Ellie

 

Ellie is a 6 yo BLM mustang mare. Ellie is a pretty sorrel mare. She was gathered from Twin Peaks HMA in California as a 2 year old. Ellie 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 Ellie’s training progress!!

 

September 20, 2014

More work with Ellie. This time she wore the big saddle and breast collar. Again that was no issue. Took her for another walk around the obstacle course. Will post video but here are some pictures in the mean time!

September 16, 2014

Another great night for Ellie. First time being saddled and she did great. No buck at all. Really happy with how well she and Fiona have handled saddling. Bucking is pretty normal for any horse domestic or wild bred so I am more than pleasantly surprised that both mares are doing so well with it!

September 15, 2014

Tonight I decided to do something new and introduced Ellie to the bareback pad. That didn’t bother her so I gradually introduced cinch pressure. No worries there either. I moved her out a bit both ways and still no problem. She was absolutely great. Not one buck. Let her wear the pad for about an hour in her stall and she never worried about it one bit.

Ellie_saddlepad

Youtube “enhancements” is working on lightening the video. This is why I normally don’t have as many videos during the winter 😀 I run out of light. I apologize for the quality.

September 14, 2014

Lots of fun with Ellie on the obstacle course. Check out her video!

September 11, 2014

Worked with Ellie for about 10 min today on desensitization, haltering, and reviewing picking up feet. She’s doing great allowing her front feet to be picked out with the hoof pick.

September 3, 2014

Great training session with Ellie tonight. We covered lots of stuff including another trip to the obstacle course where she dominated the obstacles! We tackled the tire, both bridges, logs on the ground and even the mattress. She was great! Then we worked on picking up feet. She is very good with her front feet and we are picking them up daily. She is still a little apprehensive about her back feet but never kicks out just takes her a minute to stand still. Such a nice mare! We were able to get lots of pictures before we lost light completely!

August 31, 2014

Gave Ellie her second bath today. She was much better than the first time. I think next time she will be perfect. She still got a little worried at first but never tried to kick at the water this time. After her bath she stood tied at the tie rail, out in the open, for about an hour. She is doing really well with that! After she was dry I took her to the back of the property and practiced lunging each way, disengaging her hind quarters and going the other direction. She is a little worried about doing the right thing but stays with me and doesn’t try to take off or do anything silly. Really good training day for her today!

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August 30th, 2014

Worked with Ellie for the first time to pick out her front feet. At first she was worried about the sensation and she really had some stuff packed in so we had to dig at it. Once she got used to the sensation she was no problem! She has continued to get better with her back feet. There is no anticipation about touching them, something we are still working on with the front. Right now we are asking her to just pick them up for a second and not holding them for any prolonged period and she is doing great. Not kicking (she never has) or trying to walk off.

August 27th, 2014 

Work has continued with Ellie. She is pretty good about haltering, pretty consistent with picking up her front feet although we are still working on having her not anticipate picking them up. With time she’ll get it. We’ve added brushing to our daily ritual and even taken her out on the obstacle course. She’s coming along nicely!

August 6, 2014 

Worked with Ellie tonight on NOT picking up her front feet! She’s starting to really anticipate being asked for her feet so our main focus tonight was just having her let me rub them. Also reviewed backing, she has the hang of that! Video was shot with a cell phone. Keep in mind it isn’t the easiest thing to work with a mustang and video at the same time 😀

August 4, 2014 

Worked with Ellie on reviewing the basics. Desensitization to the leadrope and picking up her front feet. Started teaching her to accept grooming particularly over her hips and hind quarters from both sides. Introduced flexion in response to the lead rope. That took a little bit of practice because she kept wanting to move her feet rather than yield her head. Also started introducing backing up in response to the rope. Worked on disengaging the hindquarters on both sides and yielding the front end for lots of changes of directions.

August 1, 2014 

More review. Approach and retreat went very well. Worked with her on some desensitization to the stick and string and picking up her front feet. Great lesson for her tonight!

July 30, 2014 

Worked with Ellie just to review the basics. I didn’t plan a long session for her, more a review. Everything we did at liberty. Approach and retreat which took a few minutes at first. Once she settled down approaching and rubbing both sides of her neck was no issue. From there we did some of our liberty work on figure eights in her pen and disengaging her hind quarters. She was great!

July 15 – July 29

A lapse in training logs has occurred due to me needing to focus on rebuilding the website after a major crash. Ellie has had a few training days since July 15th. Most recently she has had 7 days of complete rest from training due to  my needing to focus on other things.

July 15, 2014 – Training Day 5

Worked with Ellie today on lots of approach and retreat. She was super quiet and I was easily able to approach her to snap the lead line on. We continued working with sensitizing exercises like yielding her hind quarters and desensitizing exercises with the rope. Tonight we also introduced the flag. She was very good about it on her left and right sides as long as I didn’t touch her with it. The noise and movement didn’t bother her at all. She got very worried the first time it touched her on the left side and even bolted off a few steps when it touched her on the right side. By the end of the night she was confident enough to stand for the flag to touch her on both sides. Never broke a sweat or got too worried. She’ll need continued reinforcement but she did great. Also took her halter off for the first time. Here is a picture taken the morning after this training session. I think she looks good naked don’t you?

July 14, 2014 – Training Day 4

Today I worked to detangle Ellie’s mane. She was pretty easy to catch, then I worked with her on yielding her hind quarters and desensitization with the rope. We also worked again with desensitization to the rope being thrown over her back, hindquarters and legs. She is doing really well with that. We reinforced leading and are continuing to work towards getting her to follow the feel of the rope. Detangling her mane was quite the project. Luckily she is a pretty quiet mare so I was able to work on it without having to worry about her. After about 30 minutes all of her knots came out. Not too bad! Check out the pictures. Isn’t she a pretty girl!

July 12 & 13 – OFF

Training Day 3 – July 11, 2014

Worked with Ellie again on approach and retreat and petting both sides of her neck. Measured her with the height stick. She is 14.2h tall. She should be able to have her halter off by the next session!

Training Day 2 – July 10, 2014

Ellie was great. Started her on leading and touched both sides of her neck. Really great session. By the end of the lesson I could walk up to either side and pet on her without her wanting to run off or acting scared at all.

Training Day 1 – July 9, 2014

Ellie is a good girl to work with. She is scared of her new situation but still thinks about what she is doing and tries to evaluate the best way to handle it. She ostriched a couple times on me, trying to hide her head and ignore me. She soon realized that didn’t work. Once that was established she was great, turns to the inside left and right and even rubbing her with the stick. She should come around very nicely!

 

Arrival Day – July 9, 2014

At the Corrals

Status

Adopted!

Details

YOB: 2008

HMA:  Twin Peaks, CA

Height: 14.3 hands

Gather Date: 08/16/2010

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