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I adopted a mustang- going to chronicle my saga here!

You can also PM eightpondfarm. She has several mustangs and can give you some suggestions.

She is also a proponent of R+ training.

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@Nova2000 I was just out mowing and listened again to Warwick Schiller’s podcast on The Principles of Training and it’s so good. https://www.warwickschiller.com/podcast/

Episode 27.

Also 2 - The Science of Connection.

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@PaddockWood thanks, I’ll give it a listen! I’ve listened to some of his podcasts, I don’t know if I have heard that one yet. I tend to jump around based on what I’m in the mood for LOL.

Yesterday we worked on coming into the barn. It’s a process he’s nervous about. Not just the barn, but the path to get into it. We have to walk past the scary propane tank, past the horse eating trailer, and then all the big scary things in the barn. We’ve been in and out of it several times now, but last night when we got in, he was literally shaking with fear. I didn’t ask anything of him while in there, just to stand next to me, and once he was reasonably calmed down, we walked out working on our manners so as not to run me over in a panic to get out.

I reached out to the TIP trainer on whether I should have done anything different, and she recommended I just walk in and right back out several times in a row. So today or tomorrow we will work on that.

Still no progress on anything more than picking out the feet.

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Also forgot to mention, after the barn, once we were calm and happy, we went back to the propane tank and worked on it with the clicker. Rewarded small steps towards it, and big reward when he was brave enough to touch it with his nose!

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i work in much smaller bites than you are doing. And very short sessions. I think, for me,… how i go about anything with any of my horses is to develop a bond. Once that is there, the sky’s the limit. They pretty much set the schedule. Of the nine mustangs, only two are rideable (by me) Everyone else is along a spectrum from half-feral to getting-there.

I actually do R+. So, no pressure. Touch-It is a good game they play with scary things. They do not learn the process out-n-about on a halter and lead rope. This game is learned when they are unfettered and are free to get away. So…by the time they meet Mr. Propane Tank, the command: Touch-it means a game to them. It is a game by-which they know i know they are afraid, and that even knowing that, i am saying ‘this thing is safe’ and challenging them to overcome that fear and touch that thing. And they shall (of course) be rewarded. Maybe even get a gooood butt scratch or belly scratch(fly season, they’re always itchy!). I have one mustang, Steve, who when i ask to touch it, will almost drag me toward anything he feels is scary! He FINDS something for me. lol. He really ‘gets’ the game.

All that said, my horses came to me raw. So, i’m their human. I would think that a horse moved from a TIP to a forever home, needs time to get over the loss of their original human and gain confidence/affection for the new one. That’s a big deal for these guys.

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@eightpondfarm I find it both hilarious and oddly comforting that there is a horse name Steve out there :slight_smile:

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Ah, well, he’s named after Steve Hollander. One of the two brothers who help me fence this farm. And human Steve, is slow to warm-up. Every time i have them out, it’s starting alll over again with him. He begins shy. Then, once he re-adjusts to me…it’s like the floodgates open and he shares so much of his life, his inner self. My mustang Steve is also that way. Every morning we meet again. He, himself, is always just below the surface, willing, but it is a fresh entrance, a new beginning when we once again meet up. Human Steve btw, is absolutely driven to work, he does not relax and just sit around…he’s a worker! And another thing about human Steve, no task is too difficult, he just meets the hardest project head-On. Final thing about my mustang’s namesake…he is a very good looking man. So…all these things make mustang Steve fit into that name.

my mustangs are named:
Steve
Fae
Rizada
Ajax
Warlock
Whisper
Sinnerman
Tovah
Tristan

edit to add names of the new mustangs

Kashmir
Ink
Quigley
Avocet
Trout
Avatar

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I was thinking the exact same thing! Love Steve!

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Two mini sessions yesterday, both good. First one, we worked our way into the barn of horrors, walked in, walked right back out, did that about five times. Then on the way back we did touch-it with propane tank, and touch-it on the horse eating lacrosse net. That lacrosse net has been waiting to eat him since day one, so I am very proud of him. I think the clicker has made him braver, and he is starting to understand the touch-it game. @eightpondfarm thanks for calling it touch-it, I’ve switched to saying that instead of “target” it rolls off the tongue easier.

Then, later in the day, we worked on feet. We went and stood, and practiced standing patiently next to me using our personal space manners, once he was fully relaxed, I rubbed all over, and picked up a foot and then we went back to standing, instead of working on one foot after the other. Then foot #2, then back to standing relaxed. Did this with all 4 feet. Then back to foot one, I was able to put his foot between my knees. Kept if there for about 2 seconds and gave it back. Then back to standing relaxed for a bit, and did the same with the other front foot. Then lots of scratches and treat. Wasn’t going to push for back feet.

Travelling for work and kids soccer games tonight, so he’s got the day off. Just love and hay today.

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sounds like things are moving right along.
Like that you broke down your ‘lessons’ into separate sessions, and made the visits brief.

Hope she learns to really enjoy the touch-it game. It’s been a life altering training tool for me, riding as well as ground. It sure beats ‘making them obey’. Changes the whole relationship…

When i become paired with my horse and we work in mutual cooperation and respect, and with an attitude of fun…rather than a master/obedience mode…the world is just a better place for both of us.

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I recently learned that a horse’s eyes take quite a bit longer to adjust to sudden bright and dark than ours. That means going from the outside into the barn or shed may be really abrupt and startling to a horse, especially one that is largely unfamiliar with that routine or place yet. He may be shaking with fear inside the barn because he cannot see well yet…even though you can. So everything you pass before the barn is one fear building upon the next - the propane tank, the jacket on the back of a chair that wasn’t there yesterday, the rake propped against the wheelbarrow, and then, boom, into this suddenly dark (to him) place…it’s a lot!

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Try to just spend time with him. I know it seems cheesy but just sitting in a chair next to his paddock and reading a book is great. Mustangs are really big on trust. They need to know and trust their handler, and he probably is pretty confused because he had one handler and now they are gone and you are here.
The first months I had Thistle I had zero expectations for him. I gave him lots of pets and groomed him a lot. I didn’t expect him to tie at first as that’s a very scary thing to not be able to move. I would halter him and hold the lead rope as I groomed him. I also tended to only interact with him when he wanted it. I’d go into the field with a lead rope and if he approached I’d give him a cookie and take him in for a grooming. I know that is unconventional, to allow the horse to be in charge of its choice to interact, but these horses go from being in a situation where no one controls them (out in nature) to being in a very strictly controlled environment (round up, in a pen, trailering, and in your case someone putting training on him). I just think that is so difficult for them and one of the reasons they act out. They feel helpless.

Then when we moved on to more difficult stuff because he knew and trusted me it was no big deal. Like working with any other young horse. He had acclimated to people and decided we were pretty ok.

He teaches beginner lessons now. He is an absolute sweetheart and impresses people everywhere we go. I’ve taken him to shows where he has fallen asleep at the ingate waiting for our round. People don’t believe he was a Mustang, because they assume mustangs have to be wild and crazy. I tell them mine was not made for the wild and crazy life; he was made for the free hay and cushioned stall life :smile:

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thanks for your wonderful post!
Can’t agree enough with the trust part of what you wrote! It takes trust and affection for a mustang to come to you. That doesn’t depend on obedience…it depends on a good relationship. And that trust comes by earning it, not by force. And it takes time. In basic mustang familiarization techniques, it’s very common to approach, retreat, approach, retreat, approach, stop and wait. And WHEN you do the retreat or the stop is based entirely on the horse’s reaction. Not when you decide, but when they show their unease. It’s a basic initial exercise. And a lot of people (esp direct adopters, but not-so-much TIP) spend time just sitting in the horse’s space …reading, on their devices, maybe even braiding leadropes or tying headstalls (which is what i do…because i want them to see that i can move my hands and torso and it doesn’t hurt them -or actually have anything to do with them). This is the first step. then the approach/retreat stuff, coupled with offering food from hand eventually as a ‘why’ they should want to come to an outstretched hand.

If i were to get a mustang from someone else, even if it were already gentled, i’d start at zero and work my way up. Build their trust onto me, (because to a feral animal-horse or otherwise-humans are NOT interchangeable). Demonstrated by this photo of my very tame Steve, i ride him, he can go everywhere here on my farm, but i got him during 2020, Covid, and he does not know other people. I had an old friend( a gentle man-has good calm energy) “stranger-danger” come to be a second human to him and THIS is what we eventually got:
(note the unthreatening body language of the man)

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I had forgot Steve was a grey. Yum. me want.

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Steve is handsome

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I listened to Warwick Shiller’s podcast #27 yesterday while driving around for work. Loved it. Two things really stood out to me. The donkey kong principle, about starting over at the beginning with everything, and the separate/ isolate/ recombine principle. I really tried to think about those today.

Today, I brought my trimming tools into the roundpen, and just set them down in the middle. Then I just went and stood with him, working on our manners. I was wearing the R+ treat bucket, so manners were harder. Once we got there, worked on picking up and picking out his feet. It went really well. Then I left him, and started digging around in the tools, making a racket, totally ignored him. It freaked him out at first. I stopped and waited, he approached a little, click/ treat. Did the same, thing, started just moving them around making noise with them while he watched nervously, then stopped and waited, he approached, and eventually touched it. After touch-it several times, I gently picked up a tool to make just a little noise, and he flinched but didn’t retreat. He did touch it again, and eventually, we made the treats come from inside the tools making a racket.

I left the tools and went backing to just picking up his feet, holding them, I tapped several times with the hoof pick, it was good. We stopped there with the feet. I gave him a break, took off the halter, and worked on C/T each time he stuck his nose in the halter. By the end he was shoving his nose in the halter. I feel like it was a good day.

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Oh… Another question, the vet is coming out later in September for fall shots and to do teeth. Is there anything in particular I can/ should do with him to prepare for this? I feel like he is going to hate me after that. :frowning_face: :

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Not mustangs, but my horses literally don’t even flinch when they get shots. And if for some reason I think they are going to care (like a big injection of antibiotics or something), they forget quickly with some tasty hay or treats offered afterwards.

The vet will probably sedate for teeth so he’s not even going to know what happened.

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WS has videos on giving injections to foals etc the first time.

I’d probably do a lot of work making sure he’s totally cool with you walking up. Totally cool w you walking up and raising your hand. Then walking up with a syringe in your hand. Then walking up w syringe and lifting it up.

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