Bu looks like he's doing good!

I got the saddle on Nine a second time. We are falling so far behind! He barely picks up his front feet, we haven't worked on his hind feet at all, we haven't worked on trailering... None of it! But I think it will be okay. We won't win, but I think Nine will get a good home just the same, and that's really the whole point of this Makeover.

First I want to say I agree with Stacy...mustangs are great, and more people need to try to handle and train them. Next I wanted to share a new youtube video of Bucephalus and myself working yesterday! He is such a good boy! In the video we are working off the halter.. he is just wearing the bridle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL1FZgMk3AQ

It is also nice to hear about the yearling trainers out there!!! Keep up the good work guys!

Rebecca Rodden
Rodden Equine Training Services
Louisville. Ky 40023

Sorry we are a little behind. It has been a very long and hectic week. So here we are in week 7 and the issue we had with Rio Gato and the saddle is a thing of the past. Rio Gato is outstanding. He will allow me to get a saddle on him and get onto the saddle. He has quieted down quite a bit and he has lost some of his fears of other horses. He still has some buck in him. He reminds me of my red horse. I think it is going to go down hill and I have some great pictures of him at John Growney's that I will post as soon as possible. He tends to want to defend himself if he thinks anything is inflicting upon his persons. He likes the one on one time with me. I have really made a connection with him. He likes to do things but doesn't like things being done to him. I have to be careful, there was a lot of preparation things that he allowed me to do to him that will go very fast these next few weeks.
It is very interesting to me on the imput that people want to give you on these mustangs without their experience. I think that all of them ought to train mustangs to give their insight. I think domestic horses have spoiled alot of people with what they allow people to do to them,. If they all had to start with mustangs I think there would be a lot less trainers or that their training days would be very short.
I have been raising mustang type personalities for many years and I have learned it is a joint effort with you and the horse and you need to adjust to the horses character needs. If this took place in more barns I think that myself and others like me would get less do over jobs. I 'll try to keep up and keep you updated. Still really like my horse.
Sampson is acting as though he has been in captivity for years and his new owner came out to visit. Many people rode him and he handled it like a champ.

Well, were coming along! Sadie Mae seems to have been trusting since we picked her up in Elgin! Apache on the other hand, I've had to work a little harder for his confidence! We still have a lot of work to do, seems like our weather is not cooperative this year. Looking for any other yearling trainers to see how it's coming for you!

I just wanted to pop in and say I finally got Nine saddled! No one got hurt, and there were no emotional scars or even bucks! Not one hop! Yay me!

I don't have a truck or trailer, so will either have to borrow a rig (which I did to pick up Nine, and the owners say I can do so again as long as the truck is not in the shop) or I can bum a ride from someone. I think I would prefer to haul with another horse to save on gas and money. If anyone is interested, the trailer I can borrow is a 4 horse stock trailer, and obviously only one spot is claimed. This way everyone can chip in gas money. Which would be great, because I only have $100 saved up to get me, my family and Nine to Texas and back, though maybe without the horse! I'm near Flagstaff, Arizona, if anyone has any ideas.

So Rebecca, I can't help you with that since you're on the other side of the country! But as for Bu coming up to you, what I've done with my older Mustang I own, is in the round pen, don't let him stop at all until he looks at you, then step back. Doing this enough I got Hammar to start stepping towards me as I back up, and now I can get him to walk up to me from the larger pen, and I can even walk up to him when he is completely loose. Hammar has an itchy spot on his belly which I use to reward him; maybe Bu likes having his back scratched, or his forehead? Or the tips of his ears massaged? If you can find something like that that he enjoys, the rest should be easy.

I don't know if that helps, but that's what I have done with my other horses. Nine doesn't come up to me either yet, but he does turn an face me while I come up to him. Good luck!

Hello everyone! Bu is doing great, last night we worked on walk-trot stuff.. both myself, and my assistant rode him and he did great! He is learning to accept new people. He is very bonded to me and that is great although he needs to be comfortable with others as well!

I do have a question for some of the others trainers...I was wondering if most of you are hauling your horse yourself or having them hauled to Texas?

Also Bu is great after you catch him, but still is not great about coming to me, does anyone have any suggestions?

He doesn't like treats and responds to voice and touch much more than treats.

Thanks,
Rebecca and Bucephalus
Rodden Equine Training Services
Louisville, Ky 40299

Everyone, it looks like you are all doing great! I still haven't successfully gotten a saddle on Nine and cinched up, though yesterday I was able to set it on him three times. I am terribly sore from chasing him around holding a saddle!

Rebecca, Bu looks great! That was a great article, too. Me and Nine were also in the newspaper, here's a link:

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/07/15/news/20080715_front_177436.txt

Pirate! What a great name! I hope you're shoulder feels okay, Vicky. I am also a bit behind everyone else, mostly because I messed up with saddling; twice the saddle slipped beneath
Nine, and now he's pretty scared of the saddle. But we're getting there!

Good work everyone!

Hello everyone.. Bucephalus is doing great. I have had three rides on him now.... he is a fantasic little horse. Our newspaper The Courier-jounal did an article with some really neat pictures of us working! Please check it out at http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080725/FEATURES/807250315

I am also including a pic of us last night!

Rebecca Rodden

Rodden Equine Training Services

Louisville, Ky 40299

This is Pirate sometime during her first week at her new home. We're going to see if we can fatten her up a bit! She is precious! She's the Mission 007: Yearling.

My daughter said "Mom, you should name her Pirate. Look at all the dreadlocks!" ...and it stuck...


The picture above is Buddy the first week at his new home. Isn't he gorgeous! He wants to be someone's buddy and he'll make a great one!

We've gotten off to a slow start since having rotator cuff surgery May 2nd and only six weeks later picking up the mustangs. My shoulder is getting stronger every day so the time I'm able to spend with them is longer (thank goodness). It's starting to show in the progress we're making!

Pirate is doing great with her obstacle course, longing, bathing, farrier, fly-spray, trailering, etc. She's a dream! Wish I could switch their personalities!

Buddy on the other hand is very high strung and panics easily. We're working on desensitizing, moving his feet & body parts, helping him gain confidence and trust. It's slow since my arm has physical limitations and things get heavy quickly. You'd be surprised how much a saddle blanket weighs when you're rubbing it all over your horse!

I saddled him for the second time today and he didn't buck at all. The first time was a rodeo! He didn't mind the cinching up but the stirrups were sure spooky!

There are so many things around the barn he's getting used to but many more still scare him to death. Other horses - especially with riders - other people...at least the birds are not sending him flying anymore! (no pun intended)

I have totally fallen in love with these horses! They are awesome!

I'll try to remember the camera this week and get some updated pictures...

Hello everyone.. I'm a little late getting on this blog, but have been blogging on myspace.com/roddenequine and also on my website www.freewebs.com/horstrainir123

I live and train out of Louisville, Ky. My mustang's name is Bucephalus. He is named after Alexander the Great's horse.

Anyway Bu, as I call him for short is a fantastic horse! Very handsome and very willing and trusting. We had out first ride 2 nights ago...he was great. I am hoping to post one of the photos. I have many more, better quality photos of us, from the last 5 weeks on my two websites. Please feel free to check them out as well as our TV interview!

Cheers,

Rebecca Rodden

Rodden Equine Training Services

Louisville, Ky 40299

We have been blogging on www.sns1ranch.blogspot.com
We are ready to start hauling Rio Gato to Growny Ranch to allow me to start getting on him. He is round pinning, he ties and gets in the trailer, we are going to haul him today to Growning ranch and keep you updated on that. He was afraid of other horses and passive aggressive. He is afraid of the saddle but allows me to get on him bareback. We’ll keep you updated and pictures will come as soon as we get them. If you have any questions reply to blog or email me at snsranch1@yahoo.com

Hello everyone!! This is Eli.

This was his first time in the round pen. I will post a picture of his first day home later. He leads extremely well. We are working on touching different body parts as well as round pen work. He is cautious about everything, but not fearful. He is pretty easy going and retains what he learns very well. He is EXTREMELY curious and investigates everything.

Kris Kokal with his mustang Diamond 'Rio', and Nik Kokal with his mustang AppleJack.

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June 13 was the day we first saw our new adventure. And what an adventure it has been so far. This is Maverich at home the first day

I know this is a multiple and I've had plenty of posts today, but it has come to my attention that I need help! I signed up to play "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones on guitar for the talent show Thursday night in September. I have the guitar part down pretty well, but I cannot sing worth anything. I sound horrible! So, if any of you trainers have a purdy voice, or even just a voice that can stay in key, that is still an improvement over my own! I would love to team up with anyone willing to sing while I play guitar. Heck, even if someone wants to play electric guitar while I play rhythm, that would be great. Please someone respond to save my butt! I would sound really awful on stage with my voice, but it would be really lame if there were no lyrics at all...

Here are some pictures, taken the first day of arrival:

Two more:

I have two yearlings, Nevada (bay) and Rica (sorrel). It's been a great learning opportunity for me to see the contrasts between them. Nevada was quick to trust and hook up while Rica was much slower. Nevada starts each day about where we left off and Rica needs to go back a few steps and reinforce what she learned before. Both are athletic and quick learners. I had rope halters and leads put on them at the pick up site, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. It took a while before I could get them off :) Now we are progressing well , I think.

This is also a huge challenge for me! I was touching Nine after two days, but we have had some bad experiences with the saddle. First time on him was okay, he bucked but calmed down. Then I went to adjust it and didn't undo the cinch all the way! Bad me! He moved and it slipped underneath him. We tried again this weekend (after a couple weeks of just gaining trust) and all was well until I was cinching it up, and the latigo stuck! So the saddle was on him but the cinch was very loose, and Nine moved, and naturally the saddle went underneath him again. The cinch, being stuck, didn't give way. Fortunately this time he looked to me for help, and I got the saddle off him without
Nine having to run until the latigo finally decided to give. So I will try again soon, and this time I am planning on using an English saddle, so I don't have to deal with latigos. Once he is okay with that I am confident we can go back to a Western, because Nine will be accustomed to pressure around his barrel.

Reading some of these accounts of you all riding out in the mountains already makes me feel so lame! But I get over it. I am far from a professional, though that is my goal and the main reason I applied for this competition! So I will keep doing things at my own sluggish pace. I really am doing fine, considering I only get 3 days a week to work with the horses. My daughter is only 15 months old, so I need a baby sitter while I go off and do work with wild horses!

Okay, I just created my own blog: http://extrememustang-mrnine.blogspot.com/ Feel free to check it out and leave comments! This is where I will start posting details on Nine's training.

Well, Nemo is definitely a challenge for me. Mustangs come with all sorts of personalities, and Nemo definitely has a very "instinctive" personality. It took me 9 days just to be able to touch him, but look where we're at now! No saddle yet, but we're on our way!

Well here is the horse that I named Cool Hand Luke after the old Paul Newman movie. He earned his name. He is very cool and calm about things. The video is of the day we picked him up and exactly one week later. I didn't work with Luke at all the first three days because I had an out of town graduation to attend. It worked out well though as it let him get used to his surroundings.

By ride number five I had Luke in the mountains and we were jumping logs and backing up the stream. He is an incredible horse. I don't want to give away too much of what we are doing because it all relates to what I am going to do if I make the finals.

He has been doing so well under saddle that I have given him a few days off from riding to let him rest a little bit. With his days off I am doing some of the groundwork that will help him with the course in Fort Worth.

I took him up to the mountains just 2 days after this ride in the roundpen. I really truly believe that a horse won't really come around until you get him out and do something fun like that. It gives them a purpose for all of the training they are going through.

There is also an article that my local paper did about me and Luke a week or so ago and here is the link:http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6844

I hope that everyone else is doing great with there horses and I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Texas. By the way, the RFD special made me a little nervous watching it all. Anybody else feel the same?

Hey! I have a yearling I'm working with...he's so cute! a little shy, but nonetheless cute! Is anyone out there planning on participating in the talent show??