May 2023 archive

DG Petrie – building a partnership

Petrie the baby dragon is turning into a juvenile dragon. Still fiery, bigger now, with fewer tantrums and more willingness to think and work together. I can see glimpses of the proud and pretty mare she’ll be one day. What started out as Petrie-paint-eater (she’s given my nice white car a zebra striped look, grrrrr), …

Continue reading

When persistence pays off

One of my closest friends is moving out of state. We’re spending as much time together as we can before she leaves, so on Tuesday we met at one of our favorite riding spots, 3 Mustangs and 5 dogs in tow. It was a hazy day (we’re getting smoke from the fires up in Canada) …

Continue reading

Starting the wild/young/green horse, a little at a time

It sounds so easy, right? We “just” want to halter them/lead or load them/pony, pack, ride or drive them. Why won’t they just get it? Because there is so much more to it for the horse, starting with the fact that nobody gave them a script for the play they’re suddenly expected to take a …

Continue reading

Teaching a Mustang to pick up feet using a leg rope

This is the method I most commonly use to teach the wild ones to pick up their feet. Every once in a while I have one where I get them used to letting me touch their legs (separate process) and then find that they’re happier if I just use my hand rather than the leg …

Continue reading

Growing through progress and change

From the looks of things, these two Mustangs are going to be making riding and packing season happen this year, and it’s time to get them out and about for some team building. Making the best of the situation at hand and moving forward… What else can we do? Salt Wells WY gelding Tiny and …

Continue reading

Lacy and Littlefoot

Before we go back to regularly scheduled programming, here’s a look behind the scenes. I haven’t been posting much lately outside of announcing upcoming workshops. We have some other exciting announcements coming up and I have literally dozens of awesome pictures taken by our wonderful volunteers waiting to make their appearance on social media. Horses …

Continue reading