Dude does not Like the Bareback Pad or Raisins

I finally got my daughter the bareback pad she has been begging for. It came in the mail yesterday. We put it on Matt and she rode around on it for about 5 minutes before it had slipped completely back to his low spot and was soon going to turn into a bucking strap. So we removed it from Matt and I tried it on Dude. Matt is one of those slick horses that everything slips off of. Dude is not usually as slippery. I had already been riding Dude around bareback in the yard. He bridled really well and let me get on from a chair. My bareback riding has improved!

I had already taken Dude's bridle off and given him some raisins (out of carrots) and he was chomping on grass when I approached him with the new bareback pad. He paid little attention to it on his back and didn't notice I was getting the girth strap underneath. But as soon as I started tightening it he started fidgeting. I put his bridle back on so I could guide him to not fidget onto my foot. I got the bareback pad kinda tight and led him up to the mounting chair.

I can read him pretty well and I could tell he was slightly freaked out by the pad moving around. With visions of him bucking it and me off, I removed it. But I got on him and rode him bare bareback some more just so he wouldn't get away with avoidance. He still walks off as soon as I mount, but he seemed to enjoy going round and round the yard with Matt and eagerly circled with me clinging to his mane.

He is such a responsive horse to the reins and to leg pressure. I think that's why I love to ride him so much!

Oh, so while I was "saddling" him with the bareback pad I offered raisins again. He sorted through them in my hand, knocking them all away with his snout and coming down to bare hand. "Hey, there's no carrots under these sticky things!" This was the last stop for the raisins in our household before they get thrown out. No one will eat them, not even Dude. LOL.