One foot in front of the other

After getting Sham Saddled I have been riding electra and working with him from on top of her. He has been doing a good job, he tries so hard. I am not sure if I have ever seen a horse try as hard as he is. I can't get over it. The hard part about that is that I need to work at a pace that is allowing him to try. If I push to hard or too fast I will discourage him to try and that is not what I want. So I am not afraid to take my time. He was nervous when he first saw me and electra come in the round pen with him so I just road around Electra, and didn't do anything with him. soon he was watching curiously instead of nervous. After I got him used to ponying around we went out for about a 45 minute ride. I took him through brush and hills and anywhere I could to get him used to things, he didn't mind most of it. There were time when he wanted to just stall out and not move. I just simple dallied and stopped and held until he gave, pretty soon he was trotting along with us, I think that it helped his leading as well. I have leaned over him, from on electra and he is watching but he is thinking and getting better, he lets me jump around him, once I start laying over him I am going to complete the step and swing a leg over. I hope that the next posting is one describing how the first ride went. God Bless, BW