keepin me in check

Hey everyone, I have heard it said that the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse. That is true in so many ways. I was doing real good with Bailey,(still am) with tossing the rope, picking up his feet, jumping around him, and all that good stuff. I finally deemed him ready to don the saddle. I worked up to this as well, and I had made up my mind that if I had reservations I would work on it some more. (I have put the saddle on several horses for the first time but I am trying to be extra careful and not set him back). After I was able to flop the blanket anywhere I wanted I worked my chaps hitting him on the opposite side of where I was throwing, soon he was ok with that as well, only one thing left to do. When he saw me carrying the saddle he shied some so I worked very slow at this. Soon it was on his back but with the cinches on top. I don't feel like I should fool him and saddle him that way so I worked on swinging it on with the stirrup and the cinches on top of the saddle, soon he was able to relax and I dropped the cinches and swung the saddle on, I repeated this several times. Cinching up has not been a problem. Shortly the saddle was on, I moved his hind quarters and sent him around me at a walk, then he decided to trot. All I can say is that I am excited about the athletic potential of this little horse, that is how good he bucked. After that he has been leery of me, I work at getting him caught and he has to try hard to trust me, However every day he has had to wear the saddle. He hasn't bucked since the first time but I have to ease through the process, every time to get him saddled. However, I am starting to see some improvement and I can tell that he is trying, he is just afraid, and I can't blame him for that. I ponied him out today and he was wonderful. I am trying not to do too much to him while he is trying to sort out the saddle, he will let me know when it is ok to move on to other things. I have only seen one other horse in my career that didn't take the saddle well after the first saddling, so I am very humbled by my little horse. However I need to remember he is looking to me as an example so I am simply staying steady with my emotions and by doing this I am keeping my frustrations at bay. I have some one I really trust coming to help me when I put on the first ride. Him and I have worked together in the past and we work well when I am riding a colt and he is working it from the ground or from the back of another horse. In doing this we are able to get quite a bit done on the first ride and it is so much less traumatic on the horse. So even though several of the other competitors are putting rides on their colts as I am speaking I am not in a hurry to get my ride in, my ride will come when the horses says so. Ray Hunt told me "you are not trying to ride this horse, you are only getting him ready to ride, when he is ready you be ready," Thanks for taking the time to check in. I am having a ball with this little horse, God Bless, BW