Those of you who have read my blog entries from last winter already know it was the snowiest and coldest on record in Massachusetts, not the optimal time for taking care of five horses. (Missing in the above action is our little ten-hand Shetland Kip. She had wisely parked herself in the deepest reaches of the run-in shed.) And it certainly was not the optimal time for me to receive this e-mail from Juliane, my friend, former student, and now fellow trainer whom I've known since she was eight years old:
Hi all:
This would be completely crazy.
But totally a dream come true! I didn't know they were coming to MA but applications are due VERY soon.
What do you all think?
I would need a place to keep the horse from April-Aug and therefore need to come up with a couple months' board . . . but what a good investment for my career!
This would be completely crazy.
But totally a dream come true! I didn't know they were coming to MA but applications are due VERY soon.
What do you all think?
I would need a place to keep the horse from April-Aug and therefore need to come up with a couple months' board . . . but what a good investment for my career!
An attachment explained why this would be "completely crazy." The "Extreme Mustang Makeover" was coming to Massachusetts. Any announcement that has the words "Extreme" and "Mustang" in its heading certainly gets my immediate attention.
The Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF), in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), supports and facilitates the adoption of mustangs. The BLM is the federal agency that manages our public lands and the wildlife on it. Every year, in locations throughout the United States, the MHF runs "Mustang Makeovers" so Americans can see up close and personal this symbol of the American West and understand what versatile riding horses they can make. The "Mustang Makeover" in our area was to be in August at the Topsfield Fairgrounds, less than an hour northeast of my farm.
If Juliane's application was approved, she and other participants would pick up their unhandled mustangs in April, at a town just under an hour away, this time to the northwest. The mustangs are randomly assigned, and trainers have no idea what they are getting until they arrive to pick up a horse. They then have one hundred days to ready their animal for the September competition. The top ten trainers, those who have done well in their divisions, move on to the final competition, the freestyle. A freestyle is an original performance designed by the rider and set to music of the rider's choice. After the freestyle all mustangs are put up for auction, giving the public an opportunity to bid on a gentled mustang. Cash prizes of $7,000 dollars for the youth division and $20,000 for the adult divisions is awarded.
I thought it was terrific idea. Very few people who ride horses have had the experience of training a horse from the start, much less a wild mustang. It would be a true test of Natural Horsemanship. I told Juliane that the mustang could stay at Windflower during its training, if she could come up with all expenses concerned, and did all of the training. We've been doing Natural Horsemanship for over twenty years, and Juliane, though just twenty, was certainly more than qualified to take this on. She would graduate from college in just two months and then could devote even more time to this extraordinary project. If things got tight during her exam period I could fill in.
Her application was approved, and we headed off to Orange, MA, one cold and bleak April morning. Our party was made up of Juliane, her friend Jon and fellow horse trainer, and two of our students, Zoe and Katie. While Juliane went off to an office to pick up her paperwork, we went to check out the mustangs in an indoor arena. This is what we saw upon entering (I'm sorry the picture quality is poor, but it was cloudy and I didn't dare use my flash):
Here's a sweet picture of Zoe with one of the burros being offered for adoption. It had obviously been handled some and enjoyed being scratched:
Juliane returned with the tag number of her mustang and was told it was one of the three pintos in the competition. This one matched her number. Meet Rocio ("Dewdrop" in Spanish):
A tobiano (brown and white pinto) with mostly white, she stood somewhere around fourteen hands. She is also visible, barely, in the the first photo of the mustangs in pens. I watched her behavior with the eight or so other horses in the pen. She seemed to be the lowest on the totem pole, always yielding to the slightest aggressive posturing by the others. That could indicate she was timid, possibly spooky, and it might be quite difficult to earn her trust. I would soon learn my assessment was incorrect.
We arrived at the farm early, so there was only one mustang to load before us. We found out all mustangs present for the competition were mares, which made sense. Having the competitors train only mares (or only geldings, as is the case with some other mustang venues) would level the playing field. As many of you know, mares tend to be a little more opinionated and a little more concerned about their environment than are geldings.
The lady wrangler somehow managed to separate her from her herd mates and get her into the long aisle. Within seconds the wrangler got directly behind the horse then waved a whip. The mustang got the message and shot down the aisle like a bullet. With the young woman running and waving her whip behind him, the terrified mustang jumped into the stock trailer. Two gentlemen wranglers immediately slammed the door shut and the mare was off to her new hundred-day home.
Juliane's pinto was next. Because she seemed so timid in the corral I thought loading her would be as easy as the one we'd just seen. Wrong!
Here's Rocio now in the aisle. Everything seems to be going according to plan:
Halfway down the aisle, Rocio, however, did one of the tightest and quickest about faces I have ever seen. Rocio galloped by the young lady and her whip.
Sorry about the blur, but that is exactly what she was:
Rocio Orange, MA Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
Once again:
Rocio Orange, MA Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
Heading back:
Rocio Orange, MA Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
Another try, and Rocio whipped around and headed back to her paddock friends. The third time, however, was the charm:
Third attempt Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
She was in!
Rocio in trailer Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
It was difficult to watch this. Rocio was terrified but, really, there was no other way. I just wished she could have understood that her life was about to change for the better. She was a former member of the 50,000 mustangs held in holding pens and corrals in ten western states. The BLM has determined that, with a lack of predators, the herds of wild mustangs must be culled. They believe that in four years the wild mustang population, estimated at 45,000, will double.
As I mentioned in my previous blog http://windflowerfarmweekly.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-wyoming-mustang-comes-to-windflower.html, the ratio of cattle to mustangs on BLM leased land is approximately thirty to one. There is no end to complaints about the mustangs drinking the cattles' water and eating their grass. The anti-mustang groups complain that the mustangs are not truly wild but feral. Well, the cows eating the grass on BLM land aren't exactly wild either, not even feral.
This appetite for red meat is not only hurting our hearts but hurting our poor planet. It has been six years of unprecedented drought in the west, with California the hardest hit. Were some herds not captured by the BLM, they would die of starvation. Scientists are convinced that climate disruption in the form of greenhouse gases increased the severity of the California drought by twenty percent. Mother Nature knows best, we do not! We need to listen to her. She is screaming at us!
A scared Rocio:
Rocio in Trailer Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
In the foreground, Juliane, Rocio's trainer, is the cowboy booted blonde, Katie is manning the video camera, and then Zoe on the right:
About To Leave Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
In the foreground, Juliane, Rocio's trainer, is the cowboy booted blonde, Katie is manning the video camera, and then Zoe on the right:
One hour later we arrived at Windflower. Juliane's friend Jon managed to back the trailer into the round pen that we'd set up. I wished it had been drier. The mud was the result of our hideous winter and its record-breaking snowfalls.
Rocio arrives at Windflower Ainslie Sheridan copyright 2015
Once in the round pen, Rocio wandered about and had a meet and greet with some of our horses. Juliane and Jon stood by watching:
Here she meets Elementa and Dolly:
Then Tica:
On to the humans: Here she is with Zoe:
And finally with the young, talented trainer who would make this all happen for her:
Stay tuned for Part 3 of "A Mustang Comes To Windflower" when Juliane starts her training in the round pen.
See you soon, and thanks for reading "The Windflower Weekly."
--Ainslie
LINKS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org
http://www.amazon.com/Trophies-An-Equestrian-Romance-ebook/dp/B00998J2B2
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-kaleidoscope-pony-ainslie-sheridan/1114272809?ean=2940015948592
http://windflowerfarmgiftsforani.smugmug.com
https://www.pinterest.com/Dollydressage
http://www.facebook.com/YonkersShelter
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WINDFLOWERDIGITALART
Sources:
http://returntofreedom.org/
http://wildhorsepreservation.org/wild-horses-and-ecosystem
Looking for equine and pet related gifts? Check out the photo pendants in my Etsy shop.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WINDFLOWERDIGITALART
http://www.cafepress.com/windflowerfarmgiftsforanimallovers
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-kaleidoscope-pony-ainslie-sheridan/1114272809?ean=2940015948592
http://www.amazon.com/Trophies-Equestrian-Romance-Ainslie-Sheridan-ebook/dp/B00998J2B2
No comments:
Post a Comment