Larry Rushing Mustangs
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Trainer at Rushing Mustangs
Things continue to progress at the old homestead......NOT without adventure. The horses had all suddenly gotten spooked by the rustling of plastic sacks. Sooo we decided to give them a session of shaky sacks. Star whizzed through like a champ and so did Buckshot, but my dear, sweet, calm, easygoing, Pogo barely survived the sack attack. She ran and ran and ran until I decided to take more control and put the lead rope on her. She made rapid and marked improvement. There was still fear, but she was much less reactive.......until.......I was working close with her on her spooky right side. She was circling and I was moving with her circles. All of a sudden the circles got faster and smaller.....until......she veered right into me. I weigh over 200 pounds, but it is absolutely no match for her 1000+ pounds. I went flying.....again, landing on a small mound on my left side ribs. Our round pen is natural earth and not sand. Have you ever tried to say "I'm ok" when you can't get any air? Well, I am ok, but my ribs feel either heavily bruised or cracked. Just one more thing for old folks to get over, right? Sandi asked if I was through. I told her "no." I worked Pogo a little more and I really think she was ashamed for plastering me because she really really tried to comply and we were able to end on a good note.
Now it was Sandi's turn to be scared. She was going to the round pen for only her second time. She had warmed up Odakota in the smaller loafing shed but we moved to the round pen. Odakota is still so stuck on me that he will hardly move without me being in front of him. You will see on the video that he flexes very well, but has not figured out that he can turn along with it. I was making a move back to my right while looking in the camera. (Don't text and drive) I tripped over a milkweed plant and you will see the results on the video. Please excuse the moment of fright on my wife. Sometimes fright temporarily overcomes propriety, however, I was really proud of my wife who handled it well as a novice rider. Odakota is going to be really special. As soon as the instant of fright was over, he was licking his lips. Good boy Odakota. Thank you for taking care of Sandi for me!
08/19/2021
Whew! Sometimes you think it will never happen. You hope and work and work and hope and it seems nothing really changes and then one day, almost out of the blue, that amazing breakthrough comes. You may remember how Odakota talked about Flash being one HOT female and all the evidence showed that to be the case.
Today something changed. She has a sweet disposition but is slow to give out her full trust. She got cranky the other day and tried to hide in a corner. We had been having issues with this off and on and as a final resort, I used my buggy whip on her butt while telling her "face up." She whirled out of the corner and ran to the other end of the shed and I repeated "face up" and she IMMEDIATELY turned toward me and began walking to me. I immediately told her “Good girl” and began to rub her head and neck. She let me rub all over her back and sides and returned to “face up” when I asked her to. That has continued quite nicely even in larger areas. It seems that my stern remonstrance of her has taken hold. At one point today as they were feeding I did something that caused her to withdraw outside the feeding area and I simply said "face up" and she returned. She went into the corner to avoid, but I stepped over and told her to back up and she did. No more skittering. I was petting on my 10 yr. old mare when the other horses got through eating and into the area came Flash followed by Odakota. Flash moved to the other side of my mare (Pogo) and I told her to "face up." She walked to me and Pogo left. That left me petting Odakota and Flash. I moved away and they both followed with Flash being the lead. I petted some more and turned to walk out the gate and both horses followed. This is a REAL change for Flash. She was relaxed and receptive. It seems that time, Patience, and kindness mixed with one lesson of "don't ever do that" has broken through the flighty barrier. Even she, I think would enjoy being on a ranch and able to work cows. We have Longhorns next to us and all the horses like to mess with them.
Flash has acted all day as if she was a different horse. She has always shown a sweetness about her, but kept it reserved. Today it seems she has it on display. I expect progress to come more rapidly with her now. Even my throwing my arm over her and leaning heavily brought no adverse reactions; just a relaxed filly. Whew! It is hard waiting but sometimes like a kid at Christmas- it’s worth it. She is now available for adoption from the BLM for their fee of $125. What a bargain for such a talented and promising girl.
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Dallas, TX
