I just spent a bit of time on the rescue’s web site.
There are a couple of other horses that would actually make better dressage prospects in terms of general body type (consider Regalo, Amee or Wind Walker) if you want a rehab project.
I will say that some of the horses under “ready to adopt” still look severely under weight so I have some concerns about this rescue but I imagine they are doing the best that they can.
To me this is like deciding to adopt a wolf to be the family dog. Do some people keep wild animals as pets? Yep. Is it the best idea? Nope. And not only do people who adopt mustangs want to feed them and pet them and such, they want to RIDE them! Because riding domesticated horses isn’t dangerous enough, let’s climb on one that has generations of survival instincts bred into it that will make it that much more dangerous.
Hopefully the OP has reconsidered.
OP chiming in here. 
While I would still love to go and see this horse and make a personal assessment, the place hasn’t gotten back to me when I asked about him. I did look at the other horses on the site (especially the ones pointed out) and the Canon City mustangs as well. A lot of nice prospects but I will be taking my time before choosing anyone.
That said, I also signed up for volunteer work at the Houston SPCA with a request to work in the stables area once my first 20 hours is accumulated. Maybe I’ll find my next partner there, maybe it’ll be from someplace else. Whoever it is, it’ll happen at the right time in the right place.
Wonder what happened to Mr Personality …that whole rescue site seems a bit off somehow. Good luck with finding your next best friend, so many horses need caring homes now it will a lucky day for whichever you pick.
OP, aren’t there plenty of horses out there who need rescuing, who won’t want to kill you by way of “Thank You”?
Have you been to the auction lately??
OP- that ad is One. Big. Red. Flag. that this a dangerous animal.
The phrases like “unpredictable” and “distrust of humans” can probably be translated into “This horse has reacted violently and aggressively when a human entered it’s space, and serious injuries occurred. We’d like him gone from the farm”. I can’t imagine any good, reputable trainer putting their life and career on the line for a horse like this. Please rethink this one!
Esp the part about unpredictable when confined. Eeeks…
The BLM is partly to blame. Mustangs with no chance of rehabilitation should be able to be returned to the range. Very sad and not the horse’s fault, a bunch of idiot decisions led to him being where he is.
[QUOTE=enjoytheride;7673029]
It sounds like someone has gotten seriously injured at least once when dealing with this horse in an enclosed space. For a professional only.[/QUOTE]
I know some cowboys who could break him, but that’s exactly what they would do.
[QUOTE=Countrywood;7681416]
Esp the part about unpredictable when confined. Eeeks…
The BLM is partly to blame. Mustangs with no chance of rehabilitation should be able to be returned to the range. Very sad and not the horse’s fault, a bunch of idiot decisions led to him being where he is.[/QUOTE]
Yup. Geld him and let him go home. That way, he won’t contribute his antisocial genetics to the pool and humans won’t try to tame a guy who doesn’t want to be tamed.
Question for those of you in the know…
Doesn’t this guy look a bit too long in the back for Dressage?
Wouldn’t this be a bad decision, even if his name weren’t “Black Sabbath” and he wasn’t a renegade?
While browsing some BLM sites I came across a device for trimming the wild feral horse’s hooves and which could explain the “unpredictable in confined spaces” comment. The horible device looked like a rugged steel cell into which they herd the wild horse, then mechanically close in the sides of cell until the horse is encased AND then they mechanically FLIP horse on his side until it’s lying down encased in this steel shell. then they trim the hooves.
EEKS!!! I think even some domesticated horses could be ruined by this medieval device. Seems horribly cruel to me.
A lot of high level dressage horses actually are pretty long in the back…Paragon and Parzival come to mind.
The horse’s conformation imo is sturdy, a bit coarse, but of course real mustangs are built to be tough and survive, not passage around an arena lol…though a lot of them are agile and light on their feet movement that is contrary to how they look standing still.
I’ve never seen mustangs in the wild out west, but I did get to see a herd rescued by a genuine rescue…they took on a whole HERD, and were in the process of buying large acreage in north of Florida to keep them on so they could live together . Till they were moved the horses were in a smaller (normal size ) paddock. I went to see them, and standing around, looked like small coarse scrappy horses. But when they moved, they moved as one, and it was extraordinary. Not moving as domestic horses do when domestic horses move as a herd or group.
When I say these mustangs moved together as one, it was as if all their feet were synchronized to the exact same footfalls…which is why they also go by the name, “ghost horses”… a whole herd galloping with hardly a sound, almost disappearing as they went by, hard to explain…more like a fluid river of silvery coats than horses. It really is a crime to separate them from herds and make them lead silly domesticated lives because we America can’t manage our ranges properly.
[QUOTE=RhythmNCruise;7680767]
To me this is like deciding to adopt a wolf to be the family dog. Do some people keep wild animals as pets? Yep. Is it the best idea? Nope. And not only do people who adopt mustangs want to feed them and pet them and such, they want to RIDE them! Because riding domesticated horses isn’t dangerous enough, let’s climb on one that has generations of survival instincts bred into it that will make it that much more dangerous.
Hopefully the OP has reconsidered.[/QUOTE]
A Mustang is nothing like a wolf. A mustang is a domesticated animal that has gone feral. It has thousands of generations of selective breeding for domestication behind it and a few generations in the wild does not undo that. As evidenced by the fact that you can get a Mustang to accept human contact even when they have been removed from the wild as an adult. That is a sign of domestication. You cannot do that with a wild animal. An adult wolf will never be trust worthy around humans when removed from the wild as an adult. It is still a wild animal.
Being accepting of human contact is what we originally selected for when domesticating. It is still in there in “wild” horses.
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