I had no idea what to do with a "wild mustang stallion" in a 10x10 foot stall. This is a stallion who was just picked up due to an injury on his neck on May 6. The only handling he'd gotten so far was to be sedated for the initial treatment, then the daily cleaning of his wounds afterwards. The Banker horses are known for being gentle and easy souls, and they say Bart is one of the easiest mature horses they've seen yet. That he's a stallion is even more amazing. This is NOT a typical mustang, probably not even typical for a young stallion, but it's not too out of the ordinary for this strain of Colonial Spanish mustangs apparently. And, maybe it's an explanation of why I'd consider bringing a "wild mustang" home.
Here are a few quick video clips, but beware, you can see his injury in several places and it's not pretty: To be moved from the stall to the round pen, he had to back the trailer up to the end of the barn hallway, open his stall door, and guide him from behind into the trailer. The herd manager is quite tactful and gentle in his mannerisms and handling - Cary and I were very impressed. Getting Bart from his stall to the round pen took less than five minutes total. He backed up the trailer close to the round pen gate, and put up a couple of pipe corral panels and opened the trailer door. Here's the exciting show that ensued...remember, Bart hadn't been out of a stall for three weeks, except for three trailer rides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E1lT3JDlVM Here's Bart's first movements around the round pen, encouraged forward by the handler, but not chased: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr_uTAuIKAk More of Bart trotting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnUMDxZpnc One more - sorry that Cary missed taping the part where he actually started to come to the handler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMd5j01L3KQ The handler (the herd manager) did these exercises so that Cary and I could watch Bart, but after we got these videos, we went into the round pen with him and did some of the same ourselves. I sat on the mounting block at one point, and Bart came and sniffed me of his own accord. We'd been in the stall with him several times earlier in the week. About the second day inside the stall with him, I started brushing him. Needless to say, I was very slow and deliberate in my movements, since it was a small space and I didn't know him well...and Cary stood outside and kept the stall door cracked open, just in case I needed to get out. (I didn't.) The day before we put him in the round pen, I decided to see how long it would take to teach him to touch a target. Note that I did this from outside the stall - i wasn't anxious to go through any mugging phases with a stallion that doesn't know how to move away, and who really doesn't have any basic understanding about what people consider acceptable behavior. The day before this video, he didn't know what a cookie is, and in about three clicks, he figured out how to make cookies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUSj4p6hfeY And here's his non-reaction to me opening an umbrella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipNUaahLmE Karen Thomas, NC
