A while back, Mrs Mom made a "Trail Riders' Mounting Strap" for people who need a little extra help mounting while out on the trail.
I saw that and thought it would be cool if I could use something similar to mount while bareback, so I thought and thought and ran it by Bill and Mom. My thought was that if I had something long enough, I could have Estes step on it, drape it across her back and use the loop to just step up.
Bill and I tried it with a tow strap, figured out how long we'd need it and I sent off my idea to Mrs Mom.
My Million Dollar Idea came in last week, but I wasn't able to get up to the lodge to play with it, so I told Mom and Bill to give it ago.
Being the good bloggers they are, the remembered to take video. Bill and Ranger went first...
It might have worked better if Ranger wasn't so ornery. After the first time, you can see him wait until Bill's ready and then he deliberately steps off the strap. I love that horse :)
So Bill decided to out-smart him and tie the strap around his leg.
After Bill had success, Mom and Washoe gave it a go. They started with the strap under the hoof, too, but Washoe was having none of it.
So Mom followed Bill's lead and tied it around Washoe's leg. Untying the knot looked a whole lot like horse yoga or something.
Yesterday, after I got off work from the Livery, I decided to finally try out my Million Dollar Idea on my own horse. Knowing Mom and Bill had success, I was ready to go!
I was fairly smug about the fact that I knew Her Highness, Queen Estes would not step off of the strap until I told her to. All of the hoof soaking we did last year gave me confidence that she'll leave her hooves where I tell her to. And she did. She stood like a pro the whole time I tried climbing up. (And of course Bill didn't get any video of that! I think he's trying to sabotage me.)
I tried and tried, but couldn't get my arse up. The failure with the strap was me. I don't know if I was just physically exhausted from working or I'm just a dumbass, but I couldn't get it to work out. So I tried the old tie-it-around-her-leg trick that worked for Mom and Bill.
Still a no-go.
I have my suspicions about why it won't work for me, but I'll hold onto those for now until I get a chance to try it again when I'm not so physically wiped out.
