4 Days To Go!!

Only four days left until we leave for Fort Worth! We went and traded our old red trailer in for a new aluminum five horse trailer for the trip because the old one had a bent axel and probably wouldn't have made it. Saturday Taren and Claire came down to the RGV Arena to compete in the haler classes with there mustangs, Dare to Dream and Embark on Adventure! (AKA Dream and Venture) I had planned on bringing Disco and going to watch, but we got there a couple minutes after they had already finished... When we got there I didn't waste any time going to see them and their "kids". When we got into the stalls, I first went to see Dream who is HUGE! I was so surprised at how much he had changed! His coat was super shiny, his main was really long and beautiful, and his personality was awesome! After hanging out with Clair and Dream in there stall for a minute, I went over to see Venture, He was as cute as could be! When we where over next to his stall talking, he went and flipped his hay bag over to the stall next to him and just waited there like "oops..... ummm... you gonna get that for me?". And he looked extra cute with his main cut short and poofy! When we all got our horses haltered up, we wen out to graze them for awhile and see if our mustangs remembered each other, they sure did! they went over to each other, took one sniff, then stuck their heads down and started eating side by side! We talked about how our journey had been so far and how excited we were for the competition! A while later, we decided to go work our horses in the show arena while the competitors took a brake. Disco was really spooky at a fan they had there, but after working him around it and resting him at it a couple times, he thought it was the best thing in the world! I watched Claire working on some tricks with Dream and they were doing awesome! She has definitely spent some hours with that horse! I didn't get to watch them that much since I was working Disco also, but what I saw them doing was great! Claire gave me one of her "sneaky snacks" for Disco and he LoVeD it! Claire and Dream got first in the halter class for 2yr olds and under, and Taren and Venture got second! They did more than just the one, but I'm not to sure what they placed. When our moms got back with lunch, we went and put all the horses in stalls, including Disco for his first time! We don't have any stables at our ranch, so this was the first time he had even been in one. He did really good and didn't fuss at all! We went and ate lunch on the bleachers, and watched some of the western pleasure, trail classes, ect. By the time be finished lunch it was already late and they had to get going. So we all got our stuff together, said bye, and loaded our mustangs up, and left. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS EVER! (I know I say that a lot... but I really cant help it! I just always have so much fun!) Yester day  me and my dad spent a long time training at the ranch! (from 6:30-2ish) First my dad saddled up Lucky and  haltered up Disco and we went on a long trail ride/walk! They where both a little full-a-beans at first but they got really respectful after awhile! On the way there, my dad rode Lucky and I worked Disco, and on the way back we swapped out. When we got back, we took a little break, then walked Disco up front to saddle him for the first time! We only had my brothers sable there so I had to be super careful not to mess it up! We did a little approach and retreat with the pad and saddle, but he didn't care at all so after about five minutes we already had it on his back and cinched up! We walked him to the arena and he didn't care at all about the saddle, so I started lunging him with it on, the saddle started to slide, so I had to stop him for a minute and ended up tightening the front and back cinch up all the way! When we started loping he got a little hot with the saddle but still never bucked, after about half and hour or so we brought out the mounting block and I just put pressure on the stirrups one side and a time and put all my weight on the top of the saddle with my hands. No matter what I did, I flapped the stirrups around, slapped the saddle, made a lot of noise, moved his feet, and put pressure on him but he didn't care a bit! It was so tempting to just hop on and ride him, because he is so ready! But... the youth aren't allowed to ride their mustangs until after the competition so ill just have to wait a couple more weeks! Today we took Disco and lucky to the beach again! It was a little too choppy to swim them, but we still had ALOT of fun! When we were driving down the beach me and my brother decided to go out of the car and run behind the trailer, so we were already a little out of breath when we got there! First thing I did when I grabbed Disco was  walk him to the water and see if he remembered it, apparently he did! didn't take us long to get out to where the waves where splashing him and getting him wet all over! We messed around in the water for awhile before we went in, let the horses eat some alfalfa and we all went and body surfed for awhile. Archer finally figured out that he is a water dog and came out and swam with us, he got crushed by a few waves but he still had a blast! Then we went in, I got Disco, and we went for a little walk up in the dunes. I was a bit nervous working him bare foot, but it definitely gave me more of a reason to keep him out of my space! When we got down to the water, me and Disco went back out for awhile then came in and did out freestyle routine once on the beach real quick. We gave the horses a little bath on the beach, then loaded them up and headed home! I ALWAYS HAVE SO MUCH FUN AT THE BEACH! It is raining at the ranch right now, so I'm hoping we don't get to muddy out there that we cant work!

Getting ready for Fort Worth!

On the 12th we had to put Disco back into his own pasture because he was getting a lot of cuts and bites from the other horses and we want him to look his best for the competition! We also bought him zebra print fly sheet, tail wrap, and head cover for the last few weeks. That didn't last long... we decided not to use the fly sheet, the tail wrap wouldn't stay on, and he ripped his head piece to shreds! (we did order a new head piece, so that's the only thing he will have now) We have been working mostly on the same thing every day, run through the trail and handling and conditioning stuff, then do our freestyle routine at least 3 times in a row. He had been doing really good on his freestyle until the past week, he started getting bored with it and just really not trying at all... He has also had enough time to figure me out and know what he can get away with and what I will correct him on. After a rain day, my parents decided to let me and Disco have some time to ourselves and go out the back gate for awhile. (apparently I got a little carried away) Behind our ranch there are thousands of acres of land that you can do what ever you want on! There are crops, open fields, trees that you can go on a amazing trail ride through, sand pits, and to top it all of it opens up to the laguna atascosa national wildlife refuge! Me and Disco went up and down hills, jumped over some irrigation stuff, did a lot of C-Patterns, Backing, Lead Beside, and loping line driving, saw some scary obstacles, and even ran through our routine twice since their was some junk laying around that was similar to the positioning of our props. After about 2 hours my mom called me and asked where I was and to start heading back because it was about time to leave. (oops) We didn't stop doing stuff the entire time so it still took us an hour to get back and even then my dad came to pick us up in the truck. :D It was WAY one of my favorite days with him and it really boosted my confidence in myself as being a good leader! The next day he was so responsive and did everything I asked! We couldn't even find anything that would scare him so we didn't exactly have a spooky item of the day! Getting really exciter for Fort Worth!!!

  The winner of the St. Louis Extreme Mustang Makeover, Allison Elfrink joined the No Worries Club after her competition and since then we have been able to exchange information and help each other out with our training, she has been a huge help to me and Disco and I hope that her and Chico continue to work as a great team!

Day 63-81

We have been spending most of our time with Disco practicing our freestyle routine and all of the elements in it. He is doing really good and we are mostly refining it all now. But we have gotten to do some other stuff in the past few days. The first day my parents took him to tick spray and the vet, the next we went to Wink's, and the next we took him to my friends ranch that they just bought. So he has had a lot of traveling already! We took Disco to Wink's a little early so we could do some work in the arena before the ropers got there. He watched the cows for a long time but never spooked once at anything! I backed him into narrow pins, banged in banners and anything loud I could find, had him stand by the chute while they were letting the cows out and the ropers would run after them, did all my ground work all over the place, and did pretty much everything I could think of! We both had a lot of fun there. :) I also figured out something that Disco likes to do.... climb stairs. :D

Day 50-62 - HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Sorry for waiting so long to post anything, but we are teaching Disco a lot of stuff that will be in our freestyle that is "Top Secret" we are changing gears now from teaching Disco all of his foundation work to focusing on the event. ;) I did try posting the other day, but when I was just about done the computer started being weird and wouldn't let me type, so when I tried to fix it the whole thing got erased... D: Disco has now completed Colt Starting, Fundamentals, Intermediate, and Advanced! He learns everything really fast, its just like on his first try he is sorta like um... what do you want me to do? Then on the next try he does it really good! It has been raining A LOT so Disco is getting a couple days off. (we will probably start back with him on Monday) My dad went to trim the horses feet yesterday and saw the least expected thing ever... DISCO WAS LOOSE!!! He was grazing next to the other horses in the pasture, so my dad walked over to them and checked all the horses to make sure they were ok. They were all fine! Disco had a couple bite and kick marks on him but nothing really bad. Then my dad went back to Discos pasture and saw that he had knocked down 4 boards on the arena fence! Guess he decided that he had enough of being alone and was ready to be free again. :) My dad stayed with the horses for a pretty long time, watching them and seeing where everyone was in the pecking order and making sure that all the horses were going to be fine. Texas is still alpha, then Lucky, then Comanche, then Starbuck, then Disco. So the order is still the same but now with Disco at the bottom. So Disco now gets to stay out at pasture with the rest of the boys and can run around the whole ranch now instead of just his pasture and the arena.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Moooove your feet Melia!!!

Archer leading Disco!

 Texas learning to lay down on "bang" cue!

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!