Thank you. I’m very lucky to have such a kind horse. She has a real sense of humor and I’m so excited to have her as my adventure partner. My trainer’s son is beyond thrilled that she has such a sweet tooth and has been sharing his gummy worm candies with her.
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Posting on a baby can scare the daylights out of them.
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When I got my fjord as a 3yo, it was abundantly clear he preferred the sitting trot. It took a little while to get the posting thing. I’m just bringing him back to some light work after being off since May for a multitude of issues and I got better moments out of him at the sitting trot vs the posting last night as a matter of fact 
@StarPattern - really good updates!! I’m excited for your little mare and I hope things settle down for your personal life 
. Hugs!
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The posting thing varies. I’ve posted on horses I’ve backed pretty much straight away, and none of them have been scared. So I guess it depends on the horse. I sit the first few strides and if that’s going well, then I’ll post.
The most important thing to me with young horses is forward, and sometimes that’s easier for me to establish with a decent rhythm at the posting trot. YMMV.
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I understand that. I was once riding a youngster with about 30 days under saddle and entirely forgot that I was wearing Kerrits full seat breeches with a rubbery, sticky seat. Sounded like a balloon being pulled when I mounted. I was promptly dumped. You can have a light seat with young horses however instead of a super heavy and deep seat that isn’t very forgiving on their back at the trot. That with a good torso that goes with the movement of the horse. I should have worded my post better instead of rapid fire responding.
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That is why I prefer to break and ride young horses in a jump saddle. You can adapt easily and get off of their back should the opportunity arise.
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But if you’re starting a horse to ride western, YMMV. 
To be honest, I’ve never had a problem to get off their back in my western saddle.
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I may be misguided here, but I kind of like the fact that they’re starting my horse with more of a heavy seat, just because I feel that’s going to make her a more forgiving horse. Not everyone who rides her is going to be super light in the tack. Being familiar with the feeling of someone bouncing on her will mean she doesn’t get frightened by it. That way, I can throw one of my husband’s kids on her and know that she’ll be kind to flailing and flopping.
Plus, I’m guessing she’s not the smoothest ride at the moment and it’s probably hard to find a nice rhythm to sit to. I’ve watched this horse trip over nothing and I can imagine how that translates to an unbalanced baby wearing a saddle.
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Yep, I start babies in the sloppiest most obnoxious way possible. Lots of reaching all over, touching all over, legs moving all over, intentionally dragging my foot over their butt, etc.
The precision work can come later. To start it’s forward, turn kinda, stop kinda, back kinda, “good enough” riding.
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I think there is a difference in having a light seat to be forgiving to a horse’s back as it develops and doing things to desensitize a horse.
@jvanrens, I agree you can have a light seat in a western saddle. I just prefer a jump saddle personally.
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I also prefer a jump saddle. Western saddles are just “too much” saddle for me sometimes. I think that one can ride tactfully to give the horse a positive experience all while desensitizing them. It’s also important to be easy on a just backed horses back. They’re new to this. They don’t have all of the strength that a regularly ridden horse would have.
I do all sorts of “sloppy” stuff with my youngster, but since I started doing that from the ground so long ago, he really didn’t give a toss about what I was doing once I was on him really. Part of that is just him and his general disposition though.
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You and your beautiful Appy Mare are in good hands. Kudos for finding a good trainer for you and your mare. I’m sorry you lost one of your seniors. It’s never easy to say good bye. It’s hard to see a parent experiencing cancer or any life threatening illness. You have every right to be feeling raw.
I know very little about starting babies. I have watched a lot, but never done it myself. I can’t comment on posting vs sitting. But I have to say that I cringed watching that rider’s hands. The horse is still learning forward with a rider on their back. This rider has hands bouncing all over the place, is not giving the horse any way to go forward without running into the rider’s hands. The horse didn’t need the tie down, the rider did.
And the spurs. One quick splurt forward and I have a feeling that the rider won’t be able to stay with the movement and will dig those spurs in to keep her seat.
Just my very humble opinion. I don’t mean to pile on, but I couldn’t sit on my hands any longer.
Sheilah
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Thanks all. Chances are, I probably won’t share any more videos here. I kind of learned my lesson there.
In other news. Handy had her first ride outside the round pen and aside from a little spook when the dog came out of the bushes, she did great. In watching the video, I could see the exact moment she realized the dog wasn’t a threat and she settled back down to work. Her spook was 5-6 strides forward at a slightly faster trot and that was it. Her expression went from “oh no, oh no, oh…. Oh. That’s the dog that lives here. Never mind.”
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Don’t say that! I would just take it as something to keep an eye on. It’s fantastic that she is doing so well with this trainer, and I really hope that continues! IF things start going not so well, though, all these comments are is a flag that those are things that could be causing it. Doesn’t mean dump your trainer and run, just keep an eye on things! Be aware it’s something that could cause problems going forward, but enjoy the progress she is making now.
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That’s a great response!
Once I hauled cross country to CA to attend a several day clinic with a young gelding. I was handling my horse when a commotion suddenly arose among several horses outside. My horse told me he just had to go see what the fuss was all about, which turned out to be the barn dog (passing thru older dog, been there for years and it wasn’t doing anything).
My gelding turned away in disgust – I could just about see his eyes roll back in his head – clearly he couldn’t believe he’d wasted his time coming to see what the ruckus was about, when it was only the dog, lol.
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