Week Two down!

Week two down. As you can see Patriot and Kirstin are moving right along. I do not believe that I have ever seen a horse who is so willing to please as Patriot is. He is doing everything that Kirstin has asked and he is doing these things really well. She has been working on turning. A big problem she had last year with Tuff was turning of the fore quarter, not with Patriot. Patriot is making great fore quarter turns, not turn pivoting turns yet, but turning very easily. Of course, hind quarter turns are a piece of cake and he is pivoting quite nicely for them. Lungeing is going well and he is picking up on voice cues. Leading, he follows like a puppy dog, picking up hooves-he is at the point that he anticipates the next hoof and has it ready to be picked up. Kirstin introduced fly spray last night. Fly spray has always been a little bit of work to get any of her past horses to accept. It didn't happen in one night for them. But,Patriot could care less. He didn't move an inch when Kirstin started spraying him and he stayed perfectly still for both sides. Kirstin was amazed, she was prepared for a fight. Not happening, She also worked on backing using the Clinton Anderson method as just applying pressure didn't work. This is working, by the end of the training she just had to waive the stick to get a back. Patriot trusts her that much already!

Mustang Patriot Week 1

Week 1 has been absolutely amazing. Patriot has been very cooperative with Kirstin. He is a very quick learner. I don't think that the bond has formed just yet, at least not in the way that Tuff did. But, Patriot now views Kirstin as lead horse and although he might not always want to do what is asked, he does so out of repect. I'm beginning to think that this is better than the way Tuff was. Tuff was so laid back and at times came across as lazy or half doing things. I am hoping that this is different with Patriot. Patriot has to try for the right answer and he is trying very hard, you can see that he is looking for the right answer. Luckily Kirstin makes that easy on him. She has become much more clear and concise in what she is asking for and has become very easy to read. She has learned so much with each and every Mustang that she has worked.

Mustang Patriot Week 1

Patriot's beautiful face!

Patriot's ears are not the normal horse ears, they turn in at the top point. I am sure that this will revel some of his background, just not sure what that might be.

A Bond is Formed!

No other words are needed for this!

2nd day of training-flag and rope training!

2nd day, Kirstin worked with the flag and rope. Patriot didn't mind the rope as it reached some really itchy parts but the flag was a different story. He was pretty sure that this thing was going to eat him. It didn't take long though for him to accept the fact that this thing wasn't going to leave him alone, nor was it going to eat him.

Patriot's first day in his new home and 1st training session

Obviously, these are not in order. But Kirstin started her first training session with the can pole. Patriot was not overly concerned by the pole. Kirstin was able to touch him all over with the pole even under the tail and in the flank area which can be a huge concern for a horse who was gelded just a few months ago(like Patriot was. She did sneak an actual touch in there, but Patriot wasn't too sure about that move, he preferred the distance of the cane pole between them.

Patriot's second day in his new home.

Notice Patriot's face, what's missing? The escape artist in him showed up sometime between us waking up and eating breakfast. We woke up and the halter was on, Kirstin went out to do her first training and the halter was off. I; being her mom, was a little concerned, but not Kirstin. She just said it was no big deal. She would get it back on. She did 3 training sessions yesterday. She started out with the cane pole and worked her way up to her petting him by the third session. She was beside herself, she just couldn't believe this was happening so fast. Last night she came in and said guess what? She showed me Patriot's neck rope/number and then told me she got his halter back on. Go figure, mom and her camera was not outside to capture that!

Mustang Patriot coming out of the chute in Piney Woods, Mississippi. We walk right into the chute, let them halter him and walk right out of the chute into our trailer. No freaking out or anything. Isn't he a beauty!!! The ride home was long but uneventful. Patriot took the long ride like a champ. Didn't seem to be in least bit stressed out by it, he drank and ate at every stop that we made.

Mustang Patriot

Pictures will be coming soon, hopefully tomorrow. My computer here at home is just too slow to try to upload photos. We made it to Mississippi on Friday evening, located the pickup in Piney Woods, MS and then settled down to a very rainy evening. Saturday morning we were up and ready to roll by 7:00am, we wanted to make sure we were one of the first couple in line. We were the second ones to arrive there. Pens were full of beautiful mustangs. Kirstin was anxious to find out which one was to be hers. She was assigned a beautiful black gelding from Wyoming. He has a beautiful full mane and tail. He is a lot taller than Tuff was, but appears to be realitively calm in nature, but not so laid back that Kirstin will have to work to get him to work. He walked right into the chute and didn't give the handlers any problems getting the halter on. He then walked very calmly out of the chute and right onto our trailer. It didn't take him anytime at all to settle in and get his trailer legs. He stood backward the entire trip. We made several stops along the way and opened up the middle gate so that he could walk around. We gave him hay and water at these stops which he gladly consumed. We were relieved to see that he wasn't so stressed out. He moved easily back into the front of the trailer when it was time to hit the road again. We didn't arrive home until about 11:00pm, backed the trailer up to his new home. He wasn't to sure about leaving the trailer, didn't know what awaited him in the dark. Patriot finally decided that it couldn't be all bad, so he calmly stepped down into his new home.
Went out this morning, when all of the other horses started neighing, he neighed. He had his halter on at this time. But, when Kirstin went back out after breakfast, he had removed his halter. So, now he is halterless. He was calm enough that Kirstin started training. She was able to rub him all over with the cane pole on both sides. He appears to be very one sided right now, but it won't take Kirstin long to get him over that. He has approched her, but she is taking it slow for now. She is on his time schedule right now. The day will come very soon when he is on her time schedule. Check back, hopefully sometime tommorrow I will get pictures posted.

We leave today!

We are leaving in a couple of hours for Mississippi to pick up Kirstin's mustang. We are making a stop over tonight to visit a friend in Louisiana and will leave there tomorrow morning to head to Mississippi. We will spend the night in Mississippi and then hopefully be one of the first, if not the first in line to pick up Patriot. That's the name that Kirstin has picked out.
Kirstin is soooo excited about finally getting her yearling and can't wait to get him or her home to start working with it. She has grown and learned so much since her first year. We love to watch her when she trains because we saw how she was that first year and how she is now. She has so much more confidence in what she is doing and it shows. She learns right along with the horse. They learn from each other which makes for the perfect partnership. Photos will be posted as soon as possible so check back.

Mustang Pickup

Kirstin was anticipating picking up her yearling this weekend, but due to some problems that the BLM was having getting the necessary paper work completed, the pick up date has been moved to next weekend. She will be picking up her mustang on June 19. She is extremely eager to get started and this delay really is getting to her.
Kirstin was also hired as an American Mustang Representative II through the Mustang Heritage Foundation. One of the requirements is running a social media page such as a blog. She has started a separate one for this. Please visit www.kkmustangs.blogspot.com. I will keep this one running and she will run the other one. Her second one will not only contain updates on her new mustang but Kirstin will incorporate the requirements for her new job which is bringing awareness to the Mustang and its' plight. She is learning a lot about the history of the mustang and will share that as well.