Quick update!

Quickly I wanted to jump on and let everyone know how everything is going with the girls. I have not been able to sit down at all. We had a very long weekend. So a funny thing happened last Thursday with Sable I worked her on the lead and was saddling her. She has been super laid back from day one so I don't move as slowly around her. She was standing in the round pen while I saddled her. When I slid her breast collar down her opposite shoulder and I felt her hold her breath. Then BOOM! she jumped straight in the air and all I saw was her knees in my face. I stepped back and gave her room. She exploded!! Bucking with her nose on the ground and bellowing like a cow! Stirrups flying jumping up and down like she broke out of the chutes at Cheyenne. Danial and I both stood and watched her go insane for about 30 seconds and then she suddenly stopped and looked at like "What was that?" She walked right back up the the place it all started, as to say "Now where were we?" Danial and I both laughed. We didn't know she had that in her at all. She stood quietly as I finished saddling her and I half mounted her a few times just to be safe. She was fine so I jumped on and we rode around for a while working on giving to the reins. We never had another issue.  It was the most random thing that she has done so far. Hilarious!
This past weekend I had the chance to spend some time with a professional trick rider and trick horse trainer. So I took both girls with me to see what they could learn. I was a little concerned how they would do on a big trip like that. I was SO proud of them both they minded so well. We were there with other domestic horses and you couldn't really tell a difference in mine and the others. They did all the drills and caught on to everything we asked. So smart. By the time we left they had learned a few tricks and we will be practicing them between now and the Makeover. When they came back home both of them seemed much more manageable. I have now released them out with my herd full time so they are putting on the pounds. I can walk up to them in the pasture about 70% of the time and put a halter on. (I can't even say that for my other horses!) Every now and then they want to run and play instead of putting the halter on but that is usually Sunday. She is the prankster of the two. She has tons of personality and loves to play games.
Yesterday I had another adventure with Sable. We went to a reining trainer to help me polish up on the things I need for showing. I have never really been a great showman so I figured this year I would go to someone that shows horses for a living. I know once I learn it I will get it. But I have never really had professional horsemanship training. I have always been self taught watching videos and attending small clinics as a child. All my professional training has always been barrel or rodeo based. So this stuff is a little tough to learn . It is a little more disciplined then what is required for barrel horses, it is a little outside my box. I called the trainer and asked what horse he wanted me to bring, my barrel horse or my mustang. He said the mustang (that has only had five rides) would be fine. He was way more sure then I was, I hadn't ridden them in five days due to the trip over the weekend. So I took Sable because I trust her a lot more then Sunday. We got there and I saddled up and after doing my safety check that I do, I got on. She was a little tight but quickly lined out and we had an awesome lesson. She was so good, I was actually able to learn new things and get in a great ride on her at the same time. I was so happy, even though I felt like a rookie all over again. That brings us to tomorrow. I have five horses to ride tomorrow and two of them are the girls. Sunday hasn't been ridden since last Thursday so I hope and pray that she will be fine and keep it together. I will continue on stops and backs which is what I started Sable on at our lesson. I really feel so far behind but I have come so far already. Totally different from last year. Even though the difficulty is the same because there are two I am having a blast and I sleep well.

Let the fur fly!

So it has been a crazy week or two I have worked extremely hard to balance kids, clients and mustangs. Most people that love to hear about our mustang adventures forget that I have a string of clients horses that I am constantly working also. It gets pretty crazy.

So to update on my girls. Both are progressing about the same rate. They are bathing, leading, loading, and riding. I haven't been able to ride them as much as I would like but again the time balance has been tough this year. A few days ago for the sake of putting weight on Sable I decided that I needed to let them out with my herd. Many trainers don't let them out before the competition for fear of them getting hurt. Last year I had the same frame of mind and by the time of the competition I had a very depressed mustang. Last year I figured it would be harder to catch him and he would revert to his wild ways. Well even now when I let them out they are a little more wild but this year I changed the way I think. I figure if I can get them to come up to the barn even in their wilder state of mind then I don't worry about them when they are more focused. So to test this theory this is what I did. Both mares were somewhat hard to catch at the beginning of the week. But were great once on the halter. So I challenged my training skills a bit and took Sable to the arena and let her loose while I worked with Sunday in the open round pen. Sable was calm and cool. When I was finished with Sunday I decided to let her go out with the herd for the evening. When she got to the back where the horses were they all greeted her. All was fine until she laid her ears back at Spade. He was wasn't happy! He wheeled around and they met tail to tail and squealed and kicked. I was amazed I have seen horses fight over the years but two mustangs are a totally different story. As I watched this "discussion" I noticed that they where making a lot of racket and stirring a lot of dust but they weren't injuring each other. After Spade took about 10 minutes to put her in her place they all grazed happily together. I returned to get Sable out of the arena. She was weird at first but every time she would walk away I would slap my halter lightly against my pants. She would look at the noise and I would turn and walk off. After about three or four times of this she started walking at me when I would walk off. So I would keep walking. In about 5 min she was following me all over my arena at liberty. This is what I refer to as "the invisible lead rope". I do this to all horses that come in, I truly believe that it is what makes all my colts confidant. After haltering her and riding her for the day I decided one new mustsng was enough for my herd for one day. So I took Sable back to the mustang pens.
That night when they came up that night for feeding I checked Spade and Sundays legs and neither horse had a scratch. So yesterday I put Sunday in the arena and did the same thing I did with Sable. It worked again. Now both of them will follow me with out any issues. Sable is riding like an old rope horse. Sunday is a little tougher. She is a little scatter brained from time to time but her body is way more sturdy then Sables. It will be interesting to see how they end up.

When writing this I couldn't help but think about us as christians in the church. I know every time I would go to a new church or some one new comes to my church there is always a pecking order established, whether we realize it or not. And just like the horses in most cases they just find where they fit in and go on about their business. But every now and then there will be a confrontation and the fur will fly. What? Were you unaware that "church people" can fight? Sometimes with the best of them...the only difference is they will say nasty things and them justify it with a "bless your heart" tag on the end of it. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have heard people make statements like "I love her to death, but she has an attitude problem. Bless her heart!" about others in their church family.  Like sugar coating it makes it so much better! Lol. In our church I enjoy it because it is real. We have a church culture that teaches against being offended. Things can be said, discussions had, but in the end everyone makes sure that we all go home without an emotional scratch or a scar. In Matthew 18:15-17 I tells us how to deal with offenses. 15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’[b] 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. I believe as people of God that we should have the integrity of speaking up when we have been offended and working it out with the other person. I love the example the mustangs set for us on this. They have no issue with battling it out. They know to get things settled right away so we can move on for the benefit of the herd. Before coming to my current church I went through four church splits in five years and it was very emotional and heart breaking. And all of them stemmed from people not working out there offenses.  Instead they would go around a slander each other like wolves. I hated going though that but I am so glad that I did, because it gave me a passion about doing the right thing. Since learning this principle I haven't had any drama in my life. The more I watch how an equine herd functions they more I see the comparison to the church. I think I still have a lot more that I can learn from these guys. The particular lesson I am glad I learned. I know that it has helped me make stronger relationship all around my life. Something to think about..

Sideline Yellers!

Finally home! I have twohappy mustangs in my barn. Let me catch everyone up on our progress. Sincegoing to Marks everything moved pretty fast. Tuesday I went in to each maresstall and started to brush them. I have found that they seem to like being brushedand are calmer about being touched. Also the time near them and moving aroundthem builds confidence that my movements are not aggressive. It is no differentto them as if someone threw you in to a pit of bears when you don't knowanything about the behavior of bears. I personally would panic and probablyhave to change certain articles of clothing. ;) So I try to give them a chanceto be near me without requiring anything from them. And anyone that has brushedout a mane and tail knows that it takes time. After I groomed them Mark poniedSable (the black mare) out to the round pen. We did a little ground work andthen saddled her. She moved out under saddle with no problem. Mark asked if Iwanted to ride her first or him. I didn't trust her near as much as he didso I got him too. lol! I kept thinking “I am a mother of small children!” and Ireally didn't need to take the risk on one I wasn’t sure was ready. So Markhopped on and rode her around in the halter. Walked, trotted, loped with noproblem I was surprised because she was much more flighty then Sunday (thedun). She moved really nice. After lunch we pulled out Sunday and did the samething. She wiggled a little more then Sable did and I was having troublesaddling with a new roping saddle I started using. It was about 15 poundsheavier then my barrel saddle that I start colts in and much harder to throw. Ifinally got it on and moved her around the round pen. She was perfect. I wasmuch more confidant with her then Sable and I was sure she wouldn't buck. Itrusted her much more, mainly because she oozes confidence. Mark dallied her tohis saddle horse so I could step up. I half mounted a few times and she startedto hop. The pommel popped up into my collarbone. It felt like I was beingtossed around like a rag doll. I thought “just hang on and she will settle”Well she didn’t.  So I stepped offhoping that she wouldn’t kick on the way down. Thankfully she wasn’t moving infear so she wasn’t to worried. I wasn't confidant in trying again. I told Mark totry because I knew my lack of confidence would get me bucked off. I was sureglad he did because she bucked and there was no way I would have ridden it. Thefunny thing was she wasn't scared or mean. She was playing like a colt would.After a few good jumps she lined right out and moved around like a champ. Soyesterday I got her out and saddled her and worked her in my normal equipmentand she did great. Miranda and Mark challenged me to ride her in a halter vs.the snaffle that I normally start colts in. (I do it because I am a weenie, orthe fact I just feel like I need the control). Both mares had their teethworked on that morning so bits were out of the question anyway. So I hopped onher and started moving her around. I started laughing because every time shewould move out I would try to stop her, even though she wasn't trying to doanything. I could hear Miranda on the edge of the pen hollering, "Leaveher alone and let her go". I would give her rein and then get scared andstart picking up. Then Miranda would holler again. The reason we let them go isif you try to control them some times they get scared and then you could causethem to buck from fear. Usually they are fine if you just sit there. I got tolaughing at myself I could barely ride. I stepped off Sunday and gave her apat. I was so happy she did every thing that I asked. 

I will tell you a littleabout them both...

Sunday (the dun) ishilarious. After brushing her the other day she has been in my pocket eversince. She has no fear of me at all. In fact she is pushy at times. She yawns alot! She also smiles a lot! Yes she smiles...every time she does something goodor funny she will throw her nose in the air, roll her lip back and show herteeth. Of coarse anyone that has seen her laughs. I think that is why she keepsdoing it. This I have a feeling will come in handy. 

Sable (the black) is myinsecure one. She hasn't really come around to really loving me. She lets metouch her and brush her but not before protesting a little. She is really goodunder saddle so far. She needs a leader. She has deemed Sunday her big sisterand copycats every thing she does. Since we got home today. Sable even eats outof the same food pan as Sunday. I hope in the next few days she will trust meas a leader and become more confident. 

While talking with a good friend today I realized the lesson that Godwas teaching me this week. I realized that it wasn't only on colts that I tryto control. Many times I have a tendency to try to control things that only Godcan control. Many times I feel that people out of fear of loosing control tryto make God do things. Or even worse try to take over what is Gods business.Over and over I have barrel racers that come out and are tight as cats on topof their horse. Pulling back as much as they can trying to control the horseeven when the horse is doing nothing wrong. Then when they need control theydon't have any because they have dulled down all of their cues. When insteadthey could ride around on a loose rein and allow their horse to do their joband then IF the horse needs direction they can give it and the horse is morethen happy to comply.  I see people trying to control things of Godthinking that they know best. Just like people don't trust their horse..they don'ttrust God. I am SO speaking to myself right now. I think that we might besurprised if we would just let go and let God work in our lives. There are manytimes that we block things that God would like to do because we just won't getout of the way. Something else that I learned this week is that some times youneed some one yelling from the sidelines to remind you to let go. I let go ofmy mare this week because I knew that Miranda is more experienced in coltstarting then me and knows what to look for. She also is on of the people in mytraining life that will challenge me to do things that I would never dream. Shestretches me as a trainer and makes me better.  In spiritual things of life I have others that are my"side line yellers" that keep me doing what I need to be doing. So mychallenge to you today is let God do what he wants to do for you, and let goand see what happens. Challenge number two...find someone that is confident inwho they are in God to be your cheerleader to keep you accountable to what youneed to do. They will challenge you to do things that you have never donebefore. With those two things you will catch a ride that will blow yourmind.