Question 1: We recently had to put one of our non-mustang mares to sleep. She was no longer sound and we couldn't bare to see her in pain any longer. She had a colt about 7 or so years ago. They hadn't been separated in all that time. The former colt now gelding, was very attached to his mother. He has been very upset the last couple days, he watches the driveway constantly. Whenever a car comes down the drive he screams for his mum. Now it seems as if depression is sinking in. We try to spend time with him and keep him company as much as we can, but I am wondering if there is anything else we can do to help him cheer up?

Answer Question 1: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recommends that you get your gelding a companion animal. Whether it is a mustang or a domestic horse is your decison. Horses need companion horses. In time, your domestic horse will adjust to the new animal and his fears and loss will be overcome.

Question 2: What do you see as the Pros and Cons of using food treats in training wild horses? Do you use food/hand-feeding as part of your gentling program? Why or why not?

Answer Question 2: Treats are an important way to reward your mustang for its good behavior. The cons are to ensure that the mustang is not allowed to bite when the treat is provided. The mustang must be gently reprimanded should biting occur. If not, your mustang will learn that biting is an acceptable mannerism.

Question 3: A horse clinician at Equine Affaire mentioned that while working with her first Mustang, she noticed that the horse was quite mouthy, in a different way than non-Mustangs. She felt that it was possibly a sort of communication. That the horse touched her for a sort of reassurance when it would respond to a request from the trainer. Similarly, I have read other Mustang owners mention that they do not enforce their space boundaries with Mustangs in the same way that they do with other horses. My experience has been that when I enforce my boundaries with my new Mustang, it feels as if it is damaging the trust that has developed. I did not have that feeling, not at all, with my domesticated horses. Would love to hear people comment on this. 

Answer Question 3: Space boundaries are a very important tool in training your mustang or a domestic horse. Without any boundaries, your mustang will not accept you as the "boss". Mustangs come with no prior knowledge of human beings. They learn their mannerisms from people. Gently reprimand your wild horse when your space boundaries are not adhered to. Usually a light flick on the nose will be sufficient. Re-enforce this every time your animal does not respect the "rules". In time, your mustang will accept its space boundaries without losing trust in you as the trainer and will be a valuable member of your family. Time and patience is the key to training a wild horse.

Question 4: I ride by an area where frequently people are shooting guns (target practice?). The shooting is not close by, but the horses are always spooked. They start tap dancing and are on edge. Talking soothingly does not help. How do you calm your horse in this type of situation?

Answer Question 4: The best way to do this is desensitizing your animal. My husband periodically goes out to our critters and shoots off a few rounds with his starter pistol to get them used to the sound of guns firing. Lately, our burros run over to see what's up. The mules and the mustangs seem to no longer care if they hear a gun, even being fired off right next to them. This also works with desensitization for mounted shooting.

Question 5: We met a lady that is having problems loading her burro. She rescued this burro from a neglectful situation. The burro's feet were really long, and before she picked him up, the previous owner had the burro heavily sedated. They cut off all the overgrowth on the burro's hooves at once. While he was sedated they sort of pushed him into a straight load two horse trailer. He fell into the trailer and they shut the door. He is now terrified of trailers. So, the question is "How do you teach a fearful burro to get into a trailer?" She also has a young burro and would like to teach it to load without making it a traumatic experience. NEED advice from you Burro folks, please. 

Answer Question 5: There are a few ways to deal with burros when it comes to trailer loading. You can situate a trailer by the gate of the pen and feed the burro at the back end of the trailer floor. Do this for days. Every day push the hay a bit farther into the trailer.

Question 6: I adopted a little burro, thought it would be fun to show and train. My husband really wants to teach her to jump. He has been watching the coon jumping for years now, and it has always been his favorite part of the shows we drag him to. Any secrets out there to train burros to jump?

Answer 6: First, if the burro is really young, wait for her to mature before asking him or her to jump very often as young bones can be injured with too much jumping.

With that said, we do a few different things. A person can make a \_/ with hay bales. Lead the animal to the inside of the "U" then entice the burro over the bales with a tasty treat.

With an actual jump, at first, place the rail on the ground. Once the animal leads across that, the rail can be raised a little bit. Once it's off the ground, cover the rail with a mantee or tarp. The burro can be enticed over the rail with a tasty treat and lots of praise. (A burro pen mate can also be used to entice the burro over the bales by holding the pen mate on the other side of the bales or rail.

Question 7: My daughter and I just adopted two 2-year-old Nevada burros over the weekend at a local BLM adoption. The "Jack" is still intact (we are going to fix that a.s.a.p.) and will come up to you after a short while (outside of his pen, of course) and let you pet him and rub his ears That is why my daughter picked him to adopt. He really seems to enjoy it. On the other hand, the "Jenny" is more cautious and will not come up to you. She actually acts like she is trying to block you out. Our goal is to train them to drive carts and help promote the BLM burros at shows, events, and parades.

Answer 7: We use a squeeze to tame difficult burros. We corner them into panels, squeeze them down, and then start petting the burro. Be careful not to be kicked, bitten or injured. If this is too worrisome to do, again, the burro can be run into a smaller area and then "poled" with a bamboo pole or the handle end of a whip, etc. Use this to massage the animal and get to know them, and them you. Move slowly and not aggressively. For information on the "pole" method of training, please visit the BLM's newsletter. There is lots of good advice contained in the various issues on using different methods of training.

Question 8: New Mustang - He is wonderful, however, he wants to be in my pocket! I cannot move this little guy off me. He is not aggressive, or confrontational, just really, really close. The things I have done with my domestic horses are not working. Any advice. 

Answer 8:

Of course you CAN move him off - most likely you are like me and you are afraid to be too "aggressive" with him because he's really such a cute little thing and God forbid you should hurt his feelings. At least that's always my problem.

Here's the deal. You won't hurt his feelings. You'll actually improve your relationship (and you'll also improve his chances in life because if he grows up this pushy he will become dangerous and once he's hurt somebody, people tend to get rid this kind of horse) because he is hardwired to totally understand Mama or another more dominant horse moving him off. Watch a group of horses - they aren't worried about feelings, they just get the job done! Two minutes later they are back to being best friends.

Move him off - whatever it takes. The first couple of times it may take a lot, but it will get better once he knows you mean it. Often if I am having trouble moving a sweet dear horse, my husband will say,"It's because you don't mean it." So MEAN IT. Get it done - it feels bad to chase off your dear little one, but you really need to do it. He will move if you have enough resolve and put out an assertive "vibe." Use a tool such as a flag on a buggy whip if you need to. He will not hold hard feelings, I promise you. As soon as he moves off, praise him, talk to him soothingly, and invite him back, but still making sure he's respecting your space.

Teach him to respect your space...do this by "putting energy" between you and him...how? By wiggling the lead rope side to side sending "energy" from you to him...or use a training stick along with the lead rope crossing them in front of you, side to side, creating energy...or any other such "energy" in front of him that will make him so uncomfortable as to make him "want to" back up.

The closeness many mustangs crave is one of the differences we see. Before they come into captivity these animals are never alone. They are truly a herd animal and each one in the herd has a job, a place, a personality which really makes each one whole in the herd. When seperated they become uncertain and stress because the "MATRIARCH", "LEADER" or the "CAREGIVER","GUARDIAN", "PLAYMATE","SCOUT" or "PROTECTOR" and yes even the "BULLY" are not there to make them feel at home and secure. With proper handling from the start, you, the new owner become his herd and are given by him one or more of these jobs previously held by a herd member. You can chose which position(s) you assume by the way you treat your new horse. Our ranch family provides multiple herd members, intentionally we each have a "job". An owner should be Leader and Protector, taking great care to do the things that secure this position in the horses eyes.

Horses are social animals. With a "too friendly" horse I'd try not to disrupt the social interaction, but be deliberate and assertive in protecting your space and establishing yourself as the band leader. I usually try to avoid promoting specific trainers' methods but in this case I think Parelli nailed it with his Seven Games Horses Play. They idea is to keep the horse proactively engaged and motivated while establishing your personal space and your leadership in the mind of the horse.

You have to establish boundaries right away! If he doesn't respect your space, he doesn't respect you on the ground. The way I was taught to keep a horse off me, is the "Chicken wing method." Walk your horse with a lead, and whenever he gets too close, into your bubble, tap him with your elbow, you can do this with some force if need be. It’s just a reminder that you are getting too close, back off. If he is really leaning into you, you need to push him off. You can go into his space, however you must teach him to respect your space.

We keep new horses separate long enough to secure our position in their life. As they get farther along in their training we let them interact with the other horses. Although all of our horses are handled, groomed and doted on extensively, the mustangs that become "clingy" are different. We have a method that has worked every time for us. 

We have training sessions with all our horses, as well as casual time where we take them for a walk to eat off the apple tree or visit the neighbors etc. We groom often using it as a training session. Our horses like our company, so all of our horses are pocket horses.

The more needy ones, I felt bad pushing away, which I've always done with one method or another, to teach horses their space and mine. Horses must respect your space or it can be dangerous and irritating. Sometimes I could feel their neediness so decided to use a different method. I always do my best when training to retain the individual personality of every horse while teaching manners etc. In essence each horse is the horse not a clone of every other horse I train.

To best understand the reasoning behind this method and how it came about; mustangs are used to being on the move and ever watchful in the wild so in captivity are easily bored. Visualize the herd. Your horse ambles over to the "MOM" and she nuzzles him and they wander and graze a bit. Then he trots over to the "Playmate" and they jump and run, buck and kick, roll a few times and he runs on to the "Guardian" who paces with him a bit and he feels safe. Then he sneaks up on the "Bully" gets a bite on the neck and a kick in the ribs as he runs off to the "Caregiver" who licks his bite and scratches his withers. He feels better and prances off to check out the surrounding hills with the "Scout". Out of nowhere up pops a predator and the herd is off and running! They run till the "Leader" lets them know it's safe. They drink long from the creek then paw, roll and rest awhile in the warmth of the sun. As the sun sets the Leader herds them off to a sheltered spot to sleep the night.

Alone or with horses that have no job but what you give them and they are often bored and sad. This is why he follows you looking for guidance, play, security, and everything his herd mates had shared with him. It is your responsibility to provide needed stimulation. It's a very important task and time consuming if done right. If you love the job, have or attain the knowledge and are dedicated, you will have a great and dependable mount as well as a friend for life.

Question 9: What age do you start your mustang under saddle and why?

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not recommend riding a mustang under 5 years of age. You can certainly put a saddle on them, however, they should not be ridden. The rationale behind this is due to lack of forage and water supply, it can retard the process/development of the mustang. We do not consider the mustang completely mature until approximately 5 years of age. A lot of people ride their mustangs prior to that, but, because of the maturity issue, the BLM recommends 5 years of age before riding unless you are a very petite person.

Cindy Lawrence publishes a mustang newsletter monthly where more questions and answers can be found. She provides good solid advice in training your mustang. Her website is www.wildhorseandburroexpo.com. 

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