Day five: Today Happy's lesson was learning to carry a snaffle bit. I took him out to the round pen and put the snaffle on. He handle it nicely, so I left him to hang out in the round pen, while I went to ride another horse.
He had stopped trying to spit the bit out and was quite when I returned so I decided to go ahead and tie the reins through his front leg and over his back to let him hang out some more with the new added pressure. Now when I try to tie the reins Happy didn't want me touching between his front legs picking up his leg and almost laying down like a horse bowing. Dork, so I had to work him through this a bit until he would stand on all four legs. I like this way of bitting up because they can put their head down, like grazing and will not make there neck sore. The only time there is pressure is when they put there head up higher than their back. I leave them to figure this out on their own without the added pressure of me. I can see my round pen while I work and notice that Happy was learning to give to the pressure nicely walking around the pen quitely. I try to keep fridays easy days, it doesn't work all the time but I try because I want there work week to end on a good note. Happy had excepted his first bitting up with out making his mouth sore at all.