What are you doing up there?

Mojo said he was really tired because it's very hard to be him. He has to be smart and cute and good all at the same time. The dear boy didn't get up when I opened his stall door. He just looked up and went back to resting.

I walked in with him and scritched him up, gave him a few pellets for breathing and kissed his nose and tickled his whiskers. He's a funny little guy. This kid even sat on him while he was down. He wasn't too sure about that.

When he decided to get up, I took him into the aisle way. He had to touch and walk on the saddle blanket and get saddled up. Mom took pictures of everything, so there will be plenty in this post. Click on the image to see it bigger.

We made our way into the arena to get used to the cinch. It was fairly loose the first few laps. Then I tightened the cinch and we walked some more. Alyssa, who has been helping out at the barn lately, helped me out a ton by holding Mojo. She held him still while I jumped around him, pulled stirrups and held the saddle sideways. Every time he stood still, I stopped to tell him what a good boy he was. This progressed little-by-little until I slung myself over his back and scritched his belly. At this point, I looked over to Mom who was taking pictures and I noticed the crowd. A few other barn members were watching. They were worried about the small steps being dangerous - what if he took off and bucked while I was hanging over his back? They said that they would get up there and swing a leg over immediately. But I would rather work at each step individually, so that by the time I did swing a leg over, he knew to stay still. I also wasn't worried because Alyssa had hold of him.

She walked him around the arena after I had swung up completely. While he was walking, I stood in each stirrup, shifted my weight, and moved around sideways and backwards. I want Mojo to get used to people doing lots of weird things, like facing the wrong way and hanging over his back. He was decent about it - a little tense but good. I got down and took off his tack. Alyssa helped me move a jump and Mojo and I walked over it for a while. I spent some time loving on him before putting him back in his stall.