Midwest Mustang Challenge

2008-04-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have to say that this has been a real experience. Meeting Josie for the first time, working with her, putting up with her.... and now saying good bye to her. I am really going to miss this horse. She has come a long way since her arrival. The funny part is, she is has just now gotten past "the hard part" and is just now becoming a great horse. 100 days is not very much time. She has a kind eye, loves kids and people, can be stubborn at times and yet, she still keeps putting up with me and my adventures.

I go to fellow trainer, Jessie's and Remington's post and watch that darn clock literally counting down the seconds, I can't sleep because I am thinking about the competition and how this mare will handle the stadium environment. It should all be interesting to say the least.

I went out 4 days ago to bring her in from turn out and another horse decided to scratch Josie's back over the fence. Took the darn hide right OFF!!!! So I now have a Mustang that has a semi-bald back.... ha ha Not funny, but just my luck. She wasn't sore on it, but it is a tad unsightly. Wish she would have asked me to scratch her back, I would have been a little easier on the hair removal.

We are hauling to the other trainers barn Monday and Wednesday for some other riding experiences. That is going well.....

See you all at the FAIR!

2008-04-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well today was very interesting to say the least.

I wanted Josie to have the experience of multiple riders. We had become a tad stagnant in our training program, so I decided that Josie needed a good ole fashioned trailer ride to another trainer's barn. Pete Thomas (an his lovely wife, Morgan) is a reining trainer that is new to our area and we love having him!

Since I am not a reining trainer, I figured it would be good for her (and to be honest, me) to experience another person's abilities. The news is - JOSIE WAS A STINKER!!!! She acted like I have never rode her, let alone trained her..... He tried to put the saddle on her and she spooked at the pad and saddle, a person would swear that she never even saw a saddle in her life! Then he went to lung her and she tried to buck the saddle off for the longest 2 minutes of my life, she humped up, kicked out, pulled all the tricks out of her war bag and I was actually embarrassed a tad. Boys and girls I can tell you this...... having another person that knows what they are doing ride this mustang was the best thing I ever invested in. Cha Ching! He's worth it!

I plan to haul her to his barn all next week for more lessons. She needs to know that a variety of people can ride her and not just me. By the time Pete was done, he had Josie eating from the palm of his hand. She was doing somewhat of a nice turn around and loping her circles like she was suppose to. It was a lot of fun for everyone. I think? This is the horse business, so I am still in great spirits regarding my Wild Mustang.

2008-04-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well here we are a few weeks away from the competition. We have been working on all the fundamentals at home and lets hope that it all pays off. It's now time to go out to the real world and apply those skills. Today we are going over to a fellow trainers barn for some lessons in reining. Keep your fingers crossed - Josie could care less if she ever does a 360 turn in her life.

Josie is such a people lover. She really likes kids and they all love to come over to see her. I snapped these photos a few days ago of her nuzzling up for some loving.

2008-03-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of progress. Josie has been doing well at her canter. We moved her into a new stall and she loves having a new friend next to her. She is a really social horse.

Our wonderful and amazing Equine Chiropractor, Dr. Fred Mousel from Alton, Iowa was here on Sunday to give Josie a much needed treatment. We have found that Chiropractic treatment on horses in training is almost as necessary as food and water. The past 4 years we have seen dramatic results. I think Dr. Mousel was curious prior to arrival on how his "wild mustang" patient would react. I am certain that when he left, he had a soft spot for Josie and told me on numerous occasions how pleasantly surprised he was with her demeanor. Josie's was "out" in her right hip and wither area. I am sure that in a few weeks we will see a horse that is traveling even better than she is now.

Her mane is growing!

2008-03-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

Busy week with a lot of press release follow ups. My hometown paper The Channel Town Press, of La Conner, Washington published our story. I graduated from La Conner High School and my mom still lives there. She was so proud and bought about 15 papers to send to relatives.

Our local paper, The Daily Sentinel was out today and did an interview. The reporter's name is Amy and she had never been around horses much. She found the whole story to be very interesting and once again, this little Josie captured her heart. Amy was amazed at how easily we could handle the mare.

2008-02-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

So much happened tonight that I seriously do not know where to begin. We jumped, we loaded in/out of the trailer, Scott rode her, I rode her, we trotted, we jarred, we loped, we went over the bridge and we bucked Dena off! Yes, that's right - off... spelled OFF. The good news is I crawled right back on her and we just kept going. Usually I don't make excuses, but she really didn't mean it???? Really! Hmmmmm

She has been really lazy so I put on the SPURS! Yikes.... I would have to guess that spurs are not in our future. She tolerated them for a long time, but then she decided to initiate me to the "Dirt Club". Yes, you all know what that is.... some of us will decide not to admit it, but what the heck, it's all part of the job when I am demanding more from a Wild Mustang than she is used to. Other than that, she did great!

2008-02-27T13:18:00.001-08:00

Today is 35 degrees and it feels like a serious heat wave. I braided Josie's mane down flat and it looks great, I just wish there was a little more hair in the middle. Oh well, hopefully it will keep growing. Low and behold there is a slim neck, we all just though she had a cresty neck. Her punk rock hair do days are gone too.... Man I feel better. I brushed her all up and even got some decent shots in the sunshine. What a concept.... SUN and heat at the same time. This mare is really transforming.

2008-02-27T13:11:00.001-08:00

I have had it! The long hair on her legs has got to go. I don't care how long it takes for her to jump around, it is going! Ha ha Scott says that I should leave it because she is a Mustang - the heck with that.... it is gone.

2008-02-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

Fellow trainer, Jessica Willyerd, from Wiscons in always amazes me! Her blog is interesting, filled with a lot of facts and whenever I can't find something, I go to her site and "viola" there it is. She has posted that the BLM has a photo gallery online of all the mustangs that are in the Midwest Mustang Challenge. They have also included the name of each trainer. Interesting. Josie is in photo gallery #4.

BLM Mustang Challenge Photo Gallery

2008-02-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Josie is finally jumping the poles instead of plowing through them. Look down, Look down, silly! She has graduated into the good saddle. Riding will be coming soon enough! I probably should have been riding her by now - but we had a few setbacks and the extra ground work never hurts. I love the way that she floats when she trots and how she keeps her tail tucked to her behind. She really amazes me.

2008-01-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

We spent the past week working on the usual daily stuff, she lunges, leads, has a pretty good canter and will stop when you say whoa. Now it is saddle time. I put our traditional heap of junk saddle on Josie as I am sure that because she is a "wild mustang" that she will just tear it to shreds. She will probably try to roll, flip over backwards and/or buck herself right out of our arena! I am fully prepared and have a full staff waiting and watching for all this to happen. Nothing happens, nothing to report. I am in shock-n-awe! Are you sure we got a wild one... she doesn't even kick out! We spend about an hour working on the lunge and also trotting on the lead and going over some obstacles. I am very proud of Josie today.

Special Thanks!

2008-01-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

I must give credit where credit is due. Special thanks to my onlooker Lucy Lu and my most professional photographer, Brandon Plendl. Well done!

2008-01-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well another bath under our belt and she once again just stood there and played with the water. Certainly I will scare the fur right off of her when I come at her with the cooler! She took a hard look at it, tried to take bite out of it....... so that must be her way of saying "it's cool, go a head and flop it on me". Weird?

2008-01-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

What the heck? I just clipped a wild mustang without using any sort of device to get her to stand still! She loves the buzzing of the blades running over her muzzle and chin. I pondered the thought..... "I am sure she is going to freak out when I go near those ears". Nope, she just stood still and actually dropped her head so that I could give her a little bridle bath and buzz around the edges of her ears. She was a little hesitant about clipping her feet - so we will tackle that another day. For now I think I will stop on this positive note.

2008-01-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

Josie got her first and much needed bath. As you can see from the previous photo, she came all inclusive with a ton of mud. From what I have seen from others trainer's posts.... they are all alike, Muddy. Remarkably, she once again blows my mind! She likes the water and stands in our cross ties like an angel. This is magnificent, what is the catch? Josie behaves better than most domestic horses? Huh? Regardless, she was real trooper for her first bath.

2008-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Both Scott and I have spent time with her getting her used to people. We have her leading in the stall, rubbing her face, ears and neck and she appears to really like it. She wants to follow us around. I think we are going to call her Josie. I lead (or somewhat pulled) her down the aisle to the indoor arena. The way she is trotting - I think we got some kind of circus horse? I think the sand footing has her baffled as she is stepping up really high with her back feet. I wonder what breed she really is? She is not the tallest horse, but she appears to be some kind of draft cross. She is easy to catch which can sometimes be a battle, but not with Josie. This is really fun!

2008-01-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

We pick up our Mustang. Everyone is really nice and they would love for us to take home another one too! We meet Patti Colbert, the Executive Director. She is very positive and thrilled with all the trainers being able to make it to get their Mustangs.

My first thoughts; Darn it’s a mare, her mane is rubbed out, and she is a sorrel and not a bay. I didn’t get any of the things that I wanted! But she looks like she might have a flaxen mane and tail which is good. I pet her while she was in the chute and she she didn’t freak out.

She loaded fine, we checked her all the way home and although she was scared, she was traveling quietly. Good sign.

Get her home, she hops off the trailer and into her stall.