Ground driving is a big part of riding (or, obviously, driving/pulling) prep for our young Mustangs at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy .

Here are Spur (4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding), Rock (4yo pangare bay Little Colorado WY Mustang gelding) and Firefly (2yo buckskin Bible Springs UT Mustang filly) during some of our ground driving adventures.

Spur and Rock are already being ridden. I still find ground driving out and about valuable to prevent buddy/barn sourness without my sometimes nervous self up there, and it lets them find their feet without a rider as their bodies continue to develop.

I often turn ground driving into double lungeing on the fly, asking them to trot and lope large circles out in the open (we practice that somewhere enclosed first, otherwise they can get pretty confused), also a great balance and confidence building exercise.

We get 6 months of winter, plus mud season, plus monsoon season (2nd mud season). Ground driving is a great way to work horses while keeping warm when it’s extra chilly out. The fact that it’s a big step towards sledding for fun and skidding logs for firewood is a nice bonus.

I can navigate questionable footing more safely from the ground when I’d be hesitant to ride, especially a green horse.

As for Firefly, she’s learning voice commands and getting used to leaving her buddies, accepting the bit, steering, stopping, backing and standing quietly and having ropes all around her.

She ponies well and has worn several kinds of saddles, including the pack saddle. Once she gets some miles of packing even just tires under her belt, starting her under saddle is going to be a non-issue. That’s how I like it.

I’m not going to lie, I can be a wimp when it comes to starting colts. I only do it because I want to know what I’ve got and what the horse knows, not what someone else tells me. When I take them all the way from unhandled to under saddle, I get a pretty good idea of what they’re going to be like.

That being said, there are days where I don’t feel like riding a colt. Or not that colt. Or not the second colt on a long day of gentling wild horses on a hot/cold/windy day. Sometimes I ground drive in the morning and ride at night, or vice versa.

Either way, and at any stage of training, ground driving can be a fun and useful way to change things up and spend quality time with our horses. It makes for neat photo opportunities too.

*These 3 are not available. We have gentled Mustangs looking for their person at all times.*

This weekend many people celebrated spooky things.

Hence our highlighting Topaz, an enormous 4yo dun Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding and the kindest wimp we’ve met yet.

This horse – we last measured him at 16hh, it’s time to measure again to see if he’s approaching the 16.1hh he string tested to – has been with us for a little over a year.

A year. This big boy eats a small bale of hay A DAY. He’s basically worth his weight in gold by now. If only horse math worked like that.

Why would we hang onto a Mustang for that long? Because he’s trying SO HARD to be friendly and brave.

Tay Martin calls him my “passion project”. Anytime she’d give me a heads up on how many months Topaz has been at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , eating two normal horses’ worth of hay, I’d respond with “give it some more time, I really think he’ll come around”.

It’s beginning to look as though that’s true. Catching is easy now. Leading, lungeing and sending look like I’m working a horse rather than flying a kite. He loads and most importantly, he’s getting confident about feet handling.

Everything was hard for Topaz at first, but his fear of having his feet held, likely due to him struggling to balance on 3 legs was the biggest hurdle we needed to overcome.

Really big and very flighty was a hard combination. I managed ok with reactive, accident prone Spur. This guy was on another level. Mark Lyon spent 3 days with us earlier this year and helped me help Topaz finally connect the dots.

At this point he’s cautious but willing with most things, loves to be groomed and is quicker to calm down when he does get nervous. He respects rope pressure and 5ft panels.

Topaz is scheduled for his first real, full trim this month. Assuming he does well for our farrier, we’re going to start the search for his person.

Being as big and reluctant as he is, it’s going to take much more than just love and the desire to own a tall Mustang “with color” to do right by him.

Topaz is trainable and has the ability to be a very good boy in the right hands. We’ll be careful and patient in finding him a suitable, long-term home.

In the meantime, if you would like to support our Colorado-based 501c3 nonprofit organization and contribute to Topaz’ outrageous feed bill, you’ll find don@tion information in comments.

Thank you for helping us help wild horses, even when it takes them a little (or a lot) longer to learn their way around people.

An unusually wet early fall and busy schedules made putting pack trips together tricky this year.

I’m just a tiny bit stubborn and kept insisting that I wanted to show Tay Martin my favorite packing spot, despite it being a considerably longer drive and Taylor insisting that our go-to area is her “favorite place ever”.

I’d respond with “You’ll see…” each time, occasionally paired with an eye roll or a sigh.

On the 3rd attempt, we made it happen. Getting ready was a monumental effort between feeding the training hoeses, packing to go packing, and bringing Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Lacy, Rock and Tiny (not pictured) in from summer pasture. Then the long drive.

No sooner did we turn off the highway, still working on our supermarket sushi dinner, that “Are we there yet?” turned into “Ooooooo!!!!”. “Mhmm” I grunted. “Do I look like I drive all the way out here just for ‘meh’?”

Taylor also knows I have a favorite mountain where we were headed. I’m pretty weird but having favorite mountains isn’t a common occurrence for me. I have exactly one.

Time and weather had us camping out in the truck at the trailhead. After we got rained on but thankfully didn’t get hit by lightning or freeze our tails off that first night, we made our way into the backcountry the following morning.

“Is it that one?” Taylor would ask about every 7 1/2 minutes on a nearly 3h long ride, looking around for the mysterious mountain that’s also in our logo.

“Nope, can’t see it yet.” I’d reply for well past the 2h mark. Until we could. “Oooooo I get it now, I get it now, I get it now!!!” is what I heard from behind Lacy and Rock.

Some places are truly special. This is one of them.

Taylor took this picture after we got Rock the trusty pack horse unloaded, camp set up and went exploring, through my favorite meadow and up the side of my favorite mountain. I hadn’t been there in several years and it still felt like coming home.

*Pink flagging tape because of hunting season*

Ragnar is a 5yo bay Mustang gelding from Stewart Creek, WY. While this proud, stout guy thinks of himself as 17hh tall, 14hh is more realistic. He string tests to 14.2hh. One can hope, right!?

He is butt branded in addition to the typical BLM freezemark. Why? Not sure but(t) it makes him stand out. It was that and his soft, soulful eyes that spoke to me when I first saw him at the holding facility.

Ragnar is curious and has never met a stranger. He’s currently a wonderful babysitter to a yearling filly, and he’s good with dogs.

He has the most expressive eyes and allll the luscious hair. For the right treat he’d even try to fix your truck. He obviously loves food, yet is polite about letting us know that something he did is worthy of payment.

Ragnar leads, loads, ties, stands for grooming and fly spray, leads and sends over obstacles with ease. While he can get worried, he is not reactive and has a lot of try. He is trustworthy on walks out in the open and respectful of regular (5ft) panels.

He would do great with an adventurous, reasonably confident handler. A handy youth with adult guidance would be fine too. He’d really like a job and lots of people time.

Ragnar is available for adoption at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , through the Forever Branded partnership program. He is located in Guffey, CO. Hauling can be arranged. He is SA and can travel. Please PM us if interested in adopting!

If you agree with us that he’s super cool and handsome and deserves the best home, but he’s not a good fit for you or the timing is off, please share and give others a chance to see and adopt this cool dude.

Thank you for your support, for following along and for engaging with this post to help Ragnar find his person, we appreciate you and we couldn’t do this without you!

Thank you also to Rowdy’s Ropes for the prettiest, Mustang-tested halters and lead ropes, and to Karyn Miller for keeping us stocked up with Knotty Horse detangler, or I’d still be out there brushing that mane!

Over the past week and a half, 15.3ish hh 4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding Spur has started his journey towards becoming a riding horse.

“Let me make sure he’s ready to start before he goes anywhere” turned into “I wonder if I can start him”. “I’m sitting up here and I didn’t die” became the first few steps.

Those led to wandering around the walking pen, trotting in the round pen and, with basic body control established, and both of us getting bored of having nowhere to go, venturing out into the real world

He has maybe 17 rides on him now, most of those out and about. He’s gone out alone a bit and with others, carried me in the high country and through the mountains close to home, leads or follows and ponies Lacy. He’s unconcerned about the dogs.

Yesterday during our ride a hopeful Denali jumped up on my leg, wanting to see if I could spare an alfalfa pellet, while I was on Spur. Nothing. My vest got hung up on a branch (sometimes I forget that I’m not on much shorter Lacy) and I had to hit the brakes so I wouldn’t get pulled off of him. Also nothing.

Out of the colts I’ve started over the years, he’s by far the one I was the most nervous about. Spur started out being a … complicated horse. Quirky. Sensitive. Athletic. Affectionate yet unforgiving. You get one chance to show him right. If that goes well, he’s great. If it doesn’t, you spend months undoing your mess-up.

He likes everything to be just so (I relate) and he knows his person. He merely tolerates most other adults but he loves kids.

When something isn’t the way he was taught, he lets me know or he fixes it himself. He knows that the ponied horse usually goes on the right. When I’m riding him, he puts Lacy on his right. When I’m switching and he’s standing on her left, he walks around her on his own and puts himself in the “right” spot.

When he’s nervous, touch helps him calm down, always has. So we joke that he’s happiest being ridden because he can wear his emotional support human as a blankie. He often lurks around the house looking for a bit more riding time while everyone else is content to be out grazing.

Taylor was mad at him (again) a couple of weeks ago. She went to catch him in the pasture. He gave her a scathing look and took off in a cloud of dust glistening in the early morning sun. Only to march up to me, stick his head in the halter and sigh a “Can you believe I just almost got horsenapped?!” into my coat. He’s special, that one.

I’m glad I took the time and 195 small steps to prepare this big delicate guy for where we’re at now. And to have faced the fear and started him anyway. He’s so content under a rider, eagerly walking out with a relaxed head set and on a loose rein. I’m proud of him and I feel encouraged for his future, wherever that will be.

Dragonfly and Phoenix (previously Tiny Elvis or TE) traveled from Colorado to Mississippi earlier this week.

Dragonfly, a gorgeous buckskin Stewart Creek WY Mustang mare, had been with us for a long while. She has a club foot that – understandably – caused some potential adopters not to choose her. Otherwise she is lovely in every way, so we waited patiently for the right home to come along.

Phoenix, a stunning seal bay wild conceived and captive born Devil’s Garden Mustang gelding, was transferred to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy by friends of ours who raised him but for health reasons were not able to keep him. The goal was to give him a training refresher and help him find his person.

These two 4 year olds won the wild horse lottery with previous adopters at The Champion Farm , joining red roan Devil’s Garden Mustang gelding Joey (formerly Pippin, he was an orphan foal bottle raised by staff at Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals and gentled and adopted out by us).

Dragonfly, facility born, had never had a pasture to graze in a day in her life. Until this past weekend. She is so happy!

Phoenix was infamous for going to great lengths in order to climb into, splash in and tip over water troughs. He’s very much enjoying having an actual pond to play in at his new home.

Dragonfly and Phoenix will get plenty of time to graze and play, attention, love, and continued training that will make them amazing partners both on the trail and in the show ring.

Education and manners are what keeps horses safe before anything else, so we’re always thrilled to place horses into homes where they can continue to learn and grow into having a job they’re well suited for.

We’ve received so many happy updates, pictures and videos already. Lanya Clinard ‘s husband Dave hauled them and kept us posted on their long yet uneventful journey to Mississippi.

It takes a village to make these happy beginnings happen. Thank you to all of you for following along, sharing, caring, supporting us and adopting, to the best, most reliable, communicative, punctual and wild horse savvy haulers (we have a list, feel free to ask us for it!) anyone could ask for, to Tay Martin for feeding everyone (including me because adulting is hard), your unwaivering support and much needed reality checks, Rocky Top Veterinary Service for your patience with our wildies and their humans, our brand inspector who always fits us into his schedule somehow, our favorite feral farrier CK Hoof Care CBT, APF-I for making early trims a good experience for the Mustangs, and Rowdy’s Ropes for halters and lead ropes that are beautiful and hold up to wild horses putting them to the test, being out in the elements and me using them in mud and snow much of the year.

I never get any movie/TV references, so Taylor was understandably shocked when the above quote came out of my mouth after I saw that lake picture for the first time. Nobody needs to know that I had a huge crush on Captain Kirk as a kid.

Also, I’d like to be teleported back into those mountains please, thank you very much.

Tay Martin and I went leaf watching a couple of weeks ago, in the best way we know how.

We packed up A LOT of stuff, a big bag of good snacks and most importantly milk for our morning coffee, loaded up 3 Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs, namely Lacy, Rock and Tiny, as well as German Shepherds Denali and Ranger, and headed into the wilderness.

It was epic.

2 mountain passes, 2 subalpine lakes, 1 bull moose in camp, lots of riding, ALL the incredible colors and gorgeous scenery. The weather was glorious after a stormy first night.

Reintegration into society has been slow and incomplete. You’re never the same after a trip like that. I think pack trips make us a little more feral each time.

For the first several days after the trip, I’d get a daily text from Taylor, something along the lines of “I think the mountains broke me. It was too pretty. And too short. I want to go back.” Same, Taylor, same. Every. Single. Time.

5 plus days out there is the goal next year, exploring some new country and enjoying familiar territory. Here’s to good goals, great horses, happy dogs and passing the backcountry horse packing bug to friends!

Wiley, 2yo buckskin White Mountain WY Mustang gelding, is making progress.

By now he’s easier to catch, he’s had his mane detangled and brushed out (after this video). I’m able to brush his whole body and fly spray him.

We’ve worked through some ideas he had about pawing and kicking when he got frustrated and he leads, backs and lunges nicely now.

Wiley is learning to move his hips and shoulders and he ties. He’s got a ways to go yet before I’d consider him even remotely ready to place, but I’m encouraged by his progress and hopeful that he can have a bright future with a suitable, capable adopter.

His next big steps will be working on picking up feet, leading in bigger spaces, as well as sending and leading over obstacles in preparation for trailer loading.

*He is not currently available for adoption. He will be if and when he’s closer to being easy and safe to handle, and we know what type of home he would do best in.*

Thank you to everyone who has donated towards his care and training. Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your donation may be tax exempt.

I’m including donation avenues in the comments again. Your support is much appreciated as that is how we are able to help the “long road” type horses, such as Wiley, Hawk, Topaz and even Dragonfly who have been with us for a while, either taking their time to warm up to humans or waiting for their ideal match.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#wildtowilling#horses#hope#progress#bettertogether#nonprofit#makingmountainmustangmemories

Anytime we head into the mountains, it’s important to remember that, beautiful and often romanticized as they may be, they’re not trying to be our friends, and that the responsibility to prepare for what we might encounter lies with us.

It’s our job to do what’s in our power to make it back to the trailhead safely, with great memories and stories to share. It goes without saying that sometimes even our best isn’t enough, and accidents or worse are tragic and not always preventable.

When I’m riding in the backcountry, especially solo, I prepare to have to unexpectedly spend the night out there, encounter inclement weather, be wildlife aware and deal with injuries.

I let friends know where I’m leaving from, what route I’m taking, and when I’m expected back. I carry a GPS with two way satellite communication and an SOS button, and a solar charger to keep my phone, GPS and headlamp charged for several days. The GPS stays on and on my person at all times.

I use multiple apps on addition to the GPS to navigate with and I check weather forecast and trail conditions before the ride.

When I’m packing my saddle bags for a day ride, I sometimes get curious looks because I bring so much more than snacks and a water bottle.

Bewilderment quickly turns into appreciation when someone gets cold, hurt or needs to make an emergency tack repair on the trail. Everything I bring is for sharing too.

I’m constantly learning and fine tuning what to bring and how to handle different situations. I don’t know everything and I’m so grateful for mentors who have helped me along the way.

Yesterday’s whirlwind solo high country (half?) day ride with Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Lacy and Rock, and rescue German Shepherds Denali and Ranger:

14.6mi in 5h 15min, incl. 45min of stopped time, 3294ft ascent and 2580ft of elevation gain. I’m so very proud of them.

It was a lovely, exhilarating ride and I’m so glad I did it.

Do big solo rides make me nervous? Yep. Do I consider wimping out? Every time. Is it worth going even if nobody is available to join me? With proper preparation, appropriate gear and trustworthy horses absolutely.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#horses#horseriding#horsebackriding#wildtowilling#mountains#mountainview#adventure#safety#learning#staysafe#makingmountainmustangmemories

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.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#horses#wildtowilling#learning#fun#progress#horsetraining

#makingmountainmustangmemories