Wild Idea Horsemanship

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Wild Idea Horsemanship A thoughtful approach to equine training. Serving all humans and equines, but especially mustangs :)

04/17/2025

Flint's progression from unsaddled to wearing the full western saddle. I like to take the time to break saddling down into these steps if possible, especially for more sensitive horses. It makes accepting the full western saddle less of a big deal. Each of these steps was a non-event for Flint...no bucking or other dramatic moments. I think he'll be ready to ride this summer!

It's a little big on Flint, but he's pretty handsome in the western saddle. First time being saddled western was another...
03/16/2025

It's a little big on Flint, but he's pretty handsome in the western saddle. First time being saddled western was another no biggie. No problem with the back cinch or with the extra heft of the western saddle.

I adopted Flint just about one year ago. A year might seem like a long time to wait to saddle him. But he started off a pretty fearful and reactive guy. In the beginning, something as little as my wrist making a subtle popping noise while haltering him would cause him to spook away...I never really noticed that my wrist does that sometimes until Flint told me :)

But now he's turning out to be a pretty fun guy to work with! And he's been accepting a lot of new challenges and tasks with what I'd consider a normal to low level of reactivity.

03/10/2025

Doing some start signal work with Bullseye and the ba****ck pad. The general idea is that he touches the pad with his nose, which then cues me to start bringing the pad towards his back. So by touching the pad, he's "signaling" me to start with the pad.

Some people call this "consent-based" training, meaning that the horse is giving consent to the human to proceed. I'm not so sure that horses have the same concept of consent that we do. But horses do learn sequences fairly well. So I feel confident that Bullseye knows that when he touches the pad, then I'll start moving it towards him.

I don't do this with every horse that I work with. But I do find it helpful for horses that are more introverted, or that tend to internalize their stress or shut down. Bullseye falls in that category. So I invested a few sessions into doing this work with the him and the pad.

Was it necessary? Probably not since he was already accepting the pad when it was presented in a more traditional way (no targeting or start signal).

But he was just a little too statue-like for my tastes. The start signal work seemed to help him be more fully present and feel like more of an active participant in this part of the training process.

Bravo. He's so handsome and so deep 💜
02/19/2025

Bravo. He's so handsome and so deep 💜

When you want to get some pretty snow pictures of the geldings in the pasture 🤪
02/14/2025

When you want to get some pretty snow pictures of the geldings in the pasture 🤪

Flint's second time being saddled (the first time I left the stirrups up).I've been very incremental with his training, ...
02/11/2025

Flint's second time being saddled (the first time I left the stirrups up).

I've been very incremental with his training, taking things in small easy steps. This has paid big dividends--he's changed from a wary, reactive, unsure and super sensitive guy into an overall calm, trusting, confident, and curious little bu**er :)

His first (and second) saddling was another no biggie event. He took it all in stride and we had no exciting or dramatic moments. Just a little more prep, and he'll be wearing the big western saddle.

02/05/2025

Advanced trailer (un)loading with Annie.

This is one of the best things you can do with a horse that has a habit of rushing backwards out of the trailer-teach them to step forward into the trailer again after backing both hind feet off, and to back out of the trailer one hoof at a time.

Annie had a habit of quickly exiting the trailer backwards, so we've been working towards the one hoof at a time goal. Of course, first we had to work on her willingness to go in the trailer, stay in the trailer, and feel relaxed and confident with the whole loading process.

But with loading comes unloading (hopefully!), so once she was really good with loading, we started focusing on the unloading. I think it's definitely helped her get more confident with the trailer overall.

Flint, 4yo mustang from Triple B Nevada
01/31/2025

Flint, 4yo mustang from Triple B Nevada

53 degrees and sunny and no wind, in January. You pretty much HAVE to go out for a ride. Thankful for a mustang (Friday)...
01/17/2025

53 degrees and sunny and no wind, in January. You pretty much HAVE to go out for a ride. Thankful for a mustang (Friday) that's happy to take me out for a lovely ride on a lovely day!

Address

333 Bonner Springs Ranch Road
Laporte, CO
80535

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+19704433907

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