Tag: Wild Mustang

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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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Dandy Andy (2021 Teens And Oregon Mustangs)

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!”

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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)

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Elsie (2021 Washington Mustang Madness Makeover Overview)

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 warts
All 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!

Previous PostS

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)

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

We are once again competing in the Washington Mustang Madness Training Challenge. The challenge gives competitors 120 days to train a wild Mustang before returning for a final competition on August 5th-7th. All three of us sisters will be competing this year and we couldn’t be more excited! All of this years picks are yearling fillies from the Paisley Dessert HMA in Oregon. These pretty little fillies will be looking for a perfect home after the competition, but for the mean time, let’s go take a look at this stunning group of horses!

Meet #6125, Eliza’s competition Mustang! It will be her very first Mustang and she picked an adorable yearling palomino. Follow Eliza’s Facebook page to keep up with their adventures>>

https://www.facebook.com/Elizasmustangs/

Marissa’s pick, #6075, is an interesting brown/livery chestnut yearling. We are very curious to see how she sheds out. This will be Marissa’s third Mustang and second Mustang TIP Challenge. Marissa’s Facebook Page>>> https://www.facebook.com/MarissaZanesMightyMustang

And last, my (Sierra’s) cute little filly. She will be my second Mustang to train, but my very first to train for a competition!

Sierra’s Facebook Page>>https://www.facebook.com/sierrafarmergirlsequinefiasco

We will be picking these fillies up at then end of the month and I can’t wait to begin their training and see what all these Mustangs have to teach us!

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Bringing Home #4810 and #4915 (2020 Online Adoption Mustangs)

Back in March we adopted two Mustangs off of the Online Mustang Adoption put on by the BLM (Check out these posts for the full story>> Online Mustang Adoption.& Online Mustang Adoption. We Got Two!!!). When all of the Covid craziness hit we had to postpone picking them up for several months (the waiting was torcher)!!! On May 31st we finally set out for the Oregon Mustang Holding Corrals. My little sisters stayed back with my Mom to take care of the farm while Dad and I made the long trip out to Burns. The 8hr drive there went smoothly and we camped in the back of our horse trailer at the base of a BLM Campground full of  cows.

9A416BFA-5FA6-48BF-85E3-78B9E388A2C8
Home Sweet Home

The next morning (June 1st) we were up bright and early and arrived at the Holding Corrals at 7:30 and were done and out of there before 8!! Those BLM guys are fast! They got them haltered and loaded into the trailer in about 10 to 20 min!!

 

With the mustangs in tow we headed home! The mares road great all they way home and we arrived at the farm somewhere between 7 and 8pm ( a crash occured on HWY 84 and we had a nearly 3hr delay rerouting through downtown Portland during curfew, ugh). The mares unloaded easily and after getting a good look we realized these Mustangs are in EXCELLENT condition!! They are the perfect weight, have a shine to their coat and their feet are trimmed!!! You would have no idea they were wild mustangs and would assume they are pampered domestic horses if it wasn’t for the fact that they were terrified of everything. The Oregon BLM has done an amazing job taking care of these horses!  Check out our video of  picking up the mustangs>>>Bringing Home #4915 and #4810

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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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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!

2-2

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