Employment Period: I don't want it to be over!!

Unfortunately, my employment with the Mustang Heritage Foundation's Youth Employment Program will soon be over.

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting more in-depth and sharing what I know about the marvelous world of Mustangs, and I will be very sad to see it come to an end.

However, I will always be an advocate for Mustangs--and a personal lover of the amazing breed! I will continue to spread this love and respect of these wild horses as much as I can within my own community, and I encourage anyone who loves Mustangs to do the same!

It costs nothing to spread the good word of these horses--their talents, and their legacy--and who knows? You might even help one find a home!

Jasmine is growing up!

Docs Princess Jasmine is my little Mustang mare, and I absolutely love her!

I first adopted Jasmine when she was but a yearling, after I competed in the EMM Youth Edition in 2011. Since then, I have turned her out to pasture to let her "chill out"; coming from completely wild to completely tame within 90 days is hard work, and she needed the breather!

I went out to pasture just the other day to see how she was doing, and she's really grown up! She's only two years old, but she's as broad across her back as any medium-sized horse! I'm planning on breaking her in the summer of next year, when she's 3. I can't imagine how much bigger she'll be by then!

Jasmine hasn't gotten much taller, but as far as thickness goes, she's twice what she was at this time last year. The herd she comes from is rumored to have a fair bit of Percheron blood, and I am definitely starting to see the similarities. For one thing, my formerly black mare is turning grey!

My older sister's Mustang, Docs Golden Allegro--who is 4 this year--is her complete opposite. Whereas she is short and broad, Allegro is tall and lean--not unlike a Thoroughbred.

Watching my family's Mustangs grow is just another example of how unique and diverse each herd is. Every Mustang has their own story, their own bloodlines, and every single one grows up differently!

Growing up: How mustangs grow differently

Like any other breed of horse, mustangs come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities. However, one big difference between most domestic horses and mustangs is how they grow into those sizes!

The average Quarter Horse (and most domestic horses) reach maturity at 4 or 5 years old; the size they are by then is generally the size they will stay for the majority of their lives.

Mustangs, on the other hand, are known to grow until they are 6 to 10 years old! I remember one particular Mustang mare that had come through the Trainer Incentive Program (TIP), who arrived for training at 7 years old and was roughly 14 hands. I saw her again 7 or 8 months later, and she was nearly 15 hands! Talk about a growth spurt!

Unlike her, however, most mustangs' growth rates slow as they get older. Like any normal horse, most physical changes occur when they are young, but then continue to steadily mature until they are fully grown--at whatever age that might be!

This raises another question: If they grow for so long, how big will they be when they're finally matured?

It would be funny to think that Mustangs grow up to be 15 hands at 5 years old, and then just keep getting bigger! But actually, Mustangs are of a very average height, if not even considered to be short.

Most Mustangs rarely exceed 15 hands; the majority of Mustangs measure between pony-sized to 14 hands. Of course, as with any breed, there are always exceptions! Our local holding facility once had a gelding that measured 18 hands!!


More information concerning the Trainer Incentive Program is available here:  http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org/tip.php

Hurricane Isaac and horse evacuations

What you do if you had two horses and a three horse trailer and a hurricane was about to come your way? You'd most likely take your horses and trailer and evacuate to a friend's house or something.

Now, what if you had 30 horses?

Lots of horse trainers live along the coast and deal with lots of tropical storms and the occasional hurricane. But how would you evacuate that many horses? You'd have to have a lot of trailers. And a lot of people willing to help out.

With Hurricane Isaac approaching, lots of people are evacuating their horses out of the storm's path.

Luckily, where I am, we're only getting the east band of it (which has a lot of wind and rain) but we don't need to evacuate our horses. Instead, we built stalls inside our barn for them to stay out of the rain. My youngest sister's show horse HATES rain, so the stalls are a must for her.

Here is a FaceBook page helping people with horses with evacuations:
https://www.facebook.com/HorseEvacuationsEast

This is a picture of Hurricane Isaac. Scary!

 

 

 

 

In other news, the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program is holding an Adoption Day at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR on Sept 1, 2012!

 

 Demonstrations will begin at 11am with the adoption at 2pm. For more information visit: http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/.docs/record_id/10699/pg/10039

 

 

 



Freezemark Brands

Something I always found intresting about mustangs is their brand on the left side of their neck. This brand is called typically called a Freezemark. The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) uses these Freezemarks to identify each mustang when they gather them from the wild. Freezemarks are painless to mustangs and easy to read when you get the hang of it. It follows the International Alpha Angle System, which uses a series of angles and alpha-symbols that cannot be altered. The mark contains the Registering Organization (U.S. Government), year of birth, and registration number.

Here is a key to reading a freezemark brand

The left side of the neck is shaved and washed with alcohol, and the mark is applied with an iron that is chilled in liquid nitrogen. The hair at the site of the mark will grow back white and show the identification number. Simple procedure.

Although every effort is made to apply freezemarks that are legible, occasionally freezemarks do get blurred. This can happen when the iron is applied and the animal moves. Other times it can be something as simple as the horses color. My oldest sister's mustang is a palomino. A very light, (banana colored as we call him) palomino. You can hardly see his brand unless it's shaved around it. One performance she did, we filled in his brand with bright red glitter so everyone could see it.

 This my mustang, Jasmine. She has a very clear brand



This is a another clear brand on a mustang. Credit goes to Google Images.

Kiger Mustangs

I'm sure most of you have seen Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarrron. If you haven't, it's a great animated film about mustangs and one of my favorite movies. One thing I found intresting about it, is that Spirit is a Kiger Mustang.

Kiger Mustangs are primarily dun in color and have primitive markings including zebra-like stripes on the upper legs and shoulders as well as a dorsal stripe which runs down the middle of the back into the tail. Typically a dun horse is a shade of muted tan or a light brown-gray with dark brown or black manes. A dun colored horse may have many, but not all, of the primitive markings which include the dorsal stripe, two-toned manes and/or tails, zebra-like stripes on the upper legs and shoulders, dark color around muzzle and ears with dark outlines and lighter interiors. Dun horses are generally identified as simply duns or grullas.

Kiger Mustangs are agile and intelligent, with the stamina and surefootedness seen in many feral horse breeds. They have lots of courage and determination and are generally used for pleasure riding as well as endurance riding, driving, and many other situations where an athletic horse is desired.

Another cool thing about Kiger Mustangs is, unlike other mustangs, they look like the original spanish mustangs. Whereas the other mustang herd have influence with other breeds.

To learn more about Kigers read here:
http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/wildhorse/kiger.php

   Here is a picture of a lovely Kiger Mustang

                          And here is a picture of the iconic Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Individual Personalities

I've met many mustangs during the Extreme Mustang Makeover Youth Edition. Each of them had their different strengths and different personalities. I don't think some people realize how much personality and character horses have, especially horses as smart as mustangs. The mustangs I have associated with personally each have been very different in their own ways.

We'll start with my first mustang I competed with in 2010, Big Mak. Big Mak is a very easy going calm and collected kind of guy. He is also bursting with confidence. Even from the first day out of the wild, he wasn't scared of me or what was going on. I've still never seen him truly scared.  Because of that, he is a great trail horse for all ages.

This is a picture of him in his first show ever, the Mississippi Open Congress Horse Show. Notice how relaxed he is.

This is a video of me doing an exhibition with Big Mak and two other girls who I trained with for a while. I'm the first one to come out in the video, the one who's horse had spray painted white tips in his mane and tail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7UZ9zn1_7o&feature=plcp

Next mustang is Jasmine. Jasmine is athletic, but on top of that, she is very strong naturally and has alot of stamina. She shared some personality traits with Big Mak, like her confidence and calm manner. Jasmine and Big Mak are also both great in in-hand classes.

This is my video from the 2011 Extreme Mustang Makeover Youth Edition with Jasmine. It is my in-hand obstacle course (I won this class!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEP8gyiUJVA&feature=relmfu

This is my video in the Extreme Mustang Makeover Youth Edition Top Ten Fnalist Feestyle performance with Jasmine in 2011, we won reserve champion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOAatSvJapg&feature=relmfu

Next mustang is Allegro. My sister's 2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover Youth Edition winner. Allegro, unlike Big Mak and Jasmine, was VERY high spirited, and even though we friendly and inquisitive, he was scared. He is our most athletic and fast mustang.

This is Allegro's Top Ten Finalist Freestyle performance for the Extreme Mustang Makeover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpokodmU91o&feature=channel&list=UL

This is one of his Exhibiton prformances. This one is for the Dixie National Freestyle Reining Competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOiUoRSJ_cQ&feature=channel&list=UL

This is Allegro's 2010 two year old long line futurity class he did at the Mustang Makeover I first competed in with Big Mak. Allegro won first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoz7XTwiST4&feature=channel&list=UL

Allegro and my youngest sister, Christine, also won Junior Horse High-Point Champion at the Palomino Dixie National show earlier this year.

Big Mak, Jasmine, and Allegro have all accomplished many great things in their own strengths. Mustangs are truly versatile horses!!

Research Paper

Hello again,

Being a part of the Youth Employment Program, for the Mustang Heritage Foundation, I have duties I need to fill every week. Its still my first week of employment, but one of my deadlines was to write a research paper about mustangs. If you look to the side where it says "Pages," there is something called 'American Original.' That's the research paper I wrote this week. I have more research papers to write in future weeks.

Hello Everyone!

I'm Rachel, a mustang enthusiast. I'm writing this blog on behalf of the Mustang Heritage Foundation's Youth Employment Program.

I have trained two of my own mustangs and competed with them in the Extreme Mustang Makeover Yearling Edition for youth. I was a Top Ten Finalist in 2010 with Docs Big Mak Combo and Top Ten Finalist in 2011 with Docs Princess Jasmine.

                                                  Big Mak while he was still in training.

                                    Big Mak and me after winning Halter at the 4-H State Show

Jasmine before we even had a halter on her

Jasmine and me at the Extreme Mustang Makeover in the Showmanship class

(We won that class!)

Here you can read about the Extreme Mustang Makeover Yearling Edition, and the Youth Employment Program:
http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org/youth.php