Tacking Up
Tacking up is the first consideration when thinking about dancing with your horse. You may think of this aspect as a man introducing himself to a prospective partner and asking her to dance with you.
If he is abrupt and impolite. If he simply walks up to someone, grabs her, and tries to pull her unto the dance floor, he should not expect her to want to dance with him. In the same way, if you just grab a horse, throw a saddle on it, and shove a bit in its mouth, you should really not expect it to want to let you ride it.
I consider proper saddling and bridling a matter of being polite to the horse. First you should make sure the horse is properly groomed. I don't mean spending hours washing the horse. I mean you should at least make sure the areas that the tack will come in contact with are brushed clean of any dirt or other foreign material which might cause discomfort. You wouldn't want to dance with a stone in your shoe. Which brings up the importance of making sure the horse's feet are clean. Even if there are no stones in the shoes (or hollow of the feet if the horse doesn't wear shoes), a buildup of mud can make the horse unstable. This would be like trying to dance in platform shoes.
Place (don't throw) the saddle pad on the horses back. Place it a little in front of where it should be and slide it into place. This will ensure that the hair is lying flat. Then, place (don't throw) the saddle onto the horses back. I'm sure you wouldn't want someone throwing something onto your back if you were on your hands and knees.
As you tighten the girth, be sure not to pinch the skin. I like to check several times as I'm tightening to make sure the skin doesn't double up. Don't let the girth crowd the front legs. I don't know about you, but I don't like things digging into my arm pits. As you tighten the girth, remember: you don't have to get it extremely tight when first saddling. Just walk your horse to the mounting area. Then, before you mount, check and tighten the girth again. You might be surprised how loose it seems. This is a polite way of doing the same thing as kneeing the horse to make it expel any air when you're saddling.
Don't get in a hurry when your bridling. You probably don't appreciate people trying to force things into your mouth, so why should you expect a horse to like it. If you're tall enough, you can do what I like to do. I like to rest my forearm on the horse's head and let the headstall lie gently on the back of my fingers. Even if you're not tall enough to do that, you still want to be careful when inserting the bit. Simply bring the bit up to the horse's mouth. Don't try to shove it in. Don't even push it against the horse's teeth or gums. If the horse doesn't willingly open his mouth, slip your thumb into his mouth between the front and rear teeth. When he says, "Yuck!", simply slip the bit in the opening provided.
If a horse has had a bit forced into his mouth, he may not be anxious to take the bit willingly. Be patient. If you take your time, the process is bound to get easier. If you rush, it will probably be harder the next time.
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