Spur, in case you haven’t met him yet, is a 3yo bay roan Mustang gelding, facility born to a Stewart Creek WY Mustang mare. He already measures 15.1hh. String test says he’ll mature to a rather humongous 15.3hh.
When we brought Spur home to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for gentling along with 3 other Mustangs, the plan was to win him over and help him like people, give him a good foundation and find him a wonderful home.
Plot twist, here’s where Spur’s idiosyncrasies enter the scene.
Spur likes to do things… differently. He’s also quite expressive and more than a tiny bit impulsive. And did I say clumsy? Accident prone?
Think of a little boy who’s always getting into trouble. That’s one thing with a 30lbs toddler exploring his environment, and another altogether with a 1000lbs young Mustang trying to get a grip on a world entirely new to him.
The first big “Spur moment” occurred right after his second session when he went to take a look over the fence. Over a very tall fence that is, given that all of ours are 7-8ft high. When you’re as big as him and standing on your hind legs, you can reach higher than the shorter kids.
He wasn’t even trying to jump, he just wanted to see where his friend Boots was going. Unfortunately he went about it less than gracefully, caught the side of his face on a panel edge and ripped his right cheek wide open.
This big, barely handled Mustang and I spent a lot of time together over the next few days, speeding up his gentling so I could doctor his face.
While the wound has healed up beautifully, his nose is still droopy (you can see it in the video) and we’ve since learned that Spur rolls that way. He makes some “interesting” choices.
Leave it to Spur to always roll too close to the fence, to get himself in weird predicaments that scare other horses more than him, to rip his securely fastened hay net out of his feeder and toss it in his water trough or to rear and while so doing stick a front foot through a fence.
That’s earned him the nickname “Ed”, because he’s “special”…
Among all the chaos he inadvertently causes, Spur is also the kindest, sweetest soul. We turn him loose in the walking pen for play time, even with other horses tied there, and Spur calmly makes the rounds in an effort to make friends with everyone. He follows me around like a dog and loves having his poll – and his butt – scratched, his gaze following me longingly when it’s time for me to go inside. He also loves making pony snow angels.
With the droopy face and his many questionable choices, we’ve decided to keep him here longer to see if he’ll grow out of it while also receiving more training.
Depending on how that goes, someone will either be able to adopt a lovely, big bay roan gelding or we’ll have a goofy new Ambassador Mustang we might need to bubble wrap for his own safety.
Long story short, we couldn’t make accommodations for the ones that need more help, care or time if it wasn’t for your support.
We thank everyone who’s already ordered calendars, sh0pped our new online st0re or given to our hay fundraiser from the bottom of our hearts.
Our friend Tristram Hokenson has created a #GivingTuesday (that’s coming up on 12/3!) fundraiser on our behalf. L¡nk below if you’d like to help her reach her goal 
