Enjoy this pivotal and exciting (in a good way) part of DG Rohan’s second session. He’s a Devil’s Garden Mustang and came to us from our friends at the Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals
We’d had a few brief sniffs and nose touches before this moment. These were his first actual pets.
He’s brave, curious and confident. He’s also 3yo (baby brain) and a Mustang who grew up on the range, not getting cookies and butt scratches in holding.
So we worked for this a bit, nothing too exciting, just preparing him for each next step.
While endearing, there’s more going on here than petting the wild pony. This interaction is full of teachable moments for both of us.
How we handle those determines how well we’ll get along moving forward.
I selectively use food reward in training. This boy is at the very beginning of his journey and knows nothing yet about that. Every horse and situation are different, and we treat them as such.
I put some text into the little clip to help you see what I’m looking for (and where I’m goofing up) in hopes it’ll help you with your wildie.
Rohan is with Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy in Guffey CO for gentling and finding his human. You can submit an adoption application through w i l d h o r s e o u t r e a c h . o r g
We have several beautiful Mustangs currently looking for their humans, go check them out on there too. Our goal is to help you find a good match to set both you and your new equine partner up for long-term success.
If you want a specific Mustang gentled before bringing him/her home, we’re happy to do that.
We can also help you learn to gentle Mustangs or get along better with wild horses you already have. Both in person and remote coaching are available.
PM or email if that interests you.
If you’ve gentled wild ones or adopted a gentled/trained one, we’d love to read about some pivotal or heart warming moments you had in you journal together in comments. Share away!
