I recently read somewhere on social media – and I wish I could remember where – that the best way to fix a bad habit in a horse is to not let it develop on the first place.

That’s so simple, yet at the same time so profound. I’ve seen so many horses revert back to undesirable behavior that’s worked for them in the past, or take so much longer to unlearn dangerous things and become solid in good ones.

Barn and buddy sourness are pretty high up on the list of common, pesky and problematic things people deal with in their horses, Mustangs and domestics alike. Having a buddy or barn sour horse can sure take the joy out of riding, make it unsafe or plain impossible.

Anymore I like starting my own horses, from scratch. Gentling Mustangs for a living, that’s pretty easy to do. That way for the most part whether they’re barn or buddy sour or not is in my hands.

Some people are sticky and don’t mind a ‘good’ fight with a horse that’s dancing and rearing and hopping and spinning or running backwards. I’m not one of those people.

Ground driving is probably the number one tool I use to develop a horse that confidently goes wherever you point them, no buddy needed, and goes back home at the same pace.

Here’s Devil’s Garden Mustang mare Petrie who’s good enough now that I can put the driving bridle and lines on, no surcingle, saddle or harness, and off we go. I wouldn’t recommend that, at all, if you’re just starting out.

We’re drunk walking a bit here because I had the phone in one hand and lines and whip – yes, I always carry a whip because it’s a needed communication device when (ground) driving – in the other while dodging holes and brush.

Ground driving, like many other things, is simple but not necessarily easy if you haven’t done it before, and needs to be taught step by step for it to work as desired.

At Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy we’re happy to teach you/your horse this skill if you’d like. More on how to work with us on our website.

Would anyone be interested in some video based instructions on ground driving that would be available online? Anything else? Let us know in the comments or via PM/email.

Music: Colter Wall : Prairie Evening/Sagebrush Walz

#wildhorseswillingpartners#mustangtraining

#sunset#makingmountainmustangmemories

People like all kinds of different horses, all for their own reasons. They all will make us better humans and horsemen and -women if we let them.

I’m fortunate to have a lot of horses – all Mustangs now – in my life, many only for a short time on their path to hopefully becoming someone else’s partner and friend.

I like a good mare with grit who wears her heart on her sleeve and her thoughts all over her face. That’s these two for me, now coming 9yo Divide Basin Mustang mare Lacy and coming 2yo Devil’s Garden Mustang filly Cedar.

They’re so similar that they couldn’t stand each other for months. Finally now I’m seeing what’s starting to look like affection between the two and it makes me happy.

They’re both forward, easy traveling horses who love to go see the world. They are serious about a job needing done and outside of the occasional manageable spook don’t do anything silly.

They know who’s who, pick their people and are not shy about expressing whom and what they like. There’s only one person Lacy is friendlier with than me and I don’t blame her at all. Cedar at this point considers herself mine – or me hers? – and it’s pretty darn cute.

She’s had to learn to let others touch and handle her because while the one person horse thing may sound romantic, it’s not fair to the horse or those around it.

They can also feel my energy shift and keep me honest. If I’m in a hurry or grumpy I can’t catch either one of them. Not lovely but it helps me check and ground myself and not take my agenda out on them.

If they need to learn something I teach them and if they understand they apply it. If I’m unfair or rushy or grabby with either of them they tell me. And I reflect, listen and adjust, often quietly at the end of the day. That’s how a partnership should be.

It always amazes me how most every Mustang here finds someone who loves them for just how they are. I sure love these two and I love it even more that they’re starting to bond – without being herd bound because that’s just not who they are.

Both of them are Ambassadors Mustangs with Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy . One of them just might make an appearance at The Mustang Summit at Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in March.

Lacy was my first TIP horse when that was still a thing and the first Mustang I gentled. She came from the BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program , Cañon City holding facility in 2017. Cedar joined us in 2023 from the Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals .

We have gentled Mustangs available or coming available year-round. Please contact us if you’re looking or have a Mustang needing gentling. Located in Guffey, CO.

Cute yearling halter and rope: Rowdy’s Ropes

Hackamore: The Colorful Cowgirl

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#makingmountainmustangmemories

It’s been so much fun watching our youngest Ambassador Mustangs DG Cedar (filly, coming 2yo) and DG Griffin (colt, not quite 1yo) grow up and their personalities develop. They came to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy last year from the Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals in California.

I’d never before owned a horse this young. Watching the baby antics, naps in the sun and Lacy slowly embracing being their “aunt” has been such a gift.

Cedar is strong willed but also sensitive. She seems to consider me her human, can sense changes in my energy and reacts strongly to them. She’s both brave and independent and slow to trust new people.

Griffin is quiet, laid back and very much a follower. He makes the best mare faces I’ve ever seen on a gelding. He’s curious and generally the same with most people rather than drawn towards one person.

It’s interesting having both of the two distinct types of Devil’s Garden Mustangs, the less common tall, athletic, more sensitive and almost Thoroughbred-like one, and the laid back, thick drafty kind the herd is known for.

It seems like they’d be like oil and water but Griffin and Cedar are best friends and their personalities seem to balance each other out very nicely.

Meanwhile I’m on the hunt for a riding horse for more strenuous rides than Lacy is capable of and Tiny is excited about these days. I’m looking for a branded one to gentle and start.

There MAY be some new faces here as of yesterday. Whether my new riding partner is in there is TBD but stay tuned for their intro and new name theme

Shirt and hat: Outback Trading Company LTD.

Halter & lead: Rowdy’s Ropes

PC: Tay Martin

#wildhorseswillingpartners

#makingmountainmustangmemories

In the caption on a recent video I suggested not putting anything on the horse when you don’t have a plan for how you’re going to remove it.

Here’s how I remove the ring rope aka neck rope as well as put on and remove the leg rope in the early stages of gentling:

The hook on a stick.

Instructions for what you need to make your own are at the end of the video.

I have two of them and I always keep electrical tape handy and an extra driveway marker or two around to make a quick repair if needed.

It can double as a horse scratcher and training stick as needed and I often use it to fish for other tools that are just out of reach. Its one of the cheapest and most versatile training tool I own, and something I always have with me when I’m working with unhandled horses.

DG Rafiki was a good sport and let me be clumsy and slow while I was filming this for you guys. He’s a 9yo Devil’s Garden Mustang gelding, SA and available through Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy. Located in Guffey, CO.

Credit for this nifty tool goes to Mustang Matt.

The song is Professional Outsider (so true!) by Matt Robertson Music.

The leg rope is an important training tool for us when gentling Mustangs. While I’ve met a select few that understood the idea of picking up feet better without it, we use it on most of the wild ones we train and I personally do leg rope work with all of the Ambassador Mustangs, the ones that live with us at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy .

The leg rope teaches them to pick up and hold up their feet, a process I start by first rubbing the leg with objects and then swinging the lash of a stick and string around it.

Then we move on to leading by a foot. Each foot. That instills the idea that there’s pressure but there’s also a release, meaning their leg isn’t just trapped. Horses don’t like feeling trapped or unbalanced, especially wild ones.

From there I can use the leg rope to gradually introduce holding the leg up in the positions (forward and back) needed for trimming. For a while past that I put it on as a back up in case the horse wants to pull a foot away from me.

Why a rope? It’s safer for me and less threatening for them. I avoid accidental releases that would occur when I run out of arm or the horse kicks loose/leans on me. Teaching them the wrong thing and then having to go back and fix it is not fair to the horse and poor use of our time.

What kind of rope? This is a retired 14ft lead rope with the hardware removed and only the spliced loop at the end that I run the tail of the rope through.

I later revisit leading by each foot by putting pressure on it from every possible direction and teach the horse to give to that calmly. You don’t know when, where and how something is going to snag your horse’s leg, be that a water hose, brush or even old wire on a ride. Better to be prepared than hurt.

Finally, leading by a foot is the ideal hobbling preparation. I also do some lunging and stopping them by a foot too to show that pressure to the leg means stop and think. If you rope, you can also rope the legs and do the same thing that way.

We offer various formats of coaching for owners and adopters of Mustangs and gentling of wild horses for clients. Reach out to us if you need/want help or are looking to adopt a gentled Mustang.

Pictured DG Minerva aka Miss Kitty. She is a kind 5yo Devil’s Garden Mustang mare looking for a human of her own. PM us if interested.

Training halter & rope: Rowdy’s Ropes
Coat: Outback Trading Company LTD.

PC: Photographer Linnea Helander

#wildhorseswillingpartners
#makingmountainmustangmemories

Many of you have met Tiny, if not in person then on social media. The 16yo sorrel gelding from Salt Wells Creek, WY is by several 100lbs and at least a hand the largest Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustang, and arguably the one with the biggest personality. What people typically notice when they first meet him up close is just how tiny Tiny isn’t.

Tiny came to us several years ago from our friends at Colorado Horse Rescue Network . He’s charismatic, personable, occasionally a “tiny” bit counterfeit, and he’s never liked to work real hard.

So what better career shift for him in his mature years than going into politics? If you read the previous paragraph again, he’s basically made for it

The small mountain town of Divide, Colorado is home to TCRAS (Teller County Regional Animal Shelter), a nonprofit and easily the best small animal shelter around. Every other year they put on the election for Mayor of Divide. In previous years that position has usually been held by a dog or cat.

Wouldn’t it be cool if this year it was a Mustang instead, and we could bring even more public awareness to our wild horses, their availability, trainability and need for educated support, both on and off range?

So without further ado, please support Tiny and all wild horses, as well as TCRAS by voting for Tiny to become Mayor of Divide! If he wins he would be making some public appearances in all his enormous adorableness during his time in office.

*See comments for how to vote and for more info on Tiny’s campaign!*

Everyone can vote, as often and as many times as you’d like.

Please vote for Tiny and his “Keeping Teller County Wild” campaign, like, share, comment, spread the word. Voting is open through April 2nd, the new mayor will be announced shortly thereafter.

Pictures attached of the handsome, versatile and mostly very good big boy.

#wildhorseswillingpartners#bettertogether

#nonprofit#makingmountainmustangmemories

I may not be rich in the conventional sense, but to lead a life rich in experiences and people you love, there’s something to be said for that too.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering was a blast, so was spending time with Rachel Toler . We rode horses, looked at horses, talked about horses and listened to others talk and sing about horses and the western lifestyle.

It was wonderful to meet and reconnect with makers, poets and visitors I met last year, some of whom I’d dare to call friends. Meeting The Colorful Cowgirl in person and seeing even more of her beautiful work was especially fun.

Going to Elko is the most sleepless time of the year for me, but it’s so worth it. I’m almost back to a normal schedule. There’s just so much to see and do around that ruggedly beautiful state and quirky town.

I always appreciate learning about different gear, approaches to horsemanship, land use and mindsets surrounding horses, both wild and domestic.

Nevada is also where Mustangs are referred to as sh*tters but the people are too polite (well most of them are ) to say that to my face once they find out what I do. And then they laugh with relief and maybe a bit of surprise when I tell them I’m well aware.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some great wild horses and they’re how I can afford a nice horse. By picking one I like and making them nice, all while still learning myself.

Right now it’s snowing big, heavy flakes and I’m so excited to get back to working with wild ones.

Pictured here is DG Rafiki still in the pre-neckrope stage. He was the kind of horse where too much pressure too soon could’ve been bad.

Instead I broke it down for him and he’s coming along nicely. He’ll be available for adoption through Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy before too long.

PC: Photographer Linnea Helander

Coat: Outback Trading Company LTD.

Hat: Montana Rio Buckaroo Hats