Onward!

The following day, I took the Celis White back to the round pen to build on her previous day's lesson. I was so pleased with her progress and was anxious to see how much she remembered.

I had placed the tack back in the round pen. Upon seeing the saddle, Celis shied. I turned her loose and started the lesson just as I had the previous day. The little mustang's reaction to the process went much more quickly than the day before. She still needed to work on the edges of the pen before allowing me to rub her with first the lead rope, then the saddle blanket and finally the saddle. But she did not run as long and became accustomed to the feel of each piece of equipment much more quickly.

When I felt she was ready for me to get in the saddle, I put on my helmet and like the day before, I slowly accustomed Celis to my weight on each side. Finally I swung my leg over her back; the mustang stood still as she felt my full weight on her back. I sat quietly for a minute or two before dismounting and mounting again.

This time in the saddle, I urged the white mare onward with my legs. I could tell she was very confused. I squeezed a little harder and Celis took one tentative step forward. I quickly rewarded her with a rub on her neck. I squeezed again and this time she swung her back end to the right with one big step. I must have squeezed harder on one side than on the other. I patted her neck again.

The next time I urged Celis to walk I tried to make sure I was squeezing equally with both legs. The little mare then took five very quick steps before coming to an abrupt halt. I stroked the mare's neck and quietly told her how good she was. Again I asked the mustang to move on and this time she took about ten steps before stopping quickly.

Slowly I led the mare with this little dance before she would walk without her abrupt halts. Steering was another matter. During this "dance", Celis was weaving around the round pen. I had a hard time keeping her from knocking into the rail with just the halter and lead. So once I Celis learned to walk when asked, I dismounted and went to retrieve the bridle.

I introduced the mare to a snaffle bit bridle. As with the other tack, I first showed Celis the bridle in the "soft" spot. The moment before she tried to flee, I turned away from the little horse and walked away. Celis followed me to the new spot. I then showed the mare the bridle again, and approached her with it. Her head was up and she was focused on the new piece of equipment. As I got closer to her, she started to shy off, so I slapped my hands against my legs and moved her to the rail. I worked her both ways of the round pen before she started to pay attention to me.

I let the little mare stop and she came back to the center of the arena where I was standing. I brought the bridle back to her nose and let her sniff it. Celis' held her head high and sniffed the bridle. After a minute, she began to lower her head so I moved the bridle to her shoulder and started rubbing. After a few rubs with the tack, I walked away--the mare was close behind. I turned back to the mustang and started the same procedure on the other side before going back to the center of the ring.

With each pass, I increased the area of rubbing, going to her neck and hindquarters. When she finally seemed to relax, I went back to her head to start the process of actually putting the bridle on the mare's head.

I took the headstall in my left hand and the bit in my right. From her left shoulder I had my left arm underneath her chin. I took my left thumb and placed in her mouth. I wiggled it slowly until she opened it wide enough for the bit. I slipped it into her mouth and brought the headstall up over her ears as gently as I could. I let the mare chomp on the bit while I checked the bridle for its fit. It seemed a bit too big so I shortened it a hole. Celis had her mouth wide open, so I thought I had made the bridle too tight. I loosened it a hole, but she still had her mouth open like she was trying to spit it out.

I double checked the fit of the bridle, but it truly seemed too large in the present position. So I shortened it again. Celis began to toss her head, so I lengthened it again. She continued to toss her head so I shortened back to the position I thought fit her better. I then thought the bridle might be pinching her head somewhere so I carefully felt underneath the leather where it touched her skin. It didn't seem too tight, nor did I find any stickers. Celis then stopped tossing her head, so I buckled up the noseband and throatlatch.

I led the white mare around the round pen with the bridle on. Every few steps she would toss her head once or twice before completely stopping her head movements. I felt the mustang had enough of a lesson for one day, so I untacked Celis White in the round pen and led her back to her stall.

The next day I started the lesson the same way as the previous two, giving the mustang extra time to be accustomed to the bridle. Once fully tacked up, I got on Celis the same way as before; first on one side, then the other before fully mounting her. Today, I wanted to teach Celis to halt. First I started the mare walking. Like the day before, she had a few abrupt halts before she started walking confidently. Once she was moving nicely, albeit in kind of a zigzag motion across the round pen, I shortened up the reins and pulled gently. Celis stopped very quickly and I gave her a pat on her neck. The mare seemed to have a very sensitive mouth. I started the mare moving again before halting. I repeated walking and stopping several more times before I decided move on to Celis' steering.

As the mare was walking, I quietly pulled on the right rein. Celis lifted her head and opened her mouth but turned to the right. I stroked the mare on her neck while still walking. Celis did not like the feel of the pull so I tried to make my rein adjustments as subtle as possible. We had cut a slight angle across the round pen and when we reached the other side I again shortened the right rein to make her do another right turn. The mare turned with a toss of the head, but she kept her mouth closed. I repeated the right turns. Slowly, the mustang stopped tossing her head and would quietly make the turn.

I then worked on turning Celis to the left. Like the right, I cut a slight angle across the arena. The mare started the head tossing, but did not open her mouth. When we reached the fence, I did another turn, this time without any head movement. So I practiced turning the mare a few more times before ending the lesson.

I was so proud of the little mare. She seemed to have accepted the new training with very little fuss.

Mounting Celis the second day

The "Soft" spot