I'll Be Taking a Break........Literally

Well, here it is in a nutshell.  Sunday, while at a playday with my horse Sassy, I pulled too hard on her Bitless Bridle and brought her to her knees.  That is not a testament to my strength by no means, it is only a testament to the most sensitive part on the horse...it's nose...  I didn't realize I was putting that much pressure on her but I was trying to get into the arena to do the barrels and back her up and turn her to head that direction.  A combination of the noseband and her losing her balance caused her to fall on me.  She landed on my leg and was getting ready to roll over on me when a cowboy in the group gave her a swift kick in the butt to make her roll over the other way and get on her feet.  So *thankfully* I only suffered a broken ankle.  It hurt soooooo bad.  It's my first broken bone ever!  So I will most likely be in a cast for at least six weeks.  If anything exciting happens I'll let you know.  But for now.....foot elevated, ice, painkillers, and staring longingly out my window to the barn while waiting patiently for spring! 

See the bruise by my toes?  The EMT guys kept asking how I felt there and I didn't understand until I remember that I got stepped on by Marty a few days earlier, so I told them 'Ah that's an old bruise, today I hurt in my ankle!"  I'm either getting to be a real tough cooking or just slowly falling apart bit by bit!  LOL!

Marty's First Ride

Today was a wonderful training day!  Marty is now a year and 8 months old.  A horse should not be ridden until he is a least 2 and then not a whole lot until he is 3.  Today me and my tiny young friend put a bit in Marty's mouth and let him play with it while we trained him to wear a saddle.  Marty (as usual) let us do anything we wanted to him.

Then as a special event, I asked my tiny friend to sit on Marty to see what he did. Marty has never had anyone sit on him yet.  See video below.

Now, I've got things I can work with Marty on throughout the winter.  Marty loves his playmate Harley.

And I love my Marty.

2012 Kuna Night Light Parade

Saturday, December 8, 2012 was Marty the 'Magnificent' Mustang's very first parade ever.  We put Christmas Lights on his halter and Bells on his legs and paraded him through the Kuna Idaho Night Light Parade.  When I first took Marty to the 'staging' area, he was freaking out just a little.  By that, I mean he was whinnying to the other horses and prancing around a bit as he was tied up to the trailer.  Soon I had his Christmas Light Halter on him and the bells on his ankles and by that time he was conditioned to everything around him.  Some kids rode by on bikes and Marty flinched a little so I asked them to come by a few more times to get him used to it.  Then the marching band came by all in uniform with their instruments.  One girl had a slide trombone and Marty flinched a little at that. I asked her to play a few bars so Marty would know what that was all about.  She did.  And from that point on, every time Marty heard the marching band, he looked for his 'girlfriend'.  Soon we were in line for the parade.  Marty jumped a little and I didn't know why.  But when I looked behind us I saw that there were five Texas Longhorn bulls with female riders on them and rings in their noses and cowboys leading them.  They had lights and bells on their horns and Marty was a bit disturbed by them.  I walked him over to the bulls, he sniffed the rings in their noses, and all was fine.

I was amazed at how well Marty did in the parade.  Kids were everywhere!  Noise was everywhere!  But Marty did everything like a pro!  Good ol' Marty anyway.

Winter is upon us here in Idaho.  And all I can think of is next summer when I have my first ride on my 2 year old Mustang Marty.  Stay tuned, my friends!

                                                           Marty and Joy

                                                    Harley, Kim, Marty and Joy (with horse hat)

                             Marty and Harley telling secrets

My Best Boy Marty

Well Well Well....Where have I been? Sorry if anyone is chomping at the bit waiting for updates on Marty, but it's been a crazy end of summer/fall season.  My husband retired this fall and I've been busier then ever with all my horses.  I sold Patches (my 20 year old Quarter Horse), gave Bocephus (my 18 year old Mustang) to my niece, however we are still boarding him here for her, and may consider leasing Honey to a friends Granddaughter here in the near future.  That would leave us with Sassy, Bo and Marty for the winter.  Today is December 1, 2012 and it was a mild 50 degree gray day which is expected here in Idaho around this time of year.  I still work Marty regularly and have ponied him like crazy, and have taken him to events and nothing seems to faze him.  Today was a beautiful day.  I lead him down our driveway and through our plowed field and then groomed him and fed him some oats.  I don't think my 24 year old mustang Honey would have walked through that plowed field with me without putting up a fuss!  But Marty didn't even flinch.  He respected me and followed me wherever I chose to go.  He's the best.  Then as a reward, I gave him a bucket of oats and I had a glass of wine and we took in the beautiful Idaho mountains.  So all in all, we are both doing well and having a great time!  Thanks for reading!

Marty's last Month

Well folks, it's been a month since I last posted about Smarty Marty, sorry about that.  It's been a crazy month.  After the fair, my Austrian guest stayed for the whole month of September (which seemed like one week we had so much fun) and we were busy doing all kinds of things.  She just left today so I spent the afternoon trying to get caught up on some things that have taken the back burner during the month of September.  But it's important that you know how much Sabine has helped with Marty's progress.  After the fair, we just sort of soaked it all in after winning Grand Champion Mustang Trail Challenge.  Then we continued working with Marty.  There was only one thing Marty was still fussy about and that was the dreaded fly spray.  It wasn't so much what came out of it....it was the sound the fly spray made.  So Sabine spent many hours just spraying Marty with water (and he loves water). So it wasn't long before the fly spray was no longer a big deal for Marty.

Also, Marty had some special visitors this month.  Four little girls came and met him!  They spent a lot of time grooming him and loving on him.  He loved every minute they spent with him and I think the girls had a lot of fun too!

They all got to groom Marty and he just shined when they were done.

One twin in particular, really showed a look of love in the picture below.  It's one of my favorites.

Then after they got done spoiling Marty.  The sister sets each took a ride on my 24 year old Mustang, Honey!  

I think everyone had a great day!

So other than trying to squeeze so much in this last month, we did get to go on a few trailrides and I ponied Marty on Sassy and Honey.  He's doing very well.  

Western Idaho Fair 2012

Well, gang........What can I say?   Here is the 2012 Idaho State Fair 'Mustang Trail' Grand Champion!  He also placed Second in the Halter Show.  

It's been a busy few weeks preparing Marty for his 'Debut' at the Fair, but now I can say it was all worth it!  

My friend Sabine from Austria arrived late Monday night.  She worked with Marty Tuesday through Thursday, and then showed him on Friday!  Marty stood perfect all day long at the fair and waited for his 2 events to come up: Halter Show and Mustang Trail Challenge.  Both Sabine and I have already realized that there is not too much that gets Marty excited but I was really pleased he did so well during the events.  And Sabine was fabulous as his handler.  I don't think we could have placed first in Trail Challenge if I would have showed him.  At the last minute we found out the Challenge included some side-stepping which Marty has not even been trained to do yet.  However, Sabine knew what to do to get him to side step and he did wonderful!  And then I found out later, she had a few tricks up her sleeve to impress the judges even more.  Sabine was supposed to lead Marty up to a roping calf statue and touch it.  Well after Sabine touched it, she also had Marty touch it with his nose too!   Great move Sabine!  

Marty and Sabine

So it was a very very exciting evening for us both!  We will float on this win for quite some time I'm sure!

                                                Sabine, Marty, Joy

So this ends the Fair portion of Marty the Mustang!  It'll take a lot to top this!  But I will still post the training progress and events that we do from this point on!  Thanks for staying with us!  

Two Weeks Until Fair!

Okay friends, we have just a few weeks until we enter Marty the Mustang into the Western Idaho Fair!  I'm so excited about it.  I have entered him in Halter, Showmanship, and the Mustang Trail Challenge.  All will be held on Friday August 24.  I'm taking the whole week off to prepare us for it.  My friend from Austria will be here visiting so she will probably do the showing because she's had more experience showing horses then I have.  

I worked with a girl yesterday who is also entering mustang yearlings into the fair.  She's done it before and she showed me a few things that Marty would need to do.  Some of it's pretty easy, other things we'll have to keep working on.

But the best thing this week was I finally got him to understand the 'forward cue' and can make him circle on a lead.  Well, what I understood about it from yesterday's training was I am not aggressive enough when teaching a horse to 'go forward'.  That's why Bocephus walks all over me whenever I try.  But I had the trainer do it for me and then I did it afterward.  NOW Marty knows what's going on and today when I tried it by myself, we did it!  I still need to get his head turned into me and some slack in the rope.  But at least I got to the point where he's not striking or rearing.  Good Marty.  

So now, instead of him just 'following' me into the trailer which he does so well, I'm asking him to go into the trailer with the 'go forward' cue.  That's not as easy, but he's starting to get it.  Next step will be to get him to stand quietly before I ask him to get out.  He wants to turn around real fast and hurry out while I'm still standing in the trailer.  

And, what's so cool about training my yearling Marty is that my 'Chi' (energy) is working on Bo too!  I haven't had to use the stud chain on Bo to lead him for a few weeks now.  Both of us feel good about that.  And Bo is behaving on the ground like he's never behaved before.  I think he watches what I do with Marty in the round pen and then learns by osmosis.  I have to tie him to the 'patience pole' when I lead Marty into the Round pen because Bo will still try to eat him.  

Bo stays tied the whole time we're in the round pen and does just as well as Marty. Good Bocephus.

Last few nights Bo and Marty have both been good so they get lots of grooming and attention afterward.  Today, because it was so hot, we all got baths!

Marty does fine with the hose on him, but he still freaks when I spray the fly spray on him.  What's up with that?

So lets compare.  This is Day One (June 16, 2012) the first day I got Marty.  I hadn't even touched him yet.

Below is Day 52 after his first bath.

Oh Yeah, I see the difference, can you?  At least the white on his legs are clean now.  And he's starting to lose his 'pasture belly' just a little and best of all, he seems much more relaxed!

I love Marty the Mustang!