Uh Oh...

...Not again.  Oh, dear.  Not so soon.  That funny feeling is back.  The one where my stomach knots up and feels all tingly.  Could I possibly be...falling in love...again?  I've already fallen in love three times this year.  First with River, then Siesta, followed by Capri, and now Belle.  Won't I ever learn?  Falling in love is suposed to be a rare event.  What's wrong with me?  I guess I'm just the lovin' type.  Or maybe these mustangs are just so darn lovable, and impossible to resist.  Yes, I think that's it.  It's not me, it's them!

I went in the pen with Belle this evening and picked up the drag rope.  Her rope is a nice long one, so it's very simple to get close enough to bend over and pick up the end.  The only trick there is to make sure that I'm staring at the end of the rope, not the horse, so that she doesn't feel threatened by my intent.  While holding the rope lightly in my left hand, I encouraged her to move in a circle to the left, and she calmly did.  She went 'round and 'round, with only a slight hesitation in her favorite corners, which I could easily push her through.  When I asked her to stop, she did, and she gave me her full attention.  I gave a gentle, steady pull on the rope, while angling my body away from her, and she freely took two steps towards me by moving her front end sideways, with her outside foot crossing in front of her inside foot.  This made me very happy.  She followed up by moving her hind feet too, and completed a side pass toward me.  I really wasn't  expecting this, but to my surprise I could ask her for it again and again, and she would deliver.  When she quit giving it to me, I sent her back in a circle, then stopped her and asked again.  She seemed to like this game.  I changed the rules by asking her to come straight to me, and again she surprised me by taking a couple of forward steps.  What a smart, brave girl!  I was only in there with her for twenty minutes, but I feel like she made huge progress in that short time.  I have a feeling she's going to be a really nice horse.  No wonder I'm falling in love...

Dreams Do Come True

Belle met her soon-to-be adopter today.  Pastor Dave lives more than two hours from me, but such a short amount of time was nothing compared to the wait that he has endured for his dream of owning a mustang to come true.  Dave is a life-long horseman who rode in a drill team for many years.  He also enjoys getting out in the back-country on horseback, and after giving his last horse to a 4-H family, he decided this year to pursue his mustang dream. 

 Dave was searching Dreamhorse.com this September when he spotted the ad I had posted for Capri.  He immediately fell for her, and contacted me for more information.  As luck would have it, Capri had just become unavailable that day.  I felt bad for Dave, so I pointed out that there were lots more mustangs where Capri came from, and I would be happy to gentle and train one just for him.  I sent him the link to the BLM's Oregon mustang page, and his eye went straight to the beautiful mare that he has named Belle.  I was very pleased with his choice, because I'd had my eye on her all year.

I am very, very happy that Belle is in my pen, but not nearly as happy as Dave is.  Have you ever seen the look on a little boy's face when he gets just the gift he wanted?  One that he's been hoping and praying for, for a long, long time?  Well, picture that look on the face of a six-foot-four cowboy in boots and a hat, and you've got Pastor Dave looking at Belle for the first time.  He is tickled!  Dave loves her conformation and her color.  He asked for my first impressions of her, and I assured him that Belle is calm, curious, smart, playful, and quite possibly mischievous.  She seems like the kind of horse, that, once broke, a person could just climb on and go without a worry in the world.  It's quite a journey that Dave is embarking on, and I am blessed to be his guide.  Thank you, Dave!

Patience...

...is a virtue.  It's one of my favorite sayings, one that I grew up hearing over and over, and one that I may have repeated to my children a time or two.  Patience is the number one lesson that we learn with mustangs.  The gentling process requires lots of patience, as well as faith, respect, and trust.  We patiently wait for the first touch, but even before then we have to be patient and wait for the mustang to arrive.

Do you remember when I was excited because I was getting a fresh mustang in my gentling pen, and I said it would be here in a few days?  Well, days turned into weeks, while I patiently endured one delay after another in the delivery arrangements.  Finally, more than a month after I expected her, the new mare arrived tonight.  Her name is Belle, and she is a four-year-old from the Stinkingwater Herd Management Area of Oregon.  Her color is listed as sorrel, but she looks more like a chocolate palomino.  Her coat is a warm toasty brown, and her mane and tail are a lovely shade of golden.  She's built nice and sturdy, true to the draft heritage that her herd is known for.  She reminds me a bit of Malibu Barbie, with her dark tan, bleach blond hair and her big, curvy physique.

Belle has a sweet face, with a star shaped like the State of Texas, and a well-placed snip on her long Roman nose.  She stepped out of the trailer with aplomb, and looked around with a Winnie-the-Pooh expression that  read, "Oh, I'm here.  Well, of course I am.  Where else would I be?"  She gave herself a quick tour of the pen, then relaxed and posed while I took one hundred and twenty-seven photos of her.  Seriously!  Belle was curious about everything, and had fun splashing her muzzle in the water bucket before she settled in to her dinner.

Capri greeted her new friend very politely.  They got acquainted (re-acquainted?) through the rails, and spent some time just hanging out together.  I haltered Capri, tied her up, and brushed her, while Belle ogled the process.  Horses can learn a good bit just by watching other horses, so this was the beginning of her education.  Tomorrow I'll get started on the rest!

Nice and Easy

Well, as I promised, Capri had yesterday off to relax in the field and do some thinking, or whatever horses do when they have nothing else to do.  The photo above is my view of Capri and the arena from my dining room.  I also promised that I would hop back on Capri tonight, and as you can see, I did just that.

Capri was a very good girl again, and we worked on basic forward motion.  Stepping straight forward is a tough thing for a horse to learn when they're concentrating on how to stay balanced under the rider's weight, so we go forward by first going to the left or right a little bit.  Call it moving the forequarters, or picking up the shoulder, or moving the rib cage over, but it boils down to taking the weight off the front end and transferring it to the hindquarters.  Once the horse does that, she can pick up and go.

I like to take things slow, so all we did was walk, turn, and walk some more.  Twice, Capri stopped at the mounting block to let me know she thought she was done, and each time I asked her to keep going.  She had no objection to that, so I guess she just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.  A sensible green horse is a lot of fun to ride, because each time we ride them they learn something new.  It's my favorite part of training, because the milestones really start to pile up.  Once they learn all of the basics, we can ask for the more advanced stuff, and that is fun too, but in a different way.  Capri is a good student; she listens well and gives everything she can, and she feels really safe to be on.  Just the way I like it!

Me on Capri

What?  Not the pictures you expected?  You mean you want to see pictures of me on the mustang named Capri?  The beautiful Italian isle in the Mediterranean doesn't excite you?  Well, it is a wonderful, incredible place that my husband and I visited on our honeymoon eleven years ago, and it is part of the inspiration behind Capri's name.

Well, I have news.  There will be pictures of me on the Capri that we all know and love very soon.  I had my first ride on her tonight, but Rick was busy helping me and wasn't able to play photographer at the same time.  The ride was perfect.  Capri was perfect.  I am flying high right now, just like I was on my honeymoon.  The best part was that Capri enjoyed it as much as I did.  Her expression and her posture were soft the whole time.  I know she's been wanting to be ridden as much as I've been wanting to ride her.  I felt like she was ready for it two months ago, before she left for six weeks.  She watches me ride the other horses, and seems to be taking notes; it really is the cutest thing.  I remember Siesta used to do that, too.  They get that "pick me, ride me!" expression on their face, and I know I won't have any trouble doing just that.

The ride lasted about 15 minutes, which is plenty long for a first ride.  We walked both directions, with lots of turns, stops, and starts, and pretty soon she was stepping out in a free, rhythmic walk that felt very comfortable.  I gave her cues with my legs and my hands, and looked in the direction that I wanted to go, and she did everything just right.  I got off, gave her a big hug with lots of praise, and got back on.  At first, Rick had the rope on the halter that she was wearing under her bridle, but the second time up he took it off and just walked beside her head.  Capri was calm and happy the whole time, and was giving what we call the "green light."  When we were done, she seemed very proud and all grown up, just like the other horses.

Capri will have tomorrow off, to process what she learned tonight.  I'll let her out to munch on what's left of the grass, then in the evening she can come in and watch me ride River or one of the other mares.  The next night it will be her turn again, and I'll be asking for a lot more from her.  Rick can stand in the center of the round pen and tell me how I'm doing, and hopefully his hands will be free enough to take some pictures.

So, let's hear it for everything beautiful named Capri, and may this honeymoon, like the one my husband and I shared, never end.

Capri's Tale

Some of my loyal readers (you know who you are...and I appreciate you very much) might be wondering what is going on with Capri.  She was gentled and found a home, right?  Well, right.  And then not.  The family that adopted her experienced a couple of major life changes, and then the discovery was made that the final adoption paperwork was never processed.  So, it turned out that Capri was never officially adopted by that family, and she was returned to me.

In the six weeks that she was gone, Capri was turned out with other mares and found herself at the bottom of the pecking order.  In the horse world, each horse in a group falls into a certain order of hierarchy.  The horse at the top controls the hay pile, and the ones who fall lower in the order may not get enough to eat, and will probably get picked on.  Unfortunately, that was the case with Capri.  She lost a significant amount of weight, which, after two weeks of being back here, she is still trying to put back on.  She also had obvious hoof marks on her hindquarters from being kicked by the other mares.  She was dirty and dull-looking, with a build-up of loose hair in her coat.  The sparkle was gone from her eyes, her head hung low, and her hip bones were showing.  When she stepped out of the trailer, I really wasn't sure it was Capri.  I honestly had to look at her markings several times to be certain.  Where was the proud mustang?  The outgoing, the-world-is-my-oyster-and-I-am-the-queen mare?  Had she vanished?  No.  Thankfully, after an hour of grooming, cooing, petting, playing, and feeding her treats, the old Capri was reappearing.  There was a glimmer of sparkle in her eyes.  She knew she was home with the people who love her, in a comfortable place where she never experienced fear or pain.

Within a couple of days, the shine was starting to return to Capri's coat.  She has been home for two weeks now, and she is her same old sweet self.  She even has a new stall with a paddock, which she thinks is just peachy.  I've saddled her a couple of times, and put weight in the stirrups, and trotted her around the barrels on a line.  She seems to be nearly ready for her first ride, and I'm hoping to accomplish that soon.  You all will be the first to know how that goes!

I've saved the best news for last.  You remember Rick, right?  He's my neighbor, my friend, my employer, and the owner of the barn where I am blessed enough to be able to train mustangs.  Well, he and his wife love Capri as much as I do, and they were deeply disturbed by the condition she was in when she returned here.  They decided that perhaps it would be best if they adopted Capri.  So, the check has been written and the paperwork has been mailed, and very soon Rick will have the final adoption papers in hand.  How's that for a good deal?  I get to keep training Capri, and Rick and his wife get to enjoy her.  That's what I call a happy ending.  Or is it a happy new beginning?

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Capri, the not-so-scary mustang, wishes you a safe and happy Halloween.  Beware of witches disguised as horses!

 

The Boomerang Mustang

 Who is that hiding behind the Nokota filly?

 Something about that horse seems familiar.  I see a chocolate brown coat and three white socks...

 ...A cute little face with a star...

 Could it possibly be...?

CAPRI!!!

Woo-Hoo! Yee-Haw!

Yippee!  I'm excited...ya wanna know why?  Because I'm getting a new wild mustang to train, that's why!  I don't know yet if it will be a mare or a gelding, but it will be a horse with a sturdy, stocky build and will probably be from the Stinkingwater Herd of Oregon.  The best part is that I already have an adopter lined up, a wonderful gentleman named Dave, who is a pastor of a church in Tacoma.  Dave is a long-time horseman who has been without a horse for the last year or so.  He has always wanted a mustang, and he contacted me when he saw Capri advertised on Dreamhorse.com.  The day he emailed me was the same day that Capri went to her knew home, and Dave was disappointed.  I assured him that there were plenty more beautiful wild horses where Capri came from, and I would be happy to gentle and train one for him.  The ball started rolling, and here we are, anticipating delivery of a fresh wild mustang in just a couple of days.  Feel free to be excited along with me and Dave.  The journey is going to be a fun one, and we'd love to have you along for the ride.

News From Siesta

Well, okay, it was actually Siesta's mom, Barb, that send me nearly a dozen emails today, telling me in wonderful detail and showing me in beautiful pictures and videos how fabulous Siesta is doing.  They've just returned from four days of camping and riding all over the South Steens, in South-Central Oregon, where the wild horses run free.

That is Barb's husband, Brian, on the right, riding Siesta.  Barb is riding her beloved Missouri Foxtrotter mare.  Don't they look wonderful?  Barb and Brian took turns riding Siesta during the four days, and she was as solid a trail mount as a seasoned horse would be.  Barb says she was very surefooted, quiet, and nothing bothered her at all. Siesta even ponied Barb's mare through water.  She hauled like a champ, was quiet at night, and accepted everything that they threw at her.  According to Barb, the Steens Mountain area is a real test of a horse's mind and heart, and Siesta passed with flying colors.  The trail is hard and steep with lots of rock shelves and boulders, but she placed her feet perfectly and never flinched.  They met hikers with tall packs on the trail, and motorbikes on the road, but Siesta couldn't have cared less.  Isn't that fantastic?  I think so, and so do Barb and Brian.  I bet if we asked Siesta, she'd say that she's the lucky one, and things are indeed fantastic.

Siesta is such a pretty horse!  She is much more muscled now than she was when she was here with me; I like the way she has filled out.  She has a strong, yet feminine look to her.  She looks fabulous, and if I didn't know her age, I would never guess that she is only three years old.

Barb has kindly invited me to come visit and ride the Steens with them next year.  I think I just might take her up on that, and I think I know which horse I want to ride...