patches of dirt from her coat. Once she was cleaned up I hurried over to the saddle and got her tacked up then lead her into the small indoor arena. I tightened the saddle cinch, then moved a stool near her to mount up. I decided to skip stirrups and use one of my pads. I stepped up onto the stool then pulled myself up using the handle and holding one of the reins. I struggled for a few moments as Luna began to move to the side. I managed to pull myself up onto Luna's back. I asked her to move forward and she began to wobble slightly and catching her balance then stood her ground and began to walk as if doing ground work. I kept her as busy as possible to keep her mind off of the weight on her back. About ten minutes passed by and everything went shockingly amazing. I dismounted and patted Luna on the neck. I untacked her and left the small indoor arena with the saddle and bridle to allow her to cool off in the open space of dirt. After letting Luna settle, I had one of my staff bathe her and release her back into her pasture for the day.