T - N- T
                            

Left-Me
Middle - Jason
Right - Donnie








And the trophy goes to Jay Miller 1st place for the Straight Truck class, in the Kansas Truck Driving championships for 2010. Heading to the Fedex Chairmans challenge in July for 5 days and then off to Columbus, Ohio for the National Truck Driving championship.  This will be a blast. But a lot of studying between now and then.

One of the things I say alot is "it never takes longer the three days" . That is I say that in a joking way when someone ask how long it takes to get a horse to do something....Well it seems that this mustang and I are on the same page. In the third session, just three days from when I first got a look at this wonderful wild animal, we have come to an agreement that if I didn't try eat him he would let me on his back!
 

Wow what a rush!!!!!!! Hard to believe that a wild animal would subject itself to a preditor on its back. These animals are very, very smart and seem to sense if you mean any harm and are very trusting when they sense no danger!

This is going to be a great summer! It's going to be very interesting to see how far this wonderful crature from God's kingdom will take me! I am truly belessed to be allowed to be involved in this awesome venture!!!! 
 

  


 


                Pickup day 


              June 11, 2010 

 

         Elm Creek, Nebraska 
 






 

The journey began. After spending the night in Kearney, Nebraska, my daughter, wife and I were up bright and early Friday morning the 11th heading to the Bureau of Land Management. We arrived at 8:00 am sharp. After signing all the legal documents we anxiously awaited seeing #7404, the horse that was assigned to me. There were 3 other midwest mustang members there to pickup horses and everyone was excited to see the horse they would be taking home and spending the next 100 days with. 

Here he came - a thin but muscluar gorgeous mustang. He is 6 years old and was capture 8/26/2006 from Three Fingers, Oregon.

We all know the primary reasons for training any animal is to help deliver routine healthcare and grooming. That is probably one of the most overlooked areas I see when working with a new horse. If you can't get her to lift a hoof for a good cleaning, there's no way a Farrier is going to be in a good mood.

People probably overlook the need to be predictable and consistent when working with their horse to get him used to grooming and health needs. A smart horse will try to win the game with some bullying. And that makes sense, would you want to stand around inconvenienced sometimes if you could just bluff your way out of it and get back to a luxury life of eating and hanging out with your friends.

This Saturday, I spent some time with the Miniature Horse Club at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds doing a demonstration on training a miniature to accept a shot and worming. There are lots of differences between miniatures and full size horses. The one I like best is that a full size horse will use his sheer size and bulk to try to get one over on a handler. A miniature is all attitudes. Not sure how they know they don't have the bulk, but they sure pack some sass.

My mantra when it comes to miniatures is the same as with any animal - explain what you want them to do and then reward every step that gets to the end result. It helps that I am fairly stubborn myself so any animal that wants to use his excess energy to horse around is met with my approach - make them work extra until the extra energy is gone.

Horses will often refuse and then use all their energy to keep refusing. Well, if you refuse with me, I will just have you walking and turning and lunging until the horse thinks refusing just takes too much energy.

Thanks to the Miniature Horse Club for inviting me out. I had a great time and I always love the spunk those little guys have.

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I have shared that there is a long list of things to do before Friday. Guess I should say there is a long list of things to do before Thursday because it is a five hour drive to Nebraska to pick up my Mustang. We are heading out Thursday evening.

One of the pieces of the training facility I needed was gravel for the round pen base. If you aren't in the construction business or an avid DIY home improvement guy, you might not realize just how much gravel costs and how much you need. I confess I am not a man of money and my bigger confession is I am a man of my wife's budget. So, I needed to get creative when it came time to put a quality base down. I tried some whining and pleading to my wife with no avail (I still try after more than 20 years and I am sure I will break, errr, train her some day.)

My second strategy for getting a large quantity of gravel at a fair price was to contact a local quarry about becoming a sponsor for me during the Extreme Mustang Makeover Competition. A big thank you to Ramone at Hamm Quarry in Perry, Kansas for coming through with a very generous price.

The folks at Hamm Quarry know all about the local guy rising to success so maybe they like my story. I also know they are very generous to a number of area organizations, so combine those two traits and I was on the receiving end of a lot of help.

This doesn't let my wife or our budget off the hook. I have been building my list of tack I am going to need and some really cool gadgets.

 

There is so much to do before Friday when I pick up my Mustang for the Extreme Mustang Makeover Competition. I have had to get the training facility up to par (sorry to all the horses that trained there before in the pre-competition days, but I liked you just as much). I have been rearranging an entire summer schedule to allow for more training time (sorry honey, no vacation until after September) and I have hired a kid to help with all the farm work (thanks George but I am not sure you know how hot it will get this summer on a tractor).

Of all the things on the to-do list, I think naming my Mustang is the most fun. I was most excited about that single job. That is why I gave the task to the folks that are just excited about my summer project as I am - Allen Gate and Panel. When I talked with Mike Nevens about becoming a sponsor by way of donating a round pen for training, I ticked off the list of sponsor benefits I was providing for the summer. But after Mike responded and showed his support, I offered him a bit of fun I had been saving for myself.

When I pick up the Mustang this Friday, I won't be searching my childhood memories for a favorite pet name and I won't be pulling out my Internet research on names that mean champion and success, instead, I will be calling Mike. The staff at Allen Gate and Panel has an office competition going and the winner claims naming rights for my training Mustang.

I will admit that I have been running on excitement and exhaustion lately. I thought sharing the naming rights was a great way to show my appreciation, and then my sister pointed out that not everybody in Arkansas loves everybody in Kansas. It is just possible that a guy with an odd sense of humor could win the right and I will be training "Cutie Pie" or "Betty Boop" or "Razorback Pride". She rattled on some more heartburn inducing names as I imagined the next 3 months introducing my prize Mustang to everyone I meet.

So, here's my second plea to the staff at Allen Gate and Panel, take pity on a horse trainer from Kansas and don't make me blush every time I say my horse's name.