>>> WOW! He's calmer than my two who freaked out from seeing Alex with an >>> umbrella!
Exactly - these particular mustangs have lived in such close proximity to people for all of their lives that they aren't exactly what we think of as mustangs. He's been through more "despooking" than most of my horses have, just by living with the often-spooky beach paraphernalia like kites, umbrellas, bikes, four-wheelers, jet skis, etc. - not to mention deer, foxes, wild boar, ospreys, seagulls, copperheads, etc. That part of the beach is only accessible via four-wheel-drive after the main road ends, so there's not a lot of traffic during "off season" - but in the summers, especially on weekends, it gets waaay too crowded up there. Heck, most horses are at least slightly freaked out (some are VERY freaked) when they first see the ocean waves crashing, but the moms take these guys to the beach when they are just hours old - I think that some are born on the beach. I've seen pictures of the wild horses walking along the decking-board sidewalks - crossing bridges are nothing for these guys. Then, the pure Spanish mustangs are particularly known for being calm and sensible. Don't get me wrong, he WILL be a project...but not exactly the kind of project I thought about when I first heard the words "injured", "wild", "mustang" and "stallion" linked together. My biggest fear with dealing with him in the small stall was that I wasn't sure how to move him away, should anything happen and there just wasn't any spare room in the stall. That's why I was sooo relieved to see him in the round pen. The handler just basically had to guide him forward, no chasing, no throwing of ropes even. Once I'm confident that we have a good "move away" communication in place, the training can really progress. The next day, after the round pen, I decided to use the clicker to reward him for letting me touch his face and halter through the stall bars - he's not exactly headshy, but VERY protective of his head. I DO NOT think it would be a good idea to give treats to a horse who knows as little as Bart does unless there is a good strong barrier between us. But, we need to establish some very basic communication here, and I'll mainly rely on scratches and "good boys" for his rewards once we get going. Within about 3 clicks he started letting me touch his face for longer periods - probably within 10 clicks I could touch for about 5-10 seconds, then he started giving me his face. Within five minutes, he'd let me hold his halter for about 3-4 seconds. I'm sorry that was the last day there, because I'm pretty sure that I can halter train him pretty quickly from this point. Karen Thomas, NC
