My Gentle Mustang

I now own a 'gentled' mustang according to a BLM reliable source.  I  was pretty happy when my friend from BLM came to check my progress and she said I was doing good!  My confidence has been much better since then and tonight I did quite well with Marty.  I can now catch him easily, lunge him and have him turn to me, get in his space (middle of him on each side) without too much fuss from him.  And he is leading at an angle quite well.  The most steps he's taken in one direction is about 6.  And when he pulls (which is so very seldom), he moves right back into me as soon as he sees he didn't get away.  I could tell he was getting tired tonight so I found a good note to end with and called it a night.  I'm actually beginning to think I'm gonna be able to do this!  I will be working on these moves for awhile but I'll let you know when I get to the next major breakthrough!

AND They Said it Couldn't Be Done.....

I did it!  I did it!  I put a lunge line on Marty and I was able to work him in the round pen!!  It was a 50 footer rope and I got tangled up a lot but at least I held onto it when he acted up (if you could even call it acting up).  And before I knew it he was circling and stopping and reacting to the pulls and pushes like he was a pro! NOW my friends....NOW starts the work.  Hours and hours of repetitiveness lunging and lunging this way and that way, inside turns, outside turns, but this is where I wanted to be and thanks to my friends all ignoring me, I DID IT ALL MYSELF!!!  Is there some kind of conspiracy going on here..........Whatever you guys are planning, it's working, but seriously would someone PLEASE stop by to make sure I'm not making any serious mistakes........

Putting the Rope On

Okay, this is not as dramatic as it sounds, but since I've had Marty in the round pen, he has slowly been breaking and/or chewing off the lead rope on his halter that the BLM folks attached to him in the chute.  Since I have not got to the point of where I will grab that lead rope as yet, it hasn't bothered me.  His rope is now about 2" from his halter now so I thought I might be able to get close enough to him to remove that latch and put a fresh lead rope on him.  And I was right.  There was nothing to it.  I really need to do the head turn to the hip with the lead rope in my hand but I'm scared to try it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not nervous around Marty, I just don't want to fail and have him pull away from me and get away once I have that rope in my hand.  That is my biggest problem with my 18 year old gelding Bo and that's why Bo gets away from me all the time.  I want to be able to do this step right so if anyone can stop by to help me to make sure it is done correctly, I would greatly appreciate it!  


In the meantime, however, I was able to stand by him without holding his lead and use the buggy whip to pet him all over.  Tonight was the first time I did this.  I can tell he is definitely warming up to me but his ears are still back a good majority of the time.  But yet, he's coming to me and allowing me to pet him and everything so it's a little confusing as to what he's feeling.  I covered his front section pretty much with the buggy whip, legs and all.  Boy did he stomp when it touched his leg but he recovered quickly and then it didn't bother him.  He is definitely shy on his left side.  I actually stand on his right side while I'm petting his left side just to get him used to it.  Without being able to use the rope just yet, I can't get over to his left side and pet him.
All in all it was a great night.  And we ended on a good note.
Oh, and I took the rope off of him because that has turned out to be pretty easy to latch on and off of him now.
Sorry, no pics tonight, my photographer went fishing....

Should I Rename Marty?

Some folks I know are not thinking that Marty is a good name for my mustang.  I kind of HAD to take that name because he was called Martha and that just wouldn't do.  Now I know I have every right to name my horse anything I want so I am going to keep Marty and if I can't come up with a better name by August 1, 2012 then Marty stays his name.  My first thought was to name him Benny just because I like that name.  Other names that have come up were Jagger (he's got the moves like Jagger...) or Redford because he's blonde and red like Robert Redford (oh and handsome too).  If you have any suggestions now is the time to let me know.   I think in 30 days I will know for sure if Marty fits him or if he should have a more suitable name.

Lastest Update 6-26-12
Marty (2)
Jagger (4)
Thunder (2)

Learning to Blog

Okay, I see I'm doing something wrong already on this blog!  So Sorry!  I guess the idea of blogging is to title different subjects which will then automatically POST the date on the date you enter them!  I was using my Mustang Marty Blog as a 'journal' and just adding the dates.  Duh!!  So I'll try to start doing it correctly from now on!  Thanks for bearing with me!

My First Mustang/Horse Experience

This is me in the Fall of 1991 in a little town called Huston Idaho, outside of Boise.  This is me with Honey, my very first horse ever, a mustang (and I have never owned,or really ridden a horse in my entire life).  By the way, I am 29 years old in this picture and Honey is 2.

Honey was picked up as a wild horse in the spring of 1991 near Burns Oregon and entered into the Idaho Canyon County Fair as a raffle horse by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and the American Mustang Foundation.   This meant she was caught in the spring of 1991, trained during the summer (a few months, and then entered into the fair in August).   I was leaving the fair with my boyfriend at the time and I looked over at the horse and I realized that I was in love.  And not really with my boyfriend.....
I bought about 10 raffle tickets for this beautiful palomino paint and I said to my boyfriend, "I'm gonna get that horse, and when I get that horse I'm gonna name her Honey".  I bought the tickets from a man named Calvin .  I didn't remember him at the time.  I only had eyes for Honey.
2 months later, they had the drawing near Eagle Idaho. I didn't know what a horse playday was, so I was pretty anxious to win my mustang and go home, however my boyfriend and I had to wait all day until the play day was over before I could win my mustang and take her home.  I spent most of the day petting her and telling her everything was going to be okay once I got her home.  There were two young boys there at the corral telling me THEY were going to win this horse but I just ignored them.  Later I found out they were Calvin's sons, Adam and Brian.  They were about 6 and 8 years old.  I don't remember seeing Calvin there.  I only had eyes for Honey.
So finally the raffle name was picked and Honey was going to go to a 14 year old Boy.  I got on the back of my boyfriends Harley and cried all the way home.  I couldn't believe how upset I was.  Then, my boyfriend said, "Why don't you contact the American Mustang Foundation? Maybe the kid that won that horse doesn't have the facilities to keep her and they'll have to draw another name."  EUREKA!!  That was it!  The kid wouldn't be able to keep the horse and THEN I'd win my mustang Honey.  Nice thought, isn't it?
So I called the President of the Mustang Foundation, a wonderful man by the name of Larry Leach (god rest his soul).  Mr. Leach told me that the kid did not have the facilities to keep the horse but he really wanted it.  So I offered this....How about me and the kid SHARE the horse. I have the pasture for her and he can help with the expenses and come ride her in the countryside whenever he wants!!  Mr. Leach gave my offer to the boys mother (who was the mother of 6 by the way and on welfare).  The mother agreed and we worked it out where Honey could come and stay on the pasture by my house and the kid could come and ride him whenever he wanted!  Yay!  I have my mustang Honey!
The kid came out a time or two to ride him but couldn't make her go and all she did was eat pasture, so he finally bored with her and decided I could have her.  YAY!  I now OWN my first horse, my first Mustang, a two year old green broke palomino paint!  She came 6 months trained with her tack and saddle.  I rode her all over the place and we had a great time.
Then the boyfriend and I split up. He rode east on his Harley, and I rode west on my Mustang.  I managed to find a little place to rent with pasture in Kuna Idaho and this is where Honey and I lived.
I joined the American Mustang Foundation which was a group that organized rides and events with the mustangs.  I was the secretary for the foundation for awhile.  I met a lot of great people.  I remember for the first time meeting a gentleman by the name of Calvin   He said we met a few times before but I didn't remember..  He was a good ol' boy.  Had a Horse Trailer, and he was available to take me and Honey to any events I wanted to go. Life was great!!
Then friend Calvin and I decided to start looking for property to buy.  We decided we would like to get about 5 acres and put a couple of manufactured homes on it and share a barn and arena for our 2 mustang horses.  By the time we found the land we wanted, only one home was necessary (wink wink).  And we were married shortly after.  That was in 1994.  Honey was 5 years at that time and I had just bred her to a smaller black mustang named "Black" out of Sand Hollow, Idaho.  Owner:  Wendy Chamberlain.  Calvin had a mustang horse named Hobbs.  Here is a picture of her and him riding in a parade.

This is Calvin and Hobbs in the Mustang Parade in Melba Idaho in 1992(?) or thereabouts.  Calvin had tried for 7 years to get Hobbs bred and she finally took in 1993.  Honey was also pregnant in 1993.  Both of our mustangs were going to have babies.  It was an exciting time for us both!
But then........Tragedy............
We rented pasture for our two mustangs in downtown Kuna while we were working on our 10 acres we bought.  One day, Calvin was tying Honey up to get trimmed by the farrier when Honey reared back and caught Calvin's fingers in her rope.  He thought he had a bad rope burn but it turned out that the rope had shredded his fingers  right down to the bone!  We rushed him to the hospital and they doctored Calvin up.  The next day we were told the unfortunate news that Hobbs was killed by a train in Kuna!  Apparently, with all the fuss about getting Calvin to the Emergency Room, and the ferrier there and showing his own way out, the gate did not get locked properly and 3 horses that were boarded there were loose and standing on the railroad tracks as a train was coming!  Hobbs, Honey, and Calvins Brothers Horse Buster.
Fortunately for me, Honey loved people.  So when a few middle school girls saw the horses on the tracks, they whistled and called for the horses to come to them.  Honey ran right to them.  But Hobbs stayed put.  She was killed instantly, baby and all.  It was soooo sad.  Calvin came home and told me about it and all I could do was curl up in the kitchen and cry and cry and cry.  There was poor Calvin with his hand all bandaged up from yesterday's ordeal and now the cops were telling him he had to get his horse off the railroad tracks.  I was beside myself.  Buster took a beating but he is still alive today.  And of course, Honey is no worse for the wear.  The next day was Friday the 13th so Calvin and I both called in sick to work that day since we couldn't bear anymore bad luck.  As a sidenote, a few weeks prior to this our rabbit was killed by a couple of country labs, our mama kitty was run over and was paralyzed so we had to put her down, a runt kitten died although I kept it in bed with me all night feeding it milk with an eye dropper.  Two of our dogs were shot and killed by the mean neighbor because they 'stepped' on his property.   I won't mention any names....WINCHESTER! So the finger thing and losing Hobbs was about all we could take at that time.  And all of this happened within a 3 week period!  Good Lord!  We have never had a tragedy since then, but Boy Howdy, I should say we had our fill that month in August 1993.  I wouldn't wish a month like that on ANYONE, not even my worst arch enemy!  You know who your are....
So, by the time we moved into our new home on 10 acres we only had a pregnant Honey horse.  Calvin needed something to ride so we bought a 3 year old paint horse at the auction and named Her Patches.  When Honey's colt was born, I was there tapping his little hooves before he was even out of his mama!  I was going to do some 'imprint training' and have the perfect horse!  We named our black little colt Bocephus which means 'little one " in Cherokee.  Here is the final result.

I like to show this picture, because it shows the size of his head!  He is a 16 hand 18 year old mustang (domesticated) now and what a handful he is.  While I was busy doing all that imprint training, I turned him into a spoiled dog and now I cannot control him on the ground at all.  I ride him and love him but I don't ever get off of him or he will go home without me.  Mainly because he has never been weaned from his mother who is 23 now (Honey).  What was I thinking.....? I even sent him to ground training last year.  The trainer (the illustrious Shannon Allison) found no problem with him.  That's when I realized it was strictly a herd sourness trait and nothing more.  However, that doesn't make it any easier when you are knocked down through the corral gate if you take his mother or any of this 'mares' out the gate!  We are learning to adapt however.  We tie him up INSIDE the corral when moving horses around and it is much safer for all!
I ended up giving Bocephus to our niece as a graduation present this year, but he is still boarded here.  She loves him and rides him bareback and double bareback all over to hell and back and has no problem.  He gets loose from her on the ground still, but she is learning the tricks to keeping everyone safe.  Seriously, only a strong strong strong man can keep this horses head in place!  That's my dear friend Raine in the picture by the way.  She usually doesn't get that close to Bo.  See the fear in her eyes?  Just kidding Raine!
So Bocephus became Calvins Hunting Horse in his early years.  Always pawing, always anxious, always concerned about whatever mare was with him and worrying about those that weren't....that's Bocephus.  As Calvin aged, controlling Bo on the ground became harder....So after last year's hunt, Calvin says he will never take Bo again.  Too much work!
Back to Patches, the horse we bought for Calvin after Hobbs passed on.....Patches is 20 now and she is about the best kids and old ladies horse ever.  I am trying to sell her to an 8 year old girl who is just learning to ride.  I couldn't imagine a better horse for a child to learn on.  We'll see how that goes.
13 years ago we bred Patches so I could have another "baby".  Along came Sassy.  Who really wasn't sassy at all.  Her full name is Sassafras.  Here she is.

Just your everyday basic quarter horse paint.  She is 13 now and is exactly like her mother.  Just as gentle and sweet as can be.  Calvin says he will only take Sassy hunting now because she was a perfect angel last year!
So as much as I love ALL my 4 horses, I only want what's best for them.  As I age (I will be 50 this year) and my horses age, I realize I won't always be as "strong"? as I am now so I really want to train my own baby and make it the 'perfect' horse.  I don't think I had enough experience when Bo and Sassy were born, but I think I'm ready for it now!
So that's my horse history in a nutshell.  I now have Marty the Mustang who I just adopted yesterday (my yearling) and for some odd reason, I feel like after 20 years of having horses I am finally ready to make the perfect horse!  Stay with me and I will share my learnings with you.  It should be an exciting ride!

Marty the Mustang

Ahem, hello.  My first real blog I intend to keep up on.  The Chestnut with the flaxen mane (second to the last horse) is my new mustang I just adopted from Boise Idaho Wild Horse Corrals.  A herd of about 200 mustang yearlings came from Ely, Nevada and they have been corralled since August of 2011.  My new mustang was originally named Martha because the BLM folks (Bureau of Land Management) thought she was a mare.  She was pretty furry at the time and by the time they got her in a chute and trimmed her feet and gave her shots, they soon realized she was a colt so she was gelded too.  However the BLM folks kept calling her Martha due to her beautiful long eyelashes.  I couldn't sway too far from that name so I gave her the boy name of Marty (with a "Y").  Now Marty is home with me on my 10 acres sitting in a round pen acting as perfect as can be!  They haltered him and put a rope on him and 2 young girls came and delivered him directly to my round pen!  This involved maneuvering their horse trailer through a rocky pasture and removing panels from the round pen to make a makeshift "chute" to turn him in.  I was pretty impressed with these two girls!  Thanks Ruby and Shelby!

So, yesterday, I was so beside myself with excitement, I spent as much time as I could just sitting in the round pen with Marty and talking to him and chasing him a little around the pen.  I was able to get his rope a few times but he freaked and I lost it each time I had it.  I found out today from Shelby when she e-mailed me as to what to do to get started.....she said never ever let him get away from you or he will learn that habit.  Dang it!  Did I mess up with him already!  Good Lord!

June 18, 2012
Yesterday I didn't even try to grab the rope but I also got a John Lyons book (for my kindle) and took my tablet out in the corral and read Chapter 1 out loud to Marty.  I think we have the gist of it.  John Lyons says this ground training takes 5 days.  As much as I'd love to get him out of that corral and leading good, I will take a lot more days then that to do this project.  Plus I work  four 10 hour days so I will be getting most of the training in on my 3 days off.  It was 98 degrees yesterday but we did do a bit of Chapter 1 which is lunging the horse to the right and left and moving toward their head at a diagonal to get them to turn inside the round pen (toward you).  John Lyons says to make your horse do this 2000 times before you move to the next step.  Between today and yesterday, he's done it 8 times.  We're on a roll!  Maybe he'll be 3 years old by the time we get to Chapter 2!
Just got a message from a trainer at Hidden Valley Paints Ranch (where my dear friend Sabrina lives).  I will shower and get in my fastest car and head over there to see her in action!

Need you even ask......?  In case you can't see it, the bumper sticker says "My other Mustang is a Horse".


Well I just got back from Sabrinas and met the two mustangs yearlings that were picked up on the same day I got Marty.  I was totally taken by surprise when I saw them; they looked groomed, shaved, and were as friendly as ever.  I petted them both all over and then got pissed off because I can't even TOUCH my mustang yet.  I really don't want to hurry things but WHAT UP MAN!?  As I was leaving Sabrina's, the trainer of the mustangs took it's halter off as I watched it follow her around like a puppy!!  %^&$@$*!!
So this trainer will be coming to my place tomorrow after work to see what we can do to at least be able to TOUCH Marty!  I sat next to his hay while he ate tonight but I still couldn't touch him.  I understand that he needs to trust me and I'm not going to be impatient.  But Come ON......Really?  What's it gonna take?!

June 19, 2012 (Day 4)

The 'Mustang Whisperer' was supposed to come and help me touch my horse tonight after work, but she couldn't make it.  A little bummed, I poured a glass of wine and sat next to Marty's feed bowl (outside the round pen) and decided if he wanted any supper, he was gonna have to let me pet him.  I sat out there for four hours.   He did a little stomping  and his ears were back. He was really hungry!  He left me several times and hung out at the other side of the pen.   When I did try to force my hand to him, he tried to bite me a few times but I couldn't tell if it was out of anger or just hoping there would be some food in that hand!  He watched the neighbor man irrigating for a long time.  The neighbor came over and started petting him!!!  What the?!  I said, "Neighbor, I haven't even got that far yet!".  My neighbor quietly said, "I think he likes soft voices".  What was he insinuating anyway?  So after the neighbor left, and Marty watched him for 30 some minutes pining for him till he was out of sight, he came over again to see if there was any food in this bowl.  I decided I would be quiet for a change and in about 5 minutes, he let me touch his nose....ever so briefly......As soon as he allowed that, I put a handful of hay in his bin and let him eat.  Then he tried to eat more but I made him touch me first before he could.  In a matter of minutes, he was resting his little nose on my hand for as long as I wanted.  In no time I was scratching his cheeks, forehead, rubbing his ears (real hard I might add --- he seemed to love it!)  After every successful 'rub' he would run to the other side of the arena looking for the neighbor guy.... As if he had to 'tell him all about it'.  But he still had to come back to me to eat.  I wonder sometime if horses truly are more in tune to a certain gender....  Anyway, at the end of the evening I was actually stroking his neck like I do any horse!  It was truly amazing.  It would have been great to have someone help me tonight, but I can't think of a more rewarding feeling then me accomplishing it on my own!   Man I feel good!  Now if Marty will only get over his crush on the neighbor, things will be great!

All I could think about at this point was "Man I can't wait to start grooming that mane!"