Striker is Sold :(

Well, Monday was an exciting day for Striker. He had a young girl and her mum come and look at him as a prospect for a pony club/jumper/show horse. I hadn't actually put him up for sale as such, but these ppl had heard through word of mouth that he was here, so contacted me and came down for a look. He didn't put a foot wrong! What a good boy he was. I was so proud of him. The young girl instantly fell in love, but i told them to go away and think about it. They rang me the next day and said without a doubt they wanted him. I took him to his new home on Tuesday. I was sad to see him go but happy for him too, as he now has a person that loves him dearly. Another happy ending

Mango
Mango had his first ride today and what a champ he was. I had done some ground work with him on Wednesday and followed up today with same ground work (yielding to feel and circles) all done with the saddle on. Then I stood in the stirrup to get a gauge of his reaction. He was tense so I lent across and stroked the opposite shoulder. Did this until he relaxed, then lent across the saddle and asked him to move in a circle for me. Again tense, but I repeated this until he was relaxed with it, making sure I never quit while he was tense. I then graduated to sitting on him and rubbing, while flexing, left and right, and eventually he was ready to move off. What a good boy! Just walked around, making sure he was always bent to the inside, for 10 minutes and quit while he was relaxed. I will follow this up tomorrow with more of the same. He is proving to be worth his weight in gold just as Striker did.