Mustang Madness

I bet you can guess what I've been up to this last week.  Yes, I've been playing with mustangs.

Trigger threw a shoe last weekend, so I was unable to ride him this week.  Instead of riding, I went out to Jennie's a couple times.

Remember this boy?  He is at Jennie's!  His name is Ruger. 

The first day I went up there, I worked with both Ruger and Sally.  Ruger is not allowing touches yet and being near him was nerve-wracking, let me tell you.  He's not aggressive but is still very reactive to having someone in his space.  Mostly I stood in his pen and tried to stay just close enough that he was uncomfortable without him moving away, and stood there calmly while Jennie worked another wild one in the next pen.  I was never able to get closer than 5-6 feet away (from his face, of course). Jennie already has him facing up pretty well, by popping that butt with a crop if he turns it towards her.

After an hour or two, I took Sally out and groomed her.  I'm pretty sure that I've already told Sally's story but if not, here goes.  Sally was first adopted by a lady who went through a nasty divorce before getting Sally's title.  The lady surrendered Sally to Jennie because she could no longer care for her.  Jennie was able to send Sally to another trainer for saddle training (she had too many client horses at the time), and Sally was adopted out with another mustang.  Fast forward to January.  Sally's adopter was going to be deported, so Jennie had to go get her and the other mare.  She has regressed a lot, and with all of the horses that Jennie has in training, neither she nor S have had time evaluate Sally under saddle.  And they had to fight the BLM to keep her - her adopter never requested her title so they still own her!

Jennie is very hopeful that I will take Sally, at least as a foster.  She is a lovely little mare with beautiful, dressage-quality movement.  Jennie told me a couple of weeks ago that Sally 'hates people and hates work' so I was expecting her to act out a bit when it came to grooming but she was a good girl.

Yes, her toes are very long :(

She is adorable.

Cut-off ears but still a cute picture of her.

She was a little antsy but was still a good girl, even allowing me to pick up her feet (a big deal for a mustang, especially when they don't know you).  She was green-broke at one time but from what Jennie has been told, bucks when cantering.  She's not sure if it's the usual 'I don't wanna work' bucking or if it's bronco-type bucking.  I left there that first day with a lot to consider.

On Saturday's Jennie hosts a volunteer work day at her farm.  Generally the folks that show up are just learning to handle horses, but I decided to go at the last minute.  I showed up about 15 minutes late, and someone was already working with Sally, so I settled in to watch Jennie and the volunteers.  The lady that was closest to me was someone that I'd met a couple of times; she was holding the lead rope to a cute little grey mare.  We started talking and she told me that the little mare is her horse and has no problem with the obstacles, except for one.  Jennie has a PVC set-up, shaped like a small house, with tarps, empty jugs, hula hoops, sheets, and aluminum pans hanging from it.  Apparently the little mare is extremely reluctant to walk through this mustang house-of horrors.  Her owner, D, was attempting to get her to go through but the little mare knew the drill and would balk fifteen feet away from it.  After a while, D asked me if I wanted to try and I said I would love to.  First I worked with her on forward movement, walking around the little structure.  This was a chore in the beginning because the little mare assumed that being near it meant that she was expected to go through it.  We walked around the structure for 45 minutes or so, getting closer each time.  As we moved closer, I walked through the tarps and sheets if they blew towards me.  The first few times, she reacted to this fairly violently but I stayed calm and asked for forward movement again.  Eventually, I was able to touch her face with the sheets; finally she decided to go through on her own.  The first time she speed-trotted through but before we stopped for the day, she walked through calmly a few times - but only if the wind was blowing in such a way that she had a clear shot through, lol.  If her mom continues to work with her over the next few days, it should become a non-issue for her.

So, that's what I've been doing.  Nothing has been decided on the second-horse front - I'm keeping my eyes open for the perfect horse, and in the meantime am considering fostering Sally for a while.