Oops

Day 14

Today marks two weeks with the queen!

In those fourteen days we have accomplished:

-Touching

-Grooming

-Leading

-Handling of Feet

-Basic round pen skills

It is so exciting to go through this with such a cool little horse. Big plans are brewing for our training path, and though I can't quite reveal them yet, we will be working overtime this summer to accomplish some big goals 💪🏻

Anywho- today was pretty great, until the weather decided to go zero to one hundred real quick. I ended up having to hustle from the round pen to the paddock  because of the sudden lightening storm that just so happened to roll by while I was handling feet. I think Arya was just fine with the idea of extra hay in her run in and practically a day off, but I continue to be bummed by the slippery footing. It had just begun to dry up today, which make it feel even more like a stab in the back. Meh. 

Hopefully we will start soon with some scary objects from the arena so we can do some sessions in the ring. It'd feel really great and get her out exploring. I would also like to braid her mane. That'd be pretty awesome, seeing training goes on hold so often with the weather being as crazy as it is.

More later! 

-Allie

Partner in Crime

  

 

Day 12 

Today was pretty cool. 

Leading is 2000% better than yesterday, and I now feel that we have a pretty good handle on it. Apart from the occasional getting stuck, we are now walking, stopping (needs refinement but it's there!) doing outside and inside turns, and beginning to lead through gates! Yay baby Arya!

We also worked on rubbing her back legs and belly, as well as picking up front legs. There was a little blip with the front legs, so after we got it so it was ok, I left it for tomorrow. I rubbed down her face and got closer to her nose (yay!)

We took a little brake while I did chores, then picked back up with a little grooming sesh and some over all gal time. She has really become my little buddy, and I am excited to see what we can accomplish this summer! 

Hopefully we'll have tons of little adventures, I can't wait to find out what's in store!

I'll have more pictures next time!

-Allie

 

 

Leading

Day 11

I'm a bad blogger. I only took one picture.

There weren't many opportunities to stop and pull out my phone, between the weather and nature of the training, cell phones weren't really an option.

Today was rainy. Tomorrow will not be rainy. Friday will be rainy with lightening. I just can't win. We kept the lesson relatively short in the round pen for the sake of staying dry, but we definitely got 'er done.

Perfect baby queen again started back at 100%, and started out getting a quick lunge to get some exercise in. She would much rather stand with me and get scratched, but we have to put all those calories towards something.

Trying to get Arya to exercise

She really has become my little buddy. She comes to the fence when I'm near by and waits, and even follows me around when she's not eating. She doesn't like me quite as much as food yet but we're working on it.

Today we really worked on the whole leading thing. I am so grateful to have gotten such a kind horse, because it went relatively smoothly. In the end, I was able to lead her from the round pen and back into her pen. What a cool feeling. Through spooky gates and everything. I can't wait to get to the point where we are leading well enough to be able to hand graze in the yard. That is my next big goal.

Tomorrow hopefully we can have a longer (dryer) and hopefully smoother session! I'd love to get to adventuring with my perfect little filly sometime soon!

Too fab for you.

Till tomorrow!

-Allie

Exciting Times

Day 10

It's so hard being a baby Mustang.

Today's round penning was pretty uneventful. She has the drill down, and will now walk from A to B in the chute no questions asked. What a queen. There wasn't too much energy to burn, so I practically had to push her along to get her daily exercise. It made standing still pretty easy though, which was nice. 

Investigating the fresh bedding

We started back with the simple exercises that we ended on yesterday. She picked up better than we left off, and took willing steps without much pressure. Yay princess! 

We rewarded with lots of itching, she has tons of itchy spots!

Then, the moment of truth. The lead rope. The introduction to my neon pink rope of choice was relatively painless. There were a few beats of insecurity, but like the little queen that she is, she was over it before you could blink. She is so cool. 

With the help of my dear trainer Tina Snyder, we then went on to really begin the leading process. I cannot express how grateful I am to have that extra help.    I have confidence we will be leading smoothly in no time at all. A big goal of mine will be to hand graze her, and past that will be handling her legs and feet. We have held back on that for the time being, but it is another milestone that is fast approaching!

Staying Hydrated 

Stay tuned for more progress and pictures!

-Allie

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Steps

Day 9

Can I just say, this chute is a god send.

Being able to get Arya in the round pen has kick started some great progress!

Our little set up is so cool, I love it so much. She loves her run in, and her pen has huge amounts of shade (when the sun actually comes out). The run in's footing has held up great despite this weather, and I don't have to worry about her wiping out in the mud when she gets rolling.

Today I was able to touch all over her face, and start the baby steps towards leading. I also managed to find every itchy spot on her neck, which she definitely appreciated.

 

I am officially obsessed. She's so cute, and so so so intelligent. It's just crazy.

She is now comfortable with me handling the rope below her chin, as well as bending in each direction, and taking a few steps with prompting. The left side was definitely more challenging than the right, but I have faith that will be short lived. Tomorrow we will try and get a proper training line on her, and before long hopefully we won't need that little gray lead at all!

It is crazy how she just embraces these new challenges as brave as she does. I can now proudly say that I can rub down almost her entire body (including her face!) I can brush her, she eats her grain with gusto, and I am so close to leading that I can almost taste it. I have found that the little victories are the ones that feel the best.

I hope everyone can get the chance to experience something like this in their lifetime. It truly is incredible.

Till Tomorrow!

-Allie

Trotting on Sunshine

Day 8

Have I said outright that she's perfect yet? Because she is perfect. Wow.

Today's morning started early with breakfast, she got her grain and hay, and I sat in e pen and enjoyed my morning Starbucks. Perfection. Blue skies, a nice breeze, I couldn't ask for better weather. The stupid rain is gone!

We then continued on to have another great brushing session, and must have pulled enough loose hair out of her butt to make another small pony. But she looks adorable and polished, as well as satisfied that all her itchy spots were addressed. 

She is such a little Queen.

But that's not even the best part.

We finally got the chute up and running! We had an uneventful, easy transition into the round pen, and Nash and Diego even peeked over the fence to see who the pretty lady was. Most of the session was spent trying to keep her attention away from eating/visiting with the boys. It was a great first time in the round pen!

The video might be a little tough to see, but look. at. that. trot.

Basically my Mustang is a gorgeous floaty fancy princess.

I didn't think I'd ever have the pleasure of owning a horse truly this nice this early in my life. My other horse Justin is the love of my life, and I wouldn't give him up for the world, but there is no denying that trot. I couldn't imagine owning two better horses. Arya has continued to surprise me with her intelligence, athleticism, and beauty. Gosh I love her to pieces.

Now that we have access to the round pen, hopefully we will be leading soon. I can't wait to get rolling with this summer. I have big dreams for this little filly! I'm excited to be able to take her out and educate the public with her by my side. She will help me prove that Mustang's aren't range rats that needs to be disposed of, but instead show that they are just as good as our own domestic horses, and even better in some aspects. It's going to be cool!

Watch close for more!
-Allie 

Squeaky Clean Queen

Day 7

Guess who got to brush her little mare today?!

Yes, so the next most exciting milestone to reach (in my opinion). Today I got to brush her. And not just a little bit either. Like brush soaked in show sheen, mat removing kind of brushing. It felt so cool to be able to do such a normal horsey thing with my perfect little desert queen❤️

 

She didn't seem the slightest bit concerned, and even let me brush out her mane (which is luxurious by the way!) 

We began to set up the chute to the round pen, and got 80% finished before I went in with her. We are making progress there too. She was very curious and a little nervous with the panels, but settled immediately as everything else did. She's one smart cookie. 

Arya was very happy to see her food today, and like yesterday waited faithfully by the gate for dinner. 

 

She loves her grain (she even went for it first today!) with her Buglyte supplement, hopefully it'll keep the bugs at bay until I can get her fly sprayed. That'll be an interesting day!

We didn't make much progress with her face today, which is okay by me. I'm just thrilled to be brushing her. 

Till tomorrow!

-Alison

Rainy Day Blues

Day 6

Today stunk.

This non stop rain has really put a hitch everything. The pen was too wet to do absolutely anything but sit in the run in and hang out. Arya probably enjoys this much as I do. Being a queen of the desert, who knows what she would have to say about this weather, if she could talk that is...

Really trying to keep it together about this weather, but man I miss good ol' sunshine. If the rain could kindly just take itself back to the ocean, that would be great. We don't you here anymore rain. Go. Away.

Even Arya, the perfect smart little queen got herself wet today. Her run in is higher up, and therefor nice and dry inside. She usually spends a solid 99% of her time in here, so I'm not too worried about much affecting her.

So with everything being so wet, any kind of pressure that risked her moving above a slow walk might risk a wipe out on her part (or most likely mine). So instead I sat on an upturned bucket and read my John Lyons book while she ate her breakfast/lunch hay.

This weekend we will get a chute set up from her living area to the round pen, that has blue stone footing  and will give me the ability to really start serious work. Because her pen is in the shape of  a crescent moon, I haven't been able to get too much round penning in. There is not enough room to follow through, so if I can avoid having to go through those kinds of lessons with her until I have the proper means to do so, I will definitely try.

So not much to report. One week officially with the Queen tomorrow! I have to say it's been a pleasure! She's certainly helped me learn a lot, about horses and myself. I cannot wait to see what our journey holds for us!

Hopefully tomorrow will be blue skies and sunshine!

Till Tomorrow

-Allie 

Divalicious

Day 5

Today Arya reminded me that she was in fact still a two year old baby mustang (however perfect).

The little queen's grain has finally caught up with her, and the beginning of my morning was more urging her to burn off some energy than actual technical work.

So innocent, so sweet, not like she'd been ripping around or anything five seconds before

Today's goal was to get her more comfortable with me touching her face. We kinda sorta achieved that with the carrot stick, and I was able to get closer to her up front than I have been before. One step closer to leading! I guess the Carrot Stick is really not the pleasant, because every time I would get a solid stroke in, she would immediately turn her head to itch it on the run in or her foot, oops.

I even got my own snuggle times in! I got a few good hairballs out of her, as well as rejoicing at her newly semi-clean belly. The giant matt that was hanging from her belly finally fell off, and it has to be the biggest win yet. Yes. Maybe tomorrow if things go well I can give her an actual brushing. If we can keep training rolling like it is, hopefully I'll be able to begin leading in no time. We have changes in direction semi down, but yielding her haunches has definitely become one of the top priorities.

It's really hard being a perfect little Queen. Sometimes it just takes a bunch of yawns to express your sleepiness. Nobody understands what it takes to be this cute.

But by far, my favorite part of the day was bringing the Queen her dinner, and she actually called to me. Now of course it was because I had my arms full of hay and grain, but it still touched my wee heart. At least I know my horses like me when I feed them.

Probably Arya always.

Ride Strong!

-Allie

What an Electric Day

Day 4

Kinda literally though.

 

Today was pretty short, I spent around two hours with Arya instead of the usual 6-7 hours. I also might be writing this blog instead of an essay, but you know...

Anywho,

The day started on a time crunch, and after barn chores I practically ran to the pen. Pony time! We started pretty much where we left off yesterday night, with a good ol' fashioned rub down with the carrot stick (and a little bit with my own hands). We revisited her itchy ear, mane, and chin as well as finding the itchy spot on her tail. Those of you who are friends on Facebook probably saw the cute clip of Arya looking unamused while I used my electric blue carrot stick to touch her all over, but it's pretty stinking cool to start my day with that kind of progress. I cannot figure out how to post videos on the blog, so you'll just have to friend me and follow along there as well.

The whole goal of the day was to expand the area which I am touching, and begin to touch her face. Her face is still a hot spot, so we didn't quite get there today, which is completely okay. We took salt lick breaks in-between sessions.

She loves her Purina Free Balance® 12:12 Vitamin and Mineral Block, and her grain has even started growing on her! Now neither ever beat her hay, but at least they're in the race at this point!

This is kind of where the day's training took a turn.

Not on Arya's side of course, she's perfect.

But I, in all my graceful glory, walked my face right into an electric fence. Not that it was even a powerful one, or a particularly painful experience, but the shock (hehe) kind of killed my work ethic. Nothing like getting a blinding shock to the face to soil someone's good mood.

So, on my time crunch, I made the executive decision that one traumatic experience was good for one day, and spent the rest of our time with lunch. She got some hay, and I ate my sandwich on a next to her. Hopefully tomorrow won't suffer because of the short time period today.

 It amazes me still that in our little sessions I will ask for as little as 20%, and she comes and gives me 100%. I offer my hand she addresses it (again going with the working with her face) I'll retreat and she'll come with me!  I find it very endearing that when I release the pressure, she comes back to me within a second or two. Paying attention to her feet has also been interesting. On lunch break (Day 3) I was reading my Lyons book on how to touch the horse. You get as close as you can with the horse comfortable, but leave right before they do. If the horse walks off it's because they still have doubt in your intentions. I can't vouch for all the methods out there, but that one sure worked for me! It's really cool to have gotten this opportunity to get to work with a mustang so kind and forgiving. Though I might have shaken things up with the whole electrocuted my face freak out, lol. 

This blog wouldn't be complete without me complaining about this stupid weather. It's gross, I'm officially sick of the mud, and it's a miracle no one has wiped out yet. If the sun could just make the appearance for a solid four months that would be great thanks.

Till Tomorrow!

-Allie

Cuddle Times

Day 3 

Guess who got to pet her horse today!!

Not like yesterday, which was just a firm stroke, but like, actually get some fur out of her beautiful scuffy little queen petting.

The morning started as usual, with the queen waiting by the gate. I offered a little bit of her breakfast hay ration by hand, but decided we had it down enough that I could get away with just sitting next to the hay pile when she ate. Spending time is always my favorite part of the day. She always sticks close by, it is really astounding that even though she is practically unhandled by people, still wants to be close and friendly.

 Pictures action shots today, the weather has been continually terrible and the ground hasn't gotten a chance to dry, so moving her feet has been a careful endeavor. Today I introduced the carrot stick, hoping that if I could touch her with my body a little farther away, and it would make her more comfortable when I did go to touch her myself. Hypothesis: PROVEN. After getting over the initial new object jitters, it worked like a charm. I was able to stroke her entire shoulder, up her neck, and across her chin. I even found an itchy spot under her mane and on her left ear.

 

I almost couldn't contain myself.

She was practically asleep while I was screaming internally, completely losing my mind excited about the fact that I was so close to being able to brush her and get the nasty matts off her belly. I am positive if we keep moving at this rate that I will be brushing and beginning to lead in no time.

(There weren't even many moments like this)

There wasn't to much else that went down. I quit today's training when I was able to consistently rub on both shoulders. I didn't push too far past her comfort zone so that I can hopefully pick back up confidently tomorrow morning.

Excited to see what tomorrow holds!

Ride Strong

-Alison