Fall Plans: 2021

 

Fall Plans

by Patricia Barlow-Irick on September 30, 2021

Wren and Uncle Remus in NMLB Holding

We picked up two bay horses gathered as estray by the New Mexico Livestock Board. The six-year old gelding seems very tame, while the yearling filly is clearly unhandled. We named him Uncle Remus and her Wren. She is pretty aggressive for a sweet name like that.

Uncle Remus had a cough when he got here, which has gotten worse. Wren has a runny nose. They are now on antibiotics and should make quick recovery. It slowed their training down only slightly.

As of the end of September, Remus is finishing Task 15 and Wren is working on Task 10. She is learning to not try to bite me when she gets frustrated.

It turned out that the Park elected to capture only one horse, the pink nosed stallion in the bottom image. His name is Marvel.

The NMAC is trying to find a trainer in south western Colorado to take him, but they are keeping me on the hook incase that doesn’t happen. He just might be our winter project.

It is going to be a big adventure at any rate.

Tips for Adopters: Prospecting for Hay

 

Prospecting for Hay in a Drought

by Patty on September 14, 2021

Not much beats the smell of a freshly popped bale of hay with horses nickering in the background. Finding that hay has become quite the chore after ten years of drought in the west. We have some tips to share with adopters.

So, where do we start a hay search? Time to dust off our networking skills and get to work. 

Feed stores will always have a few bales - at a premium price. Large bales of grass and alfalfa fill semi after semi sailing off down the road to either coast. Small bales, suited to most people’s setups, are harder to find. Open your eyes and spot other horse people! Ask where they buy their hay. Contact local farmers about their hay crops. Check the bulletin board at the AG store, the farm equipment dealers, the local horse and pony clubs and even the western wear emporiums. Several states maintain hay for sale lists - check online! Craigslist has even proven to be a good source. And there’s even an app for that - Hay Map. Then keep a list of names and numbers for the future!

This year, Mustang Camp found it’s hay on the FaceBook Market Place. 24 giant bales from one farm, 66 from another -- almost 50 tons. It takes a lot of hay to get through to next year’s crop.

A Little Golden Nugget

 

A Little Golden Nugget

by Patricia Barlow-Irick on September 14, 2021

Maria and I were anxiously awaiting the birth of Belle Parker’s foal as Belle’s training progressed through the last tasks. It was gardening season and Maria had been away from home for months. Finally, she doubted that the foal would ever come and she set a date to leave. The new hooves hit the ground 11 days after her departure.

He started looking for milk right away

At first, the little Nugget could not figure out how to drink his mother’s milk. Her udders were swollen and rock hard. He was starting to give up trying and the mare was becoming frustrated and angry. I decided an intervention was necessary. Could Belle Parker be milked? It would be a test of Maria’s training. Squirting the milk onto the foal’s nose did the trick.

The next drama in his life came from Aunt Cuddles, who wanted to drive Belle off and keep Nugget for her own.  Nugget was only marginally bonded to his mother and Cuddles was murderous. Veronica compared Cuddles with Darcy Pierce, who famously and most gruesomely stole a baby from a pregnant mother. Cuddles was immediately moved to another pen.

June, July, and August passed in little Nugget’s life without much drama. Now as fall approaches, it appears that he may have a scrotal hernia that needs attention. A new drama in his life begins... training for possible surgery.

New Video Series at Mustang Camp

 

New Video Series at Mustang Camp

by Patricia Barlow-Irick on September 12, 2021

A lot of filming was done over the course of the summer. Every step of the way through the 26 Tasks was documented for both Belle Parker and Merlin. The goal of the Merlin video project is simple: illustrate the beginning of the training of each subtask and the end result for each task. It takes about an hour to produce one of the Merlin at Mustang Camp videos. Because of her background, Veronica is pretty much of a professional when it comes to being in front of the camera.

The more complex goal of the Belle Parker project is to tell the story of the trainer’s experience. It involves interviews with Maria about each task. Both of these series will be helpful for people trying to train unhandled animals, but the Belle series documents the emotional roller coaster mustang training can be. It will be produced over the winter when there is more indoor time.

Veronica and I also filmed for a video on how to train burros for hoof handling. It took us 10 days to train 4 burros Task 25 fronts and hinds.  The hooves were in bad condition on these wild girls, but in the final scenes of the videos, they are standing for nippers nipping and rasps rasping. We know these videos will help someone.

The biggest barrier for our video production is getting enough internet bandwidth to upload. The upload speeds on our system are very slow and driving to within view of a cell tower sometimes doesn’t help. I am currently cueing the videos up to drive out to a public library with fiber optic connections. Bandwidth is a challenge for many rural people.

Guzman Runs Again?

 

Guzman Runs Again?  

by John on September 10, 2021

The last haul that the beloved 1994 F-250 with added springs and a Power Stroke 7.3 engine made was a load of big bales from the Milan Training center in  December 2019.  When backing up to unload two One Ton Bales of hay, the clutch gave out.  And then it sat.  It's hard to run a Horse Rescue  without a truck.  We have been using volunteer help to get and deliver horses. Thank you, Bill Idzerda!

We canceled Guzman’s insurance policy.  And it sat some more.

Not until summer of 2021 could we muster the necessary energy to try to fix it. 

With the help of longtime mechanic, Red Tiffany, we pulled the transmission and replaced the clutch and it’s release bearings.  Then we tried to start it.

The beast had sat for almost two years and it was not going to be nice.

First we put in a new fuel pump, then a new computer, then new o-rings in the injectors.

The list goes on………………

Finally, after charging the batteries one more time, we started it.  I drove it home and parked it where it now sits. 

It's been a good friend of mine and it delivered a lot of horses, but the  GUZMAN is just worn out. It may never be reliable enough to pull another load of wild equines down the road. Time for a change. We hope to be able to apply for a grant to help us buy another truck.

Is that a Mule?: Merlin

 

Is that a Mule?: Merlin

by Veronica Moore on September 04, 2021

Merlin arrived at Mustang Camp on July 2nd. His owner called it sending him to summer camp, but the goal was to change his attitude about people and  improve the relationship with his owner, Carmen Taylor. She had got him from a previous owner who had pressure trained him and Merlin had some strong pessimistic opinions about rope! I stayed at Mustang Camp for 2 months and got to train him.  He was a bit intimidating and quite pushy at first, but in time, with Pat’s coaching, Merlin began to look forward to his training and sailed through the tasks. On August 21, Merlin’s human, Carmen, spent the day at Mustang Camp going through the training tasks and finishing with Merlin loading up in her trailer and heading home. The opportunity to train Merlin was an extraordinary experience.

The Wildest Mustang: Belle Parker

 

The Wildest Mustang: Belle Parker

by Maria Loper on September 04, 2021

Belle Parker was introduced to me as 'the Forest Service’s wildest mustang'.  Before I got to Mustang Camp, I remember Patricia explaining how this mustang was the most panicked to even look toward them at the holding facility. When I arrived, my first contact with Belle Parker was behind the protection of a fence and pretty quickly she was willing to gently take food from my hand.  The next few days passed with training sessions going great, she was gentle and willing and with each session I grew more calm and confident and started working with her inside the pen.  Being new to training horses, I still fumbled and made beginners mistakes but despite the errors and clumsy movements on my part, we were progressing and she didn’t seem so wild.

In Task 3, we ask the animal to be able to accept the trainer on the right and left side, eventually wanting the animal to remain in the 'easy' position while we are all the way back near the shoulder.  Belle Parker's preferred side was to keep me directly in front of her, she was semi-ok about me being on her right side, but she did not want me on her left side, it was during this transition where we first saw Belle Parker get angry.  Probably her anger came from fear and while I don't think I ever felt angry with Belle Parker, I spent the next month and a half also fearful.

I think a lot about my own fear and how it limits my ability to be an effective trainer.  Many teachers have told me, "stop being afraid, the animal is looking to you, if you are afraid the animal is sensing your fear and thinks that there is something to be afraid of, it never occurs to them that they are what you are afraid of."  It makes sense.  But in the moment, when the animal's energy comes up, logic does not matter and the body seems to take over. Instead of 'not being afraid', I have developed some other strategies to help: have a plan, sing a little song, deep breaths, excessive protective equipment, and spending time to develop a relationship.

I spent 2 months with Belle Parker and the last 2 weeks were different.  Beyond her normal training, I started going out and grooming her in the middle of the day in the shade while she ate an extra bucket of hay.  At first, like most sessions, it was about the food, but it wasn't long until she started to enjoy my touch.  She would lean in to a nice butt rub or close her eyes as I scratched her neck.  I think for both of us, this low stress interaction was helping us build trust.  This calmer relationship carried over to our other training sessions and Task 25 (lifting and cleaning feet), which I had been dreading for a month, was something we were able to get through together and it was actually not that scary. 

Belle Parker taught me a lot about training, but something that is not explicitly in the 26 gentling steps, especially when working with a human or animal that is fearful, is to find the time to have low stress interactions that will help strengthen your relationship.