Cleo

 

Cleo is a 7 yo BLM mustang mare available for adoption for $125 via the Trainer Incentive Program. Visit the link above to find out about the adoption process. It really is easy!

Cleo is a beautiful gray mare from Saulsbury HMA. Cleo is not broke to ride although with training she should make a very nice riding horse. Be sure to bookmark this page, like us on Facebook and subscribe on YouTube to ensure you have the most up to date information about Cleo’s training progress!!

 

July 1, 2014

Cleo has been delivered to her new home. She loaded quietly and unloaded quietly!

June 26, 2014

Worked with Cleo on saddling and picking up her feet. She now has the basics of picking up all four feet! Still needs refinement but she can do it!

June 24, 2014

Worked with Cleo on picking up her back feet. She was a little worried about it and not wanting to stand still but we worked through it and ended on a positive note!

June 23, 2014

Worked with Cleo on the obstacle course again including our new squeeze obstacle. She did very welL!

June 18th, 2014

Continuing to work with Cleo on haltering and picking up her front feet. She is progressing very nicely!

June 6th, 2014

Worked with Cleo to teach her to load into our stock trailer. She was no trouble at all!

June 5th, 2014

Cleo wore the boat bumpers tonight in preparation for saddling. Still no buck. Such a nice girl!!

June 4th, 2014

Vivian and I both worked with Cleo on approach and retreat.

June 3rd, 2014

Vivian worked with Cleo on approach and haltering as well as desensitization to the rope and stick and string.

June 2, 2014

I worked with Cleo on getting her used to being touched on her body, front legs down to her knees and back legs down to her hocks in preparation for learning how to pick up her feet. She did very well with that so I started working lower on her front legs all the way down. Once she was OK with touch all the way to her hoof I started asking her to pick up her front feet. She still isn’t sure about it but does it. Great progress for her tonight!

June 1st, 2014

Worked with more desensitization to the bareback pad, introduced ring rope for cinch pressure then bareback pad. Cinched her up and she didn’t have any trouble with it at all. Moved her out both directions. Working on touching down to her knees and hocks with my hand. Lots of approach and retreat.

 

May 31st, 2014

Desensitiztion with the flag. Worked on belly, legs, body and being able to to touch her with the flag and starting to touch her with my hand. She is getting better with haltering every day!

May 30, 2014

Worked on approach and retreat with Cleo.

May 28, 2014

Worked with Cleo on haltering and desensitization to touch. She’s doing great on her left side but really isn’t sure about me touching her on the right side. That’s OK she’ll learn its OK and maybe even fun to be groomed / allow me on on both sides!

May 27, 2014

Haltered Cleo and moved her to a different pen but didn’t really work with her this evening.

May 26, 2014

Worked with Cleo again on the obstacle course as review for yesterday. She was very good and even went over the platform bridge for the first time!

May 25, 2014

Worked with Cleo again on the obstacle course. She is doing great and is very brave.  Be sure to check out her video!

 

May 23, 2014

Worked with Cleo on reviewing desensitization to the flag. Then Vivian worked to introduce her to the saddle blanket for the very first time! Overall a very good session for Cleo.

 

May 21, 2014

Haltered Cleo this evening and worked with desensitizing her to the plastic bag on the end of my stick. She really did well. A little more concerned about the right side than the left but stood pretty quietly for the whole thing. Great session for her!

May 20, 2014

Basic approach and retreat for Cleo. Just worked with her until she was comfortable for me to approach and rub her and ended on a good note!

May 19, 2014

Worked with Cleo on desensitization and approach and retreat. Haltered her several times and rub on her as well as started teaching her to turn her face to the inside in preparation for haltering. Haltered and unhaltered her a few times and ended on a good note!

May 18, 2014 

Continuing to work with Cleo on desensitization. We also practiced haltering for the first time today. Cleo is now living in her stall with no halter so we can continue to work with her on this skill each day.

May 12, 2014 – Day 14
Training Day 11

Continued desensitization with Cleo. She now no longer wears her lead rope in her pen but still wears her halter. Today we had visitors at the ranch and she learned to cope with rambunctious children climbing on the front of her corral panel while being worked on the ground! We will start desensitizing her to having her legs touched and work towards picking up her feet.

May 11, 2014 – Day 13
Training Day 10

Today was the day! Miss Cleo finally came out of her stall for the first time on a lead rope! Taking her out of her stall took a little bit of convincing. Once out of her stall she lead around the ranch really nicely and didn’t have any issues. She was so confident about the excursion we decided to try her out on the obstacle course. She was quite concerned at first about what we were asking of her when we would approach an obstacle. Once she walked over a few poles she understood the object was to step over! All of the flat obstacles were then no problem so we decided to try her on the teeter bridge. At first she was very concerned with the teetering. After a few trials she realized it wasn’t hurting her and started to attempt to go over. All in all a very good session for Cleo! Note: The video shows her obstacle course work stuff because it is more interesting. The leading portion was the VERY first time she came out of her stall on a lead rope. She was soo good we thought she would be OK to try the obstacle course. We were right!

 

May 8&9 – Day 10 & 11
Training Day 8 & 9

Continued to work on desensitization and leading in preparation for taking Cleo out of her stall for the first time!

May 7, 2014 – Day 9
Training Day 7

We are continuing to work with Cleo on approach and retreat. She settles much more quickly now. She is working on the fundamentals of leading and seems like she will be very soft! More practice with leading next session and she should be ready to start coming out of her stall very soon!

 

May 5, 2014 – Day 7
Training Day 6

Worked with Miss Cleo again today on desensitization to the stick and string. She made good progress although was a little bit more reactive than I would have thought she would be after yesterday’s lesson. We ended on a good note after she was able to accept the stick and string on both sides.

May 4, 2014 – Day 6
Training Day 5

Desensitization with the stick and string was almost a non-issue for Cleo today so that was our signal to start working on other things. My goal this weekend was to get a lead rope attached to her halter so that she can start teaching herself to give to pressure. In order to do that I needed to be able to get close enough to snap the lead line on. I used my long rope and looped it around her neck so that I could start teaching her the basics of leading by yielding her front end and asking her to look at me with two eyes. I started this lesson on both sides and it took her a little bit but she finally started to understand the concept and would turn her body in to me when asked. Sometimes really light sometimes I needed to pull but thats OK, lightness will continue to develop over time.

Now that she knew how to yield her front end a bit it was time to start trying to get close to her. I started by rubbing her with the horsemans stick and gradually decreasing the distance I stood from her while I did that. She was still quite concerned with my proximity and would trot off, then stop and allow me to approach again. We worked at that for a bit but weren’t really making progress. Sometimes a different perspective will help a horse so I asked my husband Joe to work with her. He isn’t as light as I am and his timing isn’t perfect but he’s patient with them. Cleo and Joe worked together for about 10 min before she was confident enough to stand still and finally allow first contact! Joe did lots of approach and retreat and Cleo did lots of lip licking and yawning. Once she was consistently good with him approaching and rubbing her shoulder and neck I went in and continued to work with her.
Slowly but surely I was able to gain her confidence enough that she allowed me to snap the leadline on. Once the leadline was on I removed the neck rope and continued to work with her for a few more minutes. Cleo was so calm and relaxed by this point that we decided to see what she thought of the measuring stick. It was a non issue. She is 14.1 on uneven ground so likely 14.2. Really good for Cleo. We are really liking how this mare has settled in and she is coming around nicely!

 

May 3, 2014 – Off

May 2, 2014 – Day 4

Worked with cleo on desensitization to the stick and string. She is getting much better, much less reactive and really still settling nicely.

May 1, 2014 – Day 3

Worked with Cleo on turns to the inside and eye contact. She is getting better and better each day!

April 30, 2014 – Day 2

Cleo was MUCH better this evening. She clearly has started to settle. She isn’t nearly as reactive or flighty and is finding it much easier to stand still. I didn’t work with her this evening, just cleaned her pen, and am hoping that having the night off but still being able to see me working with the horse in the pen next to her will help her gain some confidence in her new surroundings.

April 29, 2014 – Day 1

PM – Today’s training session with Cleo wasn’t really a training session it was really just some desensitization. It really worries Cleo that I am in her stall. So when I stand in the middle of the stall that exceeds her flight threshold (12′ away) and she feels pressured and has to keep her feet moving. If I back off to one side of the pen (24′ away) she still feels a little pressured but settles more. Right now her flight distance is about 30′. So if I am about 30′ away she feels confident enough to stand still in her pen. We will need to work over the coming days to decrease that flight distance!

AM – Cleo unloaded very uneventfully and trotted into her new pen. She is a little bit worried about the change in her environment but she’ll have several hours to settle down before I get in the pen with her this evening for a few minutes.

IMG_4868

 

At the Corrals

Here are some pictures of Cleo at the corrals.

Adoption Status

Adopted!

General Information

HMA: Saulsbury, NV
YOB: 2007
Height: 15.0h
Date Gathered: 02/02/2012

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