Day 45-49

  We have been doing a lot of review with Disco and have figured out that he is really smart and is a very quick learner, so it is time to ask him for a little more. Your horse can only be as good as you make him. We are starting to ask then tell him to do something with no middle pressure. The point of this is so he will start to do things as soon as I ask him to and wont just fumble around until I make him move. (he was sorta lazy on his send offs so this will help him a lot) He is really good about doing what I ask him to do, when I ask him, and how long I ask him to do it for, if I ask him to back from the front gate to the arena non stop and circle trees along the way, he does it with no questions asked. (just the occasional lick or puppy face:) He is progressing very fast so we can now move our lessons and do them other places. (obstacles, the beach, vet, tick spray, ect.) Yesterday we moved the tarp over to the fence, put half of it up on a post, and staked the rest to the ground. We also put two barrels under it so we could get him to jump it and not just plow through it. It was something new and scary so we didn't know how he was going to react to it at first but he really didn't care a bit about it and just wanted to eat it. Comanche was on the other side of the arena with the tarp in his mouth shaking it up and down trying to scare Disco :b

First I lunged him over the end of the tarp where it was just laying on the ground so he could get used to it before just running and jumping him over it. When I final asked him to jump over it he stopped right before it and sniffed it for a minute, then I sent him off the other way and tried again. He jumped it every now and then but he was having problems because I was, I needed to run with him more, add more pressure, and give him more rope. When I finally understood what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do he would jump it really good!


When we un haltered him we kept the jump up just for him to play around with and we expected there to be a path going around it but when we put his feed out he just walked right through it and didn't care a bit that it was there even though he about fell on his face doing that. =)

Day 43-44

Day 43 - On Day 43 we got to the ranch late and gave Disco a long bubble bath to get the rest of his scabs off. That was the only thing we were able to do with him though because we had to pick my brother up from the airport. But Disco had a lot of fun playing with the water hose! =D


Day 44 - We went to the ranch around 3:30 yesterday and bought Disco a feeder that we are going to put up in his corral soon so he can eat twice every day. We did a lot of review and I went back and roundpenned him since I hadn't done that in a long time. He started off a little hot and it would take him awhile to turn but after awhile he was about doing liberty around me and was just super tight and bent around me, it was pretty cool! We also desensitized him to the chainsaw while he was eating and he really didn't care much at all. At the end of the day me and my brother were messing around with the tarp so my dad brought Disco over and had him stand there while we flapped it all around and ran all over the place with it.When we took his halter off I rubbed him for awhile and when I finally walked off he followed me! He is such a little cutie and really loves his new home and family. :)

Surfing Tropical Storm Bill with mom :)

Day 40-42 - Tarp

  Day 40 - On day 40 we brought a tarp to the ranch and staked it down in the arena to start desensitizing him to it. Just for fun (and a good video:)when we first started I sorta slowly walked him up to the tarp nice and calm and once he got to it and started sniffing it I grabbed the corner, pulled it up high, and he totally was out of there! :b Right before I walked him up to it my mom had asked if I wanted any gloves but I said i was fine, boy I wish I took her advice! I got a bad rope burn on my hand and had to have gloves on the rest of the day. When that was over I got Disco again and started working him hard around the tarp and resting him by it, he was pretty jumpy and didn't want to be by it at all! But after awhile he finally took one step on and then took it back off, so I pointed forward and had him get back on, when I did he started sniffing and pawing the tarp and just figuring out what it was and messing around with it a bit. Finally he took two steps, then three, and finally he was completely on it. Once he finally got on I desensitized him and gave him a chance to think about what just happened. After a little rest I started doing line driving and making him walk in the middle of the tarp while I walked on the sand. He did really good the rest of the time and by the end of the day I was doing run up and rub with him on the tarp, stomping all over it, smacking it with my stick and string, and just doing pretty much anything you can think of! We did some other review before we did the tarp but that was pretty much the big thing of the day, YAY! Before we left we put up arena lights so we wont have to leave at dark anymore!


Also started our "Top Secret" training with Disco that you will have to wait until the EMM competition to find out what it is. =D


  Day 41 - I spent the night at my friends house Thursday so we didn't get to go to the ranch. :(

  Day 42 - Yesterday we got to the ranch around 2:15, gave Disco his food and water, and while he was eating my parents were picking up tree limbs and I went up to the front of our ranch to mow, unfortunately the tractor stopped working so I didn't get to finish and had to walk back... After a few minutes my parents friends got to the ranch so we took them back to the arena, got our horses, and let them ride for their first time ever! I haltered up Disco and did most of my work with him outside of the arena on the obstacles. I think we are going to need a bigger jump because he goes over out high one at the trot... Think he is gonna be a good jumper! I also did a lot of review with him and worked some more on his side passing at the trot. He was super good when we were outside the arena and did everything really light. When I went into the arena to do the tarp he was so scared of it again at first but it didn't take him long to remember that it was the same thing we worked on the day before and walked over it fine. But our tarp session got cut short when my horse Texas took off and I had to get on him and work him. (im sorta glad it happened though because it gave me a chance to ride him) We left kinda early though because we wanted to get some rest and I was really tired because me and Gia stayed up pretty late when I spent the night. :) Disco is getting SO good!

Day 39 - Review

Today we went to the ranch around 7:00 and started working Disco almost right away. First we gave Disco some feed and alfalfa pellets and while he was eating I haltered up Texas and put some war paint on his face. :D I put a green circle around his eye and three orange stripes on his nose, he was super cute! (but the other horses are probably making fun of their "fearless leader" with spots & stripes:) When Disco was eating i got out a bubble wand and started blowing them around him while he was eating, he was not happy! He didn't like them one bit and it took him awhile for him to finally get used to them but for sure will have to do it again. ;) As soon as Disco finished eating I let Tek go then went and haltered up Disco. I first started out doing lunging for respect stage 2 (usually start out doing this exercise because it gets him moving his feet and using the thinking side of his brain) I started liberty today to C: well... more like he started it, when I was lunging him I accidently dropped the lead when I changed directions and he  continued going in a circle around me so I just pretended I still had the lead rope in my hand then I tried to yield his hind quarters and hoped he would do what I asked and not just run off, surprisingly he did what I asked then walked to me, I desensitized and flexed him on both sides then I moved on and backed him circles around barrels and poles then did some side passing. When I finished side passing I stopped, desensitized and flexed him, then started doing circle driving transitions on the long line. I had to wake him up a bit when he started running sorta sideways and pulling on me but once I did he did great. Also did throw to a stop which he does really well, whenever he sees the rope coming he just instantly stops, relaxes, and waits for me to tell him what to do next. I did a couple other exercises then finished him off with run up and rub and desensitizing to the plastic bag. Boy is he good at run up and rub, I can run up to him yelling, screaming, waving my arms in the air, clapping, jumping, throwing the lead rope at him, and even running up and just about jumping on his back. He is getting so good at everything and probably by next month we will have finished Colt Starting, Fundamentals, Intermediate, Advanced, and Trick Training!

Blowing bubbles ;)

Day 37-38 - Hide and Seek & Finishing Up Intermediate

  Day 37 - Yesterday was Discos last day off, we got to the ranch around 3:00 and picked up my friend Gia on the way. When we got there we haltered all the horses, tied them up, and let Disco loose on the whole ranch. We quickly groomed all the horses and did some light work with them then saddled up as quick as we could. Once they all where all saddled up we worked them in the arena for awhile and I worked with Gia on better riding techniques and we messed around in the there some to. When all our horses where acting good and we had good control of them we went out of the arena and first started walking around, and of course Disco followed us.

Mustang Hide and Seek!

When Disco got ahead of us some we walked around behind a tree and hid there for a minute before he realized his buddies where gone, when he did he came running around the corner and scrunched himself up next to all of us. So we went off again and hid behind a bunch of thick trees, he whinnied, rand around, and came straight through two trees and through all the low branches. We did this for awhile till the Gia and my mom went to put on some bug spray, when they left me and my dad started running around with Disco instead of walking. (it was ALOT more fun but Gia wasn't quite ready for that yet) When we started running around with him he just got so excited and started bucking and tossing his head around, it was really good to see him run again and let him be a mustang again! :) But the coolest thing was that when we got back to the deck and stuff and I got off Texas he just let me walk right up to him and he would follow me around! :D (no halter or anything) Then my dad haltered him up, desensitized him to the plastic bag, and let him go in his corral. That was a fun day!


Great to see Disco healthy and running free again!




  Day 38 - Today was our first day back to work with Disco, we got there around 6:00 but before I worked him I groomed him. I started out doing lunging stage 2 and he was a little hot at first but he quickly calmed down and what ever i asked. I did some side passing, circle driving, and other review with him before starting the last two exercises of Intermediate... Circle Driving Transitions on the long line and Outback Exercise. I had sorta done outback with him but not much so I went back and started again from the teaching stage. In the Outback exercise the goal is to stand still, point at your horse, and he should back away from you. He did it no trouble he was just a little lazy at first so I had to go it and wake him up. But it didn't take long for him to remember and we went through that pretty quick. Then we started Circle Driving Transitions on the long line. The goal of this lesson is to be able to stand at the end of the long line while the horse is going around you in a circle, wiggle the lead rope, and the horse should change gates, stop, or back up. The first time I tried it with Disco he did it pretty good, he was just wanting to yield and face me so have to push his front end away and make him stand there until I asked him to do something else. We also worked some on line driving, like everything else he caught on really quick. So excited that we can get back to work on him! We will probably be able to start advanced in a week!

Day 32-36 - Vet

On Day 32 my friend Jaclyn and I went to the beach in the morning then spent the rest of the day together so just my dad went to the ranch since we where going to watch my moms first hula show this year at Louie's. So my dad worked on the fence around my cabin for awhile then When he was finished he hosed Disco in fly spray (permethrin) mostly on his legs and stomach where he was getting bit the most. We thought he was allergic to mosquitos cause he was getting lumps and wrinkles on his belly but we soon figured out that it wasn't the mosquitos he was allergic to... It was the spray.... The next day we went to the ranch early to check on Disco and his legs where so swollen he could hardly walk. He was also all burnt up with hair and skin falling off of him (mostly his legs). So we figured out that it was the permethrin and went over to see the bottle and read what was inside of it. On the tag there was a little booklet (like 5 pages) that said it was concentrated permethrin which is 100 times stronger than what you should use! The label didn't say it was concentrated and just said it was for livestock so guess we just assumed it was diluted and ready to go. It was so bad that we had to take him to the vet, so we loaded Texas, Lucky, and Disco into the trailer and where on our way. When we got there the vet was at lunch so we had to wait like a hour before someone could help us. When someone came we put him into a chute, they gave him a shot and put some medicine mixture on his legs which later the vet told them to take off because it was making his legs hot. Then the put him on IV for about 2 hours and got a different special shampoo to put on his legs. He couldn't walk great so he wasn't drinking and was really dehydrated and had lots of wrinkles on him. So when they where finished we loaded him up, took him home, and put water in a lot of different places for him around his pasture. The next day we went to the ranch and he still wasn't doing any better so we took him up front and gave him  bath and rubbed some of the shampoo that the vet gave us on his legs. We had to load him in the trailer to get him up to the front cause he was having a really hard time walking but he could hardly get out of the trailer once he was in. When we loaded him up and took him back to his corral but he wouldn't get out of the trailer cause I bet it was really hard for him. So we just let him take his time and after about a hour he hopped out and we went over and put him in his corral. He really needed something so we called one of our friends named Lyn and he brought Disco Benadryl, Bute, and a shot of Dex. Disco was fine and pretty much just stood there while we gave him the medicine. The next day when we got there he was doing ALOT better. We thought that we would be having to take him to a vet in Austin that day but he was doing so much better. The swelling had gone down a bunch and the wrinkles weren't nearly as bad as they where. We put more medicine on him and gave him some more Bute and the next day he was doing even better my dad said that he was frisky and looking a whole lot better. Yesterday I backed him and did some leading up to the front and we gave him a long bubble bath. The swelling is doing a lot better and we will probably be able to start work again Monday! We also gave him some watermelon and he LOVED it! We got him a lot of new treats and stuff for him. :D

Day 31 - Side passing

Today we got to the ranch around 1:45 but we just loaded up some wood to return then left to mccoys. When we finished we stopped at a nursery to pick out some palms and stuff for around my cabin on the way back. When we finally got back to the ranch I went and got Disco, haltered him up, then took him over to the arena and started reviewing everything we did yesterday and reviewing a couple other things. While I was doing that everyone else set fire to the burn pile and Disco was a bit concerned about it at first and had his eye on it while I worked him. He was doing really good so I quit him and took him over to the fence by my dad, who had the hoof jack. When we started he was a little fidgety but stood pretty good and we were able to do a lot more on the left front. So we decided to give him a matching pair and go ahead and do his right front also, he was a lot worse on that side but its all you could expect since we had not clipped this one at all and had already done some with his left hoof. But it only took one lap of backing around the arena until he stood still and let us trim him. Never expect to much from a horse, especially a wild one when you trim him for the first time, it is almost certain that your horse is going to act bad and not stand still. When he was done I started to send him from side to side and let him rest on the fence to prepare him for side passing. He was pretty comfortable on the fence so I went ahead and started yielding his forequarters 45 degrease, rub him, yield his hindquarters 45 degrease, rub him, and do that for a lap or two around the arena. Then yield his forequarters and hindquarters without the pause between each one. We were having some trouble so we did have to go back, yield his forequarters, and desensitize him because he was getting a little hot and I was putting to much pressure on him at first and asking him to do it like a pro (like all straight and more than one step at first and stuff like that) we both had some trouble at this but when I let down the pressure he started to do better and better. So I asked him for his first side pass... and he did really good for his first time ever! But when I asked again he was just freaking out again and I realized that I was again putting to much pressure on him and had to back down ALOT! But again when I did he did great and I was able to do both sides really easy! So I ended on a good note at went ahead and did some more run op and rub and some desensitizing to the plastic bag with him before letting him go. We also did some throw to a stop today and are about done with intermediate already!