Starting Over - Opposite Ends

Bo and Leah are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to horses.

Bo is... "dull" as another trainer put it. He's naturally very lazy, has a stubborn streak, and though he is friendly, he's not terribly respectful on the ground. He doesn't have much concept of personal space and he's not very responsive - at all. All of these things have continued to grow throughout the years and I've come to realie that he's gotten away with it all, because he's such a good horse in so many other ways. He's quiet, he's gentle, anyone can ride him, he'll do (just about) anything you ask - though he may be slow to get there. He's also pretty much unflappable, not much scares him at all. He's probably been coasting along with a comfortable "B-C" grade all these years.

Leah, on the other hand, is highly responsive. Anything you ask her to do, she does it yesterday. In the early years I fell off of her so many times, because I'd ask her to turn, she'd flip a 90 or 180 - and I'd be in the dirt. She's quick, flighty, tense, and afraid of ev-ery-thing. She's been a pretty good girl all these years, pretty easy to handle, scary smart, I'd say overall she wants to do good. She's been allowed to coast too.

Both of them have gaping holes in their training, primarily because their early years pre-dated me knowing much. I started them both under saddle and did all of their early education, but looking back there was SO much I didn't know. (there's STILL so much I don't know...)

I've learned that Bo needs sensitizing. He needs to learn that he can't coast anymore, when I say move, he needs to MOVE. Leah needs DEsensitizing, she needs to learn that she's not going to die at any second and that it's okay to chill out.

I've already gotten started in what is sort of starting over with them both. I've been doing groundwork, making Bo hustle his feet. Then I switch gears and encourage Leah to stand still as plastic bags go whipping past her.

I have to say that I think it is a great deal of fun working with the two of them. If Leah gets all spun up and I feel nervous about being on her, I can go get on Bo and decompress with an easy ride. If I get frustrated with Bo's lack of responsiveness, I can get Leah out and smile at her "snap-to" way of doing things.

I think they balance each other out quite well and between the two of them, I can learn a lot.

Daring to Dream Again

After being spread so thin all these years with all the horses, it's been a slow, sputtering start to making plans again. I think, after toying around with the idea for years, I'd like to try and start training Bo for Reining. I've had an interest in that event for many years and I have always thought Bo might have the makings of a good Reining horse. He has the build for it and is a nice mover. He's willing and has a good disposition.

We have a LONG way to go to get there. Most of the required movements are things I've never done before and have never trained a horse to do. Things like flying lead changes, spins, and sliding stops... Then there's the fact that Bo is not very soft at all. He's got a good, soft mouth, but he's kinda lunk headed and doesn't have much finesse as of yet. A lot of that is my fault; back when I first started him I didn't know much more than how to get a horse rideable at a very basic level. He is very willing to please though and has a great mind. I foresee a bit of starting over in some areas.

Compound all of that by both Bo and I being pretty out of shape right now. Yeah, it's gonna be a bit of an uphill battle from the start.

I would like to put him in some local open shows this summer in whatever classes we can get ready for. I had planned to start with stuff like Walk/Trot classes and maybe... maybe Novice Reining - if we can get anywhere close to being ready for that. We both need a lot of conditioning and need to learn a lot more together.

I think it will be fun and if we can go to some shows and not make fools of ourselves, having done most of the work on our own, it'll be great.

2011 Colorado Mustang Makeover!!

Ok, it's time once again to dust off this blog and get cracking! This blog's original purpose turned out to be the sharing of my journey toward the 2009 Midwest Mustang Challenge, an Extreme Mustang Makeover event. For my maiden voyage into the EMM world, I was given a black filly that I named Onyx. The entire experience of training her and taking her to the (HUGE) final competition was wonderful and highly addictive. I've been longing, ever since, to apply again and make the journey once more. The stars finally aligned and I decided to send in my application for the 2011 Colorado event, to be held in June, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

I've spent a very anxious two weeks, obsessively checking my e-mail and hoping that my faxed application hadn't been lost. Today the wait was over when I received the e-mail congratulating me as being chosen to be a trainer for the Fort Collins Extreme Mustang Makeover!!

I will travel down to southern Colorado the second weekend of March to pick up my mustang. Then I'll have 90 days to train him or her for the competition on June 10-12th in Fort Collins. On a side note, I'm overjoyed that this time the event will return me to my home state. I am a Colorado native and I'm hoping to have a cheering section at this event of family and friends! Another exciting part of this particular event is that World Champion reining trainer Al Dunning will be at the competition to act as a mentor and coach for all of the trainers. The opportunity to learn from a trainer of his caliber while competing is VERY exciting.

I am hugely excited and a bit nervous. There is SO much to do in the next month and certainly in the 3 months after that! However, I am "chomping at the bit" to get started.

Whooo-Hooooo!

The Importance of Being Flexible

It's important to be flexible. I'm not talking about being able to touch your toes - although that's nice too. No, I mean in working with horses.

I have a horse named Two Strike. I acquired him in January 2010 when I went to pick him up to train for someone and he ended up being given to me. I'd actually seen him for the first time the past May and he'd stuck in my mind ever since. So when he was offered to me, it didn't take me long to make the decision.

He is a... "different" kind of horse. Highly reactive and not very trusting at all. In an oddly ironic way, he has lived up to his name - having met my thigh with his hoof two times. The first was an accident, the second was my fault. Both were cases of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with a horse who thinks everyone and everything is going to eat him, right NOW.

Despite all of the challenges he presents, I can tell that he wants to be a good boy. He tries hard, sometimes too hard, to give what is asked of him. By that I mean that he will move QUICKLY when asked. He is always on alert and it's rare to ever see him in a relaxed state.

Anyway, he hasn't had much work done with him over the past several months due to the roller coaster ride my life had taken me on this summer. Last night I decided to get back to work with him. So I gathered up some tools - a training stick, lunge line, and bridle. Then I went to get him.

We started in the arena at liberty. I let him blow off some steam while I set the direction and speed. Then we moved to the round pen. I found myself working him off line and I ended up focusing on two things. One - turning in to face me when he changes direction. Two - "Whoa" means stop where you are and don't move. Somehow along the way he had come to the conclusion that "Whoa" means "Come here" - which has no translation for when someone is on his back. Whoa means whoa... or quite simply, stop.

We worked on those little things until I was happy with his changes of direction and until he stopped three times and stayed at the fence. Then I called him in and gave him some attention.

My next step was to climb up on the fence and got him to come in close - something he's always been very wary of (having someone up high). We worked through that for a little while. All I did was stroke his neck over and over and over from above, until he relaxed. He was surprisingly calm and seemed quite relaxed at the end of our training session.

As I walked him out of the arena, I happened to notice the training stick, lunge line, and bridle all hung neatly outside the gate where I had put them. I smiled a bit as I remembered that I'd had plans for the training session. I ended up on a different path and I think it was for the better.

Yep, it's important to be flexible when working with a horse.

Road to the Horse and Richard Winters

First off, I haven't been near as active on my blog as I'd like to be. I've had several things pop into mind over the past few months that I've wanted to share, but then other things pop in and somehow I never make it here to write them down. (or would it be type them up?) I'd rather not turn this post into a novel, if I can avoid it, so maybe I'll try to be disciplined and type up some of those things over the next few days. But for now... I'm sipping my coffee and surfing the net and something has popped in.

The Road to the Horse event takes place in a few days. One of these years I'd like to go see that in person. I think it's an event that would be great to go to, just to say I had been there. Last year the Champion of the event was a trainer named Richard Winters. I'm not sure I had heard of him more than in passing before the event. After he won I remember there was a great deal of hype about the fact that he was the first competitor to win riding in a halter. I remember being surprised, over and over, when I'd see another mention of how extraordinary it was.

I have always started my horses in a halter. As a matter of fact, I don't even ride a horse with a bit and bridle until they've already had several rides in a halter. I also start my horses bareback. People have thought I'm crazy for that. But the way I look at it is that I think a saddle, a bit, AND a rider are a lot for a young horse to worry about all together on a first ride. Now of course I introduce my horses to the saddle, and the bit, well before I ever climb on their back, but when it comes time for the first few rides, it's just me, a halter, and leadrope on the horse. I don't want to jinx myself, but so far I've never been dumped during those first few rides. I think it's because I do a lot of ground work and preparation leading up to that first ride, but also because the minimal approach means there's just not much for the horse to get upset about.

I guess I'm still amazed at the widespread misconceptions that surround horses. Such as - you HAVE to have a bit in their mouth - and you HAVE to have shoes on their feet (but that's a whole 'nother blog entry I'll save for some other time). I just have to kinda shake my head when I see all the mentions of Richard Winters being "the first!" to win Road to the Horse without a bit in his horse's mouth. Please understand I'm not trying to take ANYTHING away from him. Actually I think it is FANTASTIC that he won in that fashion. I hope his victory has sparked some dialogue about how you don't HAVE to put a bit in a horse's mouth to start them - or even to win a prestigious competition like Road the the Horse. I hope he was the first of many to come.

I just saw a message about the event being in a few days and I was reminded that Richard Winters is competing again this year. I ended up seeing a link to his channel on YouTube this morning and then I wandered onto his site. I happened to notice that he has an article right on his homepage about handling stallions. I have to admit that when I clicked on the link, I had my hackles up a bit, because I am so used to the "big name" trainers taking about how horrible stallions are. (that's actually ANOTHER blog post I've been meaning to make) To my surprise, the Richard Winters article on handling stallions is just that: some tips on raising and handling stallions. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I'd say between his Road to the Horse win in a halter, and this article on stallions, I'm going to have to look into his methods. He has quite an extensive list of videos on his YouTube channel and I'm going to check them out!

Get Him!

Last night Jeff went with me to the stables. I turned my horses out in the indoor arena so that I could clean their stalls. Jeff wanted to ride and thus the fun began.

But first, some back story...
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I have two horses - Bo, a 9-year-old Paint stallion and Cazador, a coming 2-year-old Spanish Mustang stud colt. When Cazador came into my life it was my hope that Bo could act as a role model for the up and coming young stud. You know, keep him in line, teach him about things. To my dismay, for the first several months, all Bo did was act as a chew toy and jungle gym for Cazador. Picture my mature stallion standing around with a tired look that says "kids these days..." and a yearling colt climbing on him, chewing on his neck.

A little while back, Jeff was riding Bo in the indoor. I wanted to turn Cazador out so I was on my way across the indoor, to the round pen in the corner. Jeff said "you can turn him loose out here with us." I warned Jeff that Cazador is a little punk around Bo and he'd have to watch his back or else Cazador would be climbing up there with him. He insisted it'd be fine. So I turned Cazador loose, advised Jeff that the word "quit!" works to keep him off Bo when Bo has a rider, and I left the arena to go do chores.

It turns out Jeff invented a new "game" that night. He was annoyed with cazador trying to "punk" Bo all the time, and he was bored. So he started making Bo follow Cazador and push Cazador around the arena for once.

The next time I turned them out together I noticed Bo was a little less tolerant of Cazador's attitude. He still isn't mean, but he'll push Cazador out of his space and follow him around at his "plowhorse" walk. I told Jeff that he "empowered" Bo. Haha.
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Ok, back to last night. I was cleaning stalls while Jeff was riding Bo, with Cazador on the loose. I kept hearing Cazador gallop around in the indoor. At one point I considered going to get him so that Jeff could ride in peace. I thought Cazador was harassing them again to no end. Imagine my surprise when I went to peek in the round pen and see Cazador running around, with Bo trailing him and Jeff with a big smile on his face.

It turned out Jeff was doing the "follow Cazador routine" all that time. He was all smiles when he told me "I taught him a new command, I've fallen off twice." LOL (Jeff rides only bareback, I've offered to let him use a saddle, but he has never taken me up on it - he wants to ride bareback - a good way to learn to ride I think) The new command? Well, when Bo would get close to Cazador, Jeff would say "Get him!" and Bo would lunge at Cazador. I didn't get to see it in action, but Jeff tried it a few times and I did see Bo put his ears back at Cazador and pick up his pace. Jeff said he'd had Bo do it 4 times - twice he stayed on, twice he fell off.

I told Jeff that believe it or not, what he's been doing is good for both of the horses. Cazador is learning he's NOT the boss and has to move his feet away from Bo. Bo is learning tracking. I told Jeff that I've always heard the first step in teaching a horse to work cattle is to track a cow - just follow them around for a while. Jeff said "I wish we had a cow here!" LOL

As far as the "Get him!" command? I think it's funny. Jeff expressed concern that it might be teaching Bo aggression, but I don't think so. I think it's good for Bo to learn anything that gets him to MOVE OUT. He also still needs to assert himself more over Cazador. I think a command that teaches him to move out quickly towards a target will help when and if I ever do get to work cattle with him.

Professional trainer?

So for this blog I take you back to the Mustang Makeover in mid-April... During one of the open practice sessions in the wee hours of the morning (pre dawn), I took Onyx to the big arena. There were a whole bunch of other riders in there, but I remember one in particular. He was riding around on his mustang, and her tail was full of shavings. Now this guy was one of the "big names" and I'd heard him bragging about all the money he'd won in whatever horse sport he was into. I remember being struck by him riding his horse around early that morning, with bedding in her tail and thinking, "That's not very professional...". Sure, it was a practice session, sure it was 5am, but there were plenty of other people there, riders and spectators. Maybe it's just me, but I thoroughly groom any of my horses before I do anything with them. Most especially if they are going to be in the public eye, casual ride or not. I would expect a "pro" to do the same...

All that came to mind again out of the blue just a few days ago when I took Bo, my stallion, out of his stall for a quick ride. I was going to hop on him bareback in the indoor and cruise around for a few minutes before heading to work. There were other people riding in the arena already that afternoon. As I brushed shavings from his tail, for some reason I thought back to that "pro" trainer and his horse's tail that morning.

Now just a few minutes ago I checked my email and found a message from YouTube, where I had hosted several videos of Onyx during our time together. A lady has written me, wondering if I have any ideas on how to contact that particular trainer. It seems she bought his mustang and needs some paperwork from him, but he appears to have dropped off the map. His website is down and his phone doesn't work. She says she is thankful she paid for the horse by check and that she noted it as such in the memo of the check. I have no idea how to get ahold of him, but I certainly won't forget the "shavings tail" on his mustang that early morning. Barring that anything bad has happened to him (hopefully not), I have to think... Professional? Doesn't sound like it after all...

Checking In

*sweeping away the cobwebs*

Hello all my faithful readers! *cough, cough* It's dusty around here...

OK, yeah I'm a little odd.

It's been a couple months or so I guess since I last posted here. I got a wild hair up my butt just now and figured I'd write something.

I've been keeping busy with my horses and various projects. Right now I only have two horses of my own. My faithful Paint stallion, Bo and my newest addition is a yearling Spanish Mustang colt I call Cazador. (Spanish for "hunter" - or so the online translation sites tell me) I actually got him back in... late February/early March I believe it was, while I was still training Onyx. He was pretty rough when I first got him - shaggy, skinny, wormy, covered in ticks and pretty wild. He didn't want much at all to do with people. He's changed quite a bit and is now a slick, shiny, friendly young stud. He is a flashy dun overo and seems to turn heads wherever he goes. That's good, because I have quite a career planned for him. His main purpose will be to serve as an ambassador for the Spanish Mustang breed. There are only somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 Spanish Mustangs in existence (depending on which figures you read). They are descendants of the Conquistador's horses, the first horses brought to this country. In addition to being from a rare breed, my young Cazador also carries a rare bloodline within the breed. His dam has two doses of a stallion called Scarface. I've been told there isn't a whole lot of Scarface left in the breed. I certainly haven't been able to find him in more than a couple horses in my searches so far. So I plan to campaign Cazador quite extensively and use him to spread the word about the breed. Big plans! So far he's already been out in the world a handful of times and he has gotten rave reviews from everyone who's seen him - horse person or not. The future is looking bright!

The latest development in my horsey life is I believe that, for the first time, I'm going to hang out my shingle for horse training services. It's definitely something I LOVE and I suppose I'm pretty good at it. I don't consider myself an expert and I certainly don't know everything (NO ONE does, no matter what they think) but I can train a horse for sure. For many years I've resisted the idea of training for other people because, quite frankly I like horses more than I like people. But when my adventure with Onyx came to an end, I was pretty bummed not to have a training project anymore. Bo is far from "finished" and there is a lot more I can do with him. I do have Cazador, but it will be a couple of years or so before we get to do any riding. I've found myself missing the days years ago when I had SEVEN horses of my own, all youngsters and all in training. I used to spend hours everyday on chores and training and I loved it. I think it would be great to have more horses to train now, but my finances certainly don't allow having my own herd again quite yet. My business has been stagnating for a little while and I have my feelers out for a 9-5 job (yuck) but until the right one comes along I have a whole lot of hours in the day I could be spending with more horses. So, I think the time is right to dip my toe in the waters or training for other people. I've spent the last several days editing and re-editing a contract, picking other trainer's brains on what to charge and what to expect and composing an ad. I'm a little nervous, but I'm also looking forward to seeing how it goes. Wish me luck!! :)

A Recap

Ok, I did it again... I fell off the blogging wagon the past few weeks. Bad Bobbie. I figured I'd better at least compose a recap of the event and a the last few highlights of working with Onyx.

I guess we'll start back before the Makeover competition...

* Onyx had her feet trimmed a couple weeks before the show and she did really well. She was a bit suspicious of the farrier at first but he went a little slower introducing himself and then bent down to pick up her leg. She gave her foot to him and after that she stood like a pro while he did all of her feet.

* I caved to "peer pressure" I suppose and decided to clip her fetlocks a couple days before the show. Some people said it would make her look neater and that it would be better for the judges and potential buyers to be able to see her legs. So for the first time ever Onyx had the clipper running on her legs. I was THRILLED with how she handled it. I did the clipping in her stall and I didn't even have a halter on her. I clipped all 4 legs and she didn't fuss at all. What a good girl.

On to the show! This blog entry would be a mile long if I tried to tell everything that went on, so I guess I'll just type some highlights for that as well...

*Early on (the first night there) I met up with two WONDERFUL trainers who helped me SO much through the weekend. Dennis Auslam (you may remember I had met him at our Horse Expo here back in March) was there of course and he introduced me to TJ Clibborn. The two of them jumped right in when I told them I was struggling with finding the confidence to ride her in front of thousands of people. So that first night they helped me a ton. Right off the bat I learned two things that have been working against Onyx and I all this time. 1) My saddle didn't fit her. Didn't fit her to the point where it was pinching her shoulders and causing her pain. 2) Her neck was out of alignment and she needs chiropractic treatment. Both of those were things I had wondered about, but hadn't had confirmation of until Dennis and TJ. They went to work right away. They did a bit of adjusting on her neck and massaged it too. She felt a lot better after that. Then TJ loaned me a saddle to use for the weekend! The first time I rode her in the practice arena in the borrowed saddle and right after they'd worked on her neck, it was like I was on a different horse. Dennis and TJ were both there all weekend and they took time out a couple of nights to help me with Onyx.

* I opted not to ride her in the riding part of the competition. She seemed to be hurting and she was cranky. It didn't help that she came into heat at the same time. What with all the weather setbacks we'd had, I went to this event with only about a dozen rides on her - and even those were spaced out because of the crazy weather here. I was nervous about the thousands of people in the stands and the professional competitors we were up againt. All around I decided it was best to lead her through the riding course. Once I made that decision, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. I had agonized over what to do for days. I knew that if I didn't at least try *something* in that big coliseum in front of all those people that I'd regret it. It was a relief to just decide that it was ok to lead her through. And everyone, from Patti Colbert (the executive director of the Mustang Heritage Foundation) to Dennis and TJ to other friends I'd talked to all backed me up and said it would be ok to do that. I had been afraid I'd be the only one leading through, but as it turned out a few other trainers did the same thing with their horses. With a big fat zero in riding our overall score was pretty low. BUT we were the highest placed of the "non riders" so I guess that's something. Ha!

* The horse fair was absolute insanity. I don't know what the attendance numbers were but I know that each time I had to take Onyx back and forth to the arenas, we were walking through a sea of people. She was a very good girl, she never really spooked, even though there were a LOT of new and scary things there. She was very curious and wanted to investigate everything.

* On the last day all the horses were auctioned off and most of the prices I heard while waiting for our turn were pretty low. I was nervous going into that, afraid that she wouldn't sell or would only bring the minimum bid. As it turned out she actually sold for MORE than some of the horses who were in the top 10 finals, so that was a very nice surprise. On the evening of the day we had moved in to the grounds, I met a guy who was wandering around the mustang stalls. He stopped and chatted with me for a while. We must have talked horses for over an hour. During the weekend, he'd stop by and visit again from time to time. When auction day came, he was the one who bought Onyx! All those times we visited I never even knew he was "shopping". I was so happy he got her, I had worried about her going off with some stranger I'd never even met. But this guy was really cool and I think she'll have a great home with him.

Overall I had so much fun at the event. It was stressful, especially at first because I had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately all this time I had been wrapped up in the competition and the fact that I'd be up against professional trainers and people who'd trained a lot of mustangs before. It really had me stressed out. I fell apart a few times at the show and hid in my tack stall crying. Wondering what I was thinking being there and thinking I didn't belong there. I just wish I would have realized long ago that the competition is just a side thing. The REAL priority, and really all that matters at the end of the day, is getting the horses trained and into a good home. I did that much and it was fun! :) I have to say that I'm hooked now and I can't wait to do it all over again. There are several other Mustang Makeovers still to come this year and I plan to apply for one or maybe even two more. :)

I do have some pictures and video to share, but the cable for my camera to hook to the computer appears to be MIA. Hopefully I can find it soon.

Updates and MORE Snow

Well we are hunkered down inside for another blizzard. I figured it was high time I posted some updates. (does anyone even read this stuff? who knows...) ANYway...

* Onyx has no problem letting me pick up all 4 feet now. I can clean them out, wiggle her hoof around and tap on the bottom of her foot and it's all no big deal. I'm trying to get her ready for a trim before the show.

* We did some more work with the bit yesterday. I started off lunging her in the surcingle and I introduced side reins to give her some pressure on the bit. She's comfortable carrying the bit around now, but I'm still not sure how far we'll get with it in the next couple of weeks. I've been debating weather or not to ride her in a halter for the competition. If she's not comfrtable enough with the bit by then I just might do that. I'm not sure if it will help or hinder us at the competition, but at the end of the day I'm going to do what's best for her. She's totally comfortable in the halter and is very responsive to it so I see no reason to rush into the bit for the sake of the show. I'll continue to work her with the bit of course. If her new owner wants to ride her in a bridle I want her to have been exposed to it.

* We also did more in hand practice yesterday. I discovered that there was a wooden bridge in the pile of props in the arena. So I dragged that out and set it up. I was pretty sure it wouldn't pose much of a problem since she'll follow me anywhere I ask her to. Sure enough, she hesitated the very first time and afterwards we clopped back and forth across it several times. No big deal. Next I'll ride her over it and then we can cross that off the list. I've also introduced her to walking over a "pole". Hidden in the "prop pile" I found several long PVC pipes so I brought one out and had her walk back and forth across it. Again, she hesitated the very first time and then she was fine. I'm very glad to have found the bridge and the pipes there because I had started to wonder where to find poles to practice with and I had just asked Jeff if we could build one of the bridges. My only concern with the PVC pipes is that they are pretty small. I think the "standard" walk over pole is a much larger diameter, so I hope that doesn't cause a problem if we are required to walk/trot over some poles at the show.

* We've had a couple more rides in the past week. She's been pretty grumpy and I'm thinking it may be "that time of the month". She'll do what I ask of her, usully without a fight, but she was doing some pretty ornrey stuff as well. Our last ride this week, we worked on trotting circles and I did some more work with her on responding to leg pressure. She was doing well, but a couple times she swung her head around and tried to bite my boot. During the first couple circles at a trot, I felt her pop her butt up once. Not a proper buck, but she was letting me know there were ither things she'd rather be doing. I just pushed on through and she cooperated after that. She seems to throw little tantrums from time to time, but it seems that the trick is to just keep riding her through it and she comes out the other side more willing to work. She is a silly girl.

* On the grooming front I've been going after her every day with my trusty shedding stone and her coat is really starting to look good. She's not "slicked out" but she has this overall "plush" look to her, I think it looks nice. She's been introduced to the clippers and yesterday I did some trim work on her. I got rid of what Jeff called her "man beard" (the long hairs under her jaw) and did some other touch ups here and there. I unbraided her mane and brushed it out, then did some more scissor work to try and even it out. Her hair is SO thick and now that it's shorter it's pretty bushy. She has this long pretty section of hair at her withers and I haven't had the heart to cut it yet. I guess it would look pretty goofy for her mane to be all 4-5 inches long and then have a foot or so at her withers so I imagine I'll have to break down and trim that too. I'm pretty sure I'm going to leave her fetlocks and whiskers natural. I read in the rules that they aren't supposed to penalize for that. I'm no clipper whiz so I'm afraid if I tried to do her fetlocks I'd butcher the job, lol. Faces I can do, but I've never really done more than that.

I think that about covers it all except for the big piece of news....

Jeff rode Onyx!!

On Friday afternoon I was just getting ready to ride her and I asked if he wanted to come and watch. I walked her around, worked on turnarounds and did some trotting, stopping and backing. I also had him walk up to her and pet her. She gets really insecure when I'm on her and there are people around. So I wanted to work on that. After I dismounted, he asked if he could ride her. I hesitated, not sure if it was a good idea. He's only been on a horse about 5 times or so and I wasn't sure what would happen... She was a little nervous when he got up next to her to get on. Then after he was up, I walked around a bit and she followed me wherever I went. Then I told him if he was ready he could take her out solo. So he turned her away from me and... Well, I'll let the video speak for itself...



She did SO well! (and for the record Jeff did really well too - heehee) I had expected some sort of crazy rodeo scene, but I just don't give either of them enough credit. At dinner that night I told Jeff that I'm not good at taking credit for things I can do with horses. I've had so many people tell me that I've done a great job with Bo, my stallion. I usually just shrug and say "well he's a good horse". But I told Jeff that I think I should take some credit for this one. Just over 2 months ago she was a totally wild horse and no one could even touch her. And now, someone who's only ridden a few times can get on her and ride around. He said yes, I've done a good job with her and I should take credit for that. *blush*

I've selected a song for the finals, if we are picked for the top ten. According to the rules all trainers have to provide music for the finals and all trainers should have a finals performance ready. My goal in the beginning was to be in the top 10. Because of the setbacks in the weather and so on, I had downgraded my aspirations to just not making a complete fool of myself. But I'm back to daring to hope that I can make the top 10 again. We still have a LOT of work to do, and I'm certainly NOT happy about beig snowd in again. But I think we still might be able to do it. So I've selected a song and I've started envisioning what we can do for the finals. I think I've got a good "show" planned, hopefully we'll get to do it!

Best Day - Then Another Setback

On Sunday I had my best day with Onyx. (so far!) I went into her stall and was able to groom her from head to tail without so much as a halter on her. Then, for the first time, I picked out all 4 of her feet, again with no halter or rope on her. She was SUCH a good girl! For somewhat of a reward I turned her loose in the arena and she ran and ran and played and looked to be having a lot of fun. Then we saddled up! She was SO much better for that ride. She didn't fight me and I actually forgot I was on a mustang with only a few rides on her. We strolled around the arena, going in and out of the narrow chute into the round pen and walking around by the barrels and cones in the corner. It was then that I realized a side benefit of her having a traffic cone for a toy in her stall. When she first saw the cones in the corner they had concerned her, but now she could care less! One cone was off the stack and she walked right over it. I had expected a reaction out of her before I realized - "duh, she has one in her stall!" So big orange cones certainly won't be a concern with her in the future.

Then we worked on trotting. She was unsure at first and I was a bit unsure too, because I'm not used to a horse with so much "forward". Bo is slow and lazy and most of the time I have to really get after him to get him to move out at all. Not Onyx! After we both worked it out (she knew she could trot with me on her and I knew when she launched into it she wasn't trying to bolt off with me - haha) all I had to do was say "trot" and she powered off into these huge strides. It was impressive! This girl can really cover some ground. Even her walk is done with a purpose, she wants to get somewhere. She's going to be a heck of a horse for whoever buys her.

So we ended the weekend on a high note. And then came another setback. This weekend our weather was gorgeous and on Sunday it was 75 degrees! That night it all went downhill and we awoke Monday to high winds and tons of rain/sleet. We had been under a blizzard warning for Monday and Tuesday. By early Monday afternoon the blizzard was in full force and everything was shutting down. The interstate from Wyoming to halfway across South Dakota was closed and they were advising no travel anywhere else. We couldn't even see across the street for most of the storm. It lasted until yesterday (Tuesday) and then finally quit around noon or so. We went out driving to view the aftermath and found several roads blocked by drifts that ranged from 2-12 feet high. Yet in some places, you could see bare road or bare grass. The wind howled for two days, they recorded a gust of 80mph, and blew the snow everywhere. It always amazes me to see bare ground right next to a 10 foot drift after one of these storms. So I've now lost another couple of days. The 10 day forecast looks pretty bleak, rain and snow and no temps over 40, or so they say. I don't have much choice but to bundle up and get back to work. Three weeks from today I'll be hitting the road for Wisconsin!! I really hope we have at least a few more nice days between now and then...

Great ride!

Yesterday I rode Onyx for the first time since she had gotten sick. We got off to a rocky start and I have to admit that I was getting intimidated up on her back. She wasn't doing anything horrible, but she was tossing her head, not wanting to listen to me at all and not wanting to stand still or pretty much do anything I asked of her. I started to second guess myself thinking maybe I should just get off and do some more ground work with her. Prior to getting on we lunged and did some in hand work in the outdoor arena. I also long reined her, driving her around the arena. She was doing great with all of that. Then we had gone to the indoor arena to ride. It was a beautiful day yesterday, except that it was very windy. Not wanting to push my luck in the wind since it had been a couple of weeks I took her inside to ride. There were a few people in the round pen in the corner working with a spunky green horse. Also another trainer was riding one of his green projects in the arena. Onyx was distracted by all of that, but mainly the antics of the horse in the round pen. Actually I don't think the horse bothered her, but the people standing around there certainly did.

Anyway I decided to stick with her since we are running out of time. As it turned out it's a good thing I did because I think we accomplished a lot. I decided to work on side flexing and circling and ended up working on thos while using them to teach her other things. She's good at "whoa" and will stop with me on her back, but then she immediately want's to keep going. So she was fighting me a lot on that... until I had her circle and circle and circle and she was getting tired of that. Then she was willing to stand. Her next bit of rebellion was to refuse to continue walking when we reached the gate on laps around the arena. After circling at the gate, she decided that wasn't a fun place to stop anymore.

In the end we had a good ride, I think she learned some things and I stuck with her through her little tantrums. We trotted for the first time, just a few strides, but it's a start. I also started her on her "socializing" yesterday. I had a few different people stop and fuss over her as they passed through the barn. Then after I finished riding, someone came over and got on her for a few minutes and I led them around. She was pretty upset at first about someone else being that close and then stepping up onto her, but then after we started walking around she calmed down and it was no big deal.

Today's supposed to be our last nice day before another big storm comes in. They are predicting a bad thunderstorm which is supposed to turn into a blizzard. There has been a blizzard wrning since yesterday for the next few days. So I plan to ride again today and get as much done as I can before we have to batten down the hatches again. *sigh*

Onyx is Awesome!

That was the text of a message I sent Jeff yesterday from my cell phone after a session with Onyx. We did some in hand work yesterday. I was curious to put her through her paces and see what all she has learned. There were a couple of firsts along the way. We were finally able to use the outdoor arena, it's dry at last and the weather was beautiful. So we had our first outdoor training session in quite a while. Also she was introduced to the bit yesterday and she wore it while we worked. I figured it'd be easy to get her to take the bit since she is so cusrious and likes to play with things with her mouth. Sure enough all I had to do was hold it by her lips and she took it. Outside I lunged her a bit and then walked around with her. We walked and trotted around, changing speeds and practicing "whoa". She was very good at that, we'd be trotting around, I'd say "whoa" and she'd slam on the brakes and stop right where she was. What a good girl! We also did some backing (something I know she's quite proficient at - ha!) and she was wonderful. So, I feel pretty darn good about the In Hand portion of the competition. Now to work on more riding...

Oh, she met the clippers for the first time yesterday too. She accepted them quite well. Hopefully I can get busy on making her more presentable now! I'm planning to trim up the longer areas and hopefully make her coat more uniform. She's been shedding out nicely and on the big areas of her body she's looking pretty good. Her legs and face are pretty shaggy though.

Oh! One more thing, haha. I also picked up both of her front feet yesterday. I've touched her legs and picked them up for an instant or two a few times, but yesterday I held them up, tapped her foot, wiggled it around and so on and she was just fine. I also worked on the back legs and she was letting me run my hand all down them, on the inside and out, all the way to her hoof. I haven't picked them up yet, but I think she'll do ok.

The opening line of my text message to Jeff yesterday was "Onyx is awesome" - the next part was "I think we might just do ok as long as *I* don't screw things up" haha Yeah, that's pretty much it. Now we have to get busy on the riding part and I've gotta get busy realizing that I can do this!

All Clear

No more boogers.

Ok, a LOT has gone on over the past week, but at the moment I'm completely exhausted so I'm not going to give a total play-by-play. To summarize:

I left Onyx at the barn and went to the Horse Expo last weekend. I met a lot of wonderful people, and hung out with folks I already knew from the local horse community. One of the highlights for me was meeting Dennis Auslam, one of the other Mustang Makeover trainers who will be at the competition in April. He was a very nice guy with a great sense of humor and he extended an invitation for me to hang out with he and his family at the show in April.

Our weather took a turn for artic temps again right after the Expo. We had snow for a few days and bitter cold zero and below zero temps, so once again I lost valuable training days. It was just as well I suppose since I'm sure Onyx needed the time to clear up her snot fountain.

This past Saturday I spent the whole day at the stables. I did a lot of chores - stripping and rebedding stalls along with dumping the water tubs which had huge blocks of ice in them from the frigid temps. I also worked with everyone and Onyx's lesson consisted of being meeting a plastic bag on a stick. She did very well. Of course she was freaked out at first, and even tried to "kill" the bag (striking and stomping at it) but she accepted it rather quickly and I was able to touch her with it all over her body. Plus I waved it around "vigorously" (lol) in the air, around her head and over the ground. I'm sure by now - what with my spontaneous jumping up and down nonsense and now THIS - she thinks I'm crazy. At least that's what the look on her face seemed to say. Haha!

Anyway, that's about it I guess, in a nutshell. I'm off to bed!

Moving right along

Yesterday there was a minor breakthrough with Onyx. When I entered her stall with the halter and lead, she came over to me like she's done for a while now. This time however she seemed inclined to stay with me instead of wandering off and making me "catch" her once I got the halter ready. So I held out the halter, noseband open and she put her nose in it! That was very cool. I saddled her up and headed for the arena. There were two other people riding and I figured it'd be good to let her experience that. She hasn't been ridden around others yet. So after a few minutes of lunging at the trot, I hopped on her and we rode around a bit. She did VERY well around the other horses. There was a time when the other two were trotting or loping around together and she started to get a little fired up. She was tossing her head and wanting to GO but she listened to me and didn't take off. A bit later on I had her stand in the middle while one of the horses was loping circles around us. She was calm, just watching them go around. The other horse was green and a little fired up, they came pretty close to us on a couple laps but Onyx didn't seem to be phased by it. She did throw a couple little tantrums, tossing her head around when I'd ask her to turn by rein pressure so we'll have to work on that a bit. Otherwise she did very well and we had a nice little 3rd "official" ride. The Horse Expo is fast approaching but I think we might be ready to go... There's still a lot to be done so I'd better get to it!

Big News!

Well... I'll let the video speak for itself...




Yep, that's yours truly riding Onyx! (sorry for the poor video quality... as previously mentioned, the lighting in the indoor arena isn't the greatest, plus my camera is exactly the latest and greatest either!) The video is of our second solo ride this afternoon. The first one was this morning! She is doing SO well. I've had a goal all along to ride her in the Black Hills Horse Expo this weekend and it's kinda crept up on me. It seems like yesterday I was thinking "oh, I've got a few more weeks, there's time..." And now it's in a few days! So I decided to gather up the courage and go for it today, alone in the arena. She started out by bucking a bit and spinning in a circle. She was trying like heck to get me off (or maybe it was the tight saddle, or both) but I didn't go anywhere, so she stopped bucking and hasn't tried to do it since. Then we did some circling and finally she took off on her own.

The first ride was a good 30 minutes of just letting her walk around the arena, packing me around. Then I said "whoa", rocked back and forth and hopped off. For the second ride we did it all again, but no bucking this time. I let her go where she wanted for the first little bit and then I started reining her around toward the end of the ride. She is SUPER responsive. Jeff was in the arena with us to get a couple of video clips and at one point he walked toward her and she tried to bolt away from him. She only got about one jump, before I pulled back and said "easy" and she immediately slowed to a walk again like nothing had happened. I was grinning from ear to ear! :)

I plan to ride her 2-3 times a day over the next few days and I'd like to haul her to another arena at least once so she can see new surroundings once before being surprised at the Expo.

So far so good!

Bad blogger

Yes, I am a bad... no, scratch that - I'm a horrible blogger! Time has kinda gotten away from me and I realize I haven't posted any updates in a long time. I'll try to bring this back up to speed without turning it into a novel...

Let's see... Onyx has been saddled several times. She's been turned loose in the arena to run and play several times - and I can actually catch her again. (yaaay! haha) And the big news is that I've ridden her several times now. Nothing to brag about just yet. I've only been on her bareback with a halter and lead rope. (my preferred way to do the first few rides on my youngsters) She handled it quite well, no rodeo antics which is always a good thing. Unfortunatey I don't have any documentation of the rides save for one picture that was taken on our first venture outside.

I have to confess that I've had some "ground support" for her for the first few rides. I've recruited Jeff to be at her head and hold her while I get on and then lead her around. This last time though I gave him a longer rope and had him get further away from her. We also took a big step and unhooked the rope and he walked away. Usually I'm not so cautious, I've started several horses "my way" and have never had help, but I've been extra careful with her I suppose. I've seen her "blow up" a couple of times and I have to admit it was pretty intimidating thinking of being on her back during that - ha! So I tell her to "walk on" and guide her a bit with the reins and tell her "whoa" and he just walks along at her head for "moral support". She really wasn't sure about him at first and she still acts goofy if I've been working with her and then he steps in, but she listens to him pretty well now.

The first ride I had him take her over to the round pen fence and I stepped off using the fence, but the last couple of times I've swung off her to the ground. I thought sure she'd jump the first time I hopped off and landed next to her, but she didn't even flinch. I guess all my crazy jumping up and down antics have paid off!

We've noticed an odd thing about little Onyx. She is quite proficient at backing up and that seems to be her response when she's unsure what else to do. The first night we turned her loose in the arena with the lights on she backed all the way across the arena. She had run around and had fun and then she was just hanging out when she put her head down and started to back. She stepped pretty confidently backwards all the way across the arena, looking down the whole time. I've never seen anything like that. We were stumped. Jeff thought maybe she saw her shadow and was trying to get away from it, but then he didn't think that backing would be a very effective escape method! And then in the round pen when I had him unclip the rope, she stood for a bit and then started backing. I decided to just sit and let her do what she wanted to do to get used to carrying me on her own. Well what she did was back about 4 or 5 laps around the round pen. Jeff has asked a couple times if that behavior is "normal" and I say no... I did joke that maybe backing should be our freestyle - I could back her a whole lap around the arena.. or do the riding course backwards! haha I've always read that backing is something that's hard for horses or that it's something they don't like to do. Well she's QUITE proficient at it for some reason. We're not talking the usual short halting backward steps, she STRIDES OUT moving backwards and covering some ground. It's interesting...

She's very headshy and I haven't been sure why. She didn't start out that way, I had been stroking her ears early on and she was ok with that, but then one day she didn't want me anywhere near the top of her head. I had noticed that she REALLY doesn't like it if while putting on or taking off her halter any of her mane hairs get pulled. After noticing that I made a mental note to spend some extra time with her and work on getting her bridle path cut. I also wanted to braid her mane and start taming it to lay on one side. I'm still not sure what to do about the fact that a huge section right in the middle of her mane is only about 4-5 inches long and sticking up in every direction. Right behind her ears and above her withers she has a gorgeous long black mane, but in the middle it's crazy. And the long parts of her mane fall on opposite sides with the short middle section going everywhere. As much as I like the "wild look" I figure she should look somewhat civilized for the competition so I decided to try and tame the 'do! Last night after she had her arena playtime I tied her up and braided her whole mane. I started at the withers and worked my way up. Usually I go the other way, but I figured since she doesn't mind her withers being scratched and freaks out about anything near the to of her neck, I'd start in the safe area. Sure enough it worked great and she didn't even fuss when I got to the last braid at the top. Then it was on to the hard part - the bridle path. While carefully snipping away with the scissors I found what has probably been causing her some discomfort. She had a big tangle of hair up there. She fussed a little while I worked to snip it out, but after it was gone I rubbed the top of her head and she seemed MUCH happier. Hopefully that'll bring about the end of the headshy problem. Poor baby...

Ok I have pictures of the last few weeks events but I've gotta run for now. I'll post them up later on today - stay tuned!

Numb fingers and toes

Well after our lovely week of 50s and 60s (albiet most days with 50mph winds) we're back in the frigid temps. Thursday was 60, no wind and the sun was shining, it was gorgeous! Friday.. not so gorgeous. Winchill of -20 in the morning, -15 throughout the day and once again the wind was howling. We woke up to snow everywhere, it's so crazy here.

ANYway, enough about the flippin' weather. On our last nice day I spent 3 hours with Onyx scrubbing mudd off her belly and butt. I got her over to the wash rack and she walked right in. Backed her out and walked her back in a few times, then cross-tied her in there with a couple of lead ropes. And there she stood for a couple hours. Overall she was very good and pretty darn patient with me. She cow kicked at me a few times, but I tapped her and said "knock it off" and so she did. There were a couple times after that when she'd pick up a back foot... and then put it right back down. I keep saying it, but she really is a quick learner. I had brought a 5gal jug of hot water and had a couple buckets to mix in some colt. I used a "bug scrubber" sponge and got most of the mud off her belly. She and I were both about tired of the process by the time I got back towards her "girly parts" so I called it a day. I also got most of it off that side of her rump too.

That night Jeff came with me to give her dinner and he commented on how accepting she was of having her belly and butt rubbed. He was amazed that she was so comfortable with being touched. He said it was like "night and day" from before. He'd held her the first time I worked on her belly to snip some mudballs off and she'd kept bolting away from us. For a guy who doesn't know much about horses and had certainly never handled a rowdy one, he was a pretty good hand and wrangled her well. We were in the round pen and she'd bolt away, he'd give her some rope, but would just kinda go with her until he got her under control again. I'd told him to let go of the rope if he had to, but he never did. Good job, Jeff! Yeah, after 2+ hours in the wash rack with me all over her belly and rump, she's ok with contact there now.

She's had a couple of days off because of the crazy cold returning with a vengence. I've gone to feed her and I always hang out and rub on her, but hadn't done much work. Tonight I stripped out her stall and put in fresh shavings. Then I worked on petting her right behind the ears, that's not a favorite place of hers. I got her pretty calm with that by the time I quit for the night. Then I took a big step. I took her halter off. I can walk up to her in the stall and she's fine with me putting a rope over her neck and leading her with just that. Plus we've worked on putting another halter on over the one she had on, so I'm hopeful it'll be no big deal to get her caught and haltered tomorrow. She was acting like the halter bothered her and I didn't want to leave it on 24/7 any longer than I needed to. I'm pretty sure it was time for it to come off.

A lot of little things

Today I did a lot of little things with Onyx. I worked on swinging the lead rope around more and then tied her up for a bit while I worked on the "mudball crusade". I snipped a lot more mud off, but there is a LOT more to go and I think she's going to have to get wet to get it all off. A lot that's left is right up against her skin. This stuff is some crazy mud, it's rock hard. I used a metal curry and got all of the little bits off of her neck and a lot of it off of her sides and rump. Tomorrow is supposed to be our last nice day so I'm hoping I'll be able to get her belly wet and get the crud off once and for all! I've seen pictures of some of the other "muddy" musangs, but I really haven't seen one as bad as Onyx! Her sides and belly were solid mudballs, layers upon layers of them when I started.

After chipping away at more of the mud, I introduced her to a saddle pad. Not a big deal except she seemed hesitant to walk around with it on. "What is this thing on my back?"

Then it was time for the surcingle. Again, no big deal. She looks almost bored in this pic, haha.

I didn't tighten it because of all the mud still in the way. I left it on her for a little while and worked on brushing out her mane. She has a long pretty mane right behind her ears... aaand right in front of her withers. Everything in between is short, thick, and sticking up everywhere. I'm not sure how much of her mane will grow out by April, but at least a few inches would be cool.

In continuing with my desire to expose her to general "weirdness", I also introduced her to me jumping up and down. I think anyone who might have walked by the stall would have thought I was a little nuts. I stood in the middle of the stall, holding the leadrope and started jumping up and down in place. At first Onyx freaked out and ran around and around in the stall... I just kept jumping. Then she stopped, I kept jumping. Finally she looked at me (with an expression kinda like "what the hell??") and I stopped. A few minutes later I started jumping up and down again, she didn't try to get away, instead within a few seconds she turned and looked right at me ("you are so weird"). She really is a smart girl. I've noticed more and more that she seems to pick things up (and repeat them) very quickly.

Now I just need to finish getting the friggin mud off her so I can get the saddle on!

A Rant

I hate wind. No, wait, let me repeat that.. I HATE wind!! The last couple of days the wind has been absolutely horrible. What makes it even worse is that the temperatures have been in the low 50s the last few days and the sun has been shining. They would be perfect days to get out and enjoy the sunshine... if not for the 50mph winds!! Today they said the wind was a steady 40mph with gusts up to 60. While taking care of my horses tonight, I had several flakes of hay ripped out of my hands by the wind and they blew away, no trace left. After watering and haying the herd out on the property, I came back to town to go see Onyx. (yes I think that's her name now) I had planned to work with her a bit, but I couldn't get the barn door shut behind me which meant the *~#&#%^# wind was HOWING through the barn aisle. Sooo instead I worked in her stall a bit.

When I picked her up the majority of her body was covered in mud. Most of it was dry, clumped on her. A lot of it has fallen off and I've picked some off while petting her, but her belly is completely covered in dried mud. There are a ton of little dingleberry mud balls hanging off her belly hairs. It's gotta be uncomfortable and of course before I can saddle her I've gotta get all that stuff off of her. She's been touchy about her belly and I can see why. The hair down there is being pulled by all the dried up mud balls. The good news is that most of them are not right up against her skin so I should be able to snip them off with some small scissors. She'll have some chunky cut belly hairs, but she'll be a lot more comfortable I'd think! She was letting me feel around down there tonight which is the most she's let me do to her belly without fussing. I also worked on touching her legs and was able to run my hand down both of her front legs. I worked on desensitizing her to the lead rope, tossing it over her neck, back and rump and letting it coil around her front legs. The only thing that bothered her a bit at first was feeling it around her legs but she didn't try to run away and she accepted it pretty quickly. The last accomplishment for the night was putting the lead rope around her like a cinch and playing with that. I jiggled it around and tightened it off and on. She didn't seem to mind that at all. Not too bad for a few minutes in the stall with the friggin' wind howling by in the barn aisle.

I've heard it's supposed to be windy again tomorrow (*grumble grumble*) but hopefully I can get started on the "belly mudball crusade".