The new mustang has a name :) His name is Sonador and he is a naughty red head! He has been with me three days so far and we have learned alot. Pictures to come soon.

It's that time again!

Last weekend a bunch of us gathered together for waffles & The Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover Adoption. Angi had a couple interested in adopting a horse for her to train, and we found out Shaula will be visiting from Italy and able to do the event with us (finally!)

Sometimes the bidding was fast & furious, but like last year many horses went into the pool as people held out hoping to get their favorite further down the list. Angi's favorite was #148. Shana & Adam were successful when bidding for him, but not before Angi had picked up TWO pool horses!

The thinking is that Shaula, will train #31 and Shana will train # 137.

Meanwhile back at the waffle bar... Jim had bid & adopted adopted # 89, and Mary had adopted #131 out of the pool.
Beth had called in and missed out on one of her favorites, and not wanting to miss out if she waited for her top pick called in to bid
on #161


Young Brittney called in and finally won a bid for #386, a really cute filly! After the dust had settled, over the weekend, and good horses were still in the pool... On monday Hailie picked up #178 & Robin Orfice got #179.
They then offered a new contest to help place the remaining horses. They will not be pre adopted, there will be an adoption auction in Texas. Meanwhile folks have until April 11th to apply to train a gelding or a yearling for a 10 obstacle trail course. Trainers will earn $1 a point & 50% of the adoption fee.
Our friends Kate & Ingrid have applied... which brings our Antelope Valley Team to 11 horses!!

Oops Texas in case you haven't already heard..

Sorry we should have posted something about Texas..

Angi's knee seems to have heeled (back as good as it was from the car accident anyway) Be kind to your knees children, I promise you, like your back someday you'll very much miss the days when they worked without complaint.

Ari made progress after Angi was able to walk again, however was not ready to go to TX. Since Angi pre adopted him for this event, she can take the time it takes to get him going right before finding him a permanent home.

Jims mare did well and he did take her to TX. She wasn't finished but he figured he didn't do this to win, so if they got to where they could go and competed then they would have accomplished a lot.

Angi had finally named her, Inara. The Arabian name Inara means ray of light - heaven sent. Their first class the crowds made her a bit overconfident, but they made it through the course together.

When it came time for the cow work Inara's first look at cows since being on the range I suspect, however she thought pushing them around might be a fun thing to do! Jim must have thought so too, because he came home and went Team Penning on his mare Slipper, and also went to the slow work/intro to cows class at the Southern Kern Roping & Riding Club. He likes it!

Jenna & Henry had done well. She says when they lacked cow, they pushed wild burros in the canyon where she rides. Aim, Tiny, & Tornado had all done OK with the crowd,and bustle and while Henry went in and worked, his scores were not as high as Jenna had hoped.
Before her last class, cow work, Henry had a moment and Jenna ended up underneath him instead of on him. (Mustangs are pretty athletic) Jenna got back on, pushed her cow, and THEN went to the ER!

After the finals we all gathered back at the hotel and instead of going out to Billy Bobs we had wine and cake at the hotel to and sang Happy Birthday to Jenna!

The adventures of the naughty horses

It is July 7th and I am quite sure that this post will be very long to make up for the weeks and weeks of not posting anything. It has been an adventure. I can confidently say that this mustang has been the hardest horse I have worked with in so many ways. The same reasons that make him easy on some levels are the exact reasons that make him difficult. Let me also note that mine is not the only one that is making his handler work for it. Jenna's mustang, Henry, is equally mischevious. He likes the idea of bucking hard when going faster then a walk. That means Jenna is riding at a walk so she does not die. Jim's mare, who he refused to name, has enough flight drive for 16 horses. I got tired of the mare having no name (because he was certain if he did not give her a name then he would not keep her) that I gave her a name yesterday. Her name is Inara. It means ray of light, illuminating, or sent from heaven. I was helping him trailer load her and I decided she earned a name by the time we were done.
Okay, so lets go over some things that have happened with Ari in the last month. He has been wearing a saddle for the last month. When he wears it he likes to buck. Not the kind of buck you look at and say "I can sit that" but the kind of buck where he puts his head between his front legs and you see his hind feet a foot over the round pen. Oh, did I mention that he can buck? And it really didn't help that Ari and I had an accident where I ended up injured and unable to work him for three weeks. We were playing with me on the fence above him and Ari ran into the fence knocking me under his feet. He spun and landed his hind foot on my knee cap pushing it completely sideways and back. This made me scream a little and have to hobble on crutches awhile. I also make a cranky person when I can not work my mustang makeover horse! After all of this I thought to myself that this is the first horse I have really felt needed to be laid down. So that is what he and I did one night. I slowly, cautiously, and with respect taught him that the ground was a good place to be. Oddly enough that made a huge difference in his respect level for me and instead of cussing me out when I would ask him to do something (anything really), he started thinking maybe he should say yes to me. We made progress. We were able to stand in his stirrups instead of being launched into the dirt. Did I tell you that Ari can buck? I am not saying that Ari has become the quietest horse around but he is at least starting to look rideable. Yeah! I am not sure that I will not still get launched a time or two but it is beginning to be a dream of mine that Ari and I might ride accident free!

Ari learns some new things

Ari has never left me in doubt that he is a mustang and just in case I forget for a split second he will try some naughty thing to remind me. We shared such a nice day the last session and I think he should carry it into his next session. Think Again! It isn't like he doesn't remember everything, it is just that he thinks he should test my leadership skills. We start with the pedestal, which he puts both front feet on and rather quickly is doing this consistent. We move on to the trailer. He puts fronts in and then I back him out. He puts three feet in and then I back him out. We go all the way in and out and I really reward him with grain (his favorite) and rubbing his face. He walks easily over the hill of dirt, between some logs, and part way onto a tarp. Then I put him on the tie wall so he can stand while I work other horses. This is the easy part for him. He stands quiet for and hour and then I figure I should put him back in the trailer once more before dinner time. Ari thinks otherwise. We walk towards it and he says "Ummm, No, I don't think so" and rears several times then proceeds to drag me around a little. All this while a little devilish look in his eye. I work him in circles and on ground driving forward. It looks something like this: Up, Up, Backwards slowly dragging me with him then bolting forward fast with tail swishing. OHHHHHH stop. Pause to reconsider naughtiness then up and then back and then bolt again. We work about ten minutes until he is being less up and more forward. THEN we walk to the trailer and he goes in with a sour look on his face. Lots of rubs and a huge release. My horse is naughty!

How Ari learns to be interested and Angi (yet again) learns more patience

I am exausted and it is only going to get worse this next week due to bootcamp but I drag my tired butt to play with Ari despite the wind. I have a different mind set today. Ari has not learned trust yet and how can I blame him? I seem to have a plan he isnt sure he needs to follow. I remind myself to trust in the timing and just take the time it takes. How can I forget that? Each horse is different and Ari is special. I am sure that God has given me the horse that I am meant to have despite if he challenges me and maybe exactly because he will. I have had him two weeks now and I am sure it feels like I am not far enough along but Ari is where he needs to be. I remind myself that this is about creating his whole lifetime attitude. How I work him will decide how he views us humans. We start in the roundpen today and I do a little more desensitizing to the flag that Jamie forgot when she was visiting and I have stolen :) Awesome little flag! I use the stick and string all over him and teach him that hitting the ground with it should not make him jump out of his skin. I use the flag above his head and wave it around while he moves. He is bothered at first but yet again is quickly past it. Then we go out on the five acres again. I am less nervous of him pulling away from me because he is becoming very soft online and in his circles around me. We meet the pedestal and I reward Ari for every little try to step towards it. Ari learns to put his nose on it and then put his head over it to eat the grass on the other side. He is food motivated and I use this to my advantage. As soon as he trys to step on it we walk away. Then in a sleep deprived moment of silly exaustion I get fixated on teaching him to take a treat out of my hand. I get a cookie that smells like oatmeal and shove it between his clenched lips. He does not like it. He does not know what cookies are and both kinds I try he spits out. It must have looked funny, him putting his head up and me shoving cookies in his mouth. Then I walk to the huge shipping container that has the grain in it. Ari is afraid of it but I convince him to come close and then shove grain in his mouth. This he likes and he actually learns to take some from my hand but with a few close calls of his teeth eating my fingers. We work it out and then we take a walk to the trailer and eat grain at it. I ask and Ari actually puts his foot inside and paws it. I am pleased and walk away with him following. Our day feels so successful! He follows me while I feed out grain to the other horses. Ari walks over a piece of wood that cracks and makes loud sounds and steps on a stick that smacks him. I look back to see Ari almost jump into my lap! AHHHHH Wild horses :)

Ari the mustang

So I am bad about posting to the blog right now but I am forcing myself to write tonight before I fall asleep. Ari is amazing. He is brilliant but he is not easy. He is not Azania. He is not Freedom. He is not real hard but he is not easy. He is left brain but a bit of a drama queen. I have had him just a week and a half . He is not bothered too much by the flag on him or over him but is not ready for the saddle pad yet. He in quite a spectacular bucker when I do rope work but so far no one has been around to get video. He managed to learn to lead a little, enough for me to get him from the round pen and into a stall so that I could work him in there also. He spent two days in there. I have been working so hard getting him to learn to tie so that I can haul him places and have him tie to the trailer on a tie blocker ring. Yesterday I gave him a bath but he is still not letting me brush his tail or his hind legs. Today I decided we really needed to get to work. We took a long walk around the five acres, walking over logs and by the dogs. He handled himself well. More time on the tie blocker while scary things happened like water spraying him down and then we worked on the trailer loading part of it. He is very unconfident about that. He wanted to split so I used a tie blocker for support. We ended with him standing by it and having his head inside the trailer. Don't you want to go see cows Ari? :)

May 11th

It is windy today and Ari and I work in the round pen. I start our session with the lariet rope. It takes only a moment to walk up to him, rub on him with it, then put a loop over his neck. With this done I can use the rope around his legs, by his cinch area, and to toss it over his head a bunch to desensitize him. Ari says it tickles and annoys him, which he expresses by bucking or kicking at the rope. Whenever he stops and looks at me I release the pressure and let him stand. This standing still thing seems like a good idea to him so very soon Ari is no longer bucking or kicking. With the stick and string I work on rubbing him and using the string to toss over him. I jump around, kick out my legs and swing my arms around quickly. Ari is sure that I am insane at this point but he gets over his fear of fast movement rather quickly. I am able to halter my "wild" horse in a short amount of time. With Jamie and Kathy watching from the inside of a warm truck I lay down in the dirt with Ari nosing me to see if I live or not. He did not know that people roll in the sand also :) I end our evening with leading him out of the roundpen and part way down the alley to his big pen before I unhalter him.

May 10th

His name is Ari. It means "looks like a lion" "fearless" and "brave". Today we play in a big pen and he has lots of movement. He hides behind a tree so I play hide and seek. Ari thinks I am a weird thing but he is curious. I take a small flag on a long pole and follow him with it. He reaches out to smell it and lets me touch him with it. Ari seems to work through things quickly. I like that alot. I am able to catch him in this pen and lead him a little but once he startles and gets away. The 22ft rope dragging behind him scares him and he runs. When he calms down and I catch him I try to use the rope to touch his leg but this is too much pressure in this big pen. Tomorrow we will try this in the round pen. Today he lets me brush him much easier and we have made some progress so I let him go for the day.

May 8th Our first real day learning

He still doesn't have a name yet. I have many to decide between but I know that his name will be important so I am searching for just the right one. I have decided on a Hebrew name again but hopefully one that will not be mispronounced like Azania was :)
He is nice minded and remembers everything. I play with him in the roundpen and he faces right up and lets me rub on his face. He is not a one person horse because he allows other people immediately to do anything that I have done first. I play with the rope, tossing it on him and wrapping him up in it. He kicks at it a little when it is behind his butt. He seems to understand when something he does is not getting a release and he quickly gives me good answers. Look mom, when I get nervous with the rope I face up and get quiet. GOOD BOY! I am able to halter him today and it only takes a short while to convince him that it is okay. I have a twenty foot rope on the halter and teach him to lead, well, somewhat...... He resists but doesn't make much drama. Then I teach him that the brush is a good thing. I am able to brush his mane (he loves it) brush his neck, and shoulders (he thinks its nice) and then brush his hip (he holds his breath but seems to really enjoy the touch). That is the end of our session and I send him home to eat.

Formerly known as Lot 55 or 04853317

This years Fort Worth competition is a bit different.

First, the trainers have all adopted their horses. It happened April 24th live on RFD TV. Bidding by phone they had 130 approved trainers bidding on something like 106 horses (with some trainers adopting two) there were many frazzled nerves worried if they would get the horse they liked, or could afford. Phone bidding can be problematic, as you have someone who is to be bidding for you.. and I'm sure there are some disappointed folks out there, but Angi is not one of them.

Her horse Lot 55 was not her first pick, in fact as she went over and over the videos the day before when watching 55 remarked "He's not on my list, how did I miss HIM?" To which I say.. because you kept looking at mares!



The second way it is different is that there will be no In Hand portion. This is where Angi really shines as her horses are all very solid in general manners and ground work. I do not think that she has ever been out of the Top 10 In Hand, and was 2nd in her division last year with Azania. With no In Hand class, they need something else to judge them on, so in this years event cattle work is not optional! Sadly we have no cows, but have been going to Rosamond HS to Team Pen on a couple of Friday nights, and unless someone wants to loan, or give us a cow we will probably be out there a lot this summer.

Also there will be no auction at the end, but trainers can place their horses, and have the adoptions transferred, so you may still be able to adopt a horse in Ft Worth if you wish to.

Finally they get no reimbursement for this event, and need to pay stall fees when in TX. (on top of the travel cost) However they are paying $$ awards to the top 20 finishers, rather then the usual 3. I'm sure we will find some fun way to gather funds for the trip, so stay tuned for opportunities to join in.

Here are a couple of pictures from his "torture" session last night ;-)



Kathy