not so Tiny horse

YAY!!! I am so excited to be a happy chick. I could not imagine better people to journey with on this crazy adventure :) Thank you to my dear friends.... Jill, Chris, and Angi!!!!!




...and of course Kathy and Beth are a huge support too!!!

My horse is Tiny by name, but not in the literal sense. He is a little over 14 hands and about as wide as he is tall. He is a draft pony!!!!!!!!!!



Tiny gave have his heart over at the first second he discovered how nice it is to be scratched on the head :) Funny boy! Since then we have started riding and working toward driving with a cart hopefully soon. Some might say he is obese, but we prefer to call it squishy!

Two Awesome Days

Miyagi has had two awesome days and I am thrilled. So, Angi, she is such an amazing support, has told me to quit worrying about the halter thing so much, "you have done a great job with him". His ground work is getting better everyday, with a neck rope, his is so connected to me, and he tries so hard. So, at the advice of the great Angi Keitel, we are having some great confidence building sessions with me touching him. He always has had a hard time with me on the side of him. He wants me directly infront ALL the TIME!! We have been working on that and he is doing amazing. He is bending his head around and smelling me, checking me out and starting to relax with the whole idea. Angi and I have discovered, he likes to touch you before you touch him. Even on the side. It is cute, you reach out to touch his neck and he has to bend his head around and say "hey, wait a minute, let me check you out", and then you can touch him. The other amazing cute thing he is doing that I have never experienced before is as I work on different parts of his body, he wants to investigate different parts of mine. So cute. He is such a thinker. Like smelling my hand is no longer interesting to him, so now that I am working on his neck and withers, he likes to bend around and smell my elbow. CUTE CUTE CUTE! I think this horse is the most brilliantly smart horse I have ever met.

I wish I had pictures, but he also had an amazing time playing in the sprinklers in the arena. This is a "water dog". Miyagi LOVES water. He is constantly splashing and playing in his water bin. Loves the sprinkler and LOVES to put his face in the hose when you are hosing him off.

This horse is a joy! I am lucky to have the opportunity to know him.

Miyagi's Lesson for Me

Arghhhh! That's how I feel today. I haven't posted in a while, just because I have been so busy. Miyagi is progressing in some ways quickly and in other ways slowly. He has worn the halter 2 or 3 times now. Definately not confidently. He is doing pretty well in his ground work even though he is not wearing the halter. This fact makes Angi laugh. Thank God for Angi! When I don't see things progressing, Angi comes in and tells me how much better he is doing. That helps. She also keeps reminding me how challenging he is.He is challenging in some ways and in other ways not. I think that is what is so frustrating. The big thing he taught me today is, I have plenty of patience for him, but I have none for myself. I am so frustrated with me. I need to get over that. So here is what I am going to do for the both of us, LOL. I am going to make a list of what I am doing with him, and what he is doing well for me. Then maybe I can see the improvement myself.

Things Miyagi does well:
Round pen work - light as a feather, and very responsive.
Confidently looks at me with two eyes. He completely wants to be with me.
With rope around neck can:Yield his shoulders, ground drive, disengage his hind quarters, and some times....back up
At liberty his draw has improved a lot!
At liberty will play with all the toys!
At liberty can play "put your nose on it"
Miyagi has an amazing focus
Can handle my stick touching him anywhere on his body (if only my arm was as long as the stick!)
Will follow me at liberty (as though haltered and leading) through the alley back to his stall (even past a herd of mares!)
Things Chris is doing well with Miyagi:
Being creative to keep his mind stimulated
I have done excellent rope work
Building his confidence with me on the side of him
Great work with his ears.........

Okay, a very interesting thing just occurred to me as I am typing these lists. Isn't Miyagi's list and Chris's list the one in the same? We are doing them together after all. Hmmmmm, Miyagi may have just offered me another great lesson. I am gonna have to lick and chew on that one!

In the words of the great Pat Parelli, "It takes the time takes". I am such a believer in that. Now I need to practice it. I will probably be more relaxed and in turn will make Miyagi more relaxed.

I must say, this horse is the most brillant horse I have ever worked with. Which is why he is so challenging but is also why he will teach me so much!

Azania and Angi go wild

In doing this competition three times I have learned something new from each horse. This year I feel that I have been blessed with a horse that has such a heart for learning new things. Each day we play he is willing to come to me and have me catch him easily no matter how hard the previous day had been. Azania is incredible. Like every horse there has been some challenges. Azania is not a fan of forward movement sometimes and then other times has quite too much of it. He has been known to stand on his hind legs and walk around a little, my very talented boy :) We have been working that out. With only two months to go, I have so much to live up to for Azania. I have to be willing to stretch and grow myself, as him and I are on this amazing journey together. Thanks to Jill Starr's support, I am able to put my time into it and still be able to feed myself and my thirteen horses. Thanks to Chris and Jenna, I will have friends to bounce ideas off of and to inspire and challenge me. Thanks to God for giving me this blessing of a big horse with a heart of gold and thanks to Azania for being my willing partner in this all........

With a Little Help from My Friends

I have so many emotions filling me about being a part of this year's Extreme Mustang Makeover. I came into the project about 35 to 40 days into it. It wasn't planned but has certainly become an adventure.

I was in Texas for the first Extreme Mustang Makeover in 2007. Angi Keitel was competing as well as local friend and trainer Jeremy Dunn. What a roller coaster! Absolutely inspiring and amazing what those trainers had accomplished, the bonds they were created and most importantly the awareness brought to the American mustang.

Who would have ever thought two years later I would be on a course that would take me to Texas, to the very arena that so many others had inspired me in. I certainly would have never guessed it.

I am about two weeks in to playing with my handsome guy I have named Miyagi. Thanks to Angi and a ton of supportive friends cheering me on the last two weeks, Miyagi finally wore a halter last night. I am so proud of him.

He is spectacular.

So thanks to my friends for talking me into this. Thanks for the support, the guidance, the love and for convincing me I can do this. So out of character for me. Miyagi and I have a long way to go, but we will get there and both of us will be better for having this opportunity.

Happy about the Happy Chicks

When I found out that 2 of Lifesavers' horse trainers/handlers, Angi Keitel and Jenna Nelson, had decided to enter this years Texas Mustang Makeover I was excited to be so closely connected. Then a third one of us, Chris Vilmer, also signed on with a makeover horse - I was thrilled.

Everyday the wonderful staff of Lifesavers works tirelessly to make life on this planet better in some way for horses, particularly wild horses, with little or no thanks - with little or no acknowledgement - and absolutely no fame nor fortune.

The heart and skills of the 3 Happy Chicks (named so for being the clinicians and trainers for our natural horsemanship education program, Happy Horse Academy) are unmeasured and their committment is soul deep. It's time that the country, if not the world, see them in action in an arena so respected as the brilliant love child of Patti Colbert - the Mustang Makeover Challenge - Texas.

I, as president and founder of Lifesavers, have offered to sponsor the three makeover projects as a Lifesavers promotional program, however, the Happy Chicks and their Happy Horses will be training on their own personal time.

Its a great experience for all of us at the ranch to have the 3 competitive projects unfolding under our covered arena. Yes - they are in competition with each other, but the support they give each other is heart warming and bonding.

Watch these Chicks as they encounter and conquer obstacles with their wild horses. Watch as they prepare for an intense and highly professional competition in Fort Worth Texas this September. Only 100 days are allowed each horse/human team. One of our team is working with even less time due to a delayed start.

I hope you will fall in love with their stories of laughter, tears, bruises and be inspired, as I am, by their unconditional love for the animals they have made a promise to.

Our mantra for this Extreme Mustang Makeover project is "Don't Worry - Be Happy". And we have been heard saying that around the barn maybe too often to be cute anymore.