Jane and I continued to back Sahara today, which is to say, I stood on the ground and Jane did the risky bits. We’d spent the first part of the afternoon working Abba and Shakira - I walked Abba, lunged her, massaged her, did some more bodywork, and then brought the saddle out, she walked off, and Jane started laughing, because Abba was malingering today, wanting, not unreasonably, to start her annual holiday. It has been delayed this year because we cannot currently vaccinate against AHS, due to an outbreak in the control zone, so Abba gets to stay in work until such time as our AHS permissions come through.Â
Whilst I was working on Abba, Jane took Shakira out for a walk to the reservoir and back. Shakira received a very important lesson, which I had not yet taught her, which is what to do when your handler trips and falls over. The answer is to stand still, watch the human pick themselves up and dust themselves off, and then make sure that you stick close to them and nuzzle them repeatedly the rest of the walk, to keep them on their feet.Â
Sahara was saved till last, because we like to make sure that when she is done with her backing work for the day, she is rewarded straight afterwards with her grain, to create a positive association between work and very yummy food. She was impatient and wanted to do stuff while the others were out of the field, and was very happy when it was her turn to be led out.Â
It was very windy, so I wasn’t certain quite how much work we would get accomplished. I was even less certain when Sahara tried to kick out as Jane picked out her off hind, but, after some minor theatrics on Sahara’s part about how the numnah and surcingle were trying to eat her, we got everything fastened on her, and enough of my doubts disappeared that I grabbed my camera.Â
Sahara was very sweet in the ring, very happy to engage with Jane as she perched on the fence. She came in for forehead scritches, which led to her making the funniest camel faces, though she didn’t like it when Jane swung her legs or jumped off the fence. She was not, however, having very big reactions to these things, which was good. I then hung up my camera, as we were going to move on to having Jane lie across her back, and everything went a little sideways.Â
I was at Sahara’s head, preparing to leg Jane up. Sahara was cross that I wasn’t giving her the carrot that she wanted now now now, and suspicious about this activity at her side. As I started to give Jane a leg up, Sahara moved forward, got us in her firing line, and cow kicked, striking both of us on the leg. That was that. Kicking humans is not ok, and Jane hopped out of the way, to give me room to tell Sahara how unacceptable her chosen expression of frustration and unwillingness had been. It did not take more than me squaring up to Sahara to make her realise she had made a bad mistake, but I drove the point home by making her yield her haunches rapidly in each direction, smacking her on the flank if she did not move fast enough. Being a sensitive little Arabian, this was very distressing for her, and I did not need to get after her more firmly. Instead, I progressed to flipping the tail end of the lead rope over her back and haunches, to remind her that stuff could move in that area and touch her there and she would be ok. She was very stiff and tense, but still relaxed enough to eat the carrot pieces she received for being good.Â
Once she had softened enough, I led her back into the centre of the ring, and Jane and I tried again. She was a reformed character, remembering how well she had done in previous sessions, and allowed Jane to lie draped over her side while I led her around the lunge ring. She had no problems with Jane sliding off her either, so we repeated the exercise from the other side, Sahara was even better, so, since things felt good, we went ahead with having Jane actually sit astride her.Â
Sahara was not worried by Jane swinging a leg over her back. She was a little surprised at being touched by legs on either side, but, after Jane had petted her and fed her some treats from her back, she was very quiet while being led around the ring, with Jane giving cues from her legs and seat to complement the cues I was giving from the halter. She did not even mind when Jane dismounted, taking care to swing her leg high over Sahara’s haunches and avoid touching them.Â
After Sahara had consumed her treats, I gave Jane a leg up on the other side, and this time, we made makeshift reins out of the lead rope, so I could give signals from the ground, and then phase them out to let Jane see how Sahara responded to all signals coming from her back. It seemed to go quite well, but Sahara then became a little confused and stuck when I stepped away and asked Jane to ride the mare to me.Â
There was also a minor issue with the lead rope reins turning back into a lead rope, which Jane sort of solved by tossing the lead rope over Sahara’s head. This was not Sahara’s favourite part of the experience, and she made it harder for herself by going full giraffe, but that was all. Jane sorted the lead rope out, so she had some sort of steering aid, and perhaps five or six minutes after she lay across Sahara’s back, she was able to cue Sahara to turn and to go forward. Stopping currently is achieved by Sahara arriving in front of me and getting a treat, but frankly, that’s no big deal, and she will learn all the correct aids in due course.Â
We called it quits there, really thrilled and happy with how well Sahara had handled the whole experience. She had a little tension to release afterwards, but walked back to the field with her head low and her eyes soft, a change from her preferred giraffeing and snorting and toe-dancing. She seemed happier in herself, which falls in line with what Jane and I have seen of Arabs: they love to work and to move, even if it takes them ten kilometres to finish warming up and get their heads in the game.Â