Yielding Hind Quarters

Blossom Round Penning

Blossom In The Round Pen

You can see in one of these videos how Blossom is what I call a lazy horse, not real lazy but a little lazy.. I am asking her to canter around me and you can see a lot of head tossing and tail swishing because she doesn't want to run. However, in the wild I bet she would run. I won't push this canter issue with her because of her young age. She is changing directions and stopping when I ask and that is respectful and that's what I really am looking for, a respectful horse. The other video is of me moving her hindquarters away from me at liberty, it's called yielding the hindquarters. It is so important that you have control of the hind end of the horse. That is where they get all their power. The fact that she is staying with me and I have no rope or halter on her and she is moving away when I ask is perfect!!!! Thank you Sue Stetson for letting us come over and play. It was a nice warm welcome and a beautiful place to train.

A Little Information

I had originally thought Blossom was 2 years old at least. But I've gone back and recalculated the oldest she could possibly be is 1 yr and 8 months. I have new pictures of her pulling a barrel and wearing a few rain ponchos. She obviously did not care about either one. I did it as a way to desensitize her to scary items, though she was not scared. I just asked her to walk around with the stuff . I won't ask her to trot or canter pulling anything heavy because she is young. The things I will be working on this week with Blossom are: round penning and backing up in an L shape. I will also be visiting Wickham park on July 4th with Blossom in the riding arena. I have contacted a Mounted Shooting group in Daytona and asked them if I could bring Blossom to their next event. It would be good to let her stand around in a stall with people watching, trying to touch her, and guns going off. That would be a great intro for her as to what it will be like in Fort Worth. Their is a show in Tampa at the State Fair grounds that I'm looking into too. I also want to take her to the beach while she's in Florida.

On this fourth of July, remember our American Mustangs who also represent America and freedom.

Cowboy Way

Cowboy Way

Cowboy Way

Blossoms First Show

Blossom and I went to a dressage schooling show in Vero Beach today at Atlantic Crossings Equestrian Center.
We did not enter the show, we just spectated. Blossom was well behaved. She did not neigh or paw when she was tied to the trailer, nor did she try to walk faster than me. She held her head down and walked right by a lot of things for the first time. Blossom did shy just a little the first time the audience clapped. She also got scared when we were walking along a tall white fence with a friend and her dog leading the way, when a huge 17 + hands dark warmblood walked by us. I think the size of the other horse and the rider on top, plus her feeling trapped by the fence and dog in front made her a little nervous. She felt trapped and tried to flee. I got her back under control and she put her head down and we walked on. She could of jerked me around, ran my friend and her dog over, and just caused all kinds problems, but she didn't. Her emotional level was easy to bring back down and she drew on her thinking side of her brain and decided to trust me when I told her no," you can't flee." Blossom was pretty brave for hanging out with those great big huge horses today. They were all 10 times her size, she probably couldn't figure out why all the horses were all busy doing something yet they weren't together in a herd.

Wild Mustang

This is Blossoms first Bridge and she did so well.

Training her has been slow this week because of morning and afternoon thunderstorms but none the less, she is right on schedule.

Blossom At The Park

It's hard to believe that time has gone by so fast!

Blossom had her day at the park and did very well with all the new sights and sounds, except when my friends donut was gone. She really liked the treat!

I might add that you really should never hand feed your horses treats. I did it because I can correct it properly if Blossom becomes pushy or nippy because she is looking for treats. I will add that I don't want to have to correct it later so I won't be hand feeding her treats anymore.

Park Pic's

Zoom in on Blossom in the picture of her at the shoreline. It shows how pretty she really is!

A Great Day

Blossom is coming along nicely. Things that she is doing consistantly are backing,
crossing things, walking poles, walking around cones, walking and trotting between barrels, dragging a tarp, wearing a tarp, dragging a barrel, crossing water, bathes, clips and trailer loads.

Right now Blossom already knows the manouvers that she will need to know at the show.
She is still a little picky about her feet, however the ferrier is not coming out until July 1st and that is plenty of time. It has been a slow go for teaching her to lift her feet because of my leg, but she lifts her feet when I say up, it's keeping them up and still that is a little difficult but she gets better everyday.
I'm not concerned. It will eventually happen.

We have been going on outings and she will be at her first show in Vero Bch this weekend. Not in the show, but as a spectator.

I'm suprised at how much this almost 2 year old has learned in such a short time.
She is controlling the speed in which I teach her and she is fast!

I need to get her used to crowds now. Any suggestions?

Have a good one.

Extreme Makeover

Pictures Of Canter

Blossom did a lot of rearing and silly stuff. She did not want to canter, but she did!

Trailer Loading

Getting Great Help

I want to thank two former horsemanship students of mine. Juanita Lunn and Sue Stetson. You guys payed attention during your sessions with me for sure! Sue lunged Blossom with ease, Blossom was soft and supple at the walk and trot. Blossom did exactly what Sue asked. And Juanita stepped in for me when Blossom was being, well, a Mustang and she demanded Blossom move her feet, even when Blossom clearly did not want to move. I'm proud of my students! Your horsemanship skills are fantastic! Thank you so much for helping me when I'm hurt and need some extra help.

Sending Exercise

Blossom is sending well and she even did a little roll back!

Trailer Loading

Friday

Blossom did her first formal trailer loading and she did so well. With-in 10 minutes she was going right in. I had two plans for trailer loading should she
be resistant. Plan A was that I offered her to step into the trailer by moving one foot at a time. She was allowed to go around and make mistakes, I simply corrected her and put pressure on her to move one foot at a time towards the trailer. I taught her to move one foot at a time on command last week and it payed off. Blossom walked right in and I did not have to use plan B.

Monday-Thursday Sessions

Blossom is learning new things daily and is sure having a good time being an almost 2 yr old. She is doing exactly what is expected of her. Through all this training she has never been mean or tried to bite me. Most youngsters at one point in training will try to bite or nibble on things to test what things are. Yesterday when I was picking up her feet, she turned her head and I could see from the corner of my eye that she was up to something. Sure enough here came the first nip or bite. I timed it perfectly and she was dicouraged from biting me by running into the back of my hand. Was she suprised? Yes. Did she over react to my hand? Yes. Will she try to bite me again? Not likely. I had been waiting for her to try and chase me away with a bite. It is normal for her to have tried it. Most younger horses will try it a least once.

We started canter on the lunge line. She is a bit dull and lazy. She absolutely just wants to walk and trot a circle. Asking her to canter takes a lot of pressure and she shows a lot of resistance. When she is running she drags me around the areana and I have to hop on my one good leg. I stay with her though and keep pushing her forward. I don't care if she drags me to LA, eventually she will run in a circle because it is less work than dragging me around.

I say dull and lazy because when she decides not to run anymore (drag me around)
she stops and protests. When I ask her to move out she rears and stands her ground.
It's actually silly, her thinking she will get out of work by rearing up. Not so,
she's learning I'm the leader when it comes to who's feet moves first.

So twice I was reminded that she is a Mustang with her rearing and little bite. I'm excited! It makes it a lot more fun and challanging. A friend is supposed to email me picks of the cantering in a circle. When she does, I will post them.

Have a great day!!

A Great Week

This week was very exciting for Blossom. She had a lot of visitors and showed people how well behaved she was. Several different people handled her, groomed
and lunged her. She did very good. She was patient with everybody.

It is amazing how Blossom is able to sort things out in her mind, how she is able to understand what you want even though you may not be asking her to do something the right way.

I enjoy the quiet place that she is at right now, however I have decided to move her to a very busy boarding barn. A barn that has a lot going on all the time. I'm doing this because I want to see how she adopts to new enviroments and people.

In Texas she will be in a crazy, fun and busy enviroment. This is Florida's off season for showing. If anyone local knows of shows, game shows, dressage shows or fun shows in and around our state, please shout out! The more exposure to different things she gets, the better she will be.

Thank you friends, family and clients for visiting.

Orange Blossom

I'm not sure they gave me a (((Wild Mustang))), Just look at my baby girl !!
And yes, I'm getting attached.

Trail Obstacle

These photos are of Blossom walking thru a little trail course. She is going under the tarp, crossing poles and crossing a tarp. When I train a horse, I also like to have an assistant (when I can) handle the horse. What good is a horse that only the trainer can handle? Right!

Lead Line Exercise

Walk And Trot On Lead Line

These photos are Blossom learning to bend in a nice circle on a lead line at a walk and trot.

Respecting My Personal Space

June 1

I mentioned before Blossom liked to be to close sometimes. In the photo I am teaching her that I have my own personal space. I am now sesitizing her to my handy stick. She is learning that sometimes my body and stick are also saying,"move those feet away". She is welcomed to come into my space when I ask, but otherwise she needs to stay a few feet away until I ask her to do something else. I spent some time getting her used to the handy stick before I started the personal space exercise. To establish personal space, I stood in a safe position in front of her and wiggled the lead line, escalating pressure until I finally tapped her with the handy stick on the chest. When I tapped her with the handy stick she rocked back and I released pressure and rewarded her. I Let her think about it and did the exercise again. I did the whole process again. This time she stepped one foot back and I released pressure and rewarded her again. Eventually she was taking several steps back and is now to the point where I can just wiggle the lead line and she backs. Yahoo!!!

Letting Blossom Know My Handy Stick Is Not Scarey

June 1

My hany stick is a tool that helps in my training program. It is a way that I can
touch and move a horse without being to close. It is an extension of my arm,
that keeps me out of harms way when I first start working with a horse. In the picture I'm rubbing it on her to desensitize her to it. She did not like it at first because she has not been handled much in her life. Now, it does not bother her at all. I can rub any area of her body with it and I can swing the rope on the end of the handy stick all over her body. This is key to starting a horse. They must be able to be touched everywhere. It is called desensitizing. Later in life, when someone puts a saddle on her back and gets ready to ride, it won't matter what kind of saddle, girths or straps that are hanging off the saddle because she was desensitized
to it. You can't just do it once, even if she passed with flying colors, you need to desensetize your horse often.

The Tarp Lesson June 6

This is where the pictures will seem out of order. On June 6th I took Blossom into the riding ring and introduced the tarp to her for the first time. The photos will be in sequence (I hope)

The Tarp Lesson June 6

This is the finished result. Blossom enjoys wearing her tarp!!! (LOL)

The Vets Visit

The vets visit went really well. He knew about the Mustang Heritage Foundation and what the trainers goals are. He liked my Mustang and the way we were able to handle her already. Because I'm hurt I was unable to assist him. He went in her stall and went right to work with giving her sedation so that her teeth could be floated. We waited for 20 minutes and the shot had no effect on her at all. He was suprised at how rugged Mustangs are, how they can take a lot. The second shot worked just fine.

My Blossom is current on everything and has a clean bill of health!!!

The vet and I spoke for a while. I like him, he is personable and good at what he does. If your from Brevard county and need a good vet email me and I will give you his name.

The next step in her care is to call my farrier whom I also adore. Blossoms feet
look good, and it will probably take me a few more days to make sure she is really ready for the ferrier. I try really hard to be kind to my vet and ferrier. I make sure horses in my training have excellent manners before I bring in another professional to work on them, and they really appreciate that!

Back to training!!! Have a nice day!!!

Learning New Things

June 1-9

Blossom is already used to her new residence and settled nicely. Her new best friend is a Freisien. You should see them making eye contact over the fence line when she has free time. She gets along well with other horses which is a huge bonus.

This week Blossom learned how to cross over different objects, pick up all four feet,
ground tie, pivot to left and right, lunge in both directions, sending exercises,
ground pole crossing, bathing, walk when I walk, stop when I stop, back when I back and you can wiggle the lead rope and she will back up for you. She also puts her head down for haltering. She's Awesome Blossom!!!!

This little Mustang has had only about 10 days of training and already has passed some horses that have been in training for months. Yes indeed, the Mustang is an
incredible breed of horse.

Today the vet visits. I will let you know how that goes.

A Time To Heal

May 27-31

These 5 days Blossom did nothing but be a horse and hang around in her stall.
I am amazed at how smart and willing a Mustang is. They are by far one of the
best breeds of horses that I have ever had the privledge of training. Blossom is tolerant, brave, willing, honest and just a real sweetheart and a very easy keeper.
She picks up things fast and is just as honest as she can be.

The five days of not working her did not effect her at all. Once I could hobble better, we went back to training and she picked up where we had left off. In fact she was so good already that my family and I decided to move her closer to our home where I could work with her more often and heal properly. Blossom loaded up in the trailer for the move with the attitude that she had been doing it her whole life. I had a family member load her that is not horse savvy and she went right into the trailer.

A Very Exspensive Day

May 27

This morning started out wonderful, I worked with the Mustang and lead her into a stall for the first time and she walked down the barn hall past other horses into her stall like she had lived in a barn her whole life.

I then went to visit another horse trainer. When I got on the property I knew I was there to help him start a few young colts. Starting and foundation is my area of expertise. the trainer brought out a 3 yr old that had a few rides on him already.
I was asked to ride the horse. I asked the trainer what kind of ground work he had done with the horse. It was as though I had insulted the guy. He told me to not worry about the ground work, that the colt had plenty of rides, just get on.
The next thing I know I'm in an ambulance being taken to the hospital. I'm in severe pain in my leg and so mad that I had not listened to my gut feelings about the ground work. If I had taken the time to move the horses hindquarters, shoulders, toss ropes on him and back him a little on the ground before I got on I would have avoided the whole thing. The worst part is I know better, oh boy do I know better!
If you can't control the horse from the ground, chances are once your in the saddle it won't get any better. So as I was about to hit the ground hard. The only words I could hear going through my brain was Clinton Anderson saying," You should of done your ground work".!!! By then, it was to late. I thought about wether or not to post this because I don't want to take away from such a great journey of training a Mustang, but as a professional I felt that I had to. If this can help just one person than I have done my job. If someone ever asked you to get on a horse and will not allow you the time to get to know the horse or do ground work with the horse, simply just walk away. A professional horsemen or women will allow you to get to know your mount before they demand that you get on.

Another reason I posted this was to explain why the next pics and videos will seem out of order. It is because while I was in terrible pain and still training the Mustang, I did not allow anyone to film it. So again, I should of done ground work, if I had, you would of been able to see some pretty important steps in training a horse.

Day 1

May 26

I worked with Blossom for about two hours in the round pen. She did a lot of silly
stuff at first. She reared up, bucked and ran her little heart out. When she finally slowed down a little, I tried to approach her for the first touch. She moved away from me several times before she finally gave in and took her first smell of me and allowed me to touch her face. It was the most rewarding feeling that I have had in Horsemanship in a long time. To touch a wild Mustang within the first 4 hours of training was unreal. After I got her used to touching and my tools of the trade, she allowed me to put a lead rope on her and we led her to a pasture for free time. I was amazed at how well she walked from the round pen to the pasture. She gave no problems, she just walked right along behind me. I would have preferred beside me, but I was taking what she was able to give. After time I soon realized that the Mustang was not mean or aggresive at all. She was simply just scared to death, so I took a different approach to training her. Instead of moving her feet and body away from me, I stayed close to her and taught her to turn, walk beside me and allow me to catch her. She later proved to me that she liked to be close, almost to close.

First Day Arrival

May 25

When we arrived at the training facility we make a very bold move by putting another domestic horse in the round pen with the Mustang. Now normally, I would not have done this with an older more dominant Mustang. Given the fact that the Mustang was younger, we took a chance that the horses would not fight. Our plan worked out great!
After the horses got to know each other, I worked both of them at the same time in the round pen and the Mustang caught onto the concept of round penning and getting those feet to move in the direction that I wanted relatively easy. We removed the domestic white horse and worked the Mustang alone in the pen. Blossom did remarkably well on her own. We decided not to try and move her that evening so she stayed in the round pen over night by herself. She again ate all the grain, hay and water that was offered.

The Journey Begins And The Pick Up

The journey to the Extreme Mustang Makeover Yearling Edition started with a
24 hour none stop ride to Brenham, Texas. Brenham is a city an hour away from
the Mustang pick up station in Elgin, Texas.

After I met several enthusiastic people hosting the event or competeing in it, it was time for me to back my trailer up to a shute and pick up the Mustang.

The horses were seperated according to which ones would be leaving the state of Texas for training. The out of state horses with all the correct health papers were a small group stuffed into a small pen. The wranglers opened the pen door and the first Mustang to come flying out was the one that I got. Oh Boy, did my Mustang come flying out! It reared and flipped over on it's back several times getting cut on the face and legs. The Mustang simply protested the whole thing. Finally it stopped moving around in the shutes and was able to be released towards my trailer and the Mustang walked right in.

I was told before I left for the trip back to drive straight back to Florida after picking up the Mustang. At about 3am in the morning it was so foggy on the interstate that it was to dangerous to drive. We pulled into a hotel and slept for the rest of the evening. I put hay, water and bedding in the trailer for the Mustang, said a prayer and hoped noone would come by and harrass or let the wild animal out. Early in the morning I checked on the Mustang and it had eaten all it's
hay and drank most of the water. It also had bedding stuck to its coat, so I know the Mustang rested too. My trailer is about the size of a box stall, it is airy and basically a small stock type trailer. Perfect for one or two horses to travel.
By the time we hit the Florida state line, we decided to call the horse "Orange Blossom" it is totally original for Florida.

First Day Arrival

Extreme Mustang Makeover Overview

The mission of the Mustang Heritage Foundation is to increase the adoption of Mustangs to good homes. In keeping with the mission of the Foundation, the Extreme Mustang Makeover will occur at the John Justin Arena in Ft. Worth, TX, September 18-21, 2008. The goal of the event is to promote adoption through showcasing Mustangs' value and trainability through competition.

200 wild Mustangs from Nevada will be brought to the Bureau of Land Management's facilities in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and Palomino Valley, Nevada. Additional pick-up locations may be added east of the Mississippi. The 200 Mustangs will be as uniform in size, age as possible. Mustangs will be between 3-4 years of age with current vaccinations and hooves trimmed.

200 approved horse trainers will be selected and the Mustangs will be preassigned to the trainer by computer draw prior to pick-up so that appropriate health papers may be created for trainers' home states. Trainers will pick up their Mustang at either BLM Facility (Pauls Valley, OK or Palomino Valley, NV) between June 12-14, 2008. Additional pick-up locations may be added east of the Mississippi. Trainers must meet all requirements listed below for hauling and stabling their Mustang. The trainers will then take the Mustang to their training facility where they will have until September 18, 2008 to return to Ft. Worth, Texas for the Extreme Mustang Makeover. At that time the trainers will compete in three areas - conditioning, citizenship (ground work) and riding the "Horse Course" (trail riding with obstacles). A panel of accomplished judges will determine winners. $50,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded.

In an effort to encourage participation from a variety of trainer styles and experience, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has created three divisions of competition for the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover; allowing you to participate at the level you and your mustang are prepared for. Divisions will be titled Stars, Idols and Legends with maneuvers and obstacles becoming more challenging as you move from a Star to a Legend.

Contact Me

Name: Joan Fisher
Occupation: Natural Horsemanship Trainer
Phone #: 1-321-752-7338
email: joansnaturalhorsemanship@gmail.com