Making good horses takes work, and lots of it. Especially with Mustangs because they don’t get handled as early and exposed to all the things we take for granted in domestic horses.
It’s also a never-ending process. We’re still putting work into our seasoned horses to keep them good, make them even better, and to keep ourselves humble, attentive and growing too.
Mustangs are great for people who enjoy challenging themselves, the journey, learning, and a horse that thinks for itself and requires them to show up and prove themselves every day.
All that work can be fun – as you can see – and being committed to ongoing improvement keeps things interesting, in a good way.
Tay Martin and I took the biggest and the smallest Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Rock (5yo, Little Colorado WY) and Goose (Bordo Atravesado NM, 2yo) as well as Salt Wells WY Mustang gelding Tiny and Taylor’s 3yo Mustang draft cross colt (his mom was an OR Mustang mare that landed at auction, bred) Finn on an adventure last weekend.
It was my first time taking Rock on a longer ride (he’s been ridden by everyone else and while he’s gentle as the day is long, it’s time he gets some fine tuning and consistency too), his first time ponying another horse, and Goose’s first big outing and 2nd (I think?) time being ponied. It was also Finn’s first long trail ride and Tiny’s first major work day in a while.
There was some chaos and some squealing (the humans, not the horses), much laughter and endless smiles. All went well, much was taught, learned and refined, we enjoyed a beautiful spring day in the mountains and the 3 1/2 Mustangs, 2 German Shepherds and 2 riders returned to the trailer tired but happy and several miles and hours worth of experiences richer.
We don’t go on a single ride or horsey adventure that’s not a training opportunity. For us, training, teaching, learning and pushing ourselves a bit ARE what brings us joy, not just a means to an end. I truly believe that’s the key to being safe and successful (whatever that means to a person) with horses.
