The big, goofy now 4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding we brought home last summer has grown up quite a bit.
Spur has gone on a number of mountain and water adventures this spring and summer and he fits into the herd just fine. He’s gentle with younger and smaller horses and stays out of the way of the older and bigger ones.
Where Rock is 4 going on 6 in his maturity level, Spur is 4 going on 3. When he’s working, he’s great. When he’s not working and his mind is idle, I swear his brain does cartwheels in his head.
I love this big weirdo. He’s taught me so much about being thorough, patient, setting him up for success, and setting new tasks up in a way that’ll build his confidence in himself and me.
Spur loves to work, to have his person, and he loves to be a priority, to play 1st or 2nd 2nd fiddle. Turns out he also really enjoys being around children.
He’s been a mascot of sorts for Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy over the past year. We affectionately nicknamed him “Ed”, short for “Special Ed”, because boy was he different. Smart and quirky, sometimes dramatic and other times just plain strange. He certainly needed a little extra time to find his place in the human world, and it paid off.
Spur is a super cool horse and I wouldn’t trade the time with him for anything. It’s been fun to watch him grow into himself and find joy in the challenges presented to him, and to learn to look to the human for guidance, to be willing to try, fall short and try again until he got it.
I may have found the perfect human for him. If not, he’ll be available and looking for someone who’s at least as cool and smart as he is, and every bit as quirky, athletic and persistent.
Anyway, here’s Spur packing tires for the first time. That’s one step before panniers and real packing. Or riding for the people who don’t pack. I turn him loose and he’s like “Hey, wait for meeee!!!”
It’s a great, cheap, safe and easy step in their training. It gets them used to carrying weight, seeing something bulkier than a saddle on their back, something bouncing, and being wider than normal, all without sacrificing expensive panniers or precious human cargo should something go not exactly as planned.
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