You've prepared everything, you've gone over the steps in your head for weeks. You've gone nice and slow introducing him to the tack, letting him take his time. You decide today is the perfect day to put his tack on for the first time. You get him ready and take out the gear, he only turns his head once to see what you are doing. You make sure his lead rope is not too tight in case he spooks and pulls back. You make sure everything is out of the arena so he doesn't run into anything or trip. You take one more deep breath and grab the saddle pad and gently place it on his back, "Just like we practiced, Duncan." You say and give his shoulder a reassuring pat. He hardly noticed the pad, 'good' you think. Then you take the saddle and bring it closer and offer it to him to investigate. Yet he's more interested in using his finger to make lines in the dirt at this point. You set it on his back as slowly as you can manage and he barely twitches an ear. You reach to buckle the girth, not too tight to start with, and then grab the bridle. He refuses to put his head low enough for you to put it on but eventually he gives in. You press the bit onto his lips and he quivers them, you give more pressure until he allows the bit to be slipped into his mouth. The bit is new to him and he bobs his head and chews at it. You let him figure out that he can play with the bit and once he's occupied with that you go to tighten the girth a little more. But, oh no,a horsefly landed on his neck as you tighten the cinch. He swats it with his tail as it bites and jumps to the side at the feel of the cinch. In a split second you see him feel the saddle and then decide he doesn't like the pressure and then he's gone. Over the fence and through the field he goes, kicking his heals up trying to get the saddle off. You run after him even though you know you'll never catch up with him. One strap breaks at the first buck, and the tail cover wasn't hooked on so it flaps in the wind and spooks Duncan. You stop and watch him crest the hill and disappear over it, bucking and spinning the whole way. As you rev up the RTV you purchased for this sort of thing or help exercise him before you could ride him, you wonder why this happened after such a long preparation.
Out of all the things you planned for, a measly horsefly was able to turn everything upside down.
Out of all the things you planned for, a measly horsefly was able to turn everything upside down.
Duncan's first saddle clearly didn't go as planned. But he only made it a few miles away before he got caught.
I like this piece more than his first touch, I'm much happier with how this one turned out.
Species(c)MustangKnight
Neravontii featured owned by me
