Welcome to the Wild Side...

2010-02-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

This is Calee, the friend I mentioned before, She is going to be sharing the blog with me. Like me she loves horses and she just got her first mustang! So now she is also a mustang lover. She's only had her yearling for a week and already he's come up to her and now leads.

He is a sweety and will most definatley be a looker when he grows into his long legs. She isn't with him in this picture, this is actually Bronson my big quarter horse, but there will be pictures of Mac (her new mustang) soon.

2010-02-21T15:47:00.000-08:00

2010-02-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

2010-02-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

No Halter

Mina's chewing the rope...

2010-02-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so last september of 2008 I competed in the Mustang makeover with Mina. Well if you read at the bottom you know we had a hard time, with her getting hurt and not going in the trailer in the actual competition, but since that she has been doing so well. If anyone remembers her she was one of the older mustangs she was a little under the age of 2 when we competed so now she is 3 so I thought it would be a great time to start riding her. Nothing big but I did teach her the basics of turning, backing, walking, and stopping. We started her about a month ago and she is learning so quickly. So far I am the only one that has gotten on her and I am doing most of it on my own with the occasional help of my mom and friend Calee. I've gotten her into a trot once for about 10 seconds, she did great for a horse who has no idea what she's doing. I've been doing everything with her completely bareback. The first time I got on her I did have a saddle only because I wasn't sure how she'd react, she literally fell asleep. So my mom took some pics today and some videos. I even got a chance to get on her and direct her with nothing on her at all not even a halter!

Apollo's Reveille is His Name

2010-02-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

Apollo is our new little mustang we adopted a year ago. He's about 3 years old now and still has a long way to go and grow. He is definately not Mina, but he is teaching me a lot about all of the different horsenalities. He is very smart and learns quickly but he is afraid of his own shadow. I can now let him out in the pasture and bring him back in, I can pet him on his face with feed in my hand and I can walk up about 4 feet away from his face without feed or anything without him running away. This training process is taking a while, and much longer than it did with Mina, but I am now realizing it is a matter of learning how he works and what he's comfortable with. I'm not proud to admit I did want to give up at first and even asked a fellow Mustang Trainer to take him and get him started. But I am so glad now she didn't because I am fully ready to take on this big challenge. He is coming along nice and slow but thats ok because each day I get closer to him. His is my new Mustang challenge for this year...

Dot & Jesse

2009-02-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

Jesse, me & Dot
That's my poster behind us that I won 3rd place with!

Extreme Mustang Makeover Yearling Edition 2008

2009-02-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, have I been busy or what??!! So Mina and I went to the EMM, what blast we had. Probably because we were going to keep Mina, my mom and I were able to relax and take in the whole event. Mina was such a champ. She wasn't even gonna go as she sprained a nerve in her right shoulder 3 weeks before the competition. She had to be stall bound the entire 3 weeks.

The day before we were to leave to go to the EMM we took her out, trailered her 30 minutes down the road and let her go in a round pen. She didn't limp once! So we knew she was going!!! The problem was I didn't get to practice her routine and basic skills, so she was a little rusty at loading and staying focused. During the competition she saw that big arena and really wanted to run and play, but I had to keep her controlled so she wouldn't over do it.
I was so proud of her, she scored 119 out of 120 on the body condition portion. That was higher than the winner of the competition, who scored a 118. She paraded around the grounds without a flinch or scared bone in her body! People were literally turning heads at her as she would walk by. Needless to say she was feeling quite spunky and lost points in the actual class and she wouldn't load in the trailer. I was disappointed that she wouldn't but never the less proud she made it at all and showed everyone how controlled, even in her spunkiness, she was. Even when the crowd clapped at the end of her class, Mina just kept her cool and walked out of the arena like she'd been doing it all her life.

The head BLM Wrangler, Cary Frost, who is in charge of the Justin Arena where the adult horses were to compete, was so nice and encouraging the night before the competition. He saw that Mina didn't want to take those last two steps into the trailer and he tried to help me and when she started getting a little sore in her shoulder he stopped pushing her, saw that I was upset and gave me a big hug and really told me some encouraging words about what a great job I did with her.

I will never forget my experience there and the pride I felt showing her off and people wanting to know if she was available and I could say, no way-she's mine! I also won 3rd place in the poster contest and I won a cash drawing with one of the venders there. We helped one of my new friends I met there, Dot, she won 7th in the finals competition. I met other friends there like Jesse and shared the experience with other friends I already knew from the Comal County Sheriff's Posse Drill Team like Shane, Daniella, and Kirstin. I also experienced how ugly some people made the event. I really learned a lot about the plight of the mustangs and what organizations like the Mustang Heritage Foundation is doing to find a legitimate place for them.

Here are some pics from the event