To tired to work

Sorry I haven't been able to post lately, I will have to give a quick update on how everyone is doing. I have been so busy with them that I am getting in to late to post. Since the last time I posted I have been able to do some but not much. I worked with Mag Friday morning. She is doing great. She is still not solid enough for me to get on though. Some people will get on before they are sure they will not buck. I on the other hand will take a few extra days to make sure that they have very slim chances of bucking. If I get bucked off it effects my whole income and I also have two small children that I have to take care of. Saturday we had the equine therapist out and he did over 9 horses it was a long day in the heat. Spade was one in the mix that was checked. He got a clean bill of health. That night there was a barrel race in Livingston so Angela and I loaded up and headed there. The open started at 6:30, but my whole purpose for being there was to ride Spade around again and get him used to people moving around him.  I stayed in the stands until it started getting dark. Last week I rode him before it got dark this time I wanted to ride him in the warm-up area in the dark. It is much more different to them. He did really well. In fact he started acting like he belonged there. I would ride in the circle with friends and talk. Every time they would drag I would take him in the arena and ride around. While I was in the back a friend ask if I was going to exhibition him on poles. I hadn't even thought about it. So I signed up. They didn't get to poles until 1am. By that time Spade was a little cranky. He starts to "pumpkinize"about 11pm. Right before poles started I took him in on a drag and he decided he wanted to be a little gate sour. I would trot half a circle and then he would just pull me over to the gate. I would one rein stop and push him back in to the pen. He did this a few times, because he was wanting to go home. Once I got him on the poles he was much happier. He did have a strange reaction to the poles at first. These had red and blue stripes down them, at home I just have white ones. He really watched them the first go and then had a great second try. Immediately got off after I finished my last pole pattern. We had to wait around for me to grab a saddle. So we didn't get home until 3am. I didn't ride him yesterday because I was beat and so was he. The poor guy slept in the shed row most the day.
Yesterday I worked with Magpie again but after about 30 minutes I wasn't feeling all that great so I went in. The heat has really been taking its toll here lately. This morning I had a plan of attempting to get on Mag for the first time. She has done really well. Friday I spooked her a bit by mowing the back barn area. I hated to do it but you couldn't walk through the grass it was so tall. Since then she has been a little skittish. Today I worked with her and realized she still has a little to go before she is ready to get on. I saddled her with a few small jumps and worked her with many different things. I put pool noodles all over her and she didn't do a thing. She traveled around the pen at a trot and lope and never cared once that the noodles were bouncing everywhere. She did everything I ask. So when I was done I wanted to resaddle her to get that more solid. When I lifted the saddle up to put it on her I started to loose my grip. I lightly rested the saddle on her shoulder to re-situate my hand.  She stepped to the side. I followed figuring that she would take a step or two and stop. She did not. She snapped and the flight response kicked in and she jumped forward. I pulled the saddle to the ground and off she ran. I was so mad at myself for letting her get to that point. I should have had a longer line on her and I should have been using a lighter saddle. My main issues have been that I don't know what equipment to use and when. For instance when Angie came last week she told me that my main issue with the gentling process was the size of my round pen. It is a training round pen so it is fairly large. You will run yourself to death in it if the circumstances are right. Today I really needed to be using a lighter saddle because it is harder to lift my good saddle. Once she is used to the motion of slinging the saddle and what to expect it will be easier to use my regular saddle. After the blow up situation, it took me about about ten minutes to settle her back down and get back to the saddling. This time I grabbed a twelve inch kid saddle to toss off and on her. I got her saddled and unsaddled and stopped for the day.

I have been blessed with two great mustangs. Both are willing to learn once you are past the fear that they naturally carry. Tonight I will be working on some more advanced maneuvers on Spade. My job at this point is to get him to doing all the things that are required for the competition. We will see how he does.