Gaining confidence

When I jumped into the truck this morning my thermometer registered with a whopping 5 below zero.  It was pretty chilly for around here.  When the day warmed up, I worked with Serendipity for about an hour.  I am able to walk up to her and pet her fairly easy now as she is gaining confidence and not trying to jump the fence and run to the next county.  While I was desensitizing her, she tried to turn her head and bite a couple times today but it is happening less and less. 
     I asked her for some controlled lungeing today and she doesn't like to travel around the pen clockwise, but we managed to overcome that hurtle.  However she is yielding her hindquarter a lot better now and looking into the center of the pen.  She still would look at the fence and think about trying to go over, but I turn her head into the center of the round pen every time she tips her head to the outside of the pen.   I used the stick and string, lead rope and my hands to desensitize her today.  Also I was able to get close enough that my body was laying up against her while I was rubbing her. 
     When I brought water into the pen with a five gallon bucket, she didn't retreat to the edge of the pen.  She stayed in the center and let me come up to her and I was able to let her drink out of the bucket while I held it up for her.  When I walk by the pen now, her head doesn't raise like it used to a few days ago.  She is starting to trust me a lot more and when the weather gets above freezing, I plan to put the first ride on her.  Hopefully this weekend.

Lessons Learned

Today was an interesting day none the less.  With the arrival of an inch of snow on the valley floor and weather well below freezing it wasn't one of those jump out of bed and spring into the middle of the chaos.  Especially to encounter a mustang that with the slightest amount of pressure would attempt to jump the fence out of the round pen as she did on Sunday.  Luckily she rounded the hay stack and placed herself into an empty pen that was accidentally not closed from the night before. 
     Since Serendipity had accomplished the escape from the round pen, I figured she may want to attempt the same procedure when we came back to it on Monday.  Later on in the day, when the sun came out and brought the temperature up to near freezing, I figured that I would attempt to load her from the pen into the trailer and relocate her into the round pen for a hopefully more successful lesson (for me this time).  When the trailer was backed up to the gate, Shane pointed out that it would be nicer if the trailer gate swung from the opposite side of the trailer.  So after some thought, I decided that it may be easier if I just opened the gate on the pen and let her out to walk and down the fence into a pen next to the arena.  Then from the arena, I would be able to run her back into the round pen since the round pen and the arena are connected.  With a little help from Shane and Val, we got the job done.  This tedious procedure normally is not one that is in my day to day training, but with a known successful jumper we had to take our precautions.
     Once she was in the round pen, her thoughts went immediately to how she escaped on Sunday.  She was preparing herself for another launch over the top rail.  I figured that I would have to get a rope on her, and that if I put too much pressure on her she wouldn't hesitate with her attempt.  Then during this event we had a semi back in and drop off some trusses right by the corrals, a neighbor stop by, and also my little girl trying to stay warm in the pickup during all this commotion. 
     I was able to rope her after a few attempts and then Shane jumped into the round pen to help me hold her from jumping over the fence.  I think it was more like help so we could both ski around the pen for a few minutes before she stopped.   At that point, I took a wrap around one of the fence posts and desensitized her with a long stick, rubbing her head and neck with it.  With a lot of rub then retreat, I was able to work myself up to her and eventually pet her with my hand.  With a little creativity I was able to get a halter on her and then I decided to give Serendipity a break for a while.  At this point I brought some water and a flake of hay to her.  The rest of us chose hot chocolate.
     Before calling it a night, I decided to check on her and I went out to the round pen and untied her in the round pen.  I was able to circle her from a distance with some halter pressure. She yielded her forequarters to me and within 5 or so minutes she was making forward motion toward me and showing signs of actually leading.  It was a far cry from the start of the session.  Every horse has some lesson that they can teach you.  This filly threw me a curve because I have never had one so persistent to want to jump at the sign of the slightest pressure.

It's A Girl!

Announcing the arrival of Serendipity.
Age:  4
Weight: 900 lbs.
Height: 15.1
Herd: Sheepshead/Heath Creek (west of Burns Junction)

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident; good fortune; luck.  Her name completely fits her. For the record, since we are doing records, Matt was expecting a firery gelding.  For now we are nicknaming Serendipity.....Sara....but she's more of a Sara Jane. Very sweet in her conformation and it will be exciting to watch her training process.

Trip to Burns

At the BLM Mustang Facility in Hines, OR.

Serendipity Jane loaded into the trailer just fine.  She trotted right in and was relaxed.  She stood still and didn't make much of a commotion at all throughout the trip.

We took the drive around tour to check out the other mustangs.  The Burns facility sure seems to have so much color in their horses. The girls loved seeing all of the horses (and two burros).

During the drive, we stopped to view the weanlings, and during the pause Serendipity nickered at the little babies.  They came trotting and attentive towards the trailer. 

Then she must have turned around in the trailer, which caused a loud BANG, hence the next photo...

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing mustangs in the wild.  We were able to get close enough to get a few shots with the camera. There is not a lot between Burns and home besides sagebrush and fortunately today, mustangs.

Home at last.  Settling in.

The Honorary Fan Club Members/Travel Partners:

The girls, Kelsey, and Shane

Here we go again....

Just couldn't resist another challenge. I've signed up for the Northwest Mustang Challenge in Albany again. I pick the mustang up in Burns December 5th and the journey begins from there. The competition will be March 19-21st. Hope the weather cooperates for the first few rides. It would make life easier on everybody. I'll keep this blog updated as we go throughout the 100 days of training.

Dynamite's Destiny

Meet Raven

I thought I would update everyone on Destiny and how she is doing. Her new name is now Raven and it seems that Melissa and her are getting along just great in Central Oregon. We are glad she e-mails every once in a while to let us know what they have been up to. Raven found such an amazing home and a wonderful companion in Melissa!

Here are a couple of the things she had to say.....

April 16th:

We played with tarps today she was quite board with the whole thing. she walked over it than i put it on her, next I tied the tarp to a tree and had a friend hold it so that we could go under she was a little worried at first but after a few times going back and forth she was fine with the

whole thing. Shes such a good girl. Afterwards it was finally warm enough to give her a bath (she rolled in some mud that a couldn't get off) at first she didn't like it but after about 5 minutes she was fine!!

April 2nd:

Raven was Perfect for her first trim!! I am a farrier apprentice so I trimmed her. We were in a round pen just in case, I just tossed the rope over her back, and let her check out my tools, then I started on her feet. She was amazing!!!

March 28th:
I took destiny on a trail ride today!!! She was amazing. We crossed water, (which she loves to play in) cars past by, dogs barked, we went past deer, shes such a brave girl!! You really did a good job with her!! -Melissa

In the Stall @ the Northwest Horse Fair & Expo

Riding Portion

Saying Goodbye

Here is a shot of my girls saying goodbye to Destiny before she left for Albany. She was always so sweet to let them pet her. What a sweet horse. (She wasn't even tied up to that arena fence.)

posted by Kelsey

More to come

Just wanted to say, there will be pictures getting posted soon of the Mustang Challenge. My "tech guy" (Tyrell) went to California for Spring Break with some friends and he has the pictures. We'll get them on soon. Check back in!

Saturday at the Northwest Mustang Challenge was slightly disappointing, but still a good time. Destiny and Matt were 2nd place overall for the two events. For the finals performance the slate was wiped clean and the Top 10 trainers compete with his/her four minute freestyle. Matt had ridden Destiny earlier that morning and she did great. However, when the finals performance came there was a bigger crowd than there had been all week. Destiny did well with sidepassing and the cans but when they were at a lope she decided to head toward the gate. She wanted out of there! So with her getting out of control and missing a stop, the duo received 6th place in the Top 10 Finals Performance. Matt was disappointed because he knew she could have done better than that.

After his disappointment, he had some exciting news... as he was selling Destiny in the auction and they announced that he had received the TOP PROFESSIONAL TRAINER AWARD. This is such an honor! The award was voted on by the other mustang challenge trainers. He also won this award at the Western States Mustang Challenge last summer. How exciting!

Dynamite's Destiny was the last mustang to be auctioned off, since her hip number was #33. She sold for $1,500 to a nice young woman in Sisters, Oregon. She plans to use her as a trail horse and I have no doubt she'll have a nice home. Matt usually does not get very attached to horses he knows are going to be with him temporarily, but he has really been missing Destiny because she was really attached to Matt. They had a huge bond and it will be one horse he will always talk about.

I would like to thank several people for all the help during the mustang's time here and also at the Northwest mustang challenge.

*I would like to thank Wayne Maggard for all the horsemanship advice that he has given me during the training process and everyone at the Rocking A ranch for all the encouragement.
*My wife for all the behind the scenes help, the blog, the organizing before leaving and all support
*Tyrell Phelps and Jerel Bowen for the help when I was at the competition in Albany. they were my set up crew and also Tyrell was my blogger while we were in Albany. Jerel helped a lot with the long drive. Both of them made sure I was where I was supposed to be during the challenge, because I have a tendency to talk a lot and lose track of time.
*Jaci Weishaar for all the help with the primping and grooming on Destiny.
*Thanks to Diana Clark for helping us come up with a name for Dynamite's Destiny
*Also thanks to all the other trainers at the challenge. I have always had an open mind to learning new things and I learned several things by watching everyone compete.
*Thanks to all my family, they are always calling to check in on the progress and Dad would find the Internet where he could to check the Blog.
*Thanks for all the neighbors, friends, and Junior high basketball boys that I coach, for coming over and helping me desensitize Dynamites Destiny to people. Special thanks to Jen Nielson & Tyrell for getting my music ready. My mother-in-law & father-in-law for helping with the chores while I was gone. Thanks to my mother-in-law, Patti, for helping me get ready to leave for the challenge.
*Thanks to all the people who work for the BLM and also for the Mustang Heritage Foundation employees (you all make the mustang challenge events a fun thing to participate in)
*And thanks to all my Blog followers, I know several of you have been keeping up regularly.

Success at Albany

Today has been a successful day as Matt participated in the riding course at the Northwest Horse Expo. He placed 4th in the riding course and that landed him a second place finish for the overall competition. He is a point and a half behind the first place position. During the course, Destiny did several nice things. She traveled over the bridge and the poles fairly well. She backed into the pattern well. The great things that she did were the nice stops and a great flying lead change between the figure eight. All in all there are several great trainers at the challenge, and he is thrilled that his mare is doing so well. He has had some great help from a great friend by the name of Wayne Maggard, who is as he likes to call it "fine tuning him." Thanks Wayne!!!!

Northwest Mustang Challenge

Here are some photo's from the last few days at the Northwest Mustang Challenge, in Albany,OR.

Northwest Mustang Challege Day 1

Destiny & Matt took

1st place

in the In-Hand Competition on Thursday!!

Last night the competitors had the in-hand portion of the Mustang Challenge. During the "In-hand," trainers are judged on their ability to handle the horse "in hand" through a series of maneuvers like picking up the horse’s feet, maneuvering it through obstacles, and loading it into a trailer. Matt & Destiny did very well, placing 1st! They also had a portion of the competition where trainers are evaluated on the body type & condition of their mustangs. They placed 16th in that part. (Destiny is on the smaller size of life! ha!) Overall, this put them in a tie for 2nd/3rd. What a great start!

*Posted by Kelsey (Matt's wife) who doesn't get to watch the competition this year because of parent-teacher conferences and scoring state writing assessments on weekends! Although she is very disappointed, she does get to have lots of phone conversations with him! :)

Northwest Mustang Challenge

And.....we're off! The Northwest Mustang Challenge will be happening this weekend. Wednesday we'll start traveling half way, Thursday is the in-hand classes, Friday evening is the riding portion, and Saturday is the adoption & the Finals. We'll keep you all posted. Thank you to everyone that helped out & supported me. And thanks to everyone for reading the blog posts!

You "CAN" never desensitize too much!

You "CAN" never desensitze a mustang too much! Thanks for the cinematography, Stacy! Also thanks to the Stan, Sandy, Penny, John, Stacy, Patti, Rod, Mark, Tyrell, and Blake for helping desensitizing Destiny to people sounds around the arena. It was a windy day, but wind doesn't have anything on good company and burnt hot dogs!

We had a week of being around people. The neighbors came over to hang out on, around, and in the arena while Destiny was working. There is nothing like a bunch of girls yellin' and pony rides going on. I also took Destiny to a horse show this week just to be around action and she did perfect. Then I had the jr. high basketball team work on noise desensitization with her. She did well and only spooked maybe twice, but I would spook too if 5 eighth graders came running at me. Today we had some friends and family out to see how she was doing before I leave on Wednesday. I'm really pleased at how well she's done and how far she's come in the last couple of weeks. I really like this little mare. She's so athletic, level headed, trusting, and fun to ride. I hope she finds the perfect home.

A pat for a job well done.

It looks like Destiny was tracking Banjo but she was just packing her head low. He just always seems to be in the way.

A nice pet from the guys.

Cruisin' along.

No Fear

Whoa!

"Walk This Way"

Some Snapshots

Only 10 days left before Destiny and I leave for Albany. Here are some snapshots of today.

Completely relaxed on the box:

Sidepassing:

Opening a gate:

Coming to me at a whistle and then following me in the arena:

Getting her legs trimmed with some clippers:

The Northwest Mustang Makeover Information

Some of you have been asking about what will be happening over the Northwest Mustang Makeover so here is some information for you:

Mustang Makeover trainers will gather March 19 to 21, 2009 at the LinnCounty Fair and Expo Center in Albany as one of the opening events for theAnnual Northwest Horse Show and Expo.

· On March 19 at 6:00 p.m., the Oregon mustangs will be on competitive display. Trainers are evaluated on the body condition of their mustangs,as well as their ability to handle the horse "in hand" through a series ofmaneuvers including picking up the horse’s feet, maneuvering it throughobstacles and loading it into a trailer.
· On Friday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. trainers mount their animals andcomplete a "horse course" that includes a series of obstacles and requiresthe trainer to demonstrate the level of competency the horse hasaccomplished.
· The top ten finalists compete in a freestyle event on Saturday, March21 at 10:00 a.m -- just one hour before the awards presentation andcompetitive bid adoption for the trained mustangs.

For more information on the Northwest Extreme Mustang Makeover, call theBurns District BLM Office at (541) 573-4400. Additional information aboutthe Wild Horse program is also available online at:www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/wildhorse/index.php

The last two days have been some big days for Destiny. I took her up to the BLM ground behind my place and went for a trail ride. We saw all sorts of terrain as we rode along the canal bank. I must have travelled about 7 miles on her round trip. We encountered a coyote, tons of sagebrush rubbing up against her sides, and my neurotic dog, Banjo(who strums to a different beat-- mainly because he runs circles around any horse that I am working with). On the ride Banjo would disappear down in the canal and also behind small hills before popping out in a different location. (This feature desensitizes any horse!) I also worked on Destiny's consistency at the trot, lope, and walk with some collection mixed in.
Today, I decided to take Destiny to encounter more scary things. She always gets nervous around the tack shed because there is a radio playing so we did some small circles until she calmed down. After that we headed toward Hwy 201 where I thought I'd let traffic have a go at her. Several cars passed and some large noiser vehicles went by and I was actually impressed at the calmness as the cars passed by. I was imagining that we would be doing some phenomenal sidepassing but it was not the case. Then we headed down to the neighbors where there is several horses in corrals and this made her nervous but she calmed down after some small circles. When we arrived home my wife was feeding the horses with my two girls so I decided to take Destiny up to get a rub from all of them. People are Destiny's biggest hurtle that we are going to have to encounter, but we are working on it daily.

Stoppin'

Learning to sidepass

At a collected lope

Cruisin' along at a collected lope. Banjo, my dog, runs around the arena and round pen like that all day. He's fun because I can track on him and he thinks that is a pretty fun game.

Today just happened to be fairly windy around here and I took the opportunity to use this session as a desensitization one. I had several things hanging from the fence and Mother Nature did the rest of the work. The buoys hanging near the gate were mistaken for predators on occasion and a lot of objects in the arena were on the move also. It probably took her about forty minutes to settle down.

Also, I tied a buoy to a 35 foot rope and let it drag at a distance initially in the round pen and then gradually worked it up to the point where it was touching her hind feet. Once we mastered this, I brought it up to where I could bring the buoy up on the saddle and swing the rope around with the buoy attached. Eventually there was not an issue with any of that.

I also worked with picking up the right leads in the arena and Destiny was able to pick that up fairly well by the end of the session. Toward the end of the session, I brought her back into the round pen where we polished up on our sidepassing a little bit more. We will get there!!!

To end the day we worked on trailer loading again and then I let her hang out in the trailer for a few hours. I will have company for the weekend so maybe I can get someone convinced to video for the blog. Hopefully I can enjoy some nice days where the wind isn't howling. Or I might have to buy a kite and maybe just fly it.

Arena riding and nice stops

Today before the snow storms hit I rode Dynamites Destiny in the arena and made some great headway. She would shy from some things on the fence so I brought her in tight circles until the objects just were not a bother to her. Also I brought her up to a lope and she really calmed down and leveled off.
I have started her sidepassing and she is grasping the concept so we should have a good polish on it in March. Also, I asked her to stop with her hind quarter under her today and she really stopped well. For the first time really getting under herself, it was a neat feel.
I am going to try to have my junior high basketball team come out to the arena and make as much noise as they can until she thinks they are no longer frightening. Junior high boys should do the trick. After coaching them in the mornings they desensitize me a fair bit so Dynamites destiny will have a really eye opening experience.
Another great day and hopefully the sun comes out and warms up the rest of the week so we can enjoy some spring weather.

Finally an Update

I haven't blogged in awhile. It's basketball season and between coaching & playing, riding colts, being a dad & husband, it leaves little time to sit and reflect on the days.

I had the coolest thing happen with the mustang. My daughter's best friend's family came over the other night for dinner. Brian and I were outside finishing up chores and I hadn't put the mustang up for the night yet. We were discussing how mustangs in general have a lot more flight in them than any domestic horse and that it takes a lot more work for them to gain your trust. Two seconds later as I stepped into the pen, the mustang began nickering in a low friendly style nicker. (Similar to two horses coming back together.) As I approached her with the halter, she continued to nicker. It was a pretty awesome moment because she had finally put her guard down and made the first move toward me. It was ironic that it happened moments after we had just discussed the trust topic.

I think we finally have a name thanks to Diana Clark and my wife, Kelsey: "Dynamite's Destiny." Kelsey mentioned Dynamite because she's athletic and had a little fire when I first got her. And Destiny because Diana commented, "She wasn't first in line for your 2009 horse, but maybe it was just destiny for her -- to be lucky enough to have you as her trainer & to have the chance to go to a really great home in her future. Also, she just might be some lucky person's "destiny." It's a name full of promise." Thanks, Diana!

I've trailered her over a different arena to ride on occassion. She's done really well and nothing that I do on her back seems to phase her. I can move my legs all over and touch her anywhere. I've had ropes touch her front and back legs while she's in motion and I got no excitement out of her. She loads in trailers just fine. I've trimmed her bridle path to make her look like a lady. I can pick up all her feet easily. My biggest hurdle will be overcoming people.

She turns, stops, backs, flexes, moves off the leg pretty well. She's starting to ride pretty collected and calm. From here on out we'll be working on shoulder and hind-quarter control.

Now that the ground is thawing out I think spring might be here. I don't care what that groundhog has to say. Actually, they are calling for some snow this week so I'm crossing my fingers. With the ground thawed out hopefully we'll progress a lot faster since she'll have a better footing. The competition is coming up faster than I know but hopefully we'll be prepared.

First Ride

A little bit of flexing....

A little bit of riding.

Last Sunday (Jan. 10th) I finally got to ride my mustang. Between the weather conditions and other set backs it took a month to finally put the first ride on. She had absolutely no buck to her. Note my authentic winter garb and classy irrigation boots I'm wearing. Did you notice my round pen looks like a mud-wrestling pit? But we trudged through it anyway.

I've been on her four times since. The third and fourth time were in the arena. Our biggest hurdle will be the obstacles outside the arena. For example, people, objects, and stuctures.

Maybe this week I'll take her out into the desert.

She also got a trailer loading lesson. She's grasped the concept. During the lesson, Kelsey came around the corner while I had the mustang in the trailer. She was not very close to the trailer, but as the mustang was unloading she saw Kelsey, who wasn't there before she got into the trailer and spooked and took off. I planted my feet in the mud and simulated my water skiing skills half way across the arena. The humor was definately was in Kelsey's favor. I wasn't up to laughing because I was all covered in mud. The mustang patiently waited for me to come to her at the other side of the arena.