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.