Mission Accomplished!

Well, we made it to the competition and actually did quite well! Cabrito was just as good there as he was at home. We had some great practices with our coach, Ken McNabb, and made some good friends. Cabrito was really able to shine in the cow work where we placed in the top 10. Overall, we ended up finishing 15th - just missing the top 12. But I learned SO much and am really eager to get signed up for the next Mustang Makeover. I got a lot of compliments on my horse and my training techniques, mostly from my peers, so that sure meant a lot to me. Cabrito was sold at the sale for $600 and was taken home to Wyoming by one of the other trainers. I miss him a lot, but I know he will have a good home. I just wanted to update those who didn't get to attend on how it all went! Thank you to everyone for their encouragement and support, it was so nice to have the "cheering section" at the competition. I appreciate each and every one of you!

One week left!

Oh my, I can't believe our journey has almost come to an end! I'm trying really hard not to get nervous, and not be sad. Cabrito is such a special horse and I'm so proud of how far he's come! Since my last entry, he's gone to a horse show and one cattle practice. He was great at the show (just went as a spectator) and stood patiently tied at the trailer all day. I've done a little trail riding outside on him and he's been great. Nothing really spooks him and he's pretty willing to go over any obstacle I ask of him. He trots and lopes out nice outside too! Our arena work has been focused on getting more suppleness and control of the "4 corners" of his body. We still have a little trouble loping to the right - he likes to push his left shoulder out and go where he wants! Yesterday we made some pretty significant progress with that though. On the plus side though, his lateral work is quite good. He will leg yield at the walk and trot both directions and he knows how to side pass! He's also gotten SO much better about mounting and dismounting, he no longer tries to shoot sideways or forward when my leg swings over. He's also learned the value of being able to stand still and relax with me on his back. The other day he stood in the middle of the arena for a good 15 minutes without getting antsy! Cabrito also got his first taste of cow work last week. To my amazement, he took to it really well! He wasn't afraid, showed some natural cow sense, wanted to stop and turn with the cow - it felt great! We're going back for more practice tonight, and then again on Sunday. Yesterday I worked on being able to remove a jacket, flop it around, toss it on the fence, and pick it back up. He did pretty good with that, so hopefully the slicker on the trail course won't be a big deal to him. All in all, I'm just trying to come up with as much stuff as I can to at least introduce him to, so we can be prepared for whatever the competition will throw our way. Since Cabrito is pretty sensible and calm anyways, I think we'll get through it without a rodeo! lol. I've been trying to get a freestyle performance prepared just in case we make it to the top 10 finals, all I'll say is "Blues Brothers". :) Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to perform for everyone! Well, that's about all I have for now, I'd sure like for everyone to come and watch if they can. It seems like a really competitive group of trainers, so I know it will be a good show! Wish us luck...

Riding right along...

Well, it's been a while since my last entry - I have been sooo busy! Spencer and I took a short vacation to Reno for the Californios Ranch Roping and Stock Horse contest. It was a really good time and always a great opportunity to watch some spectacular roping and beautiful horsemanship. I love going to watch that because it always inspires me to come home and start working harder on my own horsemanship. Cabrito graduated to riding in the arena on his 4th ride, and did quite well. He's usually pretty relaxed and doesn't seem to be too spooky. We hit a little bump in the road last week when he decided that the moment that I swing my leg over him to get on or get off was kind of bothersome. And lucky me, this seems to be one of the hardest training issues to get through without making it worse. So to work we went on getting on and off, on and off, on and off until it improved. Of course, that moment he gets bothered is the moment where I have the least amount of control and balance. So I had to work really hard at helping him stay balanced and relaxed and not losing my own balance. It gets better every day but it definitely seems to be a concern for him! The little guy moves forward really nice, he trots out and lopes when cued, and seems to have a natural stop on him. I'm working on helping him get a little more comfortable with bending right, his right hind leg is weaker, so whenever he gets in a position where he needs to load more weight on that leg than the others he gets uncomfortable. That is just a testament to how deep the sense of self preservation runs in him. He knows that when I put him in that spot, he's at a disadvantage to get away if he needs to. So I've just focused on putting him there, seeing if he can relax and take the weight on that right hind, then I walk him out of it. As he gets stronger on it and more trusting that I'm not going to let him die if his escape is compromised, he should get better about that! Last weekend he went on his first trail ride around the property. Roxy went along as a babysitter, but as I should have known, Cabrito didn't need her! He was comfortable leading the way and also comfortable with her trotting off ahead of him. I was quite proud of him as there was no spooking, he stayed relaxed and seemed to enjoy himself. I'm planning on getting him to go on his first outing next week to the Barnes Ranch for some cattle practice and then a fun show on the 22nd. I'm confident now that even if he gets scared, I can keep a lid on it and help him come back to me for leadership. Cabrito is doing so well, I'm not even worried about getting things just perfect for the competition - I think he will rise to the occassion and show everyone what a capable little horse he is!

Ride #2

Yesterday was ride #2, and it went really well! He was totally by himself today, so it was nice to see that he still trusted me and had enough confidence to move without a helper horse. We started out walking a little both directions, then I asked for the trot to the right. I let him trot out about half a circle and then used my seat to ask him to walk, which he responded to nicely. When we went to the left, he trotted off, started to speed up and got a little bothered and broke into a canter. We did about 3 frenzied canter circles before I was able to get him back to the trot with a soft seat and lots of "easy, easy". I let him stop and think on that for a bit and then we went back to the right. Here I asked for the canter on purpose (my ground driving paid off, he knew exactly what I wanted) and did a couple real nice easy turns around the round pen. Back to the left we went for "on purpose" canter and that went nicely too. So nothing more than a little scoot and panic and Cabrito quickly figured out there wasn't anything too scary about me being up there. I can tell he is going to be very sensitive and responsive, so I'm definitely looking forward to teaching him the cow work - I think he'll be good at it! It's too rainy and wet to work in the round pen today, so hopefully I can bring him into the indoor arena later and refine our ground work a little bit more. Since everything you do on the ground directly relates to how the horse is under saddle, I want to give him the best shot at being a good riding horse by properly preparing him in his ground work.

First Ride

Well, we've done A LOT of stuff since I last wrote! On Friday I took Cabrito through our indoor obstacle course - which meant plastic tarps, teeter totter bridges, hanging pool noodles, tires and streamers. He took it all in stride and there wasn't an obstacle that he refused to do. He wasn't too crazy about going through the curtains that were hanging down, but he did do it! Yesterday I pulled the horse trailer up so we could work on loading. From the time I pulled him out of his pen to the time he had all 4 feet in the trailer, it was only 7 minutes!! I'm just so amazed that this horse went from being perfectly capable of taking care of himself and not needing me, to willingly following me and doing everything I've asked him to do. Outstanding!

Today I decided was the big day to get on him. I saddled him, did some more ground driving, and then had Spencer come in on Roxy for moral support (and to play pick up man if things got a little out of hand lol). I got up on him and had Spencer walk Roxy by us to help Cabrito get moving, and we were off! He was walking real easy and relaxed, and even took the lead going to the right. He seemed to be pretty independent and didn't mind going ahead of Roxy. He was even starting to sit on his hindquarters and step his front end over off my leg when we changed directions! The funny part was at the end though - I decided he did well and was looking to find a place to quit, so I was trying to get him to stop and stand still for just a second so I could dismount. He was milling around a little bit and pulling down on the lead rope, so I just hung in there and waited for the right thing to happen so I could reward him. Well, I never got that chance cuz down his front end went, he was laying down!! I kicked my stirrups and stepped off the right and tried to get out of the way before he got up. He just stood up and looked at me like "what are you doing down there?" I knew we couldn't end like that, so fortunately he let me get back on and back off the "right way". Hahaha. Well, I've never had a colt do THAT with me before!!! And of course Roger had already turned the camera off, so no pictures of the unorthodox dismount!

A lot to be proud of!

Yesterday was a really great day for Cabrito and I - we got a lot done and for the first time I felt like he was really actually enjoying being with me. He was easier to catch in his pen, and then I took him to the round pen and did a little grooming. I don't want him to think that going to the round pen means work and nothing else. Then I got him saddled again (with no problem!) and began ground driving. I like to do that so they can learn and get accustomed to the cues that I will be using for walk trot and canter. Colts seem to pick that up so much quicker when you are on their back after you teach them from the ground. He handled it really well, and learned the cues pretty quick. Then I worked on putting my feet in the stirrups. He did real good with that so I went ahead and put some weight in them, and since that went well, I pulled myself up and leaned over his back from both sides. Yay! I think I'll be able to get all the way on by early next week, but I want to do a little more ground work first. So after all that went so well I took some time to groom him more. I wrapped the lead rope around the fence so he could start practicing being tied. He tried to walk away once but gave to the pressure and didn't walk off again. He is SO smart! I brushed his mane and tail out, which he seemed to enjoy immensely. I didn't want to give up the feel-good vibe we had goin on, so I took him on his first walk around the property and let him graze some. He is doing so well with leading and seems to really trust me. I couldn't be prouder of Cabrito and the progress he's making - he's turning out to be a very special horse!

Trainer voting brackets

Hey everyone, if you have a minute, please go to http://helperwidgets.com/widget.cfm?WIID=76A748B7-9CC1-9B58-907514F96D7E18B6 to vote for me in "favorite trainer" voting brackets. You can vote more than once and have until the 26th for the first round.

Thanks!

Saddled!

Well things have been going really well around here with Cabrito. Even though the wind has been relentlessly blowing, he handles it so well and isn't too bothered. He's been wearing the bareback pad around, I've picked up all 4 of his feet and have started using brushes and curry combs to groom him. Yesterday was the first day he went in the indoor arena, and probably the first time he's ever been in any sort of indoor building! He did so well, wasn't spooky, and even got to admire himself in the mirrors. I've been working on catching and haltering him in his pen - he seems to have a different mentality in there than when he's in the round pen. Something along the lines of "this is my space and you're not catching me". So, as soon as that shapes up I'm going to try and move him to a regular horse pen so he can be around other horses more.

This morning I decided to try saddling him - even in the horrendous wind gusts! He did great, no problems with the pad or the saddle, or having the cinch tightened. I led him forward a couple of steps and let him feel it. Then I tightened the cinch up some more and turned him loose. To my amazement, he didn't hump up or buck or anything. Just went walking and trotting around the round pen. I stopped him and turned him back kind of fast into the fence and sent him the other way and he still didn't even buck. What a great first experience for him!! I slapped the seat with my hands and moved the stirrups and fenders back and forth, left him in the round pen for 20 minutes while I cleaned his pen, unsaddled him and put him away.

Next on the agenda is some ground driving, ponying and hopefully this friday working on some obstacles. Then next week I can hopefully get a ride in on him!

Saddle this week?

First off, Happy Easter to everyone! After yesterday's session I'm thinking I might be able to saddle Cabrito in the next week. Even though the wind has been blowing non-stop for the last 4 days, I've still been plugging away with my boy. He sure has a great sense of confidence so the wind didn't seem to get him all pumped up like it does to the "domestic" horses. Yesterday I worked more on touching him everywhere, including his legs and belly. He got to experience the lead rope being pulled up around his girth and handled that really well. Spencer even took his coat off and rubbed him on the back with it. Then I worked on teaching him to lead up next to me better. He caught on to that pretty quick and I had him leading well from both sides.

I'd like to get him saddled soon so he can get comfortable wearing it. I'm going to start with a bareback pad and go from there! So hopefully we'll get that done this week as well as some ponying and introduction to some obstacles for more trust building.

Caught again

This morning when I worked with Cabrito, I decided to see if I could get him haltered without roping him first. He did very well with letting me walk up to him and rub his neck and rub him with the halter. But, when I got his nose in the halter, he got bothered a couple of times and pulled away. I didn't want him to get in the habit of pulling away when I go to halter him, so I tied the lead rope loosly around his neck so I would have something I could help him stay with instead of trying to hold him there with the halter halfway on. A couple of times on working through that and he let me slip the halter on just fine. Then I worked a little bit more with trying to rub his face a little bit. He did much better and was letting me rub his muzzle without too much fuss. Then I worked my way up to the bridge of his nose and between his eyes. He didn't like that much at first, but pretty quick he was lowering his head and closing his eyes while I scratched his face. I spent a lot of time rubbing him in new places today, like the very middle of his chest, the top of his poll, down his legs, his belly, flank and touched and picked up his tail. Cabrito stayed so relaxed with this, I think he's really starting to trust me. I could tell that he would stiffen up a little with concern, but quickly relax when he realized that nothing bad happened and I removed the pressure. I drapped the lead rope over his back and let it swing a little and moved it all over his body from both sides. He's still not as comfortable with me on his right side, but he did allow me to do everything there that I did on the left side. We ended today's session with some leading stuff and seeing just how slight a pressure I could get him to yield to (which was very slight - he is quite sensitive and will be one of those horses that you can get to respond off a "thought"). I'm really glad that I was able to be successful today and am still making small progresses. I hope that all this extra time that I've had to take in the beginnning will allow me to catch up a bit in the next 2 months before the competition!

Big Success

Well today we hit a milestone - Cabrito let me put the halter on!! And of course, no one was around to take pictures of it... lol. I roped him again and started the "rubbing" process up to his ears where we left off last time. He was okay with that so I started working my way towards his jaw, which he allowed me to do also. So then I picked up the halter and lead rope and started rubbing him with that a little bit. He was surprisingly okay with the lead rope touching him and being draped down on his other side. Then I presented the noseband of the halter to him and rubbed his muzzle with it, followed by rubbing all of it under his neck and on his chest. Next I worked on putting my right hand and arm over his neck and getting him used to me standing so close and having pressure from both sides. That took him a little more time to get used to, but soon he was comfortable with me almost "hugging" him around the neck. So, the last step was to pass the halter under his neck so I could grab it with my right hand and put it over his nose. He did great and even stood quietly while I got it tied. PHEW! Talk about a huge relief for me! We then spent the next 15 minutes or so working on leading exercises and just wearing the halter. I even led him back to his pen with it. It was really tempting to want to leave it on him for fear of not being able to get it back on, but I realized that if I couldn't get the halter back on him, he would not be ready to do any other exercises if I'd left it on. It's a trust thing, and besides, practice makes perfect right? :0)

Yesterday we had a really good session! I no longer need the whip to touch him first, he will let me walk up to him and touch him with my hand. So yesterday I roped him again and worked on bringing him off the fence of the round pen to see how good he would stay with me since the fence isn't there to hold him. He did really good! By the end of our training session he was standing in the middle of the round pen allowing me to stand at his shoulder and rub him all the way to his ears and a little around his jaw. He is also letting me pet him on the point of the shoulder and his chest. Before, this was an area that if you got the whip there he would strike, so that is a huge improvement. Cabrito even stood quietly while I un-threaded his neck tag and finally got the darn thing off of him! So he is officially no longer #3235! lol. Spencer worked with him a little bit too (I think he's curious more than anything) and started to see how he felt about a rope coil being slide up over his nose. He did pretty good with that and seemed comfortable. Spence also started getting Cabrito okay with someone maybe wanting to touch his face as he's still pretty leary of someone coming at him from the front. Overall though, Cabrito did really well and seems to be getting more and more relaxed with us messing with him. We even led him from the round pen back to his pen and then took the rope off in there. This morning he let me walk up to him in his pen and pet him with BOTH hands - so there is definitely some trust being gained. I'm still worried about not getting done what I need to before the competition, but I know that no matter what, Cabrito is going to be a great horse!

So on Thursday I picked up where we left off from Tuesday. It didn't take Cabrito very long to let me get close again and scratch him with the lunge whip. In fact, he seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing so I thought I'd see how he felt about me touching him with my hand. I rubbed him with the whip and started getting closer with my arm out moving it up and down in a petting motion. He got a little bothered, but only moved off a couple of steps. I kept at it until he was letting me touch him! I was able to rub him on his hindquarters and back on both sides. Then yesterday I worked on that some more, getting him used to me approaching him without always touching him with the whip first and also working my way up closer to his head. By the time we finished, I had rubbed all the way up to his jaw on both sides and he figured out how pleasant it was for me to itch him under his mane. I tried touching him in his pen last night when I fed him, but that must mean something different to him since it's "his" domain. I got my hands on his hindquarters, but he was a little uneasy. I'm not sure if I'll get to work with him today since we got more snow last night and the wind is blowing a hundred miles an hour. But if I do, I plan to work some in his pen as well as the round pen so he learns that it's okay to be touched regardless of his location.

I am so proud of him though, and myself. This has been very challenging and finally getting to touch him was the most rewarding and exciting feeling. This mustang has certainly reminded me of my earliest days working with horses - being frustrated and not knowing what to do next. But thank goodness he is a patient teacher because I have already learned more from him in 3 weeks than I learn from most horses in 3 months!

Snow Day

Well since we have over a foot of snow here today, I decided to just take a few pictures of Cabrito and post them here. Poor little guy can hardly get around his pen there's so much snow! He seems pretty content to stay in his shelter and munch hay though. :)

LOTS of getting touched today!

Well, we went back in the round pen this morning first thing since the weather was supposed to deteriorate by this afternoon (which it did lol). I have to give Cabrito credit for being VERY smart. I had a harder time getting to the point where I left off yesterday since he decided that leaving was still easier than standing still. So I roped him again (and woo hoo, caught him with my first throw!) and did more of the same work from yesterday, only this time being able to help encourage him to stay put a little better. This was working OK, but not great, so I decided to get his feet moving, but towards me rather than away from me. This helped me work my way up the rope and do a little "accidental" touching of his nose. Roger then came out to help me and suggested that I approach him with my flag handle a little bit more deliberately. I guess I might have been trying to "sneak it up" on him. Oops. But Roger was right, a little bit more deliberate approach actually helped. Cabrito was still pretty bothered by me getting in close to try and touch him with the flag handle though, so Roger went and hunted up a pole that is about 8 feet long that I could try touching him with. It worked pretty good! I could touch him with it and he could get worried and leave, but the pole never went away. Long story short, after an almost 3 hour session I was able to rub him with pole all over his hindquarters, back, neck, chest, and even up by his ears and I was able to be fairly close while doing it. We ended with me rubbing him on his left side, and then I walked behind him, he switched eyes and I rubbed him on the right side. He was hipshot, relaxed and had a very soft look on his face. I hope this is the breakthrough that I needed to help him get ready to be touched by my hand and haltered. I would have to say that this is the hardest horse I've ever worked with and he's challenging me every step to think of new ways and approaches to get where I want. But what a great horse, he has a lot of try and seems to want to figure out what I want!

In the round pen finally

Well, it's been a long time coming, but we finally got the round pen usable for Cabrito and I. He handled the trip down the "chute" very well, no trying to jump panels or anything. I tell ya, he has such a great response to pressure - not too sensitive and not too dull. At first, I just tried to let him get used to the new surroundings and get him to let me move him around the pen a little bit. Then we went to work on letting me get close and in position to eventually touch him. I started him to the right (his harder side to get on, but more accepting to try and touch) and he did pretty good. I was able to get very close, and bring the handle of my flag up to his neck like I was going to touch him. I did that a couple of times and then backed off and let him have a break. Then I went to moving him around to the left. At first all he wanted to do was stop and face me, so I insisted that he keep his shoulder on the fence and just look at me. That lead to him not stopping well, so I put more pressure on to get a better stop, which lead to wanting to turn back into the fence and go the other way. Boy he sure tested me with that, but I just kept sending him out and setting him back up the way I wanted him. He eventually got the message and was able to stop promptly with his shoulder on the fence. I then repeated the process of getting in position to touch him, hold the handle of the flag up and when he was comfortable, retreat. I switched both sides and got that accomplished a couple of times on each side and decided that was enough for today. The best thing was that after all that, I knew that I could touch him if I wanted to, but wanted him to have a chance to think about this and process it over night. Plus, I didn't want to run the risk that he would get too bothered and end up setting us back. Although I'm sure we are the farthest behind in the competition right now, I have confidence that we are going to be the most solid team in the end!

In a rut

Hey everyone! Yesterday I worked with Cabrito on the rope and at liberty. On the rope I decided to see if I could get him comfortable with being touched with a long stick. Although he doesn't like to let me on his right side, I was actually able to touch him on the shoulder a couple of times there. On his left side he was pretty defensive and wanting to strike, so I tried to see if I could reward him when the pressure was there and he didn't strike. I was able to use the hook on the stick to get the rope off and did some work with yielding to the rope around his hindquarters and such when it came off. Then at liberty I sent him around his pen and asked for the hindquarters, then frontquarters, and I was even able to direct him in some side-passing and two-tracking with just my body and rope coils. Pretty cool! I even got back into position next to him and got him okay with me just standing in his "bubble".

Now, I'm feeling a little bit in a rut here, do I just keep doing what I'm doing until he gets okay with me/the pole touching him? Is there a way to expedite this process that I haven't thought of? I'm thinking having the halter put on him would have been handy! lol I'll write more later today after I've worked with him again - and hopefully I'll have some new pictures!

I've gotten a little behind!

Well, this past weekend was horse expo, so I have been quite busy and not able to work with Cabrito much. Talking with some of the other people in the competition kinda freaked me out because they are so much farther along than I am. But I have to remember that I made a promise to myself, that everything I do with this mustang is about HIM and helping him to become a desirable horse for someone to adopt, and that I won't compromise him to do well in a competition. So even though we are way far behind, he's not ready for certain things yet and I'm just going to stick with what feels right. But anyways, Cabrito is getting a little bolder and has hinted at doing some naughty things in regard to respecting my space - so I introduced the flag to him today. I sent him around his pen some to assert myself as the leader, and then allowed him to relax and contemplate when he did the right things. He ended up being pretty tolerant of me waving the flag around and was able to stand relaxed, but he also figured out that when I wanted him to move off, that the flag is a motivating tool as well. Tomorrow we are going to build a chute to the round pen so I can do some more extensive work and hopefully (cross your fingers) get him haltered this week!

Web sites

Here are some links for anyone who is interested!

www.extrememustangmakeover.com

Has a good explanantion and overview of the program

www.8thheavenhorses.com

The wonderful facility I'm lucky enough to work at!

An easy day

Today I really needed to do some much needed catch-up work with my other training horses, so I was only able to spend a little time with Cabrito today. That and I'm feeling like I'm getting a cold so I kept my work load as light as possible. At feeding time this evening, I used his new found love of grain to see if I could pique his curiousity a little bit. It worked for the first 5 minutes - he would get real close and then decide it wasn't worth it and walk away. He quickly gave up on coming to me since he figured out I wasn't just going to dump the grain in his feeder and leave him alone! lol. So I worked on driving him off and then backing off to relieve the pressure when he faced me or walked towards me. I worked on that with him for about 15 minutes when he made a good change. Cabrito put himself in the "uncomfortably close zone" and was able to stay put and not leave. So I just turned around and left his pen, and he actually followed me, head down licking and chewing. I think I will practice this with him a couple of times each day and see how far we get with it!

Now officially known as "Cabrito" - the baby goat!

Yep, so I finally settled on Cabrito. Even though it means baby goat, it's a cool name and is easy to call him. Today wasn't such an easy session for anybody - me, Cabrito, or my saddle horse, Roxy. I started out getting him roped on my second try (small victory there since he didn't really move and was about 3 feet away lol) and went back to work with moving the hindquarters and seeing if I could get him to stand a little closer to me and Roxy. I have to give Cabrito credit, he is VERY smart. He figured out that if he reared and spun away, that I couldn't stop him, so you can imagine how quickly that little trick escalated. This was also flustering Roxy, which was frustrating me, so I opted to hand Roxy off to Spencer and go back to working on Cabrito afoot. Things went a little better and I was able to get quite close to him. My hand was just inches away from his neck, but whenever my hand would go in the blind spot, he'd get too bothered and I couldn't touch him. His curiousity was stronger however and he was sniffing and touching my hand with his nose more often. After a while, I needed a break, so Spencer started working with him some. And this is where more of Cabrito's intelligence surfaced. He figured out that when Spence was almost close enough to touch him, that if he struck out with a front foot, Spence would back away. Fortunately it was nothing too malicious, but that colt has got some reach with those front feet! So another good chunk of time was spent keeping his feet moving while allowing Spencer to get close without striking. To end the training session, Spencer was on a roll and was able to get close and pull the rope off of Cabrito's neck. He didn't even run, which was a really great way to end.

There were several times today that I felt completely over-whelmed and frustrated and wanted to tell myself that "you have no business doing this", "you're no good", "this is way too hard". But I kept with it, and thanks to Spencer's great coaching and help, we got through it. And now reflecting on what went on today - I know that we DID make progress, and things weren't that bad. I also have to keep reminding myself that I chose to do this so that I could learn and get more experience. I guess part of gaining experience is having to be put in a situation that isn't easy. So, I'm going to try and keep remembering that and stay away from the bad attitude. I can tell already that this little mustang is going to have a significant impact on my life!

We touched!

Today was a yucky day - wind blowing a hundred miles and hour and a fair amount of humidity in the air. So, I was hoping for a little shorter session than yesterdays! I decided to see what I could get done using my saddle horse, Roxy. My mustang was immediately curious to meet her so that made getting close pretty easy. I was by myself today so I had to do the roping, and it took several tries, but I got him caught. It was funny, everytime I swung my rope he would start shaking his head as if to say "try and catch this!". I worked on the same things as yesterday, only this time I had Roxy's strength to help me. I got within arms reach of the colt quite often, and today he reached out and touched my hand with his nose twice. I suspect that tomorrow he'll be even more willing to touch and sniff me. I also didn't have any difficulty getting the rope off his neck today, I just reached out and pulled the loop until my rope ran through. It was a short and simple session, but a good one nonetheless. When I went to feed him this evening he was staying closer to me than he had and didn't seem as concerned with me being in his pen. He even got his first taste of grain. So far, so good - I just wish I could come up with a name that I liked for him!

First Day of Work...

.... and boy was it work for both of us!! We started this morning at about 10 a.m. Spencer roped the little guy around the neck so I could start teaching him how to yield his hindquarters, not run off and hopefully get to where I could put a halter on him. It didn't take him long to figure out that running wasn't a good option and I had him driving by me, yielding his hindquarters and switching directions pretty quickly. The little guy seems to have a lot of feel and is very smart - lots of licking and chewing during breaks. We kept at this for a while and I kept working my way up the rope. We finally hit a bit of spot where he stopped progressing - and that was when I could get up about 2 feet away from him. Then he'd get a little bothered and need some more space. So with the help of Spencer's dad, I quit pursuing touching him for a while and started seeing if I could get him to lead at all. Working his hindquarters around both directions encouraged him to start taking steps forward with his outside front foot, which of course leads to leading!! He eventually got to where he would come around and then lead forward about 10 steps.

By this time, it was apparent that I probably wasn't going to be able to touch him today so it was time to look for a good stopping place. Not being able to get close enough to touch him made for a challenge of getting the rope off his neck. After flipping it around both sides of his head and body hoping the rope would slide through the honda and loosen up, we decided to fashion a "hook" that I could get close enough with to let the rope run through. By 1 p.m. I had the rope off, had a refresher course in my rope handling skills and my mustang's as well!! He got it over his back, around his butt, wrapped all the way around all 4 feet and handled it all quite well!! No kicking and firing or bolting off. What a very sensible young colt!

3 hours is a pretty long first session for any horse (and me for sure lol), let alone one that has never been handled, but I gave him lots of breaks and "soaking" time so he never quit on me. I'm very happy and encouraged with what we got done today. I think once he gets over the hump of being touched and is able to relax all the way, we're going to be rolling along pretty quickly!

Here are the name ideas we have so far:
"Cabrito"
"Ollie"
"Gunner"

Any other ideas?



This is about as close as he would let me get today

Almost there...

Getting the hind quarters shaped up


Taking a moment to relax


Driving past me, getting a feel for the rope

Pickup Day!

We (Spencer, his dad, grandmother, and I) made it down to Canon City this morning at about 11 AM. It was a neat experience, I'd never been around that area of Colorado before! At the prison where I picked my colt up, they hold anywhere between 2,500 and 3,000 mustangs. They feed a semi-load of hay PER DAY. That's a lot of horses! It definitely gave me a better appreciation and understanding for what it takes to care for our national treasures.

Sooo on to the latest addition at 8th Heaven Farms...

He is a 4 year old gelding that was captured as a baby from the Sulphur herd in Utah. He's dark bay/brown with 3 short socks, a small star and small snip. I might also add that he has a beautiful head and large, shapely and expressive ears!

I think I've gotten lucky and received a horse that is pretty quiet, smart, and seems to think things through before reacting. I was pleasantly surprised with how well he took in all of today's events.

I spent about 20 minutes today after unloading him getting to know him a little and see what he's all about. We ended with him being able to yield his hindquarters to me pretty good. He faced up and did some licking and chewing. I think we made good first impressions on each other. I plan to spend more time with him tomorrow and will post pictures!

I'd still like some name suggestions - right now I'm leaning towards "Cabrito" which means "kid" in Spanish. That seems to fit him!

Well that's all for now. It's been a long day and hopefully I'll actually be able to sleep tonight! :)



Checking out his new pen and kinda getting to know each other







What a pro in the trailer!

Tomorrow is the big day

Tomorrow I'll be headed down to the prison in Canon City, Colorado to pick up my partner for the next 90 days. I've been spending the last week making the necessary preparations and plans for his arrival. It's been hard not knowing what exactly to expect since this is my first experience with a mustang. I just hope that everything goes to plan and he gets settled in pretty quickly! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post some pictures of his arrival and his new digs. Also, I'm going to need some help coming up with a name for him, so any ideas would be great!!!