Back at it

After almost two years of inactivity, I'm bringing the blog back to life. The reason, of course, is that I've got a new mustang to make over.

Let's backtrack for a moment and review how this came about...Since the last EMM, I've moved to the Mojave Desert of California, gone back to work, and done relatively little with the two horses that I've got. We still have our 007 Mustang, now renamed "Katie Kaboom" after a cartoon character with a generally charming personality, but an unpredictably explosive temper. And of course, I still have Ranger, my original mustang. I take him for a leisurely trail ride now and then, but have had little time to do much more.

Then one day, I'm browsing the video catalog of mustangs for the new Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover competition, and a bay gelding catches my eye. Nothing spectacular about him, but he's built like a tank - the type of horse Jace is always saying he wants if he ever gets his own horse. I show him the video, and next thing I know, I'm driving to Reno to pick up another mustang.

So the journey begins again. Here he is...

First touches

Playing with the stick

Wear the rope

Wear the halter

First leading lesson

Pretty good for the first day! He still needs a name. Jace is supposed to be naming him but so far nothing is jumping out as the clear choice. Gotta get to know him a little better, I guess.

The Wrap-Up

The Extreme Mustang Makeover '08 has been over now for almost a week, and I'm finally getting a chance to fill in "the rest of the story." So much happened so fast, and the weekend was so incredibly busy. I've spent much of this week just recovering from it all.

After our somewhat disappointing performance in our under saddle class, the pressure on Eli and I was off, and I spent a lot of time trying to ease some of his stress. Spending 24/7 in a stall with constant activity all around him was making Eli a little bonkers. He'd paw at his door as soon as he saw me, and was really pushy on the lead line when I'd take him for walks. On Saturday, I put his halter on, and we went hunting for a place where I could let him loose to blow off some steam. We found our quiet paradise in an empty show arena, and I sat on the gate for about a half an hour, watching Eli roll, buck and run in the darkened space. I could see the tension slowly leaving his body, and he was a new man on our walk back to the stall.

Saturday evening were the finals competitions for the Idols and Legends divisions and potential adopters were milling around the stall areas, scoping out the horses that they might bid on the next day. I sent the boys off for dinner with Jace and his parents and stayed near Eli's stall to answer questions from potential adopters. I spoke to one couple who was very interested in Eli, but it was hard to guage how many bidders would be out there the next day. And I was still having a hard time making a decision on whether or not to bid on him myself.

The finals for the Legends division were spectacular. It is truly mind-blowing what folks were able to do with their horses in 100 days - dressage and reining demos, flying changes, sidepassing, jumping through rings of fire, shooting balloons that exploded into fireballs, stepping onto platforms and pickup trucks, working cattle and roping displays...AMAZING!!!! There should be no doubt left in anyone's mind as to mustangs' trainability and versatility. I had goosebumps on several occasions throughout the evening.

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I knew that I had to make a decision on whether or not to keep Eli, and in my heart, I knew what I should do. It was time to let Eli go. A good endurance horse has a certain feel to them when they're out on a ride, like they can't wait to see what's down that next mile of trail. Eli is a good boy, and has the potential to be good at a lot of things, but he never gave me the vibe that he really WANTED to be an endurance horse. He was nice to ride on trail, and had great metabolics, but the motivation just wasn't there. He needed to find a home where someone would give him a job that was more suited to his personality. I just hoped that the right person would adopt him and understand what a special horse they were getting.

The auction was sort of a blur. Hurry up and wait outside the auction ring, then into the ring, where I showed off a somewhat more relaxed Eli under saddle, working him at the walk and trot. In the end, he sold for $750 to a man from LaGrange who will use him as a pleasure and family horse. I got a good feeling from this guy right away, that he'd adore Eli and treat him right, so loading Eli up to go to his new home was somewhat less painful than I'd feared. I'd cried all my tears earlier in the day, and I kept a smile as I said my goodbyes and wished Eli a wonderful life with his new owner.

The auction overall was interesting to me. I was curious to see how much the horses would sell for. On one hand, a lot of this year's horses were quite far along in their training, and might command some good prices. On the other hand, the economy is in a slump, the market for horses in general is way down, and it was unknown to me how much interest there was in purchasing these horses. Well, lemme tell ya, there were some bargains to be had! Some really well trained horses were having trouble selling. There were some high bids, especially on the competition winners, but the overall selling prices were quite low. Good for those trainers who wanted to buy their horses, but somewhat disappointing, considering the quality of horses for sale.

The 200 yearlings that had competed in in-hand classes were having an even tougher time selling. Many went home with their trainers, and many others found homes, but as the day went on, there were still quite a few yearlings left over. There was talk that some of these horses would end up going back to a holding facility. So here's where the rest of my story unfolds...

I am a sucker...I'm the first to admit this, and it is a quality that will likely never change. I have found somewhat of a calling with these mustangs, and hope that my skills can be put to good work in helping their cause from here on out. Jace and I discussed things and decided that we were in a good position to be able to take one of the yearlings home. We had the trailer on site, empty, and Ranger could really use a buddy on our new 5 acres when we move to California. So we went shopping. The result - Cleopatra - a tall, leggy, bay (with a little roaning) filly, with enough attitude to hold her own with the herd here in Tx and to steal Ranger's heart. He's in love, and she's my new project. I will let her grow, start her under saddle and teach her to be a good riding horse, then see if I can find her a good home. By the way, in the end, all of the EMM yearlings and 3-4 year olds were adopted.

So this is the end of my EMM '08 story, but not the end of my mustang saga. I'll post more pictures when I have access to a computer that lets me upload them faster than one per hour. I had such an amazing time, and met so many incredible people. I saw some stunning displays of generosity, including a donation that covered the adoption fee for anyone who would take home one of the unadopted yearlings, and a couple who paid the auction price for a mustang whose trainer wanted to take him home but couldn't afford to bid that high. It was evident that the trainers in this event were truly committed to doing their best for these horses, and I saw some incredible bonds between human and horse. Seeing so many people with such compassion and respect for mustangs gives me high hopes for their future, even with all the controversy that surrounds their management right now. I am so proud to have been a small part of this effort, and I hope to return next year.

Character Building

Wow, where to start?! I have been so busy since I hit the grounds at Will Rogers that I haven't had a minute to sit down at a computer until now. So for those of you anxiously awaiting updates, I'll try to fill in some of the details of our last 48 hours.

Got to Ft. Worth midday on Wed. Checked in and unloaded Eli from the trailer. It didn't take him long to realize he wasn't in his element! The first spook was sideways away from a giant blue manure cart and onto my right foot. Ouch! But he seemed to be ok with his stall, so I let him chill out and eat while I unpacked everything. Took him for a walk, more spooking...even at stuff that normally wouldn't bother him. But there was significantly more action around us - horses everywhere, stalls decorated with all sorts of flair, people, also decorated with lots of flair, and a definite ENERGY about the place. I hand walked him into the arena where we'd be showing about the time many riders were practicing shooting .45 blanks, cracking whips, laying their horses down, and banners on the rails...I think both Eli and I were put into sensory overload! He was jumpy, but didn't totally lose it, so I figured it was time to ride. Our ride was just ok - Eli was hesitant to move forward amongst all of the action in the arenas, but I never felt unsafe.

Thurs. was our in hand class and body condition scoring. We got a walk thru of the course - trot inside and outside circles around barrels, 360 pivot in a box, load in the trailer, pick up feet, back thru an L, trot over poles. Eli made me proud! It was obvious that he was terrified in that arena, but he gave it a good shot. I had some trouble getting him in the trailer - sort of surprising, since he's been particularly good at that recently, but he finally followed me in. We scored well, and got a great body condition score too. I even got that crazy mane to lay down! Our placing was in the upper middle part of the group, right where I expected to be, and I was super pleased with how we'd done.

Today was our under saddle class. I was the second person to go in our division, but I'd learned from the day before that things moved slower than predicted in the arena, so I had planned to warm up, then just let Eli chill a bit before hopping back on for a quick refresher right before our course. The course itself didn't worry me - lead the horse in, mount up, canter left lead to a cone, turn around canter a circle on the right lead, trot to an L, back thru, work a gate, cross a bridge, trot some poles. I knew our cantering may or may not happen, but we'd done everything else a million times before.

My first indication that this was not going to be like our typical day was when Eli bucked in the warmup arena. He's never bucked with me under saddle! Oh well, he seemed to relax after that little incident. Got into the show arena, went to mount up...and Eli backed away from me. What?! Tried again, he moved away again. I was floored. Eli has always stood like a stone for me to mount. Finally got on, tried to ask for a lope and he just sucked back, so I decided to trot and try for the right lead on the circle...nope, no right lead either. Oh well, the rest of the course we got, no problem, right? WRONG! Started to back thru the L, and he just kept on backing, right toward the gate! He wanted out, NOW! Tried again, only slightly better. Attempted the gate, he wouldn't let me near it. After a few attempts, we were past our time limit. I decided to use my two minutes of freestyle time to try to complete the course. After all, I'm an endurance rider, and to finish is to win! :) Only halfway finished the gate, and coaxed him in a hesitant jog over the poles. Did a little sidepassing to show and a couple of serpentine loops at a trot to demonstrate that I had some control, and called it a day.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. The part that was so painful was that I knew what Eli was capable of under saddle, and wasn't able to show it in competition. And then, of course, I couldn't stop the tears from coming, and was embarrased that I'd let such a little thing reduce me to tears! But honestly, I can't blame Eli for anything. Considering what an overwhelming situation I'd put him into, the fact that he was even rideable was amazing! I know a lot of upper level dressage horses and endurance champions who would've been in the next county if they'd seen the things Eli's seen this week!

Despite our rough day today, I've gotta say, this has been such a fun environment to show in. I've met so many competitors who've been so positive, outgoing and helpful. You really get the feeling that the trainers want the best for these mustangs. I'm so grateful for everyone's words of encouragement, and I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with all the people I've made friends with this week.

I have photos to post, but naptime is almost over for the boys, so I'll try to get those up during my next break.

Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go....I wanna be sedated!!

I've had the lines from that Ramones song running through my head all day today! Certainly appropriate, considering that in twenty-four hours, we'll be at the Will Rogers complex for the big event, and my excitement level is pretty high! At this point, I'm not really nervous; I've had too much to keep me busy, but I'm anxious to get this thing started, to meet all the trainers, and to see how Eli will handle this new experience.

These last few days, I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it to Ft. Worth in one piece. On Friday, Eli came in with a big bite mark right where the saddle goes on the left side of his back. Great, that'll sure help his body conditioning score! Then, on Saturday, Ranger cornered Eli, and sent him over/through a gate and running all over part of the cow pasture surrounded by low strands of barbed wire. By some miracle, Eli escaped with only a couple of scratches, but I had visions of big vet bills and a very broken horse! That same night, Ranger choked on an alfalfa cube. Luckily, he managed to clear it himself pretty quickly, but I was beginning to think that all my horses were on a suicide mission! Must've been the change in barometric pressure from Hurricane Ike, or something. To add to the fun, I came down with a cold yesterday! Thankfully, I think the worst of my cold is over, and I should be pretty well recovered by tomorrow, although everyone will be able to recognize me by my nose, which is red from blowing it all day. Hopefully, all our rough luck has passed and we'll have nothing but smooth sailing from here on out.

We're as ready as we're going to get for this thing. We'll be doing nothing fancy, just the basics, and I will be happy to simply be there with a sound horse. There are so many that, for one reason or another, did not make it to Ft. Worth. I feel really fortunate for so much over these last few months - for being chosen as a trainer, for Eli and all he's taught me, and for my family and friends who have been so supportive. This has been an incredible experience, and I am now only left to wonder...how will it all end?

I'll try my best to post daily from the competition if our hotel has internet access.

Oh, and if you want to hear a really fun Rockabilly style cover of "I Wanna Be Sedated," look up the one by Two Tons of Steel.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

It's hard to believe that in just over a week, we'll be in Ft. Worth. Where has the time gone?! The butterflies are trying to set up permanent residence in my stomach, despite my best efforts to chase them away. I realized the other day that this will be the first time in over ten years that I've been to any kind of real horse show, and I'm sure I've never been in front of a crowd as big as this one will be. I try to calm my nerves by reminding myself that it absolutely does not matter how well we do in comparison to the other horses - I'm doing this for Eli, and for mustangs in general, and by simply getting to Ft. Worth with a broke horse, we've been successful.

This past week, Eli didn't get much work. In preparation for our move to California, I flew out to look at a house that we're hoping to buy. It's on about 5 acres, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to not only keep my own horse(s) there, but possibly set up a place so that I can work with more mustangs in the future. Most of the work I did with Eli was on desensitizing and groundwork. There are not too many things that freak him out, although I would really like to expose him to an indoor arena and ride him around some other horses in that setting. Not sure if that opportunity will present itself before Ft. Worth, but I think he'll still settle in pretty quickly regardless.

I also finalized my entry into the Idols division in the competition. It's the middle level, and looks like it will have a basic course asking us to show all three gaits and do some basic trail obstacles. I felt like this was where we fit in best at this point. I have no doubt that with more time and a more skilled trainer, Eli would've been able to do just about anything anyone trained him to do. He's so quick to learn. This is only the second time I've started a horse under saddle completely by myself, and there were a lot of times that I was learning right along with Eli. I made some mistakes along the way, leading to some behaviors that I had to go back and correct, so that has kept us from moving past some of the basics. But I have no regrets about not pushing Eli farther. He's only three, and I don't really like to do a lot of hard work under saddle with a horse until age four or five.

We'll spend this last week working on some moves for our two minute freestyle as well as solidifying the basics to get us through the ground and horse course. I do have a few ideas for the finals, if by some miracle we make it. I've got the PERFECT music and theme, and would love to be able to put it to use, but my main focus will simply be to have a good showing in the preliminaries, and to have a FABULOUS time at the event. I'm so looking forward to meeting the other trainers, and spectators. Please stop by and say hello!