Chrome's Sidepull Completed

Isn't Faran cute?

Well, I finished putting together Chrome's bitless sidepull bridle. :) None of my indoor pictures turned out very well because of the poor lighting, but this one below is okay.

If you click to enlarge (or just look closely) you can see that I put the D-rings and the noseband in the loop where the bit normally goes. Then I just clip the reins to those D-rings. :D Below are the only two pictures I really got of him wearing the bridle because we got distracted by his cuteness and forgot about the bridle lol!

Doesn't it look awesome on him??

Now here are the rest of the pictures. We took way too many lol.

In this picture I was asking him to smile and he kept stepping closer so I would step back (yeah I know I'm not supposed to yield my space to him, but he wasn't being ugly or anything) and he forgot to step his rear hooves forward so he ended up all stretched out like a Tennessee Walker (or some other breed they set up like that). :D He's so cute!

Faran is getting a lot more confident and is coming closer and closer to investigate while we're working with Chrome. Just messing around in his vicinity is free bonus desensitizing lol.

In this picture I was practicing having him turn his head for the reins (which he did so well he was doing lateral flexes lol!). Notice how the headstall (where the rings for the reins are attached) slid down the noseband? I'll have to put a keeper on it to keep it from sliding.

You have to click to enlarge the above picture. Faran's expression is adorable!

When standing on the pedestal Chrome now offers lifting his hooves. He actually offers his hooves all the time hoping for a click lol. I can be standing anywhere in the pasture talking to my husband (or whoever) about something and Chrome will stand there with one leg in the air, then switch and hold the other one in the air. It's too funny!

Offering his other leg. I wasn't cueing him to lift his leg. I had my hand up to get him to lower his head (he likes to stick it in the air and look around from his short vantage point lol), but I did notice looking back at the pictures that he picked up the leg on the side I held my hand up, so I'm wondering if I've unintentionally taught him a cue for picking them up hehe. Now I just need to teach him to wave. :D

Gorgeous boy! The dork was licking my sleeve in this picture for some reason. :)

Hugs! Sort of lol.

Look who came up behind me without my noticing until he started nibbling my fingers lol.

I love how carefully Chrome looks down to step off his pedestal.

Then the jealous little boy walked up beside me to see if Faran was getting treats lol.

"Mom, you better not be feeding Faran treats and not me!
I'm the smart one who stands on a pedestal looking cute for you!" LOL

I wanna ride!!!

Then I started goofing off and propped my foot up on his haunches hehe.

Asking him to yield his haunches so he can get back on the pedestal.

Then I grabbed Zeppelin's empty dinner bucket, which of course Chrome had to check to see if it was actually empty.

Then I let him hold it lol. He loves playing with anything I offer him.

Sat down for a second and got big kisses. I don't sit in front of him for long because he likes to pick his legs up too much on the pedestal and I don't want him to accidentally hit me.

Time to untack. Taking the saddle off while he stands on his pedestal.

Now the bridle.

This picture is so cute! It shows exactly why I don't care if my horse puts his head down to take his bridle off. Even on the pedestal he's still in easy reach for me. Being tall is so awesome sometimes. In fact I taught him to lower his head to get his halter off because it's a good habit, now he holds his head too low when I put the bridle on LOL!!

He looks like I spent five hours brushing him and truth is I didn't even take a brush with me when we took these pictures lol.

Carefully stepping off of the pedestal again. Does he always look sleepy eyed to you?

Another hug.

Asking for a shoulder yield and he did a perfect crossover step. He's so good at his yielding. :D

Well, that's all. :) I'll have even more pictures soon because our neighbor came over today to use his tractor to help us with a drainage problem and I got a ton of pictures of the horses being adorable.