This page is all about Charlie, my draw for the 2015 Norco Extreme Mustang Makeover! She will be available for adoption on May 16 in Norco, CA. Visit http://www.extrememustangmakeover.com for tickets and information. Tickets NOT required for the adoption auction.
May 18, 2015
Such an exciting weekend! Charlie was very well behaved as always. We managed to take 9th in handling and conditioning. We competed in the trail class in hand but Mustang Heritage Foundation decided to issue zeros for all lead ins in that class so we don’t know how she did. The auction is always hard but I am happy that Charlie brought $1200 and feel like she got a good home! Super fun event and I will definitely consider doing it again!
May 14, 2015 – Update
We are headed to Norco today! I have not been able to work or ride with Charlie for the past couple of weeks and have decided to compete with her in hand. Here is some information potential adopters should know about Charlie.
Training:
She IS trained to ride, she will make a great trail horse. She prefers to lead the trail but we have put her behind the group and in the middle and she does fine. She has a super fast walk and so easily hits the front if you don’t check her back. She has never jigged or bolted or bucked on the trail and has had three total trail rides, always in a group. She has not bucked or done anything silly in a long time but she still will feel tense / tight when I ride. Part of that is probably ME getting nervous, tense, and tight and her reacting to it. When others ride her they don’t feel her get tight.
She is good to saddle. I tighten the cinch in stages (for all my horses). She has ALWAYS been ridden with and saddled with a back cinch. I always lunge her before I ride her. She has only bucked on the lunge line twice in the past two months and I discipline her for it. Her cue for trot is a cluck and canter is a kiss. Downward transition from canter to trot is “hup hup” and from trot to walk is “walk”.
Charlie loads into our stock trailer like a pro and has been trailered LOTS. She has no problem in new environments. She’ll unload and stand tied quietly at the trailer all day without pawing or shimmying around. Shes been bathed a handful of times and does well. She is fine with fly spray. Shes been trimmed once and was good for the farrier.
On the ground she would be sensitive about backing because she couldnt see where she is going so she has learned to back a lot of places, tight gaps, into her stall, etc. She’s been all over the obstacle course and does great with the obstacles. We’ve been working on teaching her to drag and that is the only thing we have found that really worries her so she is going to need more time and work with that.
Her new adopter should realize she is green but is a very good, level headed, kind mare. She isn’t overly spooky. She doesn’t kick, squeal or fight with other horses. She is definitely NOT mareish. She is the low horse on the totem pole for the most part and easily pushed around by my other three mares. Some things we haven’t done: She hasn’t been blanketed, or clipped. She hasn’t ever seen or loaded in a slant horse trailer.
Quirks: Her only real quirk is that she can be a pain to halter in a larger pen. She knows that a halter means work and usually I have to push her around the pen a few laps before she’ll stand to be haltered. In a stall she isn’t a problem. If you dont have a halter she’ll let you walk right up to her and hug all over her. She only does this if she thinks she is going to be “caught”.
Feed: She is on alfalfa/grass and three way hay. We have never been able to get her to eat any kind of grain (ration balancer, beet pulp, four way) despite trying for over six weeks. She likes carrots though. She has been an easy keeper.
Water: This is one horse you do NOT have to worry about dehydrating on you. She will drink anywhere and out of anything. She is not discriminatory. She takes full advantage of water anywhere it is offered.
April 28, 2015
Rode Charlie again tonight. We worked on hindquarter yields and still working on forequarter yields. Her backup is getting straighter which is great! Lots of walk trot and stop transitions.
April 26, 2015
Today ETI was hosting a trail trial in my area. I hadn’t had a chance to ride Charlie since her trail ride the other day so pulled her out in the morning to see how she felt. I rode her for about 20 min and she did great. Nothing bad at all but she felt very tight and I didn’t feel like taking her out in a very busy show environment would be a good idea so I took Butterfly instead.
April 19, 2015 – First Trail Ride
Great first trail ride. I rode my other mare, Butterfly and Joe took Charlie out JIC she did anything silly. We had a good hour long trail ride and she was perfect! A little worried about the tall grass. It was a very windy day and we are very proud of how well she behaved!
April 5, 2015 – Update
I’m happy to report we haven’t had any issues with Charlie since she came home. Here is our most recent ride on the weekend. I’m slowly gaining my confidence / trust in her to not buck me off. She hasn’t tried at all but the fear is still there. And there is the catching thing. Clearly it is something between her and I. Frustrating but I need to find another way to solve that issue in our relationship. She’s fine to catch in a 24×24 stall. Shes pretty good to catch in a 50×50 now. In the arena, nope, she’s not having it. Please ignore my outfit. I go for comfort not style when training…even if that means I’m in my lounge clothes 😛
March 24, 2015
I had wanted to ride Charlie today but between a last minute adoption appointment and having six other horses to work it just didn’t happen. We did however work on catching and picking up feet. Trying again tomorrow to get a ride on her.
March 23, 2015
Mondays are late days at my work but I still wanted to play with her. When she left I was having the hardest time catching her. She was stabled in a box stall and had made great progress about wanting to be with people while she was gone. At home, because I am full, I had to put her in a 50×50 with another horse. It was dark but I was able to catch her in about 3 min the first time and about 1 min there after. BIG difference. I haltered her and worked on picking up feet (all four) and yielding hindquarters to my fingers and forequarters to my fingers. She does great with her hindquarters, she still needs work on crossing over in front with her forequarter yields. All in all a great evening for us though. Very happy to have her home.
March 22, 2015
Today was pickup day. Charlie had a full seven days of training with Nellie, including today. 2 days on the ground and five rides. I watched Nellie ride her first (video soon) and then I went ahead and got on. With help / encouragement from Nellie on the ground Charlie and I were able to have a very successful walk, trot and canter. She bucked with me twice but I do think both times were my fault. The first time as a little bit more than the one shown in the video but we recovered quickly with a one rein stop. The second was shown here. I was super nervous to ride her again. My heart rate was elevated, my stomach queasy and even though I tried to stay relaxed I know I tensed up a few times which is probably what scared Charlie. The more successful rides we have the better we are going to work together as a pair and I think we’ll have a good starting point for under saddle work now so that we can develop as a team.
Once I got Charlie home my husband wanted to ride her. I saddled her up for him, lunged her just a little and they had a nice ride together. He was going to just take her for a walk around the property (her first outside a round pen) but she did so well he decided to take her on the obstacle course. This is Charlie’s first time being ridden outside a confined round pen type area. She was great!! Seeing Joe successful with her outside I think I’ll be able to pickup up and ride her outside. Next scheduled ride for Charlie is Tuesday, 3/24.
March 18, 2015
Charlie had another ride today and her first with her regular trainer Nellie. Nellie says she is still sticky about moving forward but the trainer said she was able to go walk and trot and even encourage her into the trot without her bucking or pinning her ears back. That is great news!! Also, again no bucking with the saddle.
March 17, 2015
Today’s update from the trainer reaffirmed my decision to send her out for a couple of rides. Charlie had two days on the ground, reinforcing basic stuff and finally today she had a rider up. Apparently it was a sight to be seen and she nearly unseated a very good rider twice. I wasn’t present but I heard that she was very sticky, not wanting to move forward and when she was asked very firmly there was a big of bucking, some rearing, and some spinning and some of all three at once. All in all though the lesson seems to have been good and ended positively for all involved. Can’t wait to hear tomorrows update. I would love to have been able to be a part of the process but unfortunately I had to send her to people I trust who are, unfortunately, over an hour drive from me each way. With work and TIP horses and Platero burros it just isn’t possible for me to go see Charlie during the week but I’m confident she’s in good hands.
March 16, 2015 – Update
WOW time can really get away can’t it! Charlie and I have been working on desensitization on the ground, saddling unsaddling etc. She is still bad to catch in a big pen but fine in a 24×24. One of the things we’ll have to do at the makeover is turn Charlie loose in a roundpen and catch her up again. We’ll keep working at it, we still have two months. We’ve been practicing flexing and ground driving and Charlie has been doing great…but there is still riding that needs to get done. Saturday the 14th I dropped Charlie off at a friends to have someone do a weeks worth of rides on her. This rider has a nice secure seat and has the confidence with babies that I lack. I’m hoping this week will help Charlie get through her bucking and get us to a point where I can take her and worry about refinement, not worry about being bucked off. Funny enough a few people have asked me if we are “allowed” to have somebody else ride our makeover horses. There is no rule saying we can’t. Realistically 6 or 7 rides by another person is NOT going to make a difference as to whether or not Charlie makes it to top 10. The riding portion requires a safe trail horse, one that can negotiate obstacles, open gates, sidepass, and backup nicely. That is NOT going to happen in 7 rides 😀 That IS however my specialty. That is the part I love. I love the refinement. More news soon!
March 2, 2015 – Day Off
March 1, 2015
Today was not a scheduled day off (Like Mondays and Fridays) but we wound up spending all day putting up new stalls so day off for Charlie.
February 28, 2015
Originally had big plans for Charlie today but we wound up spending all day buying / picking up pipe panels to expand our corrals. I did sneak in some review time with her before dinner. We started out with about 30 min off approach and retreat in her stall. That is still tough for her. She needs to run around a few laps before she’ll settle so today I went in with no halter and just worked with her till she would walk around following me, at least for the most part. She couldn’t quiet make a full lap around the pen following but her hindquarter yields were good. From there I haltered her and worked on some leading, teaching her to watch me for signals of when to stop and when to start and worked on lightness on the line leading forward.
Finally I thought I’d introduce picking up her hind foot. That did not go as well as I had thought it would!! With my hand she kept pulling away / stepping off away from me so I grabbed my long, soft rope to use as an extension of my arm. She was NOT pleased. Although I had not wanted to deal with an issue like that at that particular moment the rope was already on her foot so now we had to work through it. Every time I’d apply pressure she’d kick out so we worked on that for about 30 min then when she started to settle I was able to increase the pressure and start teaching her to lead by her foot. At first she resisted that pretty strongly too but settled much more quickly to leading backwards by her foot. I worked to reward her as soon as she tried and the lesson went pretty quickly from there. Finally I was able to work around and pick up her right hind foot with my hand without her kicking. Her foot is still “heavier” than it should be but I settled for no rope / no kicking and called it a night.
February 27, 2015 – Off
February 26, 2015
Tied Charlie to her tail tonight to reinforce bending to the right. I don’t usually tie horses around but when I do I try to make sure it is a learning experience so I don’t tie them very tight at first. She was super worried about it at first but soon settled. In my opinion having her learn this way is much safer for me than getting bucked off every time she is asked to move off to the right. She may still buck next time we ride her but we’ll practice bending like this for a couple of sessions on the ground so she can start to follow her nose better. She’ll likely have tomorrow (Friday) off.
February 25, 2015
Well we started off great today. Worked on haltering which still needs to be better. Then I took her to the 50×50 pen and cinched her up straight away with the bareback pad. She didn’t scoot or do anyting silly which was good. Then I lunged her working on upward and downward transitions a bit. Once her upward transitions showed signs of slowing and her downward transitions got snappier (aka she was a little tired) I brought out the saddle. At first she acted like the saddle pad was going to eat her. I re-sacked her out with that a bunch then threw the saddle up. I’ve started to let her take a few steps at a walk with the saddle, even before I drop the cinches, just to see where her mind is about it. She was fine. I simulated cinch pressure a few times. More green lights so I cinched her up. No problems or issues. I am always slow to tighten her cinch and do so in five or six steps.
I lunged her some more with the saddle and everything about her was checking out. Sacked her out some with the stirrups, tossed the rope at her, did some hindquarter disengagement. All good. Perfect! Time to get on. Helmet and bridle in hand. By myself in the ring (but with Joe supervising outside the ring) I mounted up. I always just stand up in the stirrup and kinda lean over her and pat her all over to make sure she doesn’t feel nervous. Again with the green lights. Awesome night so far!!! SO FAR… When I got on her I asked her to yield left and right at a standstill. She was stiff to the right but always has been. She normally loosens up. Asked her to move off and she was stiff / sticky so I tried to help her by asking her to go off to the left or right instead of straight ahead. For three or four minutes we worked on it. I would get a step or two and she’d stop. Another step and she’d stop. Then it happened. She exploded. It felt like she exploded as I was asking her to turn to the right and she lost it. Next thing I know I am on the ground and she is bucking over top of me. I landed in super soft sand and am AOK. I stayed where I fell and covered my neck because I could hear her over top of me and was very lucky that she never stepped on me.
I got up…shaken…Joe lunged her for me some more while I recovered / caught my breath then it was time to get back on. Six months ago that would have been it for me…I would have never got on. I know she isn’t MEAN…she just doesn’t know and I can’t blame her. I didn’t want to not get back on and have that be the way she got to end her night. I got on and Joe had her on the lead line so he could reinforce my leg cues for her. We did this for about ten minutes. She was still tense but we didnt have any more issues and quit on a positive note.
The plan for tomorrow is to work on getting her supple both ways and reinforce yielding to the bit. I’ll repeat again on Friday if I can but usually don’t have time to train on Fridays. Saturday we are hoping to take her OUT on the trail with another rider ponying her while Joe rides her. We’re hoping getting outside will help her move out some and give her a reason to go forward. One thing about training horses is you have to adapt as things go along. We’ll get it figured out!
February 24, 2015
Today, at the start of our lesson, Charlie was super pumped up. Akin to a 2year old race horse pumped up on oats and rolled corn (except she still won’t eat any grain). I had wanted to ride but there was no way I was getting on the horse I pulled out of the stall!! We worked on LOTS of transitions on the lungeline. Mostly canter-trot and trot-canter transitions. Because of her energy she was nailing the upward transitions which is great. We worked both ways up and down up and down. Once she had settled reasonably I went to saddle her. Because of the incident last time I was very careful. At first just putting the saddle on her and walking her a couple of steps. She did scoot and drop the saddle once but was fine after that. Then we practiced simulated cinching. She wants to walk off when I reach for the cinch but stands perfectly still once I have it. Silly mare! So we practiced reaching for the cinch a few times. Finally I cinched her up and asked her to move off and slowly tightened her up. No bucking, no bolting. Exactly what I wanted!!!
From there we worked some more on upward and downward transitions. We worked on hindquarter disengagement with the rope and general desensitization exercises. Finally she started to relax. Of course not until it was already night with very little light. Well, I finally felt, at the end of our session, like she might be safe to ride. I bridled her up and had Joe hold her while I mounted. We have been working on moving off in response to leg pressure. She thus far has needed somebody on the ground to reinforce my leg cues. Today she stepped off pretty easily off of my legs. I did a couple of laps with no help from the ground and she was great so I advised Joe we would be OK by ourselves. I am so proud of Charlie she was awesome! It was our first time in the arena alone together and she was walking off both ways in response to my legs. No trouble at all, never got worried. She was staring off at the shadows a few times so I kept our ride short at about 15 minutes but am SUPER happy. This marks ride 5 for her, my third time on her and so far so good!!
February 23, 2015 – Off
February 22, 2015
Super cold / windy day. Worked on “relationship” stuff in her stall. Grooming, catching, haltering, approach. Just 2-3 min sessions throughout the day.
February 21, 2015
So today I started off with the intentions of riding Charlie for her fifth ride. That is, however, not what happened. We started off with normal lunging work. We’ve been working on changing gaits up and down with vocal cues. I’m hoping it will carry over under saddle and help her understand my leg means go forward. From there we went to saddle up in front of the tack room. That is where I found out that Charlie decided today was “I’m going to bolt every time the cinch touches my belly” day. Three, then four, then five times. I always check it out first…to avoid a wreck…and she wasn’t checking out. Every time I would touch her belly with the cinch she’d dart off and drop the saddle. Because I always check first we didn’t have any wrecks. She’d drop the saddle and I’d start again…just when I thought we had it sorted out and actually put the latigo through the cinch ring to cinch her up she bolted off with the cinch not done up right, saddle slipped and she had a good fit till she got it off. GREAT just what I didn’t want to happen. Such is the nature of horses / horse training. I took her back into her stall and we saddled a LOT. I quit when I had 7 or 8 times saddling AND cinching with no bucking / bolting / or even moving.
From there I lunged her some more with the saddle on. No bucking which is great. I had been specifically working to correct / scold Charlie for bucking with the saddle. She has been standing fine for saddling then bucking as soon as she is cinched. Last saddling and today she was fine and didn’t buck at all with the saddle on (aside for the incident above). From there we went into the obstacle course and worked on obstacles including her first time on the dropoff and first time over the teeter bridge. I have some video I’ll process soon but got some great action shots too! We ended on a great note. The wind got increasingly worse as we worked so riding was not an option. It wouldn’t have been fair to her or safe for me.
February 19-20, 2015 – Off
February 18, 2015
I had planned to have Joe put Charlie’s fourth ride on her at all three gaits. I just am not comfortable enough to do it at this point. Everything started out just like last time except with me on the ground and Joe mounted. Again she didn’t want to move off in response to leg pressure so I would reinforce Joe’s leg cues and if he asked her to move and she didn’t I’d encourage her from the ground. That was going as normal for about 20 seconds when out of no where she got scared and bolted / reared off. In reviewing the video there really wasn’t any bucking and Joe only came off because of her sudden change in direction. She stepped on him in a couple places and he was sore / has some bruising but is otherwise uninjured. I want to clarify that the unpredictable nature of green horses is exactly WHY I don’t like starting horses BUT…this is a colt starting competition, it is what I signed up to do. Joe was in no condition to get back on her but ok with helping me from the ground. Not wanting Charlie to NOT be ridden after bucking a rider off I got on her and we had an absolutely GREAT session for about 20 min at a walk, both ways, stopping, starting and turning around with absolutely NO issues. Still can’t figure out what happened but it is what it is! I have video I’ll upload when I get a chance. I’ve been SUPER busy with a lot of projects.
February 17, 2015
Today I wanted to make sure Charlie was ridden in the interest of forward progress but Joe wasn’t up to riding. Instead he supervised / assisted from the ground while I rode her at a walk. We worked on teaching her to respond to pressure from my leg. Everything went really well. She never felt silly or made me worried that she might explode. We did get in lots of practice because she would walk a few steps, I’d let her commit to the mistake of stopping, and then use that as an opportunity to start again. We quit when she was able to move off my leg at a walk without much assistance from Joe on the ground.
February 15, 2015
Today I trailered Charlie out to Jen and Donna Lyon’s place, Dusty Jeans Ranch in Norco, CA for her second ride. I wanted to see her go through all three gaits with a confident rider. Jen had a friend available to ride her for me. I have to say I was more than pleased with how her second ride went. Charlie’s rider was confident with a secure seat and able to stay out of her way and let her figure out how to move out. She hardly ever touched her mouth and Jen and I worked on the ground to reinforce the riders leg cues for faster speeds. Charlie went through all three gaits without any major issues. No bucks, bolts or spooks. Super positive experience for her again. At the end of the day we worked on some obstacles she had never seen before like pool noodles and a flag. Charlie and I spent about 4-5 hours at a strange ranch with turkeys, chickens, etc and Charlie handled it all really well. She is very much a self confident horse, not too concerned with leaving the company of other horses and content to hang out with us.
February 14, 2015
First ride(s) for Charlie today!! Started out by trailering over to a friends house to take advantage of their round pen and pony horse. Worked at first to get Charlie comfortable ponying around off of another horse. Initially we were going to have someone pony her for the first ride but she was super worried about being approached while being ponied but fine with being approached on the ground. Rather than stress her out we went ahead and did the first ride with no other horses in the area.
At first it was a lot of mounting up and down. First couple of mounts she wanted to scoot off a bit so we asked her to yield her head. Practiced mounting and then flexing from the saddle. Once she was good for that we went ahead and started asking her to move off. She was a little stuck not wanting to move off so I helped from the ground. We repeated this about three or four times and called it quits for the day. Overall I felt it was a very positive experience for her. She never bucked or bolted. She had a couple times she got worried and Joe asked her to stop and then we started again. All in all a very good day for her.
We ended the evening giving her a bath and tying her to dry. Later in the evening the horses were going out for a trail ride so they took Charlie with them. She was a little concerned with barking dogs and cars but again had a very positive experience outside.
February 13, 2015 – OFF
February 12, 2015
Lots of review. Charlie had a bucking fit with the saddle today!! I have video I will upload. Both Joe and I stood up in the stirrups without issue then a truck went by and she decided to buck pretty good. Here are the pictures we submitted for her progress report to the Mustang Heritage Foundation.
Monday, February 9 – Day 4
Excuse the cell phone pictures but that is all I had on me. Today was focused on continued review of groundwork for Charlie. I saddled her up again and she was great. Sacked her out with the kitty food bag, and added bumpers which were no issue UNTIL I decided to tie the kitty food bag around the bumpers! She had a big of a fit and bucked around a bit. The bumpers came off and so I pulled the saddle off to put them on bareback. That way she CAN buck them off, then I can put them back on, and we can repeat until it is just easier not to buck. I always worry about tying stuff to the saddle that a horse is going to panic and try and run through a panel so I just backed up a bit to make her more comfortable. Well that and it is a little scary to be in a 24×24 pen when a horse gets to bucking which is why I don’t normally saddle my TIP horses. All in all she did great though. She’s doing good for grooming stuff like fly spray and having her mane and tail brushed, can be curried all over etc. I need to start working with her feet though.
Sunday, February 8 – Day 3
Lots and lots of fun with Charlie today. She did everything I asked of her and remained calm cool and collected. No attitude, no fighting just easy!! As if she had been gentled and raised from a tiny baby by people and exposed to everything. I don’t think she could be any better if she HAD been raised from the time she was a foal. Super kind mare. She was saddled, bridled, ground driven. She was sacked out with all kinds of stuff including plastic bags and a kitty food sack. She tolerated me jumping up and around her back and kind of fumbling around with a stool and a chair. When everything was all said and done she ALSO got her first bath. Including scrubbing her whole body, and washing her mane and tail. She went over the obstacle course and even tied…I don’t want to say “learned” to tie because I tied her and she stood there. So she ties 😀
Pictures
Video
Pictures from Day 3
February 7, 2015 – Day 2
Today Charlie had three short training sessions. She finished her dinner but as of 2:00 had not eaten breakfast at all so I am taking it easy on her. Overall she seems quiet and settled, doesn’t seem stressed at all. We did three 10 min training sessions today. Once just approach and retreat, she was good enough that she can be in her stall without the lead rope now! Second session was desensitization with a pool noodle, third lesson was a little bit of leading and braiding her mane. Really happy with this mare, she’s kind and not overly spooky or jumpy. Here are a few pictures from today. I’ll be processing video soon.
Meet “Charlie”. She is a 2010 bay mustang mare from Stone Cabin HMA. She is my “draw” for the Extreme Mustang Makeover. All trainers were assigned horses randomly and I am SUPER pleased with Charlie! She’s got a baby doll head and great conformation. Nice and plump too. Heavier than I keep my own but PERFECT weight to start training!
She haltered and loaded uneventfully. When we got home she was nervous and pacing and did try to jump out of her pen once (unsuccessfully). She soon figured out she was OK and has started to settle. She seems to be a smart curious mare. She already is taking carrots from me and I’ve been able to touch her muzzle, forehead and cheek. She’s started learning how to yield to the lead rope and picked that up fairly quickly! I started working with her today on getting used to being touched by the lash of the lunge whip. At first she’d move off and circle her pen. When that didn’t make the lash stop touching her she’d stand and I’d retreat. I think she’s going to be a lot of fun and I am happy to have the opportunity to work with her! Here are a few pictures:
