Time to find a name for my Mustang

If you have a great idea, feel free to post a comment and we will select a name for our little sorrel 4 year old mustang filly from the Warm Springs unti south west of Vale Oregon.  She is doing well and is accepting all that I have introduced to her.  Thanks a ton.  Matt Zimmerman

Today, she had a surcingle on and we had attached bouys to it to simulate my legs and get her more familiarized with something hanging on her side.

Ride No # 2

Today, I was able to walk up to my mustang and I began to lay across her back and she stood still and I was able to desensitize her all over and I am gaining trust fairly quickly as she let me stand on her back, bareback with just a halter and lead rope. 

     Then I saddled her and had a good friend Tarek Elsworth stand in the middle of the round pen and move her around as I moved and rubbed her all over while in motion.  This went well and he eventually moved to the edge as I moved her around.  Today, I rode her with a halter and just a lead rope to see how she would react because she was giving and flexing to the halter from the ground.  Another successful evening.

First Ride

Today, I was hopeful to get the first ride on my mustang filly, based on last nights success with her letting me hop up on top of her.   I round penned her for a little while to take the edge off of her and had her consistently turning in, which she is getting really good at.  After she faced up and let me catch her, I put the saddle pad on at least 50 times from each side until she was licking and chewing(this tells me that she is comfortable with it) and then I put the saddle on about 25 times from each side until I got the same signs.  At this point, I gave her some bit pressure until she yielded her hindquarter and then I asked for her to give to the bit and flex.  Both of these things she remembered from the night before, so she seems to be catching on to all the previous sessions.  At this point, I flexed her and stood up in the saddle and at first she moved her feet a little, so I stayed in the stirrup with my body on the left hand side until she stopped moving her feet, then I stepped down and repeated this several times.  This let me mount her several times with a postive outcome, instead of just swinging on and grabbing as much leather as I could, which is the way we used to do it when I was growing up.  I did this on both sides and we had equal success on each side.  Also toward the latter part, I would mount and sit in the saddle with my leg over and in the stirrup, and then dismount and do this again several times so she could see my leg on the off side.  This went really well and things were rolling along fairly smooth.
     Well there comes a time when you ask the horse for some forward motion, and initially she had some sticky feet, but I finally encouraged her to move forward and just give me a few steps before doing a one rein stop and then flexing a few times before we asked for forward motion again.  We repeated these steps and worked our way up to a jog and then also a lope.  So we had our first ride, and learded a lot of one-rein stops, and she is flexing and giving to the bit well.  It is always nice to have a successful first ride and at the end, I stepped off and rubbed her on the head, and she lowered her head, and moved it toward me.  Couldn't have asked for a better outcome.  Tonight I gave her a little grain on her hay for the first time. 

Gaining Trust

The last two days have been fairly successful.  Last night I was able to lunge the mustang filly each direction and get her toughed pretty much everywhere.  I worked myself close enough to her that I was able to hop up onto her wither area, and work my way to the point where I could lay on her back and eventually slide off her hind end and I accomplished this on each side.  Also, I gave her bit pressure until she yielded her hind quarters and also began to give to the bit and flex a bit.  I was pleased with the progress that we made.

Mustang Challenge 2012 Albany Oregon competition

So here we are signed up for another mustang competition.  The beauty of this one is that we have good weather for the next three months and I have been randomly paired up with a mustang filly from the warm springs unit south of Vale, OR.  My two girls that are 8 and 6 decided to pray for a good mustang and we all followed through with it.  Sometimes a person gets an answered prayer or as I have heard it "Even a Blind Squirrel gets an Acorn once in a while."  I guess you can say I got an answered prayer.  She is a 4 year old sorrel with a star strip, snip and no other white as it explains on the paperwork that is about 14.2 hands.  So far she has proved to work a lot off of her hind end and has shown some athletic ability in the round pen. 
     The key for me is to get my hands on the mustang and have them trust a person.  Most of the time, they are more frightened than anything and it is touch and go when a person first steps into the round pen, because their flight pattern has been a half mile or so and now it is shrunk  down to a 60 foot round pen and the trainer is literally the lion in the pen. 
     I picked her up from Hines, Oregon on March 31, 2012 and have had her a little over a week and have made some descent progress.  The first night, I just turned her out into the indoor round pen and let her settle.  Then the next day, I stepped into the round pen and asked for some control of her feet as long as she didn't move off too energetic.  What we managed to get accomplished was to get her to face up and change direction by turning to the center of the round pen.  She didn't want to come up and have a personal meet and greet,  so I decided it would be plenty for the day with her looking straight at me as I walked out of the pen. 
     The second day I was able to throw the rope over her back and wrap it a few times around her neck and taught her to give to pressure via the rope and was able to actually tough her nose at the end of the session.  It took a while and she kept backing up to get away from me.  Always cautious to watch the front feet at this point and stay at a 45 degree off the front shoulder, but since I had taught her to face up and let her rest, she wanted me directly in front of her.   I had to settle with a touch on the nose.
     Over the course of the last week I was able to get her to the point where I can walk up to her and catch her, throw lead rope over her back, rub her with a stick and string, eventually move up to get my hands on her neck and work my way back to touch her all over.  Also I can pick up all four feet, lunge both directions and yield her hind quarter.  She will walk over tarp, dog food sack, swimming pool noodles, and has had barrels and caution tape randomly throughout her pen that blows in the wind.  I guess you could say she is ready for her first yard sale of the season.  Also I have taught her to get used to a girth, and give to a halter and disengage her hindquarters.  I have loaded her once into a trailer and things seem to be going well.  The only snag is that she doesn't want anything to do with me putting a bit into her mouth until tonight where I used a unique technique to overcome that hurtle, because every time I would approach the corner of her mouth, she would push me away and face me and once she thought about using her front left to protest me just a little.  I couldn't let her win that little battle and tonight I am pleased to say the has had a snaffle bit in her mouth.
     We will be blogging the progress and allowing all to track as we do our best to make this little filly great!