Mustang Saga

I recently had this thought that if I'm going to be bringing home two mustangs to train I ought to get out and work with my herd more often to get into practice. Make it a job, with a certain number of hours a day. Because a lot of days I hide out inside and use the weather as an excuse. So today I went out, moved a bunch of hay to the barn, and played with some horses.

First I just spent some lovey dovey time with Coda. I love that old man. He loves food. But I think he loves me too. I know he loves Soxy. He got all groomed up and I gave him some lunch and some treats.

Then I grabbed a halter and headed out into the pasture where Tonka, Scout, and Soxy are today. Well, actually I stood by the gate and called them. I wasn't wearing mud boots to get through the swamp to catch a horse. So of course my sensitive big poopoohead wasn't the horse I ended up with. Soxy came in (Scout would have but Tonka wouldn't let him) and I took her out. I gave her some treats and then trimmed her hooves. You know how some horses, when you're holding a front foot, will take all the weight off the opposite hind and drop it on you? She does that, only she will fall down if you call her bluff. I guess it's not a bluff. So sometimes you just have to drop the hoof and ask for it back, then keep reminding her to hold her ownself up. She only does it on one hoof, so I think it may be a pain issue. But maybe she's being a naughty old lady. Either way, we just pretend it didn't happen and move on.

(Meanwhile, Coda was having a fit. I took his woman! Nevermind that we were right in plain view... The old boy's going to give himself a heart attack.)

I put Soxy up, and of course Scout was right at the gate demanding that he get to come play. So I took him out, walked him past the scary truck, and "tied" him while I stood next to him. He was antsy but I went ahead and hard tied him anyway (my blocker rings are in the trailer) and went about 50 feet away to get him some treats. He enjoyed them. On the way back to the pasture he ate hay out of the back of the scary truck. That was good.

This time Tonka was right nearby and he said, "Oh, all right..." So he got some treats too, then we... Well, we didn't do much of anything. I groomed him and then took him to the trailer and tied him and then I went and had lunch and when I went back out I didn't like the cold and mud so I put him back. Oh, I did cut his bridle path. Exciting, eh? Actually, it was great. He didn't flip me off with his ears even once. He did give me his cute face quite a bit. So I call that a successful "working" of my horse.

And thisis why I'm not posting many pictures lately.
Scruffy, muddy, disgruntled, blechy.

I am really excited! Today I ordered a new saddle pad! Woo Hoo! I love buying tack. I hope it works like it claims. It does have a 30 day money back guarantee. But the testimonials for it are great. It's a Thinline pad. Check out their site if you or your horse has back soreness issues, or if you're just looking for a good pad to dissipate energy, or your saddle slips, or if you're bored and you're a tack junkie like me. They have hoof pads and leg boots and cinches and some other stuff too, but none of it is cheap.

Mark your calendars!

Mustang Days will be June 27-28 in Spokane Washington.