Paladin - Pryor Mt. Mustang

[MustangAppy]

My pride and joy!



Paladin and Sierra, my CBER Appy!

[piopico]

He's beautiful- how long have you had him? I just got a book for Christmas about the Pryor Mt. Mustangs- great little read.

[MustangAppy]

We have owned Pal since last June. He was wild caught, but is doing very well. Very affectionate, good ground manners, loads well, and likes "kisses" on his muzzle. Has been under saddle, and is pretty much unflappable on the trail, birds and things don't startle him. Funny about his tack, though, it can be a battle getting him suited up to go. He is stunning when moving, really nice gaits.

[sassiedogtk]

What a pretty horse. Mustangs are great horses

[April]

Wow, he is stunning! He looks very handsome in red too ;D.

[MustangAppy]

Husband made fun of the dangles, said he was a sissy horse with earrings!

[eirualaerdna]

haha, when I saw his picture I coudn't help but let out a "wooh! now that's sexy.." haha. He is gorgeous!

[MustangAppy]

Another photo of him. He is a bit plump, we both need more exercise! If you notice in the second photo in the first posting I made, that mane of his covers both sides of his neck. His freeze brand should be visible in this photo, but is completely covered. I should own stock in Cowboy Magic Detangler!!

[MustangAppy]

Sigh. I have mud ponies. The ground thaws, and they roll in it. Guess that means they are starting to shed the winter woolies and are all itchy. Must get the curry comb out....Pal still looks like a bear. 2 1/2" long coat, never seen anything like it.

[ljbrooks]

Yes, I my mustang has LONG winter hair as well. Must be the longest of all my horses. I think they feel so good to roll and scratch and get that long hair loose after winter.

Your Pal is beautiful.

[atticus]

BOY he is a hunka hunka burnin' love!! Whatta guy!

[MustangAppy]

Pal went to my trainer today for a 30 day tune up. Sierra was not happy at being left alone in her pasture. Not too concerned to stop eating, though, the pill. Pal was still having some issues I couldn't work through on my own, so I found a woman trainer whose methods I trust take him to her place to see what she can do. I don't expect miracles, but I hope she can get him over the worst problems so we can spend more time under saddle. She was funny, kept referring to him as "the Paso." Then she saw the freeze brand when we haltered him, and she went, "Mustang?? You gotta be kidding. I thought you had spent real money on a Paso." I know I told her that his issues were related to him being feral for a year, but I guess she didn't necessary think that meant wild horse.

[MustangAppy]

OMG, my poor Paladin!! I went over to the trainer's place to help her work Pal Sunday, since she thought he would be ready to work through standing still for mounting. Well, I get there, and she says, "Nope, not today. He didn't pass the bag test." Me: "??! " Trainer: "You gave me a list of triggers, and plastic bags was on it, he didn't pass the bag test." Me: "How do you fix that?" Trainer: *points to his pen* I go around the corner and....: "DEAR GOD!!" Image: *paddock fence lined with white plastic bags, Paladin, in full tack, has bags tied to his headstall, saddle Ds, cinch, and horn* Paladin: "MOM!! Help!! Horse eating bags!! Get them off, get them OFFFFF!!!!" as he tries to hide behind me and basically climbs into my lap. Trainer: "He's doing a lot better now, you should have seen him 4 hours ago...." Me: "Eep! " Trainer; "If he panics at a plastic bag while someone is on him, it won't be of the good. When I tossed one into the round pen with him, he exploded, so, he has to get over it. " Me: "You're the boss... " By the next day, though, Chris reported that he was basically ignoring the bags, so we will trying mounting Saturday. Poor Pal. And poor Mom. It's hard to just watch him work through things like this and not rescue him.

[frr2]

You are so funny! What a great story.... now I know how to cure my niece's horse of HIS fear of plastic bags! (wonder if it works with PVC pipes used for jumps in gymkhana events?)

Peg

[MustangAppy]

Poor Pal. Tomorrow we put him in the round pen, run him through all his tests, and if he passes, I will be posting photos of me actually riding the little skitter bug!

[MustangAppy]

Did well under saddle today. Jumped a little, crow hopped a couple of times, then settled down and did what he was told. Except the whoa thing, need to work on whoa. Reminds me of a t-shirt I see a lot of that has two horses talking over a fence, and one says to the other, "What's your name? Mine is WHOA, Dammit!!"

[wendyp]

Hi There! I just went thru this with Doodle - have you tried ground driving to get the Whoa? I just finished a clinic with Kathleen Lindley, and since Doodle just got back from 30 days of training (that's all he's ever had - he's just been standing in the pasture for a year!) she had me start from scratch - as if he was just being started - she wanted to see where the holes were. So we started with saddle fit - thankfully one of my Black Rhino saddles fit him - then went on to ground driving to see if he had a go, stop, back, turns, all softly. I think it's much easier to teach these from the ground...... After that, we went to the mounting block and Kathleen showed me how to help the horse to line himself up, and fix himself (without me getting off the block) if he swings away, so he learns that it's his job to walk up to the mounting block and stand until I get on, and ask him to walk. It was amazing how easy it was when someone teaches you the 'right' way to do it. Doodle walks up to the mounting block and stands solid until I get on, get situated, and ask him to step forward.........what a pleasure! Kathleen taught me to fix the things I didn't like now, or I would be battling them for the next 20 years - like walking slow on the trail. I was letting Doodle just lag along on the ground driving, and Kathleen asked if that was the walk I wanted out on the trail, and of course it isn't, so she said fix it now...............Doodle walks *really* fast out on the trail !.

Sorry this got a little long, but the ground driving is not difficult, and it makes it so much easier when you get on to have that soft stop, soft back, soft turns.............

Just my two cents worth............

WendyP/Bend, OR

[MustangAppy]

Yup, that is what the trainer is doing with him now, is ground driving. We won't get back on him until he has a solid whoa. He reins great, gives to pressure, most of his ground manners are really solid, that is what I knew how to teach him. But, he had some fear triggers I didn't know how to get him through, and some tacking up issues, so that is what my trainer is helping us both with. The plastic bag thing was a really big deal. Now that that is over with, the rest is going much better. I am so thrilled that we are getting to the point where he will be more handleable for me. There is nothing like picking a wild Mustang to be your first horse. Not sure what I was thinking, but, the journey has been incredible, and I wouldn't change it.

[kivasgirl]

Thanks for pointing me towards your thread here about Paladin. Great info. for me to read - and I can see some of the similarities that we have with Kiva's training. Somehow makes me feel better, knowing I'm not the only one!

Happy New Year

[MustangAppy]

I was going through my digital files, organizing and cleaning up. I found these photos of me and Paladin taken the first week after I brought him home. I took off 25 lbs. because of him, and am continuing to lose weight. He came to me at a very low point where I no longer wanted to get out of bed any more. He saved my life. Three years later, he has certainly filled out more, but you can see why I fell in love with him. There is no better breeder than Mother Nature: