This is the announcement the Mary posted on January 17, 2022;
My first exciting announcement of 2022! I’m competing in the Florida Extreme Mustang Makeover at the end of April! I have roughly 100 days to train this 4-year-old gelding I drew, and am going to need every one of those days, he’s just a bit snorty
Mary, Dark Horse Training AcademyHe is a little rough looking right now but I’m thinking he’s going to have quite the glow-up over the next few months!
I was going to call my new EMM mustang “yellow” or “snorts” but I’m sure you all can come up with a better name that will be more appealing to his potential adopters after his transformation.
January 18, 2022 – EMM Mustang Day 1 (Photos): Made our first physical contact!
He basically hasn’t stopped snorting since he got here and hasn’t let me get within six feet of him in the stall. Yesterday when I went in his stall to change his water buckets he made a medium-threatening charge at me. I’d intended to work him off a pony horse his first few sessions but that definitely solidified my intent. I’ll be using my big sexy sale-horse Tex for these sessions as its exponentially easier with a finished, push-button pony horse.
So this morning we herded the mustang from his stall, through the arena and into the round pen for his first official training session! I roped him (on my second try) and as expected he reacted strongly to the pressure. I kept a steady pressure using Tex and anytime the mustang would give in I’d loosen the rope.
It took him about 30 minutes to figure out that he was no longer in control of where he went in the round pen and that we were in charge.
Once he knew where the release of pressure came from he starting looking for it and I used Tex to disengage his hindquarters both ways and get him moving forward, following the feel of the rope. Anytime time he would stop thinking and simply try to leave I would dally off on the horn and use Tex to stop him. This was much more efficient than trying to do this myself on the ground. While the mustang could easily drag me around, he’s not quite strong enough to do that with a 1100lb quarter horse.
After he was following the rope I would stop Tex in front of him, extend my hand, and encourage him to reach for it by staying just out of range so he wouldnt think I was actually trying to touch him. This piqued his natural curiosity and made him want to sniff my hand. Anytime he would try to reach I would take my hand back a little to release the pressure. After about ten minutes of this he let me touch him on the nose, then the forehead.
I wanted to get the tag off from around his neck but it was a little too much for him today. I’m happy with what we accomplished this morning, he will have until tomorrow morning to simmer on what he learned today. Seems like a fairly quick learner!
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