Tag: Pacific Northwest

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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 #7: Could I ride a WILD Mustang in only 100 day?!?

In 2021, the next phase of our Mustang journey began…So far we had had lots of success gentling Mustangs, training yearlings and 2yr olds for 100 day competitions. But we wanted to take the next step. Train a completely WILD Mustang to be a solid riding horse in just 100 days. The Teens And Oregon Mustang Competition gave us this opportunity through their Teen Riding” division, which gave 14yr olds to 18yr olds, a 3yr old Mustang to train to ride in 100 days.

Horse selection was random draw and I received a 14hh chestnut gelding. He was the sweetest, most friendly and easygoing Mustang I had ever met! He LOVED people from day 1 and I don’t think you could have ever labeled him as “wild”. With his fun loving personality we decided to name him “Dandy Andy”.

By the end of the 1st month of training I could do pretty much anything on him.

  • Walk, trot, canter under-saddle✅
  • Ride through obstacles✅
  • Work gates✅
  • And he even could stand quite while his rider ate pizza✅😜

We all know where our priorities lie😉

Progress was going WAY better than expected and I was thrilled! I was confident we would be ready to compete!

But then, tragedy hit. We came down with the dreaded covid and life came to a screeching halt…several weeks later, when we finally arrived back among the living, the competition was only 10 days away.

I pulled Dandy back out of the field and cautiously rode him for the first time after nearly a month off. To my delight he was perfect and remembered EVERYTHING✨

Only by God’s grace we arrived at the competition. With being sick Dandy only had about 70ish days of training and I didn’t have the opportunity to haul him to any off property arenas, so I was curious how he was going to handle the busy show environment.

Dandy showing what a truly remarkable horse he is, rose to the occasion and we had a fantastic weekend sitting us in 3rd overall! He was the little horse with a huge heart💜

He now lives in California where he is absolutely adored by his wonderful owner Rachel Vitorelo where they compete together in NATRC rides. And from the amount of blue ribbons I’v seen, they are doing quite well!

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Mustang Story #2: We adopted a Wild Mustang online!!!

On a cold wet northwest day in March during the 2020 pandemic we were mindlessly scrolling on Facebook when we stumbled upon the BLM Wild Horse Corral…An online auction for adopting Mustangs. We had no idea you could adopt a Mustang online!?! It was like amazon for Mustang lovers!

With our curiosity peaked we started scanning the pages of Mustangs available and within a few seconds there was no deterring us from participating in that auction. There were SO many beautiful Mustangs😍 We quickly built Mustang pens, got approved by the BLM and sat down with every electronic device in the house ready to bid.

The final hours of the auction was a whirlwind of being outbid, computer crashes and yelling at our internet to “HURRRY UP”! As the final minutes of the auction ticked down we had been out-bid on all of our favorite horses, so we placed a bid on a muddy 14hh bay mare with only a $70 dollar bid. Then the website crashed for good😱 It was completely stuck! Had we won the mare? Or had we been out-bid??? After what felt like ages (In reality only a 1/2 hour) we finally received an email saying we had won the bay mare!!! We were thrilled!!! We were getting a NEW Mustang and for only $70 dollars🌟

Unfortunately with covid we were delayed from driving to Burns to pick her up.. but we were finally able to make the 10hr trip serval months later in the summer. But we were shocked to see that our little bay actually shedded out to be a STUNNING roan🤩 WHAT!!! How could this be the same horse!

Now 5yrs later the roan, we named Tahani, is one of our top horses on the farm. She is technically our “Mom’s” horse but we often steal her to help work young babies, fill in at the occasional pony club lesson and to gallop down the trails. She is very sensitive, light and has the smoothest trot I have ever ridden! Not to mention, she is one of the prettiest mares I have ever seen🤩 My biggest takeaway from this mare is to never overlook the plain bays…even if they don’t turn out to be the next “beauty queen” of the Mustang world (like Tahnai) they may end up being the most special horse in your life💜#blmmustang#wildmustang

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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