Stang in an itchy dress :)

So really quickly I wanted to catch everyone up. So sorry I haven't blogged. Busy, busy.
Both stangs are doing great. Yesterday Veronica Plant came in to start working with Sable. Veronica, to me is a hidden treasure, she has alot of talent and all the way back at the auction I asked her that IF I got two mustangs and decided that it was to much then would she finish one and show it for me. She quickly said yes since it is something that she has always wanted to do. Last week was the time that the entries were due so I called her and let her know that I had decided that I would rather have one really nice horse rather then two mediocre ones. I had decided that the only way to make them both great is if I handed one off to another trainer. Long story short she is super excited and so am I. It is tough to find someone that is good at training and isn't scared to work a mustang in this time limit. And her job in my opinion is tougher then mine, because she will be competing in the specialty classes. There are six...Dressage, Hunter Hack (Jumping), Trail, Cow Work, Pattern and Freestyle. That is pretty intense and I can't wait to watch. Today she was able to get her out and play with her a bit. I spent a little time talking to Veronica about Sables little quirks (that is individual to all mustangs) then let her mess with her in her own way as I sat on the side and watched. It was so need to see Sable find her way with another person. After working her in some ground work Veronica was ready to ride. So we saddled her up and they road around for a bit. I was trilled to see Sable do so well.
I on the other hand will be doing the Legends class. Not as many classes but extremely difficult in skill level. I will be competing against many of the top trainers in the country. Including a hand full of Road to the Horse competitors. If you would like to google some of the names of some great showman to get an idea you can look up Bobby Kerr, Mary Kitzmiller, or Mary Miller Jordan. They will show you the level I will be playing at. Needless to say I will be more then happy to compete, and ecstatic to make the Top 20.  Sunday has surprised me everyday, but it has been a HUGE challenge to find a bridle that will work for her. She hates the snaffle with a passion, and can't seem to find where her tongue needs to go. So I sent her out to pasture last week for 24 hours with the snaffle on. It was my last ditch effort to getting her to where the dumb thing. It helped a ton. But she still pulls at it like a little girl in an itchy dress. If she could verbally whine, I am convinced she would. So the other day I changed her to a thick rubber snaffle and she did way better. So today I rode her in that and she was okay although I noticed that her head and neck where really stiff to the right. So I put her in her bosal she did better one way but still the same to the right. So I decided to try the halter only. Same response. So she is obviously hurting. After an inspection I noticed that her TMJ muscle in her jaw was swollen. So off to the vet we went.
We took both mustangs and they both had soreness in the TMJ and their teeth were way unlevel. They also had pretty bad ear mites. So we took care of all of it. I am now waiting for Sunday to not be sore so I can start really getting to work.

So after today I seem to like riding Sunday in a rope halter over any of my other training aids. It is a toss up to see what I stick with. Even though Sunday was hurting today she did something that gave me hope and taught me a small lesson. As I was riding her I went to stop her in the halter and she tucked her hind end and stopped really nice. I thought it was good and totally normal for her. Veronica was sitting over to the side and commented that she wasn't stopping from the halter. I was confused. I said "What do you mean?" She said "She is stopping from your lead rope." I was still confused. After a short discussion I realized that I wasn't even controlling her with my halter. She was working purely off the rope around her neck. I had tied the halter a little long and the rope would hit her before the halter would. This gave me great hope because one of my goal is to ride her bridle less with a neck rope. I think I never really expected my training to get to that point but it was a goal. Since today, I feel like that goal might be attainable. I think that it is funny how God knows your goals on the inside and he seems to make the "accidents" happen that push you into your goals. I also find it interesting that many of us have the potential to do unbelievable things but we short change ourselves because we don't believe in ourselves and trust that God can do great things though us. Recently I have learned a ton about confidence in yourself and what type of people feed your self confidence. If Veronica had not been there today watching me closely I would have never realized that Sunday was showing great potential to accomplish one of my goals. Sometimes it takes an outsider looking in to tell you that you have a chance. There are so many people in this world that with the right people and the right words behind them they can accomplish great task. So I decided today that I would start paying attention to others more closely and learn to cheer them on if I see them doing better then they expect. And I challenge others to look at people around them  and be a cheerleader for them. Some people just need that one influential person to say a kind word of encouragement to give them the boost they need. Be that person for someone else. We are in a world with a lot of hopelessness and encouraging words are the best way to change that. Show people that they CAN be who God wants them to be.

Crazy time!

So I wanted to give everyone a quick update on the last few weeks. It has been pretty tough, but my head is up. After the last time I posted I took a four day trip with Gracie my 5 year old to a barrel clinic at the Josey Ranch. I had the opportunity to take a mustang with me but I opted not to so I could focus on Grace and Macaroni. Little did I know I could have used the days for the saddle time. So I came back recovered for a day and then rode them that Saturday. Both girls did awesome and I taught both of them to side pass. I was ready to start riding them everyday and things had slowed down. The next day (2 Mondays ago) I was out riding a clients colt he was very fresh and bucked under saddle as I lunged him in warm up. This wasn't out of the ordinary for this colt so I figured he would be fine if I moved on and jumped on. After all he had been ridden 12+ times and has been solid. As I started moving him around he started skipping. I made a joke that he was gonna try to buck but I never thought he was agile enough to really do any damage. All it took was one moment for him to decide he didn't want to do what I ask and he sucked his head to the ground and pulled away from me into a buck. My first thought was to stick with him, he had not really bucked hard even in the beginning so I figured he didn't have a hard buck in him. Boy was I wrong. He bucked harder then I have ever ridden before. I rode him about six jumps and every jump I thought I was off, then I would land back in the saddle still with him. So I kept riding. Finally the physics of it all caught up with me. The horse was going down faster then I was and then would meet me on the way up. It took about two of those jumps and I was off. My instinct was still trying to get his head around, so the pull of the reins flipped me upside down and straight on the back of my neck. Let me tell you it HURT. I laid there trying to feel if everything was working. Thankfully it was. Unfortunately, everyone that was standing around not five minutes before had left to go unsaddle other horses and get a drink. Which left me on the ground for 10 minutes before my sister came and found me. All I knew was I didn't want to sit up or move until I was sure I didn't break my neck. There was a lot of panic as everyone ran around trying to find out what happened. Finally with assistance of my family I sat up and started moving. Obviously I didn't ride my mustangs that day.  After three days I decided that my body wasn't healing like it should so I went to the doctor and they let me know that I had a moderate concussion and that I should be off for at least another week. I have been off for two weeks. I was not planning on that much time off. Thankfully I had a friend come in and ride Sunday (the dun) for a day in the middle. I was so happy to see she did really well.
After all the stress of missing work and getting way behind on the mustangs. I called in a friend to see if she wanted to ride and show Sable (the black mare). I am a little bummed because Sable has really started to shine up and look good. It has really taken a load off that she will be leaving and going to my friend. I would rather separate them and give them both a chance then me to finish both and not have the time to make them great. So since that decision I am super excited to finish Sunday.

Yesterday I went out and rode for the first time since my incident. Being that I don't have one "broke" horse on the place I pulled out Sable. I had a lesson and I needed a steed to help me out. I rode her around in the round pen first to test her and then I took her into the arena. She walked around as three other horses warmed up around her. I wasn't expecting her to do anything great. Just being there was a huge step forward. There was only once that one of the girls loped passed her and she jumped. As the girls were finishing up their warm up I watched and suddenly I lost my horse. She apparently thought that the sand was way to good to pass up and laid down right underneath me. We all laughed. I chose to take advantage of the moment and sat on her and rubbed all over her. After a minute or two I gave her the "up" cue and she hoped up. The rest of the lesson she stood quietly and watched. I was really proud.

Today I rode Sunday and tried her out in our new bosal. She seems to like it much better then the bridle. From here on out I will be doing a little of both to get the effects that I want. I have to kick it in to high gear to get her ready to do all the things that we need done. I have really gotten excited about working with Sunday. She is really a neat horse.

On a personal note, this has been one of the most mentally and spiritually challenging few weeks. I have listened to many podcast on positive sports mentality trying to keep my head straight. It is funny how a small issue can send you in a thought process that can defeat you before you get started. At this point I know that I finish Sunday and she can be a nice horse. My issue is making her spectacular in the limited time that I have. There are so many aspects of the competition that I am not prepared for. In the end I know that God has a plan. Now I just need to work really hard and let Him do the rest.  Stay in tune.