13th Day

Today is LDivo's ( Divo, means movie star) 13th day here with me. He is progressing quickly. A couple of days ago I started putting a saddle pad on him. He is really curious about everything and hardly flinched. I put it on him from both sides and he just stood there. Today I added a surcingle. I thought that he would react somehow when I cinched it up. He just stood there. He wore his saddle pad and surcingle most of the afternoon. I am thrilled with with his progress. I have put a saddle on his back but not cinched it yet but he is ready. This weekend I will get him saddled and begin his ground driving.

End of the first week

Friday - June 19, 2009: I have given my mustang the barn name of LDivo. LDivo in Spanish means " Movie star". He is adjusting to his new home with me and his training is progressing nicely. I am able to rub his face and neck with my hand. His mane was very tangled with some large knots at the withers, LDivo let me untangle most of the knots with my fingers. He seem to relax and enjoy the attention and my touch. He is a little worried about being touched on his belly and around his back legs and I have to get him used to being touched there before I can think moving forward with his training. For the most part he is happy to see me and is willing to let me gently move his training forward. He is leading, letting me catch him, greeting me when I enter his pen. By Sunday morning, 8 days with me, he is stealing bites of hay out of my arms when I go in the pen to feed him. Later today I am hoping to put a different halter on him and possibly start sacking him out with a saddle blanket.

2 days after pickup from BLM 6/15/09

The pretty Bay gelding has been here for two full days now. He is adjusting well. At first he ran from me. I worked with him 5 times yesterday. Each time he got better but still wanted to turn tail and run. Today however, was different. He is facing me when I go into his pen. I can pick up his lead rope and he doesn't run. He is trotting circles around me both ways by his choice. He is really curious about me and wants to touch my hand with his muzzle. When he touches me he snorts at me. Not sure if he doesn't like me or just unsure. After I handled him 3 times today he finally quit snorting at me. He is curious but very leery. He is leading a few steps, a really good thing for today.

The Road to Ft. Worth

Today is Saturday, June 13, I arrived rather early in the morning at the BLM pens in Palomino Valley just north of Reno, Nevada to pick up my second makeover mustang. I was hoping for a dark gelding. It was cool and over cast with a chance of rain in the forecast so I wanted to get my mustang home before it began to rain. Terry Russell and her camera man Walker from Reno's Channel 8 KOLO TV had already arrived and were ready to begin filming the story of this mustang's journey from wild to tame.

It was not like the first challenge where the computer had randomly assigned a mustang to each trainer. This time, the first mustang into the chute would be mine. It turned out the first one into the chute was a well put together bay gelding with three white socks and a star, stripe and snip on his beautiful face. As I watched him move through the chutes and down the alley toward my trailer he trotted out and he is a moves very nice. When I enquired about his history they told me that he had been rounded up in Ely, Nevada in September 2008 and brought to these pens where he had spent the winter.

After much difficulty and several attempts the fellows at the BLM finally got my halter and long lead rope on him, and he was ready to load into the trailer. When the gate in front of him opened he walked into the trailer and turned around to see where he was coming from, as if to say good bye, and stood there quietly on the ride to his new home at my house.

When we arrived at the my house - lovingly referred to by friends as the Mustang Nanny's mustang hotel - we backed up to the pen and opened the back of the trailer where he walked out into his new life and world. He was greeted by many of my friends and who had come to welcome him and my big Quarter Horse, Presley, who I had put next to him for company. The mustang checked out his new quarters and had a sip of water all the while keeping an eye on his new fan club not quite knowing why everyone was there with those funny little silver boxes looking at him, but did take the opportunity to extend his nose and sniff several of the outstretched hands.

Later in the afternoon after the mustang had settled a little I went into his corral and was able to hold the end of the rope and talk to him. He was leery of me but made no attempt to bite or kick out at me. For the rest of the afternoon I just left him alone to adjust to his new home and surroundings, let him relax and his adrenalin to subside. His day had been extremely traumatizing for him.

The look on my sister's face sums up the whole ordeal of this day for my new mustang.

Let the challenge begin...

Rio

From the Western States Mustang Makeover a friend asked me to help her find a young mustang gelding and train him for her. We went to the BLM pens in Palomino Valley where we chose a mustang stallion who had been gathered from Area 51 in July 2008, taken to the BLM. After he was gelded he came into training in October 2008. His owner called him Rio. As with Diva this gelding was smart, and willing. His owner left Rio in training at my facility in Reno until mid-April 2009 when she picked him up. He had learned all the lessons I taught him. During the time he was in training I traveled to various parts of California and along with my personal horse I took him with me. He loaded and traveled like a seasoned horse who had been traveling in an enclosed horse trailer for years.

In May 2009, after 5 months of training with me, Rio participated in his first trail trials, as a green trail horse he did well, trusting in his owner that where she took him he would be OK. He was willing and worked through each obstacle as any other green horse would work through an obstacle. He too, like Diva, has won many hearts and has many fans. Most People just cannot believe that 6 or 7 months ago he was a wild stallion out on the desert fending for himself. He traveled for days and many miles just to get to water. He learned to love his life in captivity with his Mustang Nanny and learned all of his lessons with ease.

Western States Mustang Makeover

My first mustang makeover was in June 2008. I picked up my mustang in Sacramento, California in early March 2008. I had just under 90 days to have her ready for the Western States Mustang Makeover in June 2008 back in Sacramento, California. The mustang I was assigned was a

solid bay mare. Her kind eye, long eye lashes and quiet demeanor caught my attention from my first sighting. She was called Diva and loved to be groomed and was willing to try most anything asked of her.

I took her home to Reno and within a few weeks she had her own fan club. Terry Russell from Channel 8 KOLO TV picked up the story of Diva and did a series following Diva's progress which Terry called "Taming the Wild". The story of Saunya and Diva was followed many from Reno and surrounding communities and not a day at the Makeover that many of her fans were coming through the barns asking to see Diva, and wanting to touch her. She was up to the challenge and took every new challenge in stride. Diva was wonderful in the Western States Mustang Challenge. We were tied for 10th place to go into the finals and lost to the tie breaker judge. She was a winner from the very beginning and did her very best to please me.

She had touched my heart in a way no other horse had. It was hard to let her go, but Diva's new owners lived in Reno and I still see her from time to time.

The Journey

I have successfully shown horses in different disciplines and at different levels. I competed at the AQHA World Show level in 2 yr old Open Western Pleasure, Jr Western Riding and Jr. Trail. I was a finalist in all three events.


I have shown both my own horses as well as the horses that I have trained for my clients in A.Q.H.A. approved shows and circuits . My accomplishments include PCQHA yr. end championships in Jr. Western Riding, 2 yr. old Western Pleasure, Cow Palace, Grand National Horse Show Championships in 2 yr old Western Pleasure, Open Trail, and Hunter Hack. Gold n Grand Championships in Green Western Pleasure, and many open buckles in Hunter Under Saddle with client owned horses.


Below are a few photos of various horses in both English and Western classes, and Starring Version, aka Presley being shown this past summer in a halter class.