Tag: MYWY

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Mustang Story #12: They Paid Me $500 To Adopt A Mustang!!!

$500 and a new Mustang!?! Sign me up!

The MYWY Mustang Madness Competition was offering a $500 incentive if competitors wanted to adopt and train a 2nd Mustang. If you haven’t noticed, we will take any opportunity to play with another Mustang and it made it a lot easier to convince our dad of yet another Mustang when we explained we were “literally getting PAID to adopt another Mustang”🙃.

During selection my mom fell in love with an exquisite little bay yearling. She was full of life and trotted all about the pen with her head held high and an intelligent look in her eye. Right then and there it was decided that this was going to be my 2nd competition Mustang.

True to her appearance she was EXTREMELY Smart, bold and outgoing. Due to her fiery personality, I named her after my mom and my favorite country music artist Shania Twain🎶

To this day I haven’t had a Mustang that could learn so much in such a short amount of time. She was AWESOME! I spent the summer doing a deep dive into my advanced ground work and was absolutely amazed at what all this little filly learned!

At the competition, Shania absolutely rocked it putting in one of the best performances of my career. She was on FIRE🔥

We secured our spot in the top 10 and into the freestyle competition. I typically am a big prop person when it comes to freestyles, but with Shania, any prop or obstacle I added seemed to take away from her natural beauty and refinement. So, with the help of my sisters and mom, we crafted a freestyle that focused on advanced ground-work maneuvers strung together in such a way that created a beautiful performance, showing off what Shania did best.

You can see it at: https://youtu.be/AmwDqWPSUf0?si=7oGyqZceJlLQdelh

It was a huge success🤩 and landed Shania a “Grand Champion Finish”🥳.

And the best part of all is that Shania now lives with the same AMAZING family that adopted Elsie and Princess, two of our 2021 Mustang yearlings! It was the absolute perfect home for such a remarkable yearling!

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Mustang Story #11: The little yearling with a BIG personality!

Eliza at the mature age of 9 was already training her second wild Mustang for the 2022 MYWY Mustang Madness competition✨

She chose a buckskin yearling with the most crazy wild mane I had ever seen!

This little gelding had a big personality, and thought quite highly of himself. On day 1 he was determined he could make it out of our 6ft panels. Although he was unable, I was impressed with his attempts…luckily he was just a tad too short😅😅

Once he settled in, he and Eliza quickly hit it off and became fast friends. This Mustang was special and with his wild mane and exuberant personality, we knew he needed a good name. We tried naming him Aslan from Narnia as well as after his rockstar look-alike Rod Stewart (They share the same taste in hair styles😆 ) but ultimately Eliza decided to call him “Big Guy”.

Eliza and Big Guy had a great weekend at the competition and Eliza secured her 2nd “Reserve Champion Finish”.

Unable to part with this pretty gelding we ended up keeping him…now 3yrs later, he is the menace of the farm😂 Spoiled rotten! At a whopping 15.3 hands he still thinks he is the baby of the farm deserving all the attention…His current personality reminds us of a teenage boy that refuses to get a job and just drives his poor parents crazy!!! He is now going under-saddle, but will try everything possible to get out of work…straight lines and circles are nearly impossible…. Currently, Eliza rides him daily teaching him how to be a solid and respectable riding horse.

But this year he is in for some big life changes! He is going to enter the work force and be my Dad’s full time trail, jumping and all around riding horse. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes😜

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Mustang Story #10! Is her leg broken?!?

Can you guess what kind of Mustang Marissa picked for the 2022 MYWY competition??? If something brown and fiery popped into your head then you would be absolutely correct😅She chose a completely brown (besides a stripe on her face) 4yr old mare that could gallop circles in a 20 by 20 area with ease. 😳 We were in for another wild ride….

Half-way through our 10hr drive home from the BLM, we noticed her entire front leg was swollen from the shoulder down. Was it broken? Extremely Injured? We couldn’t tell…Upon arriving home, we assessed it the best we could but it wasn’t till the next morning when puss started oozing out that we knew it was an abscess🤢

This brown mare was VERY fiery and also …in pain..a bad combination. To get it to heal, we knew we needed to be able to clean it, so Marissa set to work gentling her. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge. She was aggressive and had a nasty habit of charging you. Marissa stayed the course and eventually won this fiery mare’s trust and respect.

Eventually the abscess healed, and Marissa proceeded to start the mare (known as “Freesia”) under-saddle. She was so athletic and trainable, within 3 months jumping 2’6″ with ease and learning to smile! Maybe our next eventing Mustang?!? The thought of keeping her was exciting… but all the Mustangs in this competition were required to be sold at auction. So we tried to not get our hopes up.

After a fantastic weekend at the competition, receiving Reserve Champion under-saddle🤩, the auction began. The price went right up to our limit…then it stopped. We all held our breath as the auctioneer counted down “going once… twice… SOLD”. We were THRILLED!!!!

It is now 3yrs later and Freesia is a family favorite💜 Marissa does everything on this horse! Need a fill-in horse for your Pony Club rating? Freesia was there!

Need a second horse for your Roman riding endeavors? Freesia can do that too!

How about jumping? Freesia LOVES it and can easily clear 1.10 meters.

Maybe a horse your mom can mosey down the trail on? Freesia also is game for that!

We love this fiery brown mare and couldn’t imagine our family without her!

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Mustang Story #9: The most judgmental Mustang I have EVER met!

2022 MYWY Mustang Madness

The Mustang Community has to be the coolest group of people you will ever meet. The people who adopt tend to love their Mustang with all their hearts and be absolutely dedicated to doing what’s best for them.

This handsome dun, Peachy (AKA Fox) was an example of this great community🧡 He was my draw for the 2022 MYWY Mustang Madness competition. He was my buddy and I was able to do everything on him. Walk, trot, canter in a big field, carry a flag, drag a raft, etc. I even rode him in town through a coffee shop and took him to a Police Horse Training Clinic.

But he had a couple quirks….Every time you tighten the cinch he would get a little tight and humpy…Not full on bucks, just very nervous and crow-hoppy.

He also was very judgmental of new people. He would size you up and snub his noes at you without even giving you a fair chance. It took a lot of convincing to show that you where worthy of his friendship😅 But once you had proven yourself, he was as loyal and true a horse as you could ever ask for.

Following the competition all of the Mustangs were required to be sold at the auction. I was a bit nervous where he would go but God brought along the perfect buyer. Someone who lived only a few shorts minutes away from my farm. She took the most amazing care of Peachy but he remained to be judgmental and skeptical of his AWESOME new owner. Wanting what’s best, my very talented photographer friend and fellow Mustang enthusiast @alicia_amerson adopted Peachy. Together we worked to help Peachy over-come his stranger danger and judgmental tendencies.

He improved so much with Alicia and she was added to his list of trusted people. But he still had some quirks… Over the course of a few months I found myself growing even more attached to Peachy and Alicia was so kind to let me take Peachy to Stonewater with me🤩 I was thrilled! I was able to ride Peachy every week guiding trail rides, adventuring on the trails and just having fun!

Peachy is slowly starting to allow more and more people to be trusted and has even started to teach the occasional lesson…but only with the girls that have past his inspection

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Mustang Story #8! Do we have the real life “Spirit”?!?

The same year I trained Dandy Andy, Marissa’s draw was a big 15hh buckskin (I’m not going to lie…I was a bit jealous😍). He was so handsome!

Though he was a bit shy Marissa quickly drew the gelding, who she named “Fools Gold”, out of his shell and the fun began! She did everything with this stunning Mustang! Trail riding, bridle-less riding, working at liberty, etc. She was always riding him backwards, attempting a new trick riding stunt or doing other weird or interesting things.

Fools Gold was a saint and happily went along with everything Marissa wanted to try. He was the golden retriever of the Mustang world. Sweet, calm and loyal💕

Marissa had him all prepared and ready to compete at the Teens and Oregon Mustang Competition but sadly she had to withdraw😭 After getting hit pretty hard with covid she was still recovering and not feeling up for the rigors of competition.

He was such a fun horse that we contemplated keeping him for awhile but eventually decided he would probably enjoy something a little less active than eventing. He was a dedicated energy conserver😴 Not to mention simple ground poles sometimes proved to require far to much coordination😅

Fools Gold, now called “Yeti”found the perfect home right here in WA State.

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Mustang Story #6: Can an 8yr old train a wild Mustang?

Eliza is the youngest of us three Steffen sisters. On first impression she seems to be shy and quiet…but don’t let her fool you! She is absolutely fearless and keeps up with us older sisters without any issue. At the age of 8yrs old she was determined to join her sisters in competing in the MYWY Mustang Madness Program. She begged my parents but was met with some resistance…was an 8yr old child training a wild yearling a good idea? Eliza, not taking “no” as an answer, took the matter up with higher authority…God. Every night in our family prayers Eliza would add “please let my parents let me get a Mustang”🙏 Week after week she continued to pray and eventually my parents gave their permission! She was so excited✨ And is now a firm believer in answered prayers😅

Every little girls dream pony is a palomino, so of course, Eliza choose a delicate little palomino yearling and named her “Princess”.

Princess was very sweet but also a bit opinionated (much like her trainer😜) so there was definitely some bumps throughout the training process. When the competition rolled around, Eliza and Princess were ready! If you ever attend a Mustang competition be sure to watch the Youth Division. It is the most entertaining part of the whole event😆 Little kids dragging yearling Mustangs around elaborate trails courses and showmanship patterns is the absolute best! Neither horse, nor kid, know where they are supposed to be going and it typically is absolute mayhem. Here’s a typical class: Kid weaves cones. Mustang sees cone and decides to try eating it. Kid takes cone out of mouth and returns to original location. Mustang, now bored, grabs kids hat and attempts to eat that… and the process continues😆

Eliza though the youngest in her age division (8yr to 14yrs) put in a couple very nice rounds, including an absolutely adorable freestyle routine😍

She was rewarded with “Reserve Champion”✨ Not too shabby for being 8yrs old!

And the coolest part is Princess, now called “Snowflake” now lives with the same family who bought Marissa’s yearling, Elsie! Together they get to go on fun riding adventures and have grown into beautiful horses💜

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Mustang Story #5: Never under-estimate the plain brown yearlings!

For some reason Marissa has always been drawn to the plain brown horses with spicy personalities. Put a flashy horse with lots of chrome next to a chestnut mare and she will always go for the chestnut mare. The 2021 MYWY Mustang Madness Competition was no exception. Despite the pool of stunning pintos, blacks and palominos, Marissa singled out a completely brown yearling without even a speck of white and instantly fell head over heels in love💖 It was no use trying to convince her to adopt one of the “flashy” babies. The brown yearling was coming home.

This yearling, Marissa named Elsie, was a sensitive and flighty baby, running about the corral crashing into panels. Marissa with her calm, easygoing demeanor quickly earned her trust and slowly introduced Elsie to the wonders of domestic horse life.

Elsie was very light and a quick learner, giving Marissa the opportunity to teach her advanced maneuvers on the ground, while making her cues almost invisible.

Prep for the competition was going great… until Elsie developed a horrible case of warts😷 We tried everything to get them to heal. But nothing worked. Just a few short weeks before the competition, we were desperate for a solution and our vet came and removed them surgically. The old timers swear by feeding the warts…so we made Elsie eat them…We were all gagging in disgust🤢 but Elsie didn’t seem to mind as it was mixed in with her favorite grain. Were the old timers right? Well, the warts didn’t come back and we made it to the competition… So you decide💁‍♀️

Removing warts

The competition was a whirl wind of ups and downs but Marissa secured a spot in the top 10 freestyle finals and put on a show-stopping woodland fairy showcase🦄💃

Elsie, now known as, Babe lives with Suzette Maiden’s wonderful family.

Here is snippet from her latest update: “Babe has become such an amazing horse. We go trail riding and just riding around town. She is my horse that I am comfortable with putting inexperienced riders on and she will treat them with so much care. She is my sweetheart and this year she is going to start a new exciting journey of learning to pull a sleigh for next winter. I am so lucky to have her in my life!” – Suzette Maiden (Elsie’s New Owner)

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Mustang Story #4: From Winning The MYWY Mustang Madness Competition To Ranching in Montana!

In 2021, I was accepted into my (Sierra’s) very first MYWY Mustang Madness Competition with a beautiful black yearling.

She was from the Paisley Desert Herd so naturally I named her “Paisley”. She was the sweetest, easiest and most lazy yearling I have ever trained. Her all time favorite thing was napping…motivating her to work turned out to be quite the challenge😜

I look back on this year fondly, I was just 16yrs old and seemed to have no responsibilities. I spent every single day with Paisley, perfecting each maneuver and designing a show stopping freestyle. I immersed myself in learning advanced ground work and taught her how to side pass towards, sit like a dog, push a big ball, self load into a trailer, ground drive and so many other fun things!

When the competition rolled around Paisley made my first time in the Mustang Training competition arena one to remember as she exceeded expectations at every corner, securing a 🥇place finish🤩

But that was just the beginning of Paisley’s adventures! At the conclusion of the competition, Paisley, was adopted by Samantha Nicks and moved all the way to Montana! Paisley, now known as, Smoke is all grown up and doing fantastic as a riding horse working cattle and living the life as an all around ranch horse!

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Mustang Story #1: Our Very First Mustang!

As we are heading into our 6th year of training Mustangs it seemed fitting to take a look back at a few of the super cool Mustangs we have trained💜

It’s been a wild ride and quite the adventure✨

If you have ever met us you have probably met or at least heard us talk about Marissa’s mustang Stardust💫 She is pretty much a family member and we all adore her💜 She was the very 1st Mustang we have ever adopted . Marissa, only 12yrs old the time, read a magazine article about a Mustang training competition for youth and begged my parents to let her participate. Our parents were tentative at first…kids training WILD and CRAZY Mustangs…Was this safe?!? After a few weeks of begging, powerpoint presentations and argumentative essays they eventually agreed🤩 Marissa applied to the MYWY Mustang Madness Competition and was accepted! We were THRILLED!!!

Typically, in the program, youth competitors receive a yearling Mustang to train for 100 day but unfortunately in 2019 there was a shortage of yearlings…so everyone got 2yr olds. We all started shaking a little. We thought we were ONLY having to train a cute baby NOT a massive 2yr old! What had we gotten ourselves into😬

But all of our worries were for nothing because the muddy, 15hh 2yr old that was Marissa’s draw for the competition was the sweetest, most gentle mare you had ever met! It was only a few days after bringing her home that Marissa and this Mustang had a special connection💕

Morning Snuggles

Over the next 100 days this Mustang, who Marissa named Stardust, captivated every one of our hearts and it was no surprise when after the competition that we decided to keep Stardust💖

Now, 6yrs later, Stardust is still the #1 horse on our farm and continues to captivate the hearts of everyone she meets!

She is an INCREDIBLE trick pony and loves doing liberty and bridle-less demos, is a stellar dressage horse and LOVES to jump. What does the future hold for this awesome Mustang? The hope and goal is to continue improving her Dressage and jumping and see just how far she can go in eventing…who knows you could just see her in a 3* one day!

#blmmustang #wildmustang #horses

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Paisley Moonlight (2021 Washington Mustang Madness Makeover Overview)

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.

PREVIOUS POSTS

Part 4

https://sierrafarmergirl.com/2022/02/20/paisley-desert-princess-2021-washington-mustang-madness-makeover-overview/

Part 3

https://sierrafarmergirl.com/2022/02/14/elsie-2021-washington-mustang-madness-makeover-overview/

Part 2

Picking Up The Mustangs (2021 Washington Mustang Madness 100 Day Training Challenge)

Part 1

We Got Accepted!! (2021 Washington Mustang Madness 100 Day Training Challenge)