You Learn

I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone…Not to date myself but that was the opening line to a song that came out when I was in high school. I kind of liked the song, and not sure at what point it became my MO, but it is the story of my life. If I wasn’t constantly overwhelmed with new projects and goals I wouldn’t know how to live my life. I’m completely confused by people that suffer boredom or have free time to burn. There are never enough hours in the day for everything I want to do and accomplish.

As proof I allowed Darling Husband and Mustang Matt to talk me into a mustang training competition, less than five months after giving birth to Baby Sparkly when I already had 21 horses, 8 ongoing training projects, and some pretty lofty training/competition goals all while holding down a full time job.  It hardly took epic powers of persuasion before I had already justified the decision to adopt another unhandled horse to bring back to the hacienda.

I had always said that any new horses I brought home would be mustangs, but I was adamant that I only wanted yearlings, no more adult unhandled horses. In less than two hours it was proven that was more of a guideline than a rule I would actually follow. Competition window opened on September 8, 2023 and I brought home the newly adopted 5 year old mustang mare on September 11, 2023 hoping to make the most of a very long training window. I would have almost a year, until September 13, to get this horse going at Starter level for Combined Training or Novice level for Working Equitation.

As soon as we got the new prospect home it started raining and was dangerous to do too much with my new horse that I named Practical Magic aka Salem in our mud pit of a corral. Then the halter we had placed on her in the shoot to make halter training easier, began to rub a spot on her face that became an open sore, and had to be removed. The little gain I would have gotten was gone since the halter had to be removed and training couldn’t really commence until the wound healed. We worked at liberty during that time, and despite the set backs of weather and injury Salem was allowing me to halter within two weeks.

Training progressed rather quickly and all was going great. In a little over 30 days of bringing her home, I was able to put the first ride on Salem with the help of our friends. Over the next few days I would put ride 2 and 3 on her with friends assisting. Ride four I put on her solo. She was giving well to pressure, learning how to carry a rider, and seemed to be taking this domesticated life thing extremely well. Then there was ride number 5…A day that will be seared into my memory for a long time to come.

We started the training session like any other. Darling Husband stood outside the corral watching as I mounted. He made the comment as I settled into the saddle and asked “Don’t you wish they were all like that.” I agreed and asked Salem to step off. After about three steps, something didn’t feel right. I was deciding “Do I push her more forward, or flex her and get off?” A more experienced colt starter probably would have made that decision faster, but before I could, Salem slipped in a small section of mud from where her water trough had overflowed a bit into the corral. As she threw her head up to regain her balance, she knocked me off center. Admittedly I was not sitting as deeply as I should have been.

Anyway, Salem bucked several times. I came off and ended with a crushed wrist that required surgery. Shortly after, my day job “got really interesting” and two weeks post-surgery required travel and a lot of overtime. My left hand was virtually useless anyway so Salem got a 30 day break from training. So here I am with a bum wrist, a not very tame mustang, and 9 months to see if I can make this goal happen. Its not looking good, since I’ve wisely decided to find a colt starter with better facilities to put 30 or so rides on her before I try it again.

Either way, I’ll keep plugging away at this horse’s training through September 2024.  I still plan on making the competition in Lexington, KY in September, and then I’ll make some decisions on Salem’s fate.  Does she remain a GHLHF resident, or do I rehome her to someone with less horses and more time to dedicate to her?