Back before cars and tractors, horses were used to pull carts, wagons and farming implements. They were a part of everyday life and were work horses helping to plow, plant and harvest fields. Nowadays, almost all farming is done by tractors and machinery and the days of horse drawn plows are far behind us. But a few small farms still keep the history alive by using horses to help with farming. My sisters and I had the amazing opportunity to to visit one of these farms and take a few driving lessons with their huge Belgian Draft horses!
I didn’t realize quite how big these horses were until standing next to them. They towered well above my head with feet the size of dinner plates and the size of their head was unbelievable! I have no idea where you would even go to buy a halter big enough!
Our first lesson we spent the afternoon learning the different parts of the harness and how it all fit onto the horse. I was shocked how heavy it was and I admit I was pretty clumsy my first time throwing it all the way up onto one these huge horses. We finished the day by ground driving and learning the cues you use to drive. It was incredible how these horses responded to vocal cues, for instance to ask the horse to walk forward you would call the horses name, in this case “Bill” and say “walk on” and he would walk! Not only that but you could tell the horse to turn by saying “Gee” for turning to the right and “Haw” for turning left. If that wasn’t amazing enough you could tell the horse to take a single step with a specific foot, for example if you said “gee step” the horse would take one step with his right hoof. Marissa and I were blown away with the huge horses!!!
The next lesson we started learning how to drive the sled with a Belgian named “Bell”. Bell was so much fun to drive and she was so gentle and laid back.
We eventually started to drive a team of two horses named “Duke” and “Linda”. I expected driving two horses to be very complicated but the horses worked so well together and Marissa and I had an amazing time driving two crazy powerful horses!
The experience was incredible and I look forward to learning more about draft horses and driving in the future! These horses were unlike any other horse I have ever been around. They had such easy going demeanors and even though they were huge I didn’t feel intimidated by them. They truly were gentle giants!
A goal I have had for the last couple of years is to compete in the teen riding division of the “Teens and Oregon Mustangs 100 Day Training Challenge.” 15 to 18yr old youth have 100 days to train a completely wild Mustang to walk, trot, canter, as well as, go through obstacles under saddle before returning for a final competition. In past years, the competition dates have overlapped with other competitions and time restraints but this year the dates worked out perfectly for our schedule. My sisters and I had already been accepted to the ” Washington Mustang Madness 100 Day Training Challenge” training three yearling Mustangs, making a pretty busy summer without adding two more Mustangs to train. But after lots of prayer and building extra Mustang-proof corrals, my sister, Marissa, and I decided to go ahead and apply. Besides who needs sleep? Within a few weeks, we were accepted and we set off to St Paul, Oregon on May 22nd to pick up two Mustangs. My draw, #6203, AKA Dandy Andy, was a super cute, 3yr old, gelding from the Paisley Desert Herd Management Area in Oregon.
Dandy Andy was the sweetest most curious Mustang I had ever met and he absolutely blew me away with his easy going attitude and eager demeanor! He loved learning and was happy to try anything! Within the first week, he was already loving to be scratched, leading walk/trot, and happily accepting being saddled. I even started hopping on Dandy Andy and he didn’t even blink an eye and was very content to mosey around the arena with me.
The next two months of training Dandy Andy went by without a hitch. Andy absolutely loved attention and being a riding horse! He was always the first to meet you at the gate and was ready to go to work and learn something new. Dandy Andy was easy to start under saddle and never once bucked or bolted. He picked up walk, trot, canter under saddle with no big deal. He, also, was super curious and loved obstacle training and exploring! Tarps, bouncy balls, pool noodles and bridges were just a few of Dandy Andy’s favorite obstacles. Dandy Andy was very good at trying out different disciplines and we had so much fun playing around with trail riding, jumping and even a little roping.
Check out Dandy Andy’s Youtube Playlist to see his journey!
With Dandy Andy having a pretty good grasp of all the basics, I headed off to the 2021 Washington Mustang Madness Competition for the first week in August with my other competition Mustang, Paisley. Dandy Andy stayed home to enjoy a relaxing week off. Since my time had been split between two competition horses, my plan was to spend the remaining 3 weeks of August focusing on putting the finishing touches on Dandy Andy and preparing him for the Teens And Oregon Mustang Competition at the beginning of September. I had a list a mile long that I wanted to complete with Dandy Andy to have him fully prepared to compete including riding him twice a day, traveling to local arenas and I even signed Dandy up for a local horse show. Dandy’s calendar was full and we were ready to tackle our crazy training schedule. Once I got back, Dandy Andy’s first ride after a week off was fantastic and he hadn’t regressed at all. We played with a flag, an obstacle Dandy hadn’t yet seen, and he wasn’t fazed a bit by it and by the end of our ride I was cantering around carrying the flag. This little horse was awesome and I was so excited to see what all we could accomplish before the competition. But then my family and I got sick… Dandy’s training came to a screeching halt and he went out to pasture for 20 long days with no-one even doing ground work with him. By the time I was recovered enough to play with Dandy Andy again there was only 10 days till competition. I worked Dandy every day and rushed to get the farm put back together enough for us to head all the way to Oregon. There were multiple days we said there was no way we would make it the the competition but somehow on September 3rd we loaded Dandy into the trailer and headed out.
The competition started bright and early the next morning. I really had no idea how Dandy Andy would be for our classes. He had never been to an arena, other than our own and the competition’s arena was all indoor… would Dandy be ok with this sudden change of location? And how would he handle the busy show environment? I thankfully was able to work Dandy the night before in the arenas we would be competing in but how Dandy would react in the class was completely up in the air. The fist class “Conditioning” went by with very little issues. I had to release and catch Dandy, pick up all four feet and answer some questions. Besides me stumbling over a question, Dandy was great for the class and we moved right into our second class “Showmanship.” Showmanship included walk, trot, halt, backing, and haunch turns. Dandy Andy was calm, focused and absolutely rocked the class!
The last and final class was the mounted trail class. Showmanship had taken place in a smaller indoor arena but the trail class was held in the big Indoor arena with booths and grandstands full of hundreds of people. The pattern started with a gate you had to open and close and Dandy didn’t want to get anywhere near the scary metal contraption. I was able to get Dandy close enough to swing the gate open but he was too nervous to close it so I ended up dismounting and closing it from the ground. After remounting we moved on to the next obstacles. Trotting over poles, side passing both directions and backing while weaving between poles all went by with limited issues other than being a bit nervous. The bridge with brush and trees surrounding it caused Dandy a minute of grief but once he realized it wasn’t going to eat him, we crossed it easily. The last and final part of the trail course was a list of compulsory movements including trotting, cantering, halting, backing and haunch turns. Dandy was still nervous but held it together and he put in a very nice pattern overall.
When placings were announced the next morning, Dandy Andy came in 3rd in conditioning, 1st in Showmanship and 3rd in Trail, placing him 3rd overall! Dandy was the most willing and adventurous little Mustang ever with an outgoing personality!
Following awards, Dandy Andy was auctioned off and sold to a wonderful home in California!
Even though Dandy was headed off to California, we didn’t drive home with an empty trailer…we ended up bidding on and winning an adorable yearling named “Lucy!”
The Mustang I (Sierra) received for the 2021 Mustang Competition was a tiny little all black filly I named Paisley Moonlight. Paisley was one of the easiest Mustangs we had trained this far. She wasn’t reactive or spooky and I was able to get my hands on her pretty quick that first day but she had her own set of challenges. Unlike some horses who run away when scared, Paisley’s reaction to fear was to completely shut down and I had a hard time bringing her out of her shell and getting her to interact with me. We started leading and petting all over that first day but I could tell she wasn’t really enjoying it. I spent a lot of time over that first week just sitting in her stall, brushing and braiding her mane and just letting her get used to me, along with taking low key walks. After she settled in and learned that I came bearing very yummy grain and grass treats she really started to come out of her shell and we set to work getting ready for competition.
Paisley enjoyed adventuring with her fellow yearlings and learning all it takes to become a domestic horse. Paisley was the laziest of the three yearling and unlike her two friends who your main job was teaching them to calm down, Paisley you had to work on livening her up. Compared to the other two spritely yearlings, Paisley was pretty unshakable and was naturally a brave and confident little filly which made her excel at obstacles including tarps, flags, old mattresses and really any scary object you could find.
After 4 months of training we arrived in Cle Elum, WA, brushed, bathed and full of nerves for the upcoming days! The first class was Handling which included all the basic things domestic horses are required to do including picking up feet, releasing and catching, loading into a trailer, etc. Paisley was a little nervous in this class and wasn’t quite sure why we had to leave her friends outside the arena but she held it together and came out of the class in second.
After a good nights sleep, Paisley was focused and ready for the next two preliminary classes. Pattern Class (Showmanship) and Trail went extremely well and Paisley performed beautifully, not blinking an eye at anything. She took first in both classes which headed us into the final round sitting in first overall.
The final round consisted of a 3 minute freestyle set to music. Paisley and I were first up to perform and I was super nervous! We had a lot of components for our freestyle and I had no idea how it would go. Also, Paisley had spent all of her energy on the prelim classes and was done. She didn’t want to move and was in a grouchy, stubborn mood from lack of sleep and over stimulation from 3 days of showing. When we headed into the arena and the music started, Paisley woke up and was ready! She performed her routine perfectly and even though a prop blew away in the wind, we still managed to squeeze into first place in freestyle.
Paisley had a very successful weekend and took home “First Overall” in the Teen In-Hand division. Following the competition, Paisley went home with a wonderfully lady to live in Montana.
Can an 8yr old safely handle a yearling Mustang? This was the question of the year for my family. Eliza, the youngest of us sisters at the age of 8yrs old, decided she wanted to train a wild Mustang. At first, we all were pretty against the idea as she was still just so young but Eliza was determined. Not only did she add it to her evening prayer list but she also started dragging Marissa and I out to the arena to teach her how to do showmanship on a daily basis. Seeing Eliza’s determination, we got her a very, very small and laid back unhalter-broke yearling pony for her to train. Well, the short story is she did indeed succeed in training that yearling and we agreed to let her enter the 2021 Washington Mustang Madness Competition.
Paisley Dessert Princess, a 13.2 hand palomino yearling, was Eliza’s Mustang for the competition. “Princess” was bold, brave and extremely smart. That first day she was very curious and Eliza was able to make more progress with Princess than we ever could have hoped for. Eliza was able to pet Princess, take her tag off and even walk her around. Princess was a bit spunky, very opinionated and tested her boundaries, but was the perfect first Mustang for Eliza.
Eliza took Princess everywhere with her from walks down the road to adventures through the woods. They practiced showmanship, trail obstacles and overall basic horsemanship each day improving each others skills.
When we showed up in CleElum, WA for the final event, Eliza had no signs of nerves but the rest of us were all super nervous for her. Eliza had never shown any horses before so we had no idea how she would handle memorizing patterns and performing in front of a huge crowd of people not to mention dealing with a nervous yearling Mustang. Would we be able to even get Eliza and Princess inside the arena? Our main goal is to always have fun so we brushed our nerves aside and settled in for a fun weekend. Eliza’s first class was the Handling class. The class included loading into a trailer, picking up all four feet, brushing both sides and releasing the horse into the round pen and catching her again. We had absolutely no idea how this class would go….would Princess load into the trailer? Would she be crazy in the round pen and not let Eliza catch her? Would she bolt and take off running around the arena? When Eliza went into the arena, we all stood in anticipation ready to jump in and help if needed but to our great relief they did amazing together and all the hard work over the last four months paid off. Princess and Eliza completed all of the elements of the class to the best of their ability and came out of the class with a huge smile! Eliza placed 2nd in the class in the 13 and under division!
The next two preliminary classes went by with out a hitch and they took 1st in pattern class and 3rd in Obstacle. The Freestyle Class the next morning was a swirl of nerves and excitement for everyone involved. Eliza’s freestyle was a super cute routine which included umbrellas, rain jackets and even a balloon arch! Even though they were both exhausted from the weekend, they put on a stellar performance and placed 2nd in freestyle moving them into 2nd overall!
Eliza did an amazing job with her Mustang, Princess, and even though it was a very hard and sad decision, she decided to go ahead and re-home Princess so that she had time to train another Mustang next year. Princess went home with her best friend, Elsie, and is enjoying life making another 8yr old happy!
On March 26th, we made the 10hr trek down to Burns, OR and picked up three adorable yearling Mustangs for the 2021 Washington Mustang Madness 100 Day Training Challenge. The competition gives participants 130 days to train a completely wild and unhandled mustang before returning for a final competition to showcase the trainability of wild Mustangs and for a chance to compete for prizes.
Once home, gentling the three yearlings started bright and early March 27th and within only a few hours all three yearlings were leading, accepting being touched and had their tags removed. We immediately deemed them the easiest Mustangs we had gentled so far and couldn’t have been more pleased with their personality and willingness to learn.
We had a very special opportunity to be able to train and gentle three Mustangs all the same age and from the same herd HMA (Paisley Desert) and compare each of their very different personalities over the four month competition.
Marissa’s Mustang for the competition, Elsie, was the biggest of the yearlings and from the first time we saw her we knew she was going to be the most reactive of the three. Her panicky flight reaction had her running into the 6ft corral panels on more than one occasion that first day home. The first time Marissa entered Elsie’s pen to start Elsie’s training, she had to stand in the middle of the pen and stay super calm and quiet while Elsie frantically paced back and forth, breaking out in a sweat just from nerves. Marissa stood quietly for a long time and let Elsie get used to her. I predicted it would take Marissa a few days or even a week before she would earn Elsie’s trust enough to touch her so I stopped watching and busily began working with my yearling, while coaching my younger sister with the third Mustang yearling. I turned around a few minutes later and to my surprise Marissa is petting, Elsie! Within a few more minutes, Elsie is not only enjoying being touched but moving closer to Marissa for more scratches. Once Elsie realized Marissa wasn’t a threat, she trusted Marissa and not only was Marissa able touch Elsie on the first day of training but picked up all four feet, trained her to lead walk/ trot and took her on her first outing outside the round pen. We were all astonished! Elsie had gone from frantic to a very well behaved halter broke yearling in a single day! I think we all knew Elsie was going to be something very special! Here is a video of Elsie’s First Day Of Training.
Over the four months of competition Elsie had her fair share of challenges and successes. Elsie was a sensitive filly with a huge desire to please which allowed Marissa to really refine a wide variety of advanced in-hand maneuvers. But… Elsie was also very reactive to obstacles. At first even walking between two cones or barrels was extremely nerve-raking and took Elsie several weeks to finally become ok with it. Each obstacle Marissa introduced to Elsie took a lot of patience and time before she was comfortable with it and still by the end of the four months some certain obstacles caused Elsie grief. After 4 months of trying Elsie would still try to jump over a scary blue tarp that she had seen at least 500times…silly filly.
Lunch With Elsie
April
Bath Day
We always try to take are Mustangs on multiple outings to different arenas before competition. With Covid putting a halt on most shows and 4-H functions it was harder than normal to find places to bring our Mustangs. Then our Mustangs all got juvenal warts…Eliza’s and my Mustang only had warts for a few weeks but Elsie got big nasty ones all over her nose that dragged on for months and months. Typically warts aren’t that big of a deal in yearlings, they eventually just fall off and then the horse is immune. But since we were trying to go to a competition we wanted to get the warts gone fast. We tried essential oils and a bunch of different creams but a few weeks before competition we ended up contacting our vet and she came over and crushed her warts and then we had to feed the warts to Elsie….. Not our first choice of treatment but the warts cleared up within a few days.
Removing warts Almost done Look at all those wartsAll Clear
But by then we didn’t have time to get Elsie out to a different arena before competition. She had gone on outings to tree farms and trail walks but never to an arena so we weren’t sure how she would do at competition in a huge indoor arena in a completely new environment.
On August 4th, we loaded up the Mustangs and headed to Cle Elum, WA to the WA State Horse Park for the final competition. The first day of competition consisted of a simple check in, a trainers meeting and the first of three preliminary classes;The Handling Class. The handling class entailed picking up all four feet, releasing and catching your Mustang in a round pen, brushing your Mustang, trotting between two barrels and loading into a trailer. Everything required in this class, Elsie was practiced up and ready for. Elsie’s pattern started out prefect until Elsie realized she was the only Mustang in the arena and all of her friends were waiting outside. Elsie, in typical yearling fashion, called and screamed to her buddies and pranced about nervously. Marissa did a great job staying calm and helping Elsie through the rest of the pattern but Elsie did not regain focus and continued her nervous banter throughout the entire class. They ended up coming in 9th in that class.
The next morning bright and early was Pattern Class ( think Showmanship). Elsie was much more settled in and was a rockstar! She placed second in this class with only a one point difference between her and first place.
Late afternoon was the last of the preliminary classes. Whoever’s combined score placed them in the top 6 would return the next day and compete for overall champion. Nerves were high for this last class as everyone wanted to do well and make one last effort to secure their spot in the top 6. It was a tough trail pattern with some advanced technical maneuvers including trotting between and around three very tight barrels placed around 3-5 feet apart with poles lining each side so it wasn’t possible to make wider turns. There were long stretches of side passing over logs, a bridge, gate, weird pole configurations and even a campsite complete with tent, rubber ducky’s and every kind or scary water bottle/coffee container you can find. During training Elsie’s biggest struggle has always been obstacles, so we all held our breath as Marissa and Elsie entered the arena for their turn. Overall, Elsie did fantastic! She hesitated for a split second on the barrels, got a little distracted side passing and gave a huge nervous look at the camp site but held it together and performed a very very nice pattern. We were thrilled!!!!
They didn’t announce the placings for the trail pattern or who placed in the top 6 until the next morning. When they announced the placing’s, Marissa placed forth in trail leaving her with a 9th in Handling, 2nd in Pattern and 4th in Trail which snuck her into 5th overall and into the freestyle performance. Marissa and Elsie’s woodland fairy freestyle was beautiful and perfect. Elsie really shined in this class and showed her true colors of what an incredible Mustang she truly is. Elsie placed second in Freestyle which landed her into placing third overall!
Steffen Stampede 