Trixie find a home!

Congrats to Alex, I know you will both be a wonderful pair. 

Front Page!

News must have been slow Sunday April 22nd, because I made the front page! Check it out here:
http://www.thereporter.com/ci_20454662/vacaville-woman-trains-wild-mustangs?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com

Clinic Day at Sonrisa Stables

My first annual clinic at Sonrisa Stables. What a great place to be at. I can't begin to say how nice it was to meet the staff, parents, and students that came out to learn that day. I started off by working with their 4 yearlings headed for the San Jose BLM adoption event this weekend. We talked about pressure and release, herd instinct, moving their feet, and disengaging their hind quarters. After, the girls got to work with their yearlings while I coached. It was so cool to see the progress made in only a few hours. One team got their "first touch" and another was able to teach their horse to disengage instead of turn and run. Each game we taught them seemed to sink into their heads so quickly. I haven't worked with such young mustangs and it was certainly cool to see how they learn so fast! 

Working with one yearling and the other two wanted to see what was so interesting!

First touch

Sonrisa girls

Being groomed feels sooooo nice!

First time lifting a hoof

What a champ!

Learning to follow on the lead

Practicing their new moves

Touch!

A previous graduate of the Sonrisa mustang project

BIG THANKS to Karen for inviting me out. I look forward to seeing you guys again!

Good luck in San Jose :)

Big news...

The BIG NEWS is for once, not about horses! Anthony came out to the barn last weekend to help work the mares (or so I thought) and PROPOSED! I was so surprised, but of course I said YES!

It was a really special weekend and I am really glad the mustangs got to be a part of it. 

Dixie in a round pen session. I also began riding in the big pasture since the rain turned our round pen into a small lake. She has been doing really well!

Cinna-Man learning how to bow! It only took 2 carrots :)

Kay on Dixie

Karin ponying Dixie on Ranger

and then Trixie

We got a lot of rain this past week...

Color corrected picture, but still pretty cool! 

Alex came out to see what all the mustang fuss was about and fell in love...

I think this story will have a happy ending very soon!!!

April already?

Dixie's first trim!

Trixie lunging in full gear :)

Some "at liberty" training together

Dixie trying out some english tack

A little run after some hard work! 

I know the saying "time flys" but WOW, it really does! Next month (May 19)  Dixie and Trixie will be in the 2012 Extreme Mustang Makeover in Norco, CA. They will have to show everything they learned in order for them to find homes at the event. There are a total of 40 horses competing so that is a lot of pressure! Good thing both of these mares are wonderful and I have no doubt whoever they end up with will be very lucky :)

CONGRATS TO SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!

I am VERY pleased to announce Summer has been ADOPTED by the Carter Family! I am so happy they found each other ( and me!). I will continue to work with her and keep all the "summer fans" updated on the blog. Thank you to everyone who has emailed and inquired about this amazing girl. She really has found her 'happily ever after' family!

33.33333% done!

One month in, two more to go. Both horses are working well and I am proud that they have come so far in only one month!  

Dixie is so calm under saddle, it has been awesome to ride her around the pen. It is almost like she knows she has to be careful with me on her back!

Say hello to my brand new 2012 Maverick stock trailer! I was thrilled to get it, although the girls were not as impressed. In fact, they didn't seem to like it at all. 

After about an hour of work and a lot of food, Dixie finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. I am going to be very careful about making sure she enjoys her next trailering experience since the last time she was in a trailer she was still wild! 

Trixie not only had the saddle on for the first time, but also lunged and walked around in it. I was shocked to see she did not try to get it off or spook with it on. It was as if she just accepted it once it was on. She is a really smart horse, hesitant, but smart. Once she decides to do something, she is completely invested. It is just getting her to that point where she is willing to try! 

Check out her movement...wow! This horse is going to have an amazing career in whatever discipline she goes into.

What better of a way to end the day then a nice cool bath? She even took a little drink out of the hose!

We have a beautiful 300 acre piece of land that we can use for turnout. Of course that means I have to be able to catch DIxie and Trixie again! We have been working on taking walks together and finally I decided it was time...

they took off running! 

After a lap or two, they settled back down and we continued our walk. It was a great way to end a successful week!