Mariah
Mariah is a 4yo Bay mare who was born in a facility. She is 15.1 h tall. She is in training as part of Mustang Heritage Foundation’s Trainer Incentive Program. Mariah will be halter started, lead, load and pick up all four feet. Mariah is NOT trained to ride.
Internet Adoption Update
This mare (now 6 years old) is on the current BLM internet adoption. Her number is #1412. We believe she was saddled in her new home but don’t think much else was done with her. Her adopter returned her after almost a year saying she would have difficulty retaining her training. She is a HUGE mare and definitely big enough for ANY rider. This mare is the definition of “bulldog” type. While we had her we noticed she was very confident with people, easily approached etc but could be insecure and nervous when taken away from the herd.
CLICK to see her on the Internet Adoption
August 20, 2014
Tonight we took Mariah over to the obstacle course for the first time. We introduced her to the step over logs, bridge and tire. She was great!
-
- Whoa! What the heck is that!!
August 19, 2014
Here are some pictures from Mariah’s walk this morning.
August 18, 2014
Worked with Mariah leading around the property. She has only been out a handful of times and is unsure what to do out by herself. Each time she goes out she gets more and more brave!
July 15, 2014 – Training Day 5
Worked with Mariah on haltering and picking up both front feet. We worked on yielding her hind quarters, leading, and sending each direction. She was much improved today overall and offered no resistance.
July 14, 2014 – Training Day 4
Started off today thinking about picking up Mariahs feet. I didn’t anticipate a problem because she is so confident about people in her space. I started with her front left foot. First using a rope to get her used to the concept of picking up her foot and holding it. That went smoothly so I transitioned her to picking up the foot with my hand. No problem there either. Awesome! Next up was the right front foot. I started the same as with the left, putting a rope around the foot. That went OK. Went to pick up the foot with my hand and she moved off. No worries, lets go back a step. Went to put the rope around her leg again and she moved off again. I know she isn’t scared of the rope or me in her space so I helped her move her feet a bit by asking her to send off in a circle. The concept of hey, you feel you need to move your feet, no big deal, let me help you. After the first circuit around her pen (at a trot), Miss Mariah decided she was done. When I encouraged her to continue moving by slapping my hand against my thigh she protested by threatening to kick me. She didn’t want to move any more and how dare I tell her to keep going. Well, the feet excerise went to the wayside and I needed to address who moves who’s feet. About 15 minutes later Mariah was easily going around her pen in both directions, turning to the inside and not protesting at all. We ended with a good rub down all over her body with my hand and lots of easy desensitizing type exercises with the rope over her back and legs etc.
This training session was a reminder that even for the easy ones…we still need to establish who moves who’s feet!
July 12 & 13 – OFF
July 11, 2014 – Training Day 3
Didn’t work with Mariah much today other than to measure her. She is a solid 15h tall!
July 10, 2014 – Training Day 2
Continued to work with Mariah on leading. We even ventured out of the stall for the first time. She had a little bit of worry about the threshold of the gate but that is pretty normal. We walked all the way down to the end of the alley and then back to her stall. She was great!
July 9, 2014 – Training Day 1
Mariah is super easy so far. She loves to be loved on. She can already be haltered and has no fear of approaching humans. Today we started the process of teaching her to lead. She is a very smart mare. She did offer some resistance at first but as soon as she figured out the concept she was more than happy to follow the feel of the rope. After her leading lesson I worked with her with the stick and string to see if there are any spots she is worried about. So far so good, she is fine being touched with the stick all the way down her back legs, under her belly etc!
[iframe height=”360″ width=”640″ frameborder=”0″ src=”http://www.magisto.com/embed/OVsaOkUAGTIzUUNnCzE”]July 9, 2014 – Arrival Day
