Day 50 (Lazy Murphy)

Wendy:
Murphy (my makeover mustang) is doing wonderful, except for his lazy streak!!! He has become almost a different horse in the past few weeks. I gotta get him lifting up his feet going over obstacles though. I always thought mustangs were very careful with their feet, not this guy, he plows right through and uses the least amount of effort possible to pick up his feet!

Day 33 thru 45 (Lots of hard work)

Wendy:
Murphy and I have worked on a lot of things since the last addition to the blog. We finally got a week and a half of dry weather and it has really helped Steve and I get some much needed time on our horses. I’ve worked on Trailer loading, picking up Murphy’s feet, standing tied lessons, a lot of desensitizing, lunging, and more. Murphy is doing well, he is becoming more confident, and he’s gone from trying to kill the plastic to accepting it pretty well. I decided that if he couldn’t deal with the plastic then he probably wouldn’t deal with me on his back too well, so even though that has really slowed us down, I continued to work at it until he was accepting of it. I would say starting out our hardest tasks have been the plastic and the lunging. Now I can’t pick out anything that he is having much difficulty with. He is a lot more trusting of me and relaxed around the barn. He’s not spooking and bolting constantly like before.

I noticed this week that as I taught Murphy to load in a two horse trailer, I was able to stand up on the fender well and load him from both sides. Two weeks ago if anyone climbed up on his round pen to watch him being worked he would come unglued. I would like more time to work him so I can get caught up to where I would like to be, but so far it’s just hard to find extra time. I will keep going and maybe I can get some spare time. We have a vet appointment tomorrow morning to pull the coggins and wolf teeth. Should be interesting to say the least.

Day 31 (Murphy makes progress)

Wendy:
Today we worked in the arena on all our previous exercises. Murphy made quite a bit of progress with the plastic bag

Day 30 (Rain and Training)

Steve:
I think Diago and I have developed web feet with all this rain. The past weeks training has been spent mostly in the barn. The rain has so saturated the ground that training is difficult. It has however allowed me to cover other things that I had planned to at a later date, so technically I haven’t really lost time training I just changed the program up. I have been ready to put the first ride on him but haven’t been able to that either. I’m hoping to put the first ride on this week. I have a friend with a covered arena that will allow me to ride him until we dry up enough to continue at our place. I have also taught Diago to trailer load and he is doing well. I have high hopes for him but I know he and I still have a Looonnnngggg way to go.

Day 20 (Outside Work!)

Wendy:
Today I did some work outside. I started out beside the barn just doing some lunging by the horse trailer. I think Murphy thought it was going to eat him. He did settle down and lunge up to it from both sides before we were done. We ended up in the arena working on some more lunging exercises that he still needs work on and some desensitizing work with the plastic. He still goes between giving the soft eye and evil eye when it comes to the plastic. It is a love/hate relationship. He hates it because it scares him and he loves it because he gets to stand still and rest when he is being rubbed by it. He did make good improvement today with it, but he is still far from being bombproof with it.

Day 25 (Progress with Diago despite the rain...)

Steve:
This Texas weather, I need a boat just to get out to the barn. We have had rain all week. I have had to do a lot of stuff with Diago in the barn this week. I am currently working on picking up his feet now which is slow but that’s OK I would much rather have him trust me and what I’m doing rather than scare him and regress in the training. I feel that he is ready for the first ride but I need a dry place to ride him. As soon as it dries up enough I plan on riding him in the round pen then transfer to the arena. Where I will start to work on the riding establishing a better go forward cue, stop and steering at first. This up coming week I also plan to start teaching him to trailer load. I would say wish me luck but I need prayers more. I feel blessed to of have gotten him this far and look forward to each new day of training.

Day 21 (Rained out)

Wendy:
We are getting flash flood warnings and our place looks like one big pond. We are still bringing the boys in everyday to the barn, but we aren’t able to do much as far as training due to the rain. They are calling for more rain the rest of the week. I think doing some light work in the stall and just some brushing will be a good confidence builder anyways.

Day 20 (Arena Work)

Wendy:
Today we worked in the arena. Just review with adding a few new exercises. We worked some on backing and at first he was confused, but figured it out in the end and finished up nicely. As I was finishing up a huge storm moved in while I was in the alley way of the barn with Murphy. It sounded like the roof was going to cave in from the hard rain, but surprisingly Murphy stood like a trooper while I brushed out his mane and forelock.

Day 18 (Slow and Steady…)

Wendy:
I am wanting to move on so bad with Murphy, but my instinct tells me to take it slow and steady. I know others have their mustangs saddled and are already riding, but this one just isn’t ready for that. I’ve worked many horses and this guy just isn’t going to be a dead head. I do believe with a little patience and some hard work he will come around. I’ve since found out he has wolf teeth on both sides, so we will be needing to make a trip to the vet before I use the snaffle bit on him. Hopefully that won’t slow him down too much. I’ve got to get him loading in my trailer and I want to make sure his vet experience won’t set him back any.

Day 17 (Cooling our heels in the barn)

Wendy:
I am bringing him in the barn everyday now and actually hosing him off in our wash rack. He’s nervous but willing to stand still for the most part. It is so hot and humid and the bugs are horrible, so I thought it would be nice for him to be in a stall during the hottest part of the day. I am pretty sure he is starting to like his little box fan on his stall door. He stands in front of it and lets the breeze blow his face.

Day 17 (More review...)

Steve:
Not much new today, just reviewing what he knows and refining it. Getting him ready for the first ride which I’m hoping will be next week. I do have more exercises to show him before his first ride that I’m hoping will keep me and him safe. I know he’s not quite ready for the first ride but it’s just around the corner and I’m scared, excited, chomping at the bit, and can’t wait all at the same time. I’m trying to put the horse first and proceed when I feel he is ready.

Day 16 (Dreaded Plastic Bag Monster)

Wendy:
Today I caught him with out much fuss. We worked on some lunging type exercises and always a lot of desensitizing. He is better with the desensitizing, but still has such a long way to go. It is slow going as far as improvement on the desensitizing. He is good with the flag, lead rope and a few other things, but still needing work on the dreaded plastic bag monster. I’ve broken it down even more for him and that has helped, but he’s done everything that can be done short of killing the thing. This little guy is quite reactive, I’ve got to really break it down for him. He is very smart once he does it right a few times he settles in.

Day 16 (Saddling Inconsistencies)

Steve:
Another good day on the ground and in the arena. Although he did buck after I put the saddle on. I chalk it up to lack of consistency on my part with saddling him from day to day. Other that that he did really well. I worked on several new exercises getting control of his feet, getting him to move forwards and backwards with the softness and suppleness I’m looking for.

Day 15 (Lots of work a head…)

Wendy:
Each day I always ask Murphy to disengage and give me two eyes before I approach and attempt to halter him. It is something I do with even the best broke horse. It is a way to see what side of the paddock they woke up on and to see how willing and responsive they are. Each day I work on catching and haltering and each day I would have to do some work before he would allow me to put the halter on. Today is the first day I was able to put the halter on without much movement. I do believe that the last few days as disappointing as they were, were very important. Murphy has a lot of fear. I notice it in other ways when I am not involved in his training and he is just hanging out in his pen by himself. When there are new objects put into his pen, or we walk a horse by with a saddle on, there is no investigating; in fact he stays as far away from things as he can. He is very suspicious of anything new. I still have a ton of work to do, but I do believe that eventually it will pay off. I don’t think he will be an easy one to win over quickly like I initially thought and had hoped. The luck of the draw!!!!! Ha ha

Day 15 (Diego goes into the arena)

Steve:
Today I felt I would start introducing Diego to the facility. We worked on lunging and leading in the barn and in the arena. He did so well I couldn’t believe it. He was a little skittish in the barn but ended up doing OK. Diego did very well in the arena. The arena for him was basically a transition from the round pen to the arena, I was hoping he would do well and he did. Good job Diego. I was pressed for time today so I was unable to saddle him again today, maybe tomorrow.

Day 14 (Murphy vs. Diego)

Wendy:
Much better day today. Steve helped me with Murphy again today. I was looking for Murphy to have another rough day, but he really ended up doing much better. We worked on some lunging, desensitizing and started him with the plastic. All that hard work paid off yesterday. Still miles to go, but I feel better about today. Steve is doing awesome with his competition mustang Diego. He saddled him for the first time today and Diego did wonderful. I really have to get busy to catch up!!!!!

Day 14 (Accepting Bridle and Saddle)

Steve: Today was another great day of training. He has accepted both the bridle and saddle and is doing well. He is getting really good at the self control exercises, all but one which needs more work. I’m sure he can overcome it, he just needs more time. His lunging exercises are coming along nicely I’m hoping to have him lunging around the property starting Thursday for Friday.

Day 13 (Round Pen)

Wendy:
Today I started with round pen work and was able to catch him fairly quickly, but I did up the pressure more today. I am getting the idea that to make better progress I am going to have to push to get where I want to go. He is happy to play some cat and mouse with me and that needs to change. I feel like today was our worst day so far, it seemed that we lost ground in some areas that were good and gained ground in other areas. He’s been really pushy about not wanting me on that right side. I was so exhausted from working in the heat all day with the other horses and so I asked Steve to step in and help me finish on a good note. We did end the lesson on a good note and will look for improvement later.

Day 13 (Good Day for Self Control)

Steve:
Today was a good day for the two of us. I feel like we have made be biggest leap in his training. Today he accepted all of the self control exercises along with all the cue exercises and is becoming fairly efficient with them all. Some better than others but as a whole he is doing tremendously better and I feel something is starting to click.

Day 10 (Lunging and Self-Control)

Wendy:
Today we worked on more lunging, desensitizing and rubbing. Each day I’ve gotten further back with my hands, but I still don’t trust his hindquarters. He still finds stuff to spook at and he wants to bolt forward when he does so I am very cautious. He is still leading out good and lunging better today, but still not good enough to really take him anywhere.