Howdy folks,

Its been a long quiet winter and with the promise of Spring in the air, we are all itching to get back in the saddle again.  This year I decided to try a different route.

I have been invited several times over the years to participate in the Mustang challenge event that is held at Western States Horse Expo each year, but always had “something” that kept me from entering.  This year the Grace Foundation, an amazing horse rescue group,  is holding the challenge.  They currently house around 150 horses; way over capacity.  The reason for the high numbers stems from a truly tragic neglect case that began in Nebraska about a year ago.  For unknown reasons, a man had obtained custody of over 200 BLM mustangs. In my biased and entirely personal opinion, these horses, all “sale authority” horses (meaning exempt from many protections) were probably destined for slaughter for profit, but as I said, thats my own deduction.  Anyways, some kind sole discovered these poor horses and the authorities were called in.  A helicoptor survey showed well over 60 horses lying dead in the pastures.  The wheels of justice somehow groaned into motion and the United States Humane Society stepped in.  The surviving mustangs were gathered and trucked to a rescue facility in Texas.  There, they were treated and cared for and many found homes.  The wonderful folks at Grace Foundation stepped in and about 80 of the tortured Mutangs made their second long journey to El Dorado Hills.

Faced with an onslaught of wild horses and a daunting task of housing and ultimately placing these horses, the idea of holding their own Trainers Challenge came about.  And the universe smiled on them, when the original Mustang Challenge was not going to be held at Western States Horse Expo.  Grace Foundation got the slot and began a statewide search for trainers.

And here I am, only 13 horses on site (my lowest ever) and a serious need for inspiration.  So yesterday I went and picked up my “challenge”.  

Considering my options

Once we’d convinced my boy to go into the chute, we had to get a halter on him. 

Halter in hand, we let him relax a moment,

Next we put the halter on, and it was a bit of a project.  However, it was the only time the mustang put up a real fuss….well, he did put up a bigger fuss when we rewarded him taking a halter with a mouthful of wormer!

Dr. Mike has a hold while I work on sliding on the halter.

Through it all, the mustang was a real trooper, despite being frightened of the events taking place.  I promised him a future of kindness and respect.

For a moment he looks to me for answers and I dearly want him to know its going to be ok.

We get his halter on, and the poor guy gets shots and wormer, but the tough partit over.   By this time, the folks at Grace have searched thru their picture files and found his info.  He’s about 5 years old and had been awarded the name “Honey” in a naming contest in Texas. Unfortunately, the contest had neglected to mention the horses were geldings and this boy ended up with a less than manly name.  They said I could change it thank goodness.  He’s now called Cruiser.

I promised Donna that I will do my best to blog regularily about this experience, so stay tuned and I’ll tell you about his arrival and first lessons.