What's Going On!!

Since I have brought Patriot home he has been doing great. I am so glad that my parents let me keep him. I have been working on getting on him and he doesn't seem to mind. He is already as big as my 4 year old Kryptonite. My training has been stopped for a while because he has decided to hurt his leg. He got caught up in our gate and I think he ended up spraining it. He is slowly starting to heal. I can't wait till he is better so we can get back to work!!!

Patriot and fire, tarps and blankets!

We all know that exposure is everything when training a mustang. I try to expose my horses to everything I can think of that includes fires, saddles, tarps, winter blankets. Anything I can think of becomes material for training. We just don't know what might happen once we get on their back, so the more I expose him to before that time, the better able he will be able to handle the situation.

Patriot's second outing-first horse show Sept 18, 2010

Patriot's first show and he walks away with a couple of ribbons. We got 3rd in halter and 7th in showmanship. I was uber proud of my little guy!!!
Patriot wen to his first horse show. This was only his second time to be trailered. He was amazing. He was a little nervous at first, but he calmed down almost immediately. He was one of the better behaved horses at the show. Pretty sad, when you consider the horses there were seasoned show horses. It didn't even bother him when other horses backed into him. He just turned his head to look at them and wonder why they couldn't stand as still as he was standing.

He was entered in a showmanship class, halter class and a color/solid class. The judge really liked him, thought he was the cutest horse she has seen. She said that he reminded her a of horse that she had when she was younger.

Patriot did extremely well at the show. As you can see by the level of his head, he is extemely calm.

Even when surrounded by a lot of horses he still remains calm.

Walking back to the stall. Even the concrete didn't bother him. There were some pretty big water puddles from the rain that I took him through also. But he could care less about those things.

Getting some loving by me and my sister. Patriot was so wonderful all day long. It was his second time ever to be trailered since bringing him home in July, it was his first time around a lot of horses(and some were not very well behaved), it was his first time around a PA system that was very loud and he just wasn't bothered by any of it. I have to be the luckiest person in the world to have such a wonderful partner.

Waiting.....

More waiting......

Patriot's first outing-Sept 11, 2010

Patriot is going on his first trip since bringing him home. I had a drill team party so I figured that would be the perfect time to bring him along. He would get to meet all of my friends and be exposed to having many horses around him. We trailered him with Trigger-Mr. Dependable. I figured having a super calm horse riding with him for the first time would be perfect. Patriot was perfect the entire trip.

Still working on the trot at a lead, sometimes, he trots right away and sometimes I am dragging him behind me.

Isn't he gorgeous! He is such a pretty horse and he has the personality to go with it.

Taa-Daa!!!

Going underneath Patriot. He just looked at me as if to say, "What the heck?"

Labor Day Weekend

Decided it was time to introduce the saddle. Patriot has been very accepting of everything I have introduced to him so I was hoping that the saddle would be the same. He didn't have a big issue with me raising the saddle above his back and even when I set it down on his back.

He wasn't real sure about the girth though I have placed a rope around the girth area. But, it had been some time since I had done that-the beginning of his training as a matter of fact. So, I guess he did well considering the time that it had been since I had done that.
Walking around with the saddle was no big deal either.
OK, so he did not like me rocking the saddle back and forth, but he got over it very quickly.

What about speeding it up a bit. Now for lunging with the saddle. How would he react to the stirrups bobbing up and down?
No big deal either. I know mom was waiting for that picture of him kicking up his heels in an attempt to remove the horse eating saddle, but it just didn't happen.
Look at how still he is standing to have the saddle removed. He's a champ!

So here Patriot's learning to pivot in a box. He learns so quickly.

Here I'm introducing the saddle pad to him.....

Doesn't even faze him....

He doesn't even mind when I lean on the saddle pad either

The dreaded horse eating tarp.....

You want me to do what on the horse eating tarp?!

So this blue thing....it's not going to eat me?

I guess it's all right to walk on it, if you promise it won't eat me.

Woah wait a minute....what am I supposed to do now? Wear what?!!

You mean like this?

NUH-UH NO WAY!!!! This thing is really trying to eat me!!!

Ok...so maybe it won't eat me.....maybe if I stand real still, it'll disappear!!!

Drill team

My other passion is Drill Team. Currently I am using my mom's gelding, Trigger. Trigger is, but has not always been, a very reliable horse. He is the perfect example of how when you spend the right amount of time on their back, they become a different horse. Since we began Drill, he has made a complete turn around from the horse he used to be. He is easy going and will do just about anything you ask him to do. When I first started drill team 3 years ago, he was sooo afraid of the flag. But look at him now. We were lead horse/rider for both the Grand Entry(flag drill) and our regular drill. He is the horse that we put all beginners on and he is especially good with little kids and people with special needs. He should be a therapy horse-he is that good!!!

I am currently training one of my mustangs; Kryptonite, for drill. He will be the horse I use next year for the regular drill. That way I can get a little stress off of Trigger.

The pictures below are from the last couple of weeks of training. I have introduced a lot of new things to Patriot. He is a sponge soaking it all up.
I introduced the trailer to Patriot, He wasn't too sure about it. Probably remembering that long ride home from Mississippi

He was brave enough to check out the inside. Good start for the first night.

Patriot loves water, especially when you spray his mouth.

As hot as it has been, a spray off with cool water is quite refreshing.

I do a lot of desensitizing. Here I am jumping from the podium straight at Patriot. He didn't move an inch. Can you say Spook in Place??? What a good boy he is.

Ponying Patriot with Trigger-Mr Dependable.

First attempt at loading Patriot in the trailer. It was getting pretty late as you can tell.

But, he followed me on without any hesitations.

Backing is coming along great. Much better than my previous mustangs. I don't have to cue him very much to get the back.

Trailer loading the second day. Again, he follows me on without hesitation.

Backing out was a different story. He didn't want to step down. So I turned him around in hopes that he would not explode out of the trailer.

Look at how calmly he stepped out of the trailer.

PIG! He couldn't even step completely off of the trailer to grab a bite to eat. I was really pleased that he did not explode out of the trailer.

I'm suppose to do what???

Experimenting with work above Patriot. He doesn't really care.

Leaning a little bit on him.

And putting my weight on him. I even rubbed under his belly where a cinch would go. He could care less.

Patriot is doing amazing. I am uber pleased with his training. He is solid on all of his ground work and he is so smart. He is a working horse, he doesn't like a lot of lovey dovey stuff, just likes to work and is eager to please.