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.