Angis Mustangs

Angi Keitel Murray participated in the original 2007 Extreme Mustang Makeover with Freedom,
2008 Western States Mustang Challenge with Prosperity,
2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover with Azania.
2011 Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover with Ima LunaMiss,
and the 2012 Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover with Sonador

Angi trains the many beautiful rescued mustangs at Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue in Lancaster, CA.
and Mustangs as well as other breeds for private clients in Palmdale, CA

Thursday, November 15, 2007

All the little horsies

What does a one handed horse trainer do with all her spare time?
A yard full of beautiful horses, waiting to do something, has inspired me to pull out the camera and shoot photos. I am not sure if that is what the doctors consider resting, but it is hopefully going to keep me from going stir crazy.
This is Lily in this photo. She is four (or five, I am not sure). She is near impossible to get a photo of. She is usually following you around begging for some scratches. She is a mustang and very special. Her original owners gave her to me after a failed trainer attempt. The trainer did not understand Lily, and when I first got her she was scared and hard to catch. She was not like this when she went to the trainer. After speaking with the trainer, I came to understand Lily's fears came from not being handled correctly while "in training" and that this would take awhile to overcome. When being sacked out, Lily had been tied to a post. Having no escape she struck the trainer (who told me she was dangerous) and then pulled back until she passed out. She was cornered to catch or roped and was being rushed to saddle break her. This trainer then told me, after telling me all this, that she just didn't have the time to saddle break her. Ummmm, isn't training all about having time to do it right? So Lily came home with me and after several sessions she began to understand how to be caught quietly. She turned back into the loving girl that her owners had remembered. She is still learning, now we are working on feet, and she is starting to let us trim a little on them without panicking.
This is Kaycee. She was rescued off the feed lot. She was being fostered by a very kind lady in Oregon. When we stayed there along our way to Washington with Freedom, Kaycee made her way into the trailer. I don't know how, really, she just jumped in. I had time to ride her once before getting hurt and she is just waiting until I am able to ride. She is going to belong to some dear friends of mine. Her husband needed a horse and Kaycee seems like she may just be that one! She is kind and willing but just doesn't seem to understand a lot yet. She rode nicely without too much fuss, but couldn't quite understand how to give to the bit.

This is Reba. She is a three year old Quarter horse. She is looking for a place of her own. She has just began her saddle work and is very friendly and quiet. She is tall and should make a nice trail horse someday. She happened to become ours when a lady brought her to a clinic and was too afraid to handle her. She let me know she was for sale and would never get in the pen with Reba. I purchased her and the old owner never looked back. With in a week, Reba had quieted down and we were able to lay on her when she would take a nap. Now you can never tell that she once was a high spirited baby that was a little too quick with her feet!

This is Rose. Kathy and I can't decide who she belongs to. She is a curly mustang, just out of the wild for less then a year now. She is curious but easily frightened, being wild for 5 years she is not sure what good we humans are for. She has been coming around slowly and no one is in a rush. Everyone loves her and her snort!

I wish I could save many more horses because it seems that where ever you look there is a horse in need. Some come with labels that say dangerous, aggressive, stubborn or stupid but if you look at that back it always says human error caused this. Horses reflect the handler. As all of my friends know, this month has been incredibly hard due to my inability to work. I want to thank all of you who have helped me so generously. Jill Starr, founder and president of Lifesavers, donated $500 to help me feed my babies. I have placed some in homes and have some more to find homes for. So many people have helped us out already and I want to thank you all! Without my friends; Jill, Kathy, Chris, Anne and Barry, Coleen, Robin and Bill, Christy, Kate,Linda and John, Jessee and Mary, everyone up in Oregon/Washington, and everyone who has helped me with hay, I would not have made it this far. Thank you all for your help. God is using you to watch out for us or we would not be making it. Hopefully I will be up and running in a few months :)
If anyone is interested in sponsering or leasing a horse let me know.
Angi







1 comment:

Kathy M said...

Finally Angi types something! lol

I have very few pictures of Lilly that are more then her nose... and when I wander in the big pen and feel someone touching my back, it's Lilly everytime! She really needs her own person.

:sigh: Rose... I have really grown to love Rose. She was so sad looking at BLM the word forlorn was the best I could think to describe her. She seemed to be looking off into space, maybe dreaming of her life in the wild. It felt like I made a million phone calls before I convinced myself that she really did need to go to Angi's where she wouldn't be rushed to be anything more then happy.

When they turned her out she stood alone, and everytime she went up to a feeder another mare would come to run her off. It was clear then that we were doing the right thing.

I made a deal with Angi that whomever she was happiest with at the end of the year would get her title. Angi seems to be winning right now. When we ended up with two curlies and it was impossible to chose just one... we figured we'd share them.

Rose used to hide behind Hope. She wasn't just afraid of us, she was afraid of other horses too! Freedom was the first horse to make friends with her, and he helped her when she was introduced to the horses in the big pen. Rose isn't frightened of them anymore, in fact she is in charge of some of them.

Rose has bloomed, and she is on her way to becoming a strong confident mare. She is still a bit scruffy looking in her half winter curly coat, but when you watch her move she is one of those horses that seems to float with such amazing grace. I told Angi she is too good a horse to sit in my back yard, that she should be a show horse!

Angi asks me.. "but does Rose want to be a show horse?" lol I don't know, probably not. Somedays I think Rose would rather be back on a mountain in NV running free, but most days I think she is happy to be where she is with alfalfa, carrots, and grain to eat...