Ugh... Rough Winter

Sorry for the long break in postings, not much has been going on as we have had over two feet of snow making riding and most training impossible. Unfortunately the snow has been taking forever to melt, and what little that does melt freezes at night. So then we end up with a complete sheet of ice every morning that is very unsafe to work on. Hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas and happy new year! Hopefully ours will be more productive soon =]

And YES those are icicles!!!

Update 10/31/09 *15th Ride*

When we got home from quad riding today, I decided to saddle up Ace again for his 15th ride. While everyone else was unloading the quads, I saddled, booted and groomed Ace. He did really well, his ears would flicker, listening to the quads and me, but I saddled and got on easily.

I worked on side passing and two tracking, so far he is side passing well to both directions and two tracking to the left well but is still somewhat sticky to the right. Tomorrow I will work some more on body suppling and evening up his sides. He is getting really comfortable at the lope now, and is moving out well and keeping his head level.

His transitions are getting very smooth, at first every time I asked him to change from a lope to a trot, he would just stop. Same thing happened when we would slow from a trot to a walk, he would shut down and stop. I started focusing on just dropping down a gear and he is doing great. As for our transitions up, he is very smooth, keeps his head level, and does not get chargey.

After I was done, I unsaddled him and threw him in the trailer with Hope, our four month old foal. I just wanted him to get used to having other horses in the trailer with him. They both did really good.

While I had hope out I tied her to a post and hopped on Ace bareback. (This is his second ride bareback) I made sure he was listening to me and walked over to Hope. I untied her from his back and started ponying her. (I ponied Trust, one of my mares, off him recently as well.) She was hopping all over, but he never acted up. He even drug her a little when she decided she was done walking lol. Three times she reared up and "mounted" him from behind, I thought for sure he would shoot forward and spook, but he never even lifted his head LOL.

When I was done ponying, I open the arena gate and walked them in. From his back I undid her halter and turned her loose. She took off running, and he just waited for his next instructions from me. I walked him over to where Trust was locked in eating some extra alfalfa, and opened the smaller gates and hooked him open from his back. This was the first time I had opened the smaller gates from on top of him. These gates are a little more difficult because I have to have very good control of his whole body to position him perfectly to be able to reach the latches. He did excellent and lined up with the gate easily.

He constantly surprises me with how well he handles new and potentially scary experiences. I am so happy with him =]

Update 10/26/09

Today I rode ace again, and he is doing extraordinary. Today we rode around worked on some body suppling and control. He is picking up the side pass and two track well, and he is already doing very well pivoting on the hind and forequarters. For the first time, I had Ace pony a calm older mare around, he did very well. At first he nickered a little bit, but after I fingered the reins he stopped. He never dropped, just walked around and lead her all over. He was really calm about her walking next to him, bumping him and nosing around him. He really is a gentleman. Getting more and more exited for next show season.

Update 10/25/2009 *12th Ride*

Sorry for the long stretch between posts, I got a little carried away lol and forgot to update!

Today, I rode ace for the 12th time, he is doing fantastic. The last three days, I trailered Ace all around town, he has done great.

Friday I just trailered him around, letting him get used to being in there. I brought him home after about 45 minutes, unloaded him and rode for about an hour. He did excellent, and unloaded slowly and carefully. His ride went really well, he is starting to get in better shape.

Saturday I hooked up the trailer again and hauled him to Wal-mart since we needed to do some shopping. I waited out with him for about thirty minutes while they shopped. Then we hauled him to the Bridle Path Arena where I unloaded him, saddled and rode him for about two hours. About 15 minutes into our ride, 7 riders showed up and rode with us. To date, Ace had never been around other horses and riders, let alone strange ones. He did very well, he never dropped and only whinnied twice when they first showed up. Getting him back to concentrating at first was a struggle, but soon he gave up and focused on what I wanted him to do. He is loading and unloading great with out any problems.

Today, Sunday, I took him to the arena again (I trailered him there and back) his ride went great, I am so proud of him and how calm he is being. Next show season will be awesome if he acts half as calm as he did this weekend. We will be pulling lots of blue ribbons. =]

Update Ace's Third Ride

Well today Ace had his third ride, and he did AWESOME! AGAIN! I am in the process of uploading videos and pictures, they will be up shortly. He is doing great moving his hindquarters and forequarters over, and is walking forward MUCH more freely. Today I even asked for a trot, and after several smacks on the butt; he trotted happily. We rode quite a bit around walking and trotting, and then I took him into the big arena for the first time; so far he had only been ridden in the round pen. He did great, he did not try and trot or run with out permission, but he walked even better since he actually had somewhere to go instead of just around in circles. To view the videos, here is the link http://www.youtube.com/user/barehorsetraining

10-07-09 Update BIG NEWS!

Though I had been working on saddling ace for the last month or so, he was still terrified of the saddle. Per Clinton Anderson's advice from his training segments on RFD-TV with Cider, he recommended that if a horse is scared of the saddle, leave them in a safe pen with it on for several hours until they realize it is not going to eat them. So for three days in a row, I saddled him after he finished eating in the round pen, removed the stirrups (horses can break their jaw if they reach back and try to play with the stirrups and get their lower jaw hooked. Even if you are leaving your horse tied for even a short amount of time with the saddle on, remove or tie up the stirrups so they cannot reach them.) and turned him out with supervision. At first he was very scared, but after about an hour he calmed down and relaxed. I removed the saddle after 4-5 hours so his back could breathe and he could have some relief. (I NEVER recommend leaving the saddle on unattended, or on overnight. That's just cruel, they need to be able to lay down, relax and just be a horse.) I repeated this for three days, and worked on other ground control exercises when the saddle wasn't on. Tuesday, Oct 5th I tied him up and saddled him. He is still somewhat nervous when that saddle goes on and comes off, but he started really relaxing right after he was cinched up. I sacked him out really good with several different objects and he was still nice and calm so I started climbing on him, sitting on him, and generally just getting him used to me being above him. He was fine with it, so I reviewed the cues I taught him for saddle work and climbed aboard. He was AWESOME. All I did the first day was ask him to move his shoulders and hips over, and started him backing. He was super calm so after riding him for about 10 minutes I hopped off and ending it on a good note. NO BUCKING!!!

Yesterday, after I got home from college, I sacked him out good again and went ahead and saddled him up. This time I asked him walk forward after we reviewed moving hips and shoulders over. Surprisingly he walked right off. Many horses get their feet stuck at first, and are scared to step forward, but he walked right off. We walked all over and worked on the pivots, he acted like a 30 year old plug, not a 3 yo stallion lol.

I will post pics today, and hopefully video I haven't gotten any yet.

Update 10/05/09

Ace is doing excellent, yesterday we had some major breakthroughs. Since lately he had not been trying as hard as I would like him to, and for the most part he was practicing evasion, I decided to sack him out tied up. He has been tied extensively, so I figured why not. He had yet to seriously pull back so I started out slowly. I warmed him up in the round pen and worked on some of our exercises. I rubbed him down with my hand all over, and then brushed him and picked out his feet. I started sacking him out with a horseman's flag with a sack attached to it. ( We've done this a lot with out him tied) He was fine, no reaction. Then I started grabbing various items fly mask, towels, feed sacks, and sacked him out with each item until he was comfortable with them, progressing from the least scary to the most scary. Then I did the same with the pad, saddle, and eventually a blanket. (Which he has never had a blanket on ever) A very successful day indeed. He did pull back a few times (I wanted him to so I could test how well he is giving to pressure, and so he doesn't panic when he gets spooked enough sometime to pull back.) he came right forward and gave like he was supposed to. Here are some pics.

(Note* Obviously since Ace has not been shown, he did not win this blanket. It's one I won a few years ago. AND since he's only three lol he'd have been way to young to ride back then lol.)

Update 9/21/09

Well, I have started working Ace under saddle again, and after feeling his knees they seem to have closed. I wanted to wait till after the summer to start riding him, which meant sadly that we missed the WHBS, next year I guess.

We spent three days with him just wearing the saddle for a few hours because he was so freaked out. Good news though, these past three times he did not BUCK EVEN ONCE! He is alittle spooky when I tighten the cinch, so we need a a bunch more sacking out on the ground. He is not nearly as explosive as he was so thats a plus.

I will post pics the next time I saddle him, but I will not be on him for a while yet. He is still someone nervous about the saddle being up there. I know that he is stallion material, but sometimes I wonder whether or not I should keep him intact. With his extra hormones its just that much more of a challenge for everything. He really resists big change (like wearing a saddle) and stuff like that seems to really stress him out. I've noticed that he's gotten really lazy lately, so we are working on getting his feet unstuck. He needs more flexing and more work in general.

Ugh. And for the bad news. Right before I was going to take off my crappy saddle, and put my riding saddle on him. He spooked (which rarely EVER happens) and lept onto my right foot. The SAME one my mare broke a month or two back. It had just healed, and I am back in a retarded boot. I don't know if he broke it or not, but its worse this time since I have been having numbness in my pinkie toe and the one next to it. UGH. Guess I probably SHOULD go get x-rays. FRUSTRATING. I mean I finally am getting close to being able to ride him, and I mess up my foot. Again. Gah. Talk about pist.

So even though I was limping pretty bad; okay horrible. I still saddled him with my saddle, which had a back cinch, sacked him out on the ground, from a fence (it was fun getting up there) lunged him, and worked him over obstacles with it on. Then when we were done I unsaddled him, gave him a bath and turned him out. Thats what you call dedicated lol (or stupid whichever =])

SO, hopefully tomorrow I will be able to saddle him again, depends on whether or not I decide to get x-rays.

UPDATE: MY FOOT IS NOT BROKEN, JUST HAS SOME SERIOUS SOFT TISSUE DAMAGE. I AM WALKING OKAY BUT WILL HAVE TO WEAR THE BOOT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK.

August 31, 2009

Ace is doing well with his 5 ground excersises. He is starting to pick up the side pass fairly well. His is really light in the halter and bosal. And is doing really well in the trailer. Soon we will start taking him for short rides.

He did pretty good with the farrier, except the farrier decided to hop the fence instead of going around, which really freaked him out. He is fine with me on the fence, but still strongly dislikes other people doing it. He may associate it with the blm chutes, when everything tramitic happened there were people above him. We got his front feet done, but the farrier didn't want to try his back feet, so he'll be back soon. The funny thing is, I rasp down his feet with no halter on, and he is perfectly fine. Hmmmn.

Ace was accidentily bred to Trust when she came into her foal heat, (he bred her through the fence while we were gone) so Ace may have is first progeny on the way. We have not decieded if we want to keep Trust to see how the foal turns out. She was bred on July 2, 2009. So she will be "due" (LOL, those of you who have bred mares know why I laugh) around June 2, 2009.

Sorry.

Sorry for the long space in between postings, I broke my foot shortly after finals were finished (not his fault, bitchy mares fault actually =]), and was limited on the work that could be accomplished with Ace. So far, he loads and unloads from the trailer, bathes, clips, and has been saddled several times. He had his first trim a few weeks ago and did really well. He is going to have another trim tommorrow. Ace has become super friendly, he is always the first one to the fence to greet me, and just wants to be loved on. He is very well behaved around the mares, and doesn't drop or get excited. He absolutley loves our new foal, Trust's baby. He is very affectionate. I have sat on him bareback around 40 times. Next we are working on getting control of his feet, and teaching him to yield. Then we will be working on laying down (a huge trust builder), the spanish walk, and finally riding. I focus very strongly on my horses foundation, which is why we accomplish all this first.

*Note*

For the next week, the posting frequency may, or may not slow down. I have finals scheduled all next week, and I will be spending alot of time preparing for them. I will still be working with Ace everyday, but I will not be doing any extended sessions unless he starts going backwards in our training. After the 13th, everything will be back to normal and regular updates will commence. Sorry, just a heads up if you check regularly. 

Update: May 3, 2009

Ace did very well today, my birthday. He accepted the western saddle much easier than the english, even though it is much scarier, just because he's had the last two days to practice. He had a MAJOR bucking fit today, between the back cinch and the sturrips hitting him, he blew up. He bucked hard for a good five minutes before he stopped. His sides where heaving so hard it scared me. I sure as hell do not want to be on his back if he launches into a full fledged buck off. I doubt a professional bronc rider could stay on him. When he panics, man is he rank. Talk about intimidating. SO. We are doing ALOT of ground work before I get on =] But he did calm down, and all was well. He lunged for the first time in the arena, and he did great. VERY productive day =]

Update May 2, 2009

I cinched up the english saddle today, (Sorry no pics, it was raining and cold) he did really well I was shocked that he didn't even buck once. He was pretty nervous, but handled him self well. I had him saddle in about 2 minutes versus the hour I worked with him yesterday just getting him comfortable with the saddle. I am not in a rush, I will do what ever it takes to get him to where I need him to be. I feel great about our progress, he's only been home for a week and a day and already got him saddled, haltered, lunging, picked up all four feet. 

=] Can't wait for tomorrow. 

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday. Maybe my present to myself will be getting him saddled western. Bet he'll blow. 

Update: May 1, 2009

Ace is doing great. I worked on saddling him yesterday with an old english saddle that has the irons removed. Overall he did really well, but he was not too fond of the jingling sound the buckles on the girth made. I didn't get it cinched up because it started pouring rain, perhaps tomorrow. Ace has been easy to catch everyday that he's been here. Thank god because it took me two and a half weeks until I could catch trust easy. 

Goals for tomorrow:

• Drive Ace with lines through the leathers
• Saddle him english cinch and all /Possibly saddle him western 
• Teach him to longe on a long line in the arena. 
  

Update: 04/29/2009

Today for once, he actually didn't snort at me when I entered. I can atribute this to all of the gate work we did yesterday. I think he is finally accepting that gates are not as scary, and they are a method of transportation in a way.

Today, I decided that I would start sacking out his face, I didn't do it yesterday, because it was very windy, and I didn't want it slapping him in the face therefore compounding the problem.

So this morning I used a fly mask since it didn't flap as much. I choose to sack his head out with a non-flapping object because of his explosive reactions to foreign objects touching his poll.

He was quite scared of the Velcro, but adjusted well.

It took me about 5 minutes to desensitise him to the mask, and get in on for the first time. He accepted it readily and I had no major difficulties.

Update 04/28/2009:

Ace did very well today, sorry I haven't gotten the Training FAQ page up, he certainly has been keeping me busy. Soon I think I will move his updates to another page, and keep this one stricly for his information.

I finally figured out what Ace's problem is when I would enter his pen, he would always snort at me and act very scared. I attempted to take him out of his small round pen into the arena today, but he was scared to go through. I realized he was associating the squeeking of the gate with the chutes at the Palimino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center. Everytime he's heard that noise, something awful and tramatizing has happened to him. Poor guy. I worked with him gently for over an hour, and I finally convinced him that going in and out of gates meant no harm to him, soon he was happily walking all around the arena and through every gate we have.

I finished clipping him today, he really is an angel. Sacked him out more thoroughly, and man does it make a difference! Since he has come home, he seemed so tightly wound that I wondered what was going on inside his head. Everytime I sack him out, he seems so much happier and at ease when we're done, like I've just taken a load of his shoulders by helping him realize that I mean him no harm. (And neither do the plastic bags, rain coats, sacks, tarps, etc LOL)

Once we accomplished the gate excersises, I figured that we would attempt to introduce him to one of the stalls, a very scary experience for mustangs indeed! They tend to feel trapped and panic so I took it slow with him... Or at least I tried. I took him into Trust's stall (His lover, that completely ignores him! To his displeasure of course) and he walked right in! He was so busy smelling the walls, and her manure that I don't think he even fully comprehended what he was doing until he was inside. But when he finally did look up, he noticed her hay and made himself right at home. Typical men huh!

We practiced going in and out through the different entrances, but he was more interested in eating and smelling the walls, so I moved on.

I walked him around property for the first time, and introduced him to the rest of the family. Astonishingly he walked right past me, and smelled them. Even though he was wary, he was still on high from our earlier confidence building excersises and insisted on introducing them to me. LOL. Quite a character he is.

Then we decided to visit the random scary objects in our yard, such as a big boat. Being it was very windy today, the cover was flapping wildly, but he walked up to it and smelled it. All was well until the cover slapped him in the face.

He took off running, but stopped 20 feet away. I slapped my leg and asked him to face up to me with both eyes. To my shock, not only did he look at me, but he walked up to me! I mean he was free! He had several acres that he could have ran loose on, terrorizing us all, but he didn't. He choose to join up with me instead. SUCCESS! I walked him back up to the boat, he sniffed it for about 5 minutes, and then decided it was boring. He sighed and pressed his head to my chest, begging me to hold his head and tell him what a clever boy he is. Of course I abliged happily, and stood there next to the boat rewarding him.

I re-sacked him out before putting him up, and I went the long way back to his pen, through several gates, and past the mares. He is such a gentleman.

Update 04/27/2009:

Today, I worked on sacking him out, leading manners, troting while leading, reinforcing accepting touch all over his body, picked up and cleaned out all four feet several times, explored his whole body and looked for any "holes" in our training thus far, clipped his whiskers and bridle path. Over all I am ectatic with our progress, he is a gem.

Update 4/26/2009:

Ace is awesome. He has the perfect temperment, I am in love with him. In the last three days we have accomplish a great deal. When he came home, he had never been touched outside of the chutes, and never on his own accord. I let him join up to me, and let him decide whether or not I was worth trusting.
So far, I can catch him, brush him, rub him all over (including his private parts), touch all over his face and mouth, ears, clean all four feet and tap on them, lead him pretty well, rub a towel all over, switch halters, taught him to bend his head and neck flexing, back up, comb out his mane, lift his tail.
Pretty good for less than 3 days huh?

Update 4/25/09:

Ace's first day home went well, he is very focused which made my job much easier. He is very curious and really wanted to come see me, but he would only smell me a few times, but throughout the day he stepped twords me.
On Ace's second day, he did extremely well. The morning started off rough, I touched his face a few times, but then he was done cooperating. So I started using the end of my lead rope, desensitizing him with it, eventually replacing it with my hand. By the end of the night, I had him leading fairly well, brushing all over his body, picking up and cleaning out both front feet, and rubbing him all over his body. I am going to attempt to cinch up a bareback pad on him later tonight. Hope all goes well! Pics from today:
(I will load video of him coming home tonight, Note* about 6-7 hours have passed of constant work.)

One more day.

The past weeks have gone by slow, seeming to drag on. Thank goodness tomorrow he comes home. There is certain to be action this weekend. Ace's arival, Trust to foal anyday. I figured I would post some pictures so you can see what Ace is like.

Introduction

Ace is a four year old, wild stallion that I will be bringing home Friday, April 24, 2009. Ace is magnificent, a true black. When I said I needed a challenge in my life, I had no idea that a wild stud would be part of it, but ultimately in the last couple weeks, I knew it was meant to be. This will likely be the hardest mustang yet, but most certainly not the first.

I love the mustangs, there is something so different about them than any domestic horse. Is it a challenge? Does it break your heart to see them so terrified? Yes. Even though it is tough, the most rewarding thing happens. Then learn to trust, hell even love. They learn that you adore them more than anything else in this world, and that's when they'll give it all for you.

Just back in Feburary of this year, I adopted another mustang, Trust. Training progressed well, but she banged up her knee pretty bad, and it hasn't healed right. The vet doesn't think she'll be rideable, and I also measured her and she is only 14HH. She looked much bigger in the pen with the other mustangs, but the mares were extremely small. This is why I have adopted Ace. I need a great riding horse, companion, and best friend. Here's where our Journey will begin.