[allo vera]

please do not post here. This will be the writing bit.

[allo vera]

7/22/2015

Okay, I'm recording myself in the car as I'm driving down to get my mustang. Hopefully this will work out ok.

Well, before I begin, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Sarah Brynn Connor, but I go by Brynn. I'm seventeen years old. Hmm.. what else. I am somewhat short. I guess not really that short actually. I'm 5' 3", so a lot of people are taller than me, but I'm taller than some people? Never mind. That's not relevant. I've got darkish brown hair that is blue on the ends.

My current horse is an arabian stallion named Storm Man, but I call him Storm for the most part. My boy Stormy may be very useful for training my mustang. He has a great, mostly quiet temperament. He's not spooky at all. The really useful thing is that Stormy is indifferent towards other horses. He doesn't kick out at them, but basically ignores them. He LOVES humans though. I hope that if I put him beside my mustang, he will teach the mustang that humans are nothing to be scared of.

Speaking of putting Stormy beside the mustang, this is how I plan to keep the mustang for now: I've split a pasture down the middle with a fence. Each half is rather small, about half the size of a standard arena. There's a couple trees at one end, and a run in shed on the other. I plan to put Storm Man in one half, and the mustang in the other, and see how it works out. This way, the mustang has shelter and some room, but I can still get close to him, and he doesn't have much space to run to.

I've put several things in the mustang's pasture for him to get used to. I've got jump standards with a pole set up, an old, ruined saddle, and a large barrel set out in the pasture. Hopefully this will desensitize him a bit to these things.

I've pulled up to the parking lot, so here we go!

EDIT: so now that I've transcribed this into writing, here's a picture of dear Stormy Boy:

[allo vera]

7/22/2015

Well, I've got the mustang in the trailer. He's kicking around a bit, but it's actually not to bad. He doesn't seem to have a ton of aggression, and on the whole doesn't seem to be overly excitable. When I went to pick him up, he ran away at first, but did stop and look. I like that about him.

I believe I'll call the mustang Danny. I was thinking about Levi at first, but decided on Danny because there's more nicknames I can do off of Danny. I tend to call my horses by nicknames than their actual names, so there we go. He's a really beautiful horse, a dark palomino. He's got a bit of white on him too, but it was so dusty I wasn't able to get a great look at him. There seemed to be a storm coming, so I was rushing just a bit to get on the road.

EDIT: here's a picture of Danny I was able to get. He's so gorgeous!

[allo vera]

7/22/2015

Danny's settled in for the night. I say settled, but really he's just in the pasture. He went in with no problems, and immediately started calling out to Storm Man, who just ignored him. There seems to be a storm coming in, but Danny's sheltering beneath the trees for now, so I think he'll be ok. He hasn't looked much at the saddle and stuff in his pasture, but that's really to be expected. When I first let him out, he galloped around the pasture, but really for only about five minutes. I seem to be lucky and got a quiet mustang. Tomorrow, we'll see how trusting he is of me initially.

[allo vera]

7/23/2015

When I went out today, I found Danny with his head over the fence, staring pitifully at Storm Man, who was ignoring him. Danny was beautiful and clean from the rain. It turns out he has more white on him than I originally thought, and he's very pretty. Storm Man was acting up, and Danny seemed really distracted by him, so I brought Storm Man in, washed him off (he loves to roll in the mud), and shut him in the barn. I just put a chair in the middle of Danny's pasture today and watched him. He started off spooking and running around, but soon enough calmed down and grazed in the far corner of the pasture. He kept a wary eye on me the whole time, but eventually came nearer to me.

Later in the afternoon, I left Danny's paddock because I needed to ride Storm Man a bit. Especially now that he had a smaller pasture, Stormy was going to get very hyper if cooped up for too long. I tacked him up inside the barn, but rode him in his pasture. Danny wasn't sure what to think of us, and just seemed a little nervous and tense. I think riding Storm near Danny will help to get the mustang used to the idea of riding. This weekend, I'm going to get Danny into the round pen and work with him a lot. Until then, I just want him to get used to humans and the whole domestication thing first. I really have a good feeling about this horse.


EDIT: A picture of Danny I got this morning. Such a clean, sweet boy!

[allo vera]

7/24/2015

I sat with Danny again today. He came closer to me today, but still kept his distance. He investigated the saddle and such in his pasture today, and seemed pretty relaxed about it. Something very interesting happened today, though. Danny got spooked by something in the corner, and started running. The jump was in his way, and he just popped over it nicely. It was very low, maybe a little less than two feet off the ground. All the same, he had very good form. Perhaps he could be a jumper?

I'm really looking forwards to being able to pull Danny's mane. It's long and pretty now, but so tangled. If it was shorter, I think it would stay cleaner, and he would look a lot neater. His tail is pretty good, but when I can, I'd like to trim it a bit too.

I rode Storm Man again today, and Danny seemed more curious than afraid this time. I do believe we're making nice progress.


EDIT: I went out tonight to go see Danny one last time. I was able to get this picture.

[allo vera]

7/25/2015

So, today I my goal was to get Danny into the round pen and work with him there. After much consideration, I decided that I would herd him in there on top of Storm Man. I tacked Storm Man up, and led him into Danny's pasture. Danny gave us a nervous look, but seemed really happy that Storm was with him.

I already had the gate open, and connected to the gate of the round pen, which was also open. All Storm Man and I had to do was trot slowly behind Danny, and we were able to herd the mustang right into the round pen. I jumped off of Storm, and shut the gate. The mustang was running around, but didn't seem to be that terrified. He didn't look like he was going to hurt himself, so I left and put Storm Man away. In the ten or so minutes that I was gone, Danny settled down significantly.

I got a lunge whip, and entered the round pen. Danny started running, which was exactly what I wanted. I never had to touch or even get close with the lunge whip to Danny, the pressure he felt from me just raising the whip a bit was enough to keep him going. After a bit, he started lowering his head, licking his lips, and chewing the air. Excellent. I turned away from him, hunching my shoulders to look as non-threatening as possible.

I heard hoof-beats behind me, and mightily resisted the urge to turn around. There was soft breath on my back. The mustang was so close to me. I couldn't believe how good he was being. Then, Danny rested his muzzle on my back softly. I slowly turned around, which startled Danny a bit. He took a couple steps away. I faced him, but looked down at the dirt. He slowly approached me again.
Danny snuffled my hair, and I stroked his neck just a bit. I could feel him tense up, but that was it. I pet his neck, from his poll to his withers, and he didn't back away.

Once Danny walked away, I put out hay and water, but left him alone for a while. He needed some alone time, and I wanted him to be able to process what just happened. It seems I've made the first step in gaining my mustang's trust.

[allo vera]

7/26/2015

I was able to touch Danny several more times over the course of yesterday, and he seemed pretty comfortable with my presence by the end of the day. I left him in the round pen overnight. This morning he seemed fine. It took a little longer for me to touch him for the first time this morning, but he remembered what we had done yesterday soon enough. Today we progressed far enough that I was able to run my hands all over his body. He flinched a little when I touched his stomach and legs, so those are the place I'll need to work on with him.

I also noticed many scratches and scars on his legs. I raised the lunge whip and got him to move his feet, and soon found out why he had scratches. When he ran, Danny wasn't careful. He would clip his front legs with his hind hooves. After only about ten minutes of cantering, he already had another scrape which was bleeding slightly. Well, I guess that's my goal for today.

I spent all day touching his legs, getting Danny used to the feel. I would leave him alone for thirty minutes, then come out and work with him for ten minutes. About seven o clock, he didn't even twitch an ear when I rubbed his hock. I went inside and found some gallop boots belonging to Storm Man. It was easy to slip them on Danny, but then he realized what I'd done.

I stroked and pet Danny, murmuring to him. His head was up, and he was quivering. He trotted away, picking up each foot way more than necessary. He broke into the gallop, then tore around the round pen, bucking and leaping. I was afraid he would hurt himself, so I raised the lunge whip, encouraging Danny to change direction. He complied, and settled down a bit. When he was just walking around the arena, I put some more hay and water out, and left him alone. I came out again at eight thirty. Danny seemed used to the boots. He would reach down and rub them a lot, but that was ok. I opened the gates to the round pen and his pasture, so Danny could come and go as he pleased.

The one other thing I wanted to do tonight was order Danny's supplements. He wasn't fit, but he also wasn't fat as well. I would feed him about a scoop of regular feed, and maybe a half of hay stretcher. I did want to see what SmartPak's I could get for him. After browsing the website, I decided on one for joint health, one for digestion, a general health one, one for hooves, a no-bug one, one to help build muscle, and one for a shiny coat. Let me just say in advance that I love SmartPak.

EDIT: here's Danny testing out his new boots in the round pen


another of Danny running around

[allo vera]

7/27/2015

When I came out this morning, Danny still had his boots on, which was a very good. I was relieved and excited that I wouldn't have to hunt around the pasture for them. He had eaten some of the hay, but not bothered it a lot. I suppose he still wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I had decided that my goal for today should be halter training, so I tacked up Storm and rounded Danny into the round pen again.

The first thing I did today was make him move his feet. I had him trot and canter both directions before I even thought about starting with the halter. When I let Danny come down to the halt, I went over and pet him. He seemed mostly comfortable with my touch, and very comfortable when I stroked his legs. I guess all my hard work yesterday paid off. He still flinched when I ran my hands on his stomach though, so I worked on that for another twenty minutes. When he was more comfortable with me touching his stomach, I went inside and left him alone for about an hour.

When I came back out, I made Danny move around again, just reasserting my dominance. The last thing I needed was for him to freak out and run me over when I put the halter on. I took the pressure off of him, and let Danny slow down. First, I petted him some again. Then, I got out a halter and rubbed it all over Danny's body. He seemed confused, but not scared, which was nice. I rubbed it near his face, which made him throw his head up. I tried again. And again. Eventually, he didn't even flick an ear when I rubbed the halter up and down. I unlatched the halter, slipped it on Danny's nose, and buckled it around his ears.

Danny actually reacted very well for having the halter on for the first time. He tossed his head around, and gave a little rear, but besides that he was calm. I refilled his water, then went inside again. I did check on him from my window every fifteen minutes or so, but he seemed fine. After an hour, I went back out and took the halter off. An hour later I went out and put it back on.

Until nearly eight that night, that was Danny's routine. One hour with the halter, one hour without. The third time or so, I started giving the mustang small apple slices every time he let me halter him. The last time I went out to put it on, he shoved his nose into the halter. I am very proud of him, and I think our training is going very well. It makes me happy that he's comfortable with the halter now.

I let Danny out into the pasture again tonight. I took both his boots and his halter off for the night, thinking he could use the break. He hopped the small jump again, although admittedly less gracefully this time.

EDIT: Danny and the halter

[allo vera]

7/28/2015


Danny's SmarkPak came today. I emptied the little packets into a bucket and threw in about 3/4 a scoop of regular feed. This time I herded Danny into the round pen on foot. He's a smart horse though, and figured out what I wanted pretty quickly. I fed him, then went and got Storm Man. My arabian had not had very much work for the past couple days, so I needed to ride him today. He was pretty good, though not as quiet as I would have liked, so I ended up riding him for longer than I expected. I let him rest for fifteen minutes while I made Danny move.

When I was satisfied that Danny was ready, I re tightened Storm Man's girth, and mounted him. I rode him into the round pen, then dismounted him. I was reasonably confident that Storm Man would stay, so I just left him there. I put Danny's halter on again, although this time it had a lead rope attached to it. Before he realized what was happening, I mounted Storm Man, still holding the lead rope.

Danny didn't notice the lead rope until I had Storm Man move away a couple feet. At first he pulled. Just as I was sure I couldn't hold the lead rope any longer, he took a step forward. Immediately I had Storm Man back up, taking the pressure off of Danny. After lots of praises, I nudged Storm up again. Danny reared, tossing his head, but took a couple steps with us. We repeated this for the most part of an hour. Finally, the mustang gave in and walked with us.

I got Storm Man to trot and canter, even switching direction, and aside from one buck, Danny followed. I had Storm halt. Danny halted. We galloped a bit. Danny galloped. We halted again. Danny tossed his head, but halted. I untacked Storm Man and put him away, and gave Danny lots and lots of praise. I took off his halter and boots, and opened the round pen gate as well. I left the mustang alone until fourish, then went back out.

This time, I led Danny on foot. He still tossed his head occasionally, but was behaving very well. I was nervous about this bit, but I think riding Storm Man first helped, as he couldn't trample my horse. All in all, our day of training went very well. It's hard to believe I've nearly had this horse for a week!

EDIT: apparently the ONE TIME Danny jerked away was the time my mom took a picture. Thanks mom. It's a nice picture though, so oh well.