Sierra Party!!!!!

Monday March 9th 6:30 p.m.
Come ALL!!!

I am needing friends,family, clients,and followers alike to help me with a certain project concerning Sierra. call me for directions to mistee oaks in bristol, wi!!!!!!!

*** update*** lol i've been getting a lot of response but many more questions about this sierra party... okay, so what i'm needing is willing equestrians to participate in walking up to sierra, jumping around sierra... leading, grooming, etc. lol the goal is to help sierra get used to other people - and "s-s-s-strangers!"

262-457-4907

Doing Great and Going Strong!

Well this past week has been CRAZY as ever, but I have been dedicated that if i do not have anyone that is able to be out at the barn while I work with Sierra I at least go in her stall, tie her, groom herr, pick up front feet, saddle her, walk her into arena and lunge her. at least 30 minutes spent with her for that day. HOWEVER thursday night we had a crazy storm, the arena flooded, it was a mess and friday when it gotcold it all FROZE!!!!

Brian came out and he practiced getting on her saddle she jumped a few feet the first time, but then she was like... hey! this isnt so bad!!! we both left her lesson on a good note and were both able to put our foot in the stirrup pull ourselves up and lay over the top of the saddle and walk around.

WHAT A GREAT FEELING!

UPDATE

If you couldn't tell by my last blog post - I was feeling REALLY discouraged with Sierra's progress. Sierra is a HUGE horse- add that to her unwillingness to cooperate and I just could not physically work farther with her that I was.

FORTUNATELY I have GREAT friends and FAMILY!

With the help of my own husband AND Brian Pogue of Dream Catcher Stable (he also has a mustang of his own "Sassy")my new best guy friend =) Sierra has been doing GREAT!

She lunges, leads, ties, and STANDS when we tack her up! Brian was also messing around with her yesterday and was jumping up and down and hanging on the saddle, so it's looking like we will be riding in the next few days! YAY!

THANK YOU Michael, Brian, and MOM FOR YOUR HELP!

Loosing Faith but staying strong

Feb 18, 2009
Hope you had a happy birthday yesterday becky!

It has been a long week and this week isnt even over yet. the weather has been nice, but damp and dreary the past few days. I have been overworked and under paid =) and am having a hard time getting out by sierra and spending more than an hour out there- which is what she needs if we are going to reach our goals for the fair.

30 days of mustang =)

went really well. I spent 2 hours playing catch the mustang- she started turning her but into me- the brat, and would not let me anywhere near her face. I was BEYOND frustrated! Sierra is too darn smart for her own good- she knew what i was going to do from the steps that i always take before doing it.she finally relaxed and i put her saddle pad and saddle on her and went to grab the girth and the darn horse kicked out at me! i was beyond shocked! and when she did that she didnt have a mean look in her eye nor did she even put her ears back! So i spent another hour making her turn towards me and not away from me, and amazingly i was able to walk up to her and put her new purple halter on her! THANKS MOM for the halter! =)

I also put the saddle on her one last time before leaving on a good note- and left exhausted after 3 HOURS! =)

glad i was able to end her lesson on a good note!

Day 29

Well it is hard to imagine that tomorrow I have had sierra for 30 days. I definately had no idea what i was getting myself into- but she has proven to not only be a wonderful horse, but a great horse to learn from. Yes, she is teaching many things about the way a horse's mind works. ITs not the same to study a horse that has known no hardship, a horse that is pamperd and fussed over. blanketed, supplemented horses are no match for the wild mustang. =) Sierra does have a stubborn streak to her, but overall is a willing student. In my mind, we are behind where I would like her to be, and how i planned it out... lol unfortunately sierra has other ideas apparently!
we have come a long way. she will now pick up her front feet with some encouragement on my part. She still has issues with me putting a halter over her head, but once the halter is there she could care less about it being there. We still need work when it comes to leading, but i can tack her up with saddle and girth, saddle pad- she could caee less.

My plans for month #2: the next 30 days are to have her under saddle and walk trot and just start the canter.

Month 3: last 30 days will be perfecting the walk trot and canter and adding the palns for our freestyle.

or maybe i shuold forget all of this or i might jinx myself =)

tonight i gave her the day off to just be a horse. tomorow night however i am spending a few hours out there. I also need to find a large horse sized halter- a halter that will not break and is fully adjustable so it will fit her huge head... lol

friday night 2/06/09

sierra and i worked on leading in her stall for about 20 minutes- i then put her dressage pad on her that we recieved from my friend jen. i then put my dressage saddle on and tightened up the girth- sierra could care less. However, shewould not walk out of the stall if i tried to lead her or walk next to her. i then had this great idea to use chloe and have her walk into the arena and we would follow her. well- what happened was sierraa still would not walk with me next to her, but chloe kept going- sierra jumped out of her stall, leadrope beetween her legs and she had a melt down.... ran through the barn into the arena and into the arena wall... then continued to run circles around chloe and i (we were in the middle of the arena) for a good 30 minutes, trotted for another 30 and then, after soaked and lathered she came to a stop and hung out with chloe in the middle of the arena. not once did she buck through this, nor did she look frightened even... no huge bulging eyes, no whites of the eyes, she was just running. I cant even begin to explain it. afterwards she followed chloe back up into the barn, walked into her stall and began to munch on hay, she did not flinch when i walked up to her, i took the saddle off with no issues, and i put it back on her again just incase she was in fact frightened by the saddle. I have about 5 minutes of video of her meltdown and my attempt at staying positive and trying to be funny. during this meltdown she stepped on the leadrope and broke her halter, so i really have not been able to do much but groom her and practice picking up her feet when asked. she has a training appt with the farrier on friday. katie has all the tools and i want sierra to start to trust other people besides just me.

I will have to take my camera to my moms so i can upload the pictures and video i took.

PICTURES~!!!!!!!!

HALTER!!!!!!!! Day 27

Last night I left the barn feeling quite proud of Sierra AND myself =) I FINALLY found a halter large enough to fit her hugemungous head of hers... and after 45 minutes of playing catch the mustang... lol she stood quietly and i was able to slide the halter over her head, buckle it as well as snap the halter on her with no further issues. I also gave her a rubdown along her back, butt, back legs, front legs, and under her belly as well as put my crappy sircingle on her- with no issues.

Tonight we will be working on leading WITH A HALTER THIS TIME!
and I will also be working on using the grooming tools on her and getting her looking nice and CLEAN for once!

I will also put my dressage saddle on her and off.

I have a hundred or so photos to upload on here, but my WONDERFUL husband =) lost the cable that connects to my camera so i can upload the photos to the computer! aurgh!!!!

I am taking them to Woodmans to have them put on a photo cd for me so i should be able to upload all the photos tonight.

Day 23

I know I have been slacking the past week or so when it comes to uploading blogs and keeping everyone in the loop with Sierra's progress. For this, I'm sorry!

Sierra has made great strides on her way to "domestication". I am now able to walk up to her, pet her sides, under her belly, her legs, her neck, under her neck, under her jaw, her face, and put her make shift halter on her.

In the indoor arena I am able to walk up to her and pet her, pet her sides, her legs, and under her belly with the whip.

I have moved my 3 yr old super lazy paint mare over to the farm and they became fast friends, however Chloe is definately telling Sierra how it is! lol last night we played kickball with them and sierra was playing along. We also played follow the leader and practiced leading and stopping.

Tomorrow I will make sure that I post PICTURES I PROMISE!