:)

I had a nice ride on Chance today. It was the 1st time I have ridden him since Sept at Libby's clinic. A couple of days ago I put a saddle on him and did a little bit of ground work with him. The fear I was feeling in him is gone. His mouthiness is still an issue but I'm working on that. I am working on having control of his head, there is an invisible line and his mouth is not allowed to cross it unless I ask him to. If it does I become a mother mare and without putting any emotion into it I make him bring his mouth back across the line. He may bump into my elbow or my hand, and if I feel it is necessary he gets whacked. And when his mouth is back to an acceptable place it's business as usual like nothing happened. His mouthiness is totally unacceptable and I can't risk getting bit or letting him bite somebody else. If he did that to another horse the punishment would be way worse so I don't feel bad about whacking him when I see his teeth coming towards me!
Enough of that, the rest was great. I saddled him up, he does need to move his feet when the saddle is coming on but I think that will stop soon. So for now I let him move. When the saddle is on he stops after a couple of circles around me and sometimes I'll take it off and start over. He isn't holding his breath anymore, infact he'll give me a big sigh and lick his lips. The saddling went so well and I felt very safe about getting on. Jaye was here and riding Pilot which gave me more confidence. Not that she could have done a thing to stop Chance from bucking me off but having her here keeps me calm and when I'm calm the fear can't take over. And I can be a much more effective leader for Chance when I can think clearly without the fear! So I got on and we rode for about 1/2 an hour in the paddock, we went up and down the hill a couple of times and stood and watched traffic go by in one of the horses favorite places. I did make one emergency dismount but I probably didn't need to. A neighbor was jogging by and Chance got a glimpse of her head then it disappeared behind some trees. His head and ears went up and he got very tall. My survival instinct took over and I decided to jump off before Chance forgot I was there. We walked in the joggers direction and he watched her continue down the road. Then I got back on. It was good practice and as far as I'm concerned better to be safe than sorry!
It was a great ride, I have new hope for us. I never really lost hope but I was pretty discouraged at times. It's nice to see that Chance is feeling better, and it felt so good to ride him again!