1st Time in a REAL Saddle!

I was expecting much more of a rodeo than I got today! We had vicious wind yesterday and today, but today I braved it to go see my lovable little boy!

My saddle arrived this week and I've been itching to use it! George has been such a dream lately I really had this idea in my head that I was just going to put the saddle on him, get on and go! Instead I went out to the barn with the idea of saddling with savvy, then playing the seven games.

George seemed as happy to see me as I was to see him. He trotted up to me with his ears forward, sniffed me and tried to take a bite out of my arm. I couldn't help myself, I busted out laughing. It just reminded me of why George became mine and what on Earth I had gotten myself into. I love this horse, he's something else!

I brought out the saddle, theraflex pad and girth(sans-stirrups and leathers so I wouldn't feel tempted) and draped them over the fence while I gave George a good scratched and groomed him up. I love that it only took a few weeks for him to stand without anything on his head for me to groom him! And I don't know why I look at him and still see a hairy beast! Luckily he was born down the street from where I keep him so his body just must know the weather changes better than other horses in the area???

I slipped on the halter and 12-foot rope (our first time really playing on the 12 foot!) and sent him over to the saddle. He was semi-interested, as I went through the process of saddling with savvy. I think he was more interested in the fact that my used theraflex smells like another horse! I saddled him from the "wrong" side, and he didn't care at all. *NOTICE: this was George's first time with a real saddle on his back!* Uh oh, girth was way too small, or so I thought. I just barely got it on the first hole, moved him around a little, played the circling game one circle each way, and the girth magically could go up two holes! Played some more, one more hole. In hindsight, I deffinetly should have seen if I could've gotten the girth tighter, but I checked each time and each time it already felt tight to me. More on that later.

I had two shims in the front of my theraflex and one in the middle. I decided to take the one out of the middle and stick in the front. My "new" saddle is a hilason flex tree dressage/trail saddle. I love it!!! But once I got it up there I think I may have turned pale at the realisation of how tall my 16.2 HH still growing boy is. Crud.

I think that the saddle is too far back, visually. But the boy has TONS of movement in his shoulder and it goes back really far!

I also vividly recalled my fierce hatred for saddles. I was prepared for mental instability on George's part, I was prepared for the spooking and learning curve for new things. I was not prepared for the fact that my goergeous athlete lost his ability to move when the saddle was placed on his back. Duh!!! Why would I expect otherwise??? Okay fine, I was really, really really hoping otherwise!  
I do not, however, blame the saddle. It is very wide and I think it's pretty well shimmed, his sweat pattern was perfect when the saddle came off. George has never had a treed saddle (or a person weighing more that 120lbs) on his back before, only a racing "saddle" and a jockey. It's only natural that he would need to learn how to move with these things on his back.

Here's some videos of the madness:

Don't get me wrong here. I've seen MUCH worse. I can see here that he is trying, he just keeps tipping his nose in like he wants to carry himself, he's just not sure how.

After this I decided to put him on the 22-foot line and let him canter a little bit. Suffice to say, it wasn't pretty...BUT he didn't rush it! Then all hell broke loose. He went right-brained and started galloping and the saddle slipped and only made him more scared. I got him stopped as the saddle was completely on his right side. I managed to get the girth unhooked without the saddle slipping under his belly all the way and let it drop to the ground > why I bought a USED saddle! I sat and rubbed him until he calmed down then started all over again. Break here for 45 minutes of walking away from George swinging the stick and string...do this every time we play and aren't getting anywhere. Once I got the pad and saddle on him without him going introverted or freaking out, I slipped them off him, took off his halter and went to put the saddle away.

I must have done something right because when I came back we came right up to me and set his forehead against my tummy. Ahhhhh happiness.

So the goal right now is to start doing hill therapy with George with the saddle on...if that makes any sense. And since we don't have hills in the desert and I don't want to use barrels due to George's old track injury, I think the best bet for him would be to use cavelettis, and to teach him to carry himself in a saddle before I ever get on him.

Also going to contact a PP today. I just...I've never had or played with a horse that reacted instead of acted so much before, and George still doesn't accept the carrot stick and string. I'm at a stop-loss here. Despite the fact that my stick and string are both trashed from George's love of chewing on them, once they are in my hand he flips out and I cannot be trusted. This is frustrating for me because I've spent so much time with him just trying to build rapport. When I think we are getting somewhere I'm wrong. I need an abject perspective to tell me what I am doing wrong to not set him up for success here. Hopefully I can get the help I need!

I have professional goals, and George is a super-horse. If I can get through to him then he could take me so far! I get out of the Army in October and want to find myself at the Parelli Center...but we're just not at the point that we could send in a video and it been good enough to catch anyone's eye! But once again, I must set back and insist on putting the relationship first!