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Week Two With Crumpet! Washington Mustang Madness 100 Day Training Challenge

Week Two With Crumpet
April 26th-May 2end

The beginning of my second week with Crumpet brought a surprise. My family was all in the house when we heard this really weird sound coming from outside that kinda resembled a fog horn on the ocean. We have never had a donkey before, so it took us a few seconds to realize that it was Crumpet, the Burro! It has become her morning routine to bray. I am pretty sure she is competing with our roosters for who can wake the family up first. I have to say it is pretty fun to hear her in the morning! I also learned that Crumpet is a huge napper. I see her outside laying down at least three times a day just dozing in the sunshine.
As far as training goes, the second week with Crumpet was a very successful week! I started teaching Crumpet how to be haltered and she has now graduated to not having to wear a halter all the time and is super easy to catch. I also introduced her to a bridge, pedestal and even a scary tarp. She was a little worried about the obstacles at first, but after I let her stand and figure out that it wasn’t scary, she was very quick to learn how to walk over all of the them! I am so impressed with how well she is coming along! Week Two Video>>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jbIhmJvis&feature=youtu.be

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Mustang And Burro Update

With all the craziness happening in the world right now we had to make a couple very hard decisions. With the online auction Mustangs plus Marissa and I’s competition animals we would be up to 5 wild equines.  So we asked ourselves, “Do we really need four more wild mustangs plus a burro if the economy crashes?” The answer was of course no. After lots of debating, we decided to drop our yearling Mustangs for the competition and just train the burro. As of now we are still planning on getting our auction horses but we can’t pick them up until after the quarantine ends. On the brighter side, I was able to pick up my Burro, #5096 on April 18th!!! Here is a video of our trip >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJXIutThAXs

I have never worked with a donkey/burro before so this is going to be a whole new adventure for me! The first week with her was very successful! At first she wanted nothing to do with me but  by day three that all changed. We had a huge breakthrough and she stood for me to touch all over her and later that day she met me at the gate!!

She has learned how to lead and we have taken multiple walks outside the round pen. At our obstacle course she walked over ground poles and a couple small cross rail jumps!

Burro #5096 also got her tag taken off and is now known as Crumpet! IMG_2264

Later in the week, Crumpet had her first grooming session and also met a new human, my sister. Both events went without incident. She is such a good girl and is all try. To my astonishment, she hasn’t offered to kick or bite… yet.  I am excited to see what she teaches me over the next couple of months! Here is a link to a video of our first week together>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?vXsW6fmJA

 

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2020 Mustang Yearling Washington Youth 100 Day TIP Challenge

March 18th, 2020

I am super excited to announce that I have been accepted to participate in the Mustang Yearling Washington Youth 100 day Challenge! The competition gives trainers 100 days to train a wild horse or burro from the BLM and then compete in the final competition which will take place on August 6th through the 8th in Cle Elum, WA.  I applied for the Competition back before Christmas and had to wait several agonizing months playing the guessing game of whether or not I was accepted! But finally, after all the waiting, I received an email saying I was accepted to participate in this years competition and that I would receive horse #5577, a beautiful appaloosa yearling!!! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, I made a last minute decision to apply for the burro division and received #5096, a super cute 11yr old  female burro! I am so excited!!! This will be my very first time training a wild mustang or a burro so I will be very busy but I am super excited to see what I learn from the experience!!  I can’t wait to meet both of them! It is going to be so hard to wait to meet them but luckily we go to pick them up in less than a month!

Tag number #5096

Check out my Facebook page for updates ➡➡➡https://www.facebook.com/sierrafarmergirlsequinefiasco

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Online Mustang Adoption. We Got Two!!!

MARCH 2020

Check Out Last Week’s Post For Part One >>

We were not planing on buying two mustangs!!!! but somehow we always end up getting more horses than we plan, ugh.  During the online auction, we bid on a pretty chestnut mare but had quickly been outbid …so we moved onto the Mustang that we ended up winning and buying.  A few days after the auction, we were minding our own business, definitely not shopping for more Mustangs, when we received an email saying that the we won!?! Upon reading the fine print, the original winning bid participant had passed(?) on a chestnut mare and now we had the winning bid and the option to buy her or pass. (What is this PASS button on an auction?!?) After much discussion, we decided that we could have fun with the chestnut mare, as well as, the first mare!! Meet #4810, a 7yr old from the Warm Springs HMA in Oregon! I am so excited about bringing this mare home and to see what she has in store for us!

 

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Online Mustang Adoption

MARCH 3rd, 2020

Check Out part 2 Online Mustang Adoption. We Got Two!!!

This morning, we found out about an online auction for some of the wild Mustangs in holding and, of course, we HAD to get on the internet to take a quick look.  The “quick look” took a little longer than expected because there were so many beautiful Mustangs up for adoption and we were slowly falling in love with all of them. After over an hour of gazing at the pictures of Mustangs, we decided to go ahead and get in a BLM application, just in cause we wanted to bid.  But we ran into a complication. The BLM has a rule that a person with more than four untitled mustangs has to get further approval. To be titled, you have to own the horse for a year and then have a vet do an inspection before you have complete ownership of the Mustang. My sister and I are planning on competing in the Mustang Yearling Washington Youth 100 day Challenge with hopefully two yearling Mustangs and a burro.  Stardust (Marissa’s Mustang) won’t be titled until a couple weeks after we bring home the competition Mustangs which will put us at four untitled horses. If we brought home another wild Mustang(say from an online auction) that would be 5 untitled Mustangs. After making multiple phone calls, we figured out how many shelters and paddocks we will need and ran outside and set up three new paddocks in the pouring down rain. Once we were finished, we headed inside and applied to have over 4 untitled horses. The online auction ended at 3 p.m. and we were down to the last couple of hours till it was over, so we decided that if we didn’t get approved for 5 either my sister or I would drop either one of our competition Mustangs or the burro.  With an hour and a half left on the clock, we started making low bids on a couple of our favorites but we where quickly out bid. On our favorite Mustang, we bid 20 dollars over the current highest bid and we had the top bid of $70 dollars! But right after we got are bid in, the website started getting super slow and then stoped working all together!! We stared at a loading screen for an hour and a half and we were not able to get back onto the website until after the auction had ended. We were positive we wouldn’t get the Mustang we were bidding on because our last bid was so low, and we were sure we would get out bid! But to our great surprise, we received an email saying we had won!!! We are so excited and can’t believe she is ours!! So without further ado meet #4915 a 3yr old Warm springs Mare from Oregon!!

We haven’t picked her up from the holding corral in Oregon yet but are hoping to soon! We can’t wait to start working with this little mare and see what all she teaches us! To follow her journey checkout her facebook page called “A Wild Journey With #4915” >>>  Click Here

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Summer Adventures: Marissa’s Wild Mustang!

Summer 2019

Imagine a horse that had spent it’s whole life running wild with no human contact. Then imagine taking that horse and having only 100 days to train it to, not only load into a trailer and lead, but to be able to complete trail courses, showmanship patterns and Freestyles. Now, I am going to tell you about my 12 yr old little sister, Meefy, also known as Marissa, and how she trained one of these untouched wild Mustangs! Back in March Marissa was accepted to participate in the Mustang Yearling Washington Youth 100 Day  Training Challenge.  The Challenge gave the participants 100 days to train an untouched wild BLM Mustang and then go to a final event and compete for cash prizes!  In recent years, Marissa and I have always talked about doing a Mustang Makeover but I never imagined that my little sister would do it before me, much less this year! But there we were, on April 27th,  picking up Marissa’s untouched wild Mustang in Longview, WA.  Marissa received #4871, an all white, 2yr old Mustang from the Warm Springs HMA herd in Burns, Oregon. IMG_4422 After completing paper work, the skilled BLM guys ran the horse through a chute and after getting the halter on for us, opened the chute and drove her into the horse trailer.  It was super hard for me to figure out what Marissa was thinking on the drive home but you could tell  she was excited!fullsizeoutput_1e1dFour hours later, we arrived back on the farm and backed the trailer up to the round pen and unloaded her.

Going into it we had no idea how long it was going to take for the mustang to let Marissa touch her but to our surprise the very next day Marissa was able to rub all the way down her left side and touch her face!  She also was able to get the tag off and the mustang became known as Stardust! IMG_4485       Over the next 3 months, Marissa spent countless hours working with Stardust, teaching her how to lead, load into a trailer, pick up her feet and everything else that horses have to do. Marissa also took Stardust on outings to 4-H practices and she ponied her on a trail ride. They attended a 4-H horse show after only 9 weeks of training and received first in the Showmanship class and second in the In-hand Trail class.  Stardust was super calm for the entire competition even with the excitement of new horses and people, as well as, all of the RVs, tents and horse trailers.  She took everything in stride and you would never have guessed she had once been running wild.  The last month leading up to the competition, Marissa taught Stardust tricks such as the Spanish Walk, Spin and how to bow.  Marissa and I had never taught our horses tricks before so it was a really fun challenge for her.

Morning Snuggles
First Bath
Walk in the fiield
4-H Practice
Learning To Wear A Saddle
Trail Ride
First Show
Jumping Hay Bales
Ponying

On Wednesday, August 7th, we headed out on the long drive to the Washington State Horse Park where the final competition was being held. Stardust took the 5 hour ride like a champ. Arriving at the horse park, the temperature was in the 90’s which is very hot for a couple of girls who live were the temperature average is in the 50’s.  My mom and dad quickly abandoned us for the air conditioned motor home and I would have joined them if I hadn’t already deemed myself Marissa’s coach for the competition many weeks before (much to Marissa’s dismay).  So  I was out there with her in the scorching heat, supervising and getting Stardust settled.  “Supervising” lasted for about 5 seconds, and before I knew it I  was hauling water buckets, unloading tack trunks, retrieving hay and dumping out bags of shavings. I was now Marissa and Stardust’s Stablehand/Coach.  After finishing up, Marissa and I escaped to the coolness of the motorhome. Later that evening, when the temperature had dropped some, we took a family walk, including Stardust, the family mutt, Buck, and my new red healer puppy, Jack Jack( fittingly named after the baby on the movie “The Incredibles).”  We explored all  three of the massive arenas and then went on a little walk on one of the many trails the horse park has to offer before heading back for the night. The next morning, we woke up early and explored  the woods around the park. There was some fun trail obstacles and cross country jumps that Marissa led Stardust over. Stardust did everything Marissa asked without hesitating at all, even going over a teeter-totter, a bridge and a balance beam.    Later that day was the Body Conditioning part of the competition where the horses are scored on overall appearance such as weight, hoof care, coat condition, etc. Stardust took 3rd out of seven horses!

The next day was an early start at 8 am. Marissa is not a morning person so I had to literally drag her out of the camper at 6:30 to get her to come take care of Stardust. When we arrived at the stall we realized that Stardust had laid down and even under her sheet had gotten a huge stain on her side. So Marissa stood half awake in the wash rack holding the Mustang while I scrubbed the stain.  I was definitely the stablehand.  Later that day was their Handling class where Marissa had to load Stardust into a trailer, brush Stardust off, pick up her feet and take her halter off, leave the round pen for 30 seconds and then catch her again.  They did amazing and took second!

 

The next class was the Pattern class, a simple, typical Showmanship style class.  Marissa and Stardust would have easily nailed it… but, just as they went to the first cone the rain began to downpour on us!! Stardust did not like the rain at all and would not stand still and didn’t stick her forehand turn or haunch turn.  Marissa did a great job staying calm and controlling Stardust, and even though I am sure she was disappointed, she came out of the class with a smile.  Later that day when the results were posted, Marissa and Stardust still managed to get third place in that class!

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The next class was the Trail course. Stardust and Marissa did amazing. They conquered side-passing on the off side, backing through poles, going through a gate and weaving poles perfectly but there was a box made out of poles where Marissa had to perform a 360-degree haunch turn. Stardust stuck it perfectly but Marissa was so focused on making Stardust stick her turn that she went around twice instead of just once! That sadly marked her down to 5th place in that class but she still managed to get into the top 5 overall and perform a freestyle the next day.

 

 

The next day was the hardest. Marissa was extremely nervous and we were not sure if her nerves were going to allow her to perform in the Freestyle class. But after we got her out to watch the burros perform, she was laughing and feeling much better. The freestyle started at noon and Marissa was going second. She looked so nervous but she got up the courage and she went out and totally rocked it! Here is a link to a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h65sBMzEH6Y. After their performance, Stardust and Marissa had a crowd of little girls around them, all wanting to meet the Mustang with a tutu on. They had definitely won “fan-favorite” in the 8yr old and under crowd!

 

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After watching the rest of the Freestyles, we waited with anticipation to hear the final results. Marissa received 3rd place on the Freestyle performance and 3rd over-all in the Youth Division! Marissa and Stardust did such an amazing job. Marissa is so blessed to have Stardust in her life. She is a special horse who showed both of us just how trainable Mustangs really are and taught Marissa many valuable lessons in patience and training horses. Marissa and I are definitely hooked on Mustangs and are planning on competing next year! To learn more about this amazing competition check out their website http://mywy.org and like their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/emmw

Also Check Out Marissa’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/MarissaZanesMightyMustang 

And Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUgibYg5wZSE4_7dpAGf1SWFukpLR2fpo

 

 

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Family Road Trip!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last wrote anything! It has been a crazy summer and it still hasn’t slowed down! Right now we are currently in our Big Foot motorhome with our three dogs headed to Kansas to visit my grandparents.  The to do list was a mile long but some how we managed to get all the animals taken care of, stuff packed and last minute fencing projects taken care of.  Our motorhome is pretty fit for off the grid having solar panels, LED lights and a composting toilet so we are planning on dry camping the whole way from Washington to Kansas.  Yesterday, we headed out at 4pm and drove till about 8pm. We decided to spend the night at the Washington State Horse Park. The park allows over night dry camping for no charge and has fun trails to explore, a giant cross country course, over 50 temporary stalls and 4 huge arenas for hosting events. Its the off-season now so we had the place to ourselves and the dogs loved the jumps all through the woods. We are planing on coming back sometime with some horses to ride the trails. This morning after taking the dogs for a quick hike we headed out. But about 30 miles down the road right after you cross the Colombian River on I-90 there is a scenic viewing area where there is a herd of huge metal horses on the top of a hill.

IMG_9099

We decided to take the climb to see the horses and Meefy AKA Marissa, even got on top of one!

Hopefully while we are driving I can get some blog post done about my crazy summer!

 

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Adventures With Minis!

Whoa it has been a really long time since I last posted! But believe me it hasn’t been from lack of adventures. It has been from too many! So here is one of our many adventures!

The cars flashed by as Meefy and I followed the side of the road, keeping a firm grasp on our lead ropes that held the two energetic mini horses. Just an hour before, We were having lunch at the orchard my parents work at, talking about what needed to be done that day. Last year we sold two minis to a lady, but she decided not to keep them, so we told them we would take them back. My mom was trying to persuade my dad to pick up the minis since we had the trailer hooked up to the truck.  My dad had a very busy afternoon and really didn’t have time to get the minis. Half jokingly he mentioned that Meefy and I could walk since they lived close by. Well,….Meefy and I thought it would be a new kind of adventure! To my huge surprise, my mom, even though she was worried wasn’t opposed to the idea. We looked up our route on google maps and after a few minutes of planning we struck out on our 2 mile expedition, with nothing but a smart phone, water bottle and the determination to retrieve the minis and return without being run over or kidnaped. The trip there was easy but by the time we arrived at the minis, both Meefy and I had discarded our jackets and were down to our t-shirts. We quickly haltered the minis and called my mom to reassure her we were both still alive. Then we carefully made our way back down the side of the road back towards the orchard. The minis were full of energy at first and absolutely didn’t like the cars. But after we stopped in a couple driveways and reminded them how to behave, they calmed down a bit and we made are way safely back to the orchard with no casualties, even safely crossing busy roads and cutting through parking lots!  Adventure seems to follow us around and barely gives us enough time to catch our breath before something else happens. I wonder what other adventures the Lord has in store for us in the upcoming months. Hmm…maybe we can ride our horses to go get ice cream next! We’ll have to see what my mom says.

 

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YHD AQHA Professional Evaluation

The sun is shining, the horses are finally shedded out and summer is quickly approaching.  Summer has always been an extremely busy time of year for my family with hundreds of acres of hay to be baled and 4-H practices twice a week, not to mention, the family reunions, vacations and horse shows to prepare for. With all that on our plate, I decided to to go ahead and schedule the AQHA Professional Horsemen Evaluation early before the summer chaos.  Deciding on an AQHA professional was pretty easy since Alaska’s dam, Cue Bars Cue Tee, is owned by AQHA Pro Allison Trimble.  After contacting Mrs. Trimble, we set a date for May 10th.

I spent most of April and early May preparing for the evaluation.  I spent an extensive amount of time perfecting showmanship maneuvers, loading her into a trailer and my most challenging struggle…Lunging!  Lunging had always been a struggle for Alaska and I. We worked day after day, all through April, practicing, and even though I saw some progress, I was worried we wouldn’t be ready for the evaluation. With only a little over a week left before the evaluation, I decided to enlisted the help of my mother.  She showed me how to use my body language to control Alaska’s speed and to have her reverse directions. She also showed me how to correct Alaska when she didn’t slow down. Alaska improved drastically over the next several days and by the evaluation I was feeling confident that we were ready.  I also worked on spraying Alaska off with the hose and being trimmed with the terrifying clippers so she could look her best. I was expecting to spend hours working with the clippers but no.  Alaska keeps on surprising me how calm she is and I was almost immediately able to trim her nose whiskers! She wasn’t too sure about the loud buzzing near her ears, but after using the approach and retreat technique a couple of times, I was able to get close to her ears without her flinching! 

In addition to getting Alaska ready, I also had a few things to work on to get ready for the evaluation. I spent many evenings researching Alaska’s lineage and memorizing the parts of the horse.  I am extremely thankful to my little sister for taking the time to sit out in the barn and help me with the memorization!  

My family and I live out on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and Mrs. Trimble lives quite a road trip north almost to Canada with a ferry ride across the Puget sound. We decided to split the trip between three days with a campout at a tree orchard.   

On the departure day, I woke up early and headed straight out to the barn. After a light work out, I gave Alaska her first full bath with a mega amount of bubbles!  After she was rinsed and dried, I painted her hooves with hoof black and clipped her nose, bridle path and ears. That evening after our 24ft motorhome was packed and hooked up to the trailer, I loaded Alaska, who was sporting a purple sleezy, sheet and tail bag, and we hit the road in time to make the 6 pm ferry! This being Alaska’s 3rd trailer ride ever and her first ferry ride, she was a little nervous.  But, I hung out in the trailer with her and she quickly calmed down and enjoyed a carrot.

 

 

Once off the ferry, we headed down to the tree orchard and set up camp for the night. After the corral was built, my whole family, including Alaska and the dogs, headed out for an evening walk around the orchard. Alaska enjoyed running over wood chip piles and sneaking mouthfuls of grass!

 

 

The next morning, I woke up at 5:30am and there was no way I was getting back to sleep from excitement and nerves.  I went out and sat with Alaska as she ate her hay and then lunged Alaska one last time.  She did phenomenal! Excited, I did a few last-minute touch ups to Alaska and added another coat of paint to her hooves. Four hours later, we arrived at Allison Trimble’s and I unloaded Alaska! The Evaluation went by quickly and Alaska performed beautifully! She lunged, trotted, set, and tied wonderfully and I was able to remember the parts of the horse and Alaska’s lineage. I was also able to see Alaska’s grandfather, Cue Bars Laddie, which was super cool!  Before I knew it, we were headed back to the tree farm and the next morning we were on the ferry headed for home! It was an amazing experience camping with Alaska and meeting with Mrs. Trimble. I can’t wait to go camping with Alaska again!