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Honor Scholtes Horsemanship & Mustangs, Peterborough, ON (2025)

10/21/2023

Now that I’ve had some time to process and things are a little less fresh. I felt it was time to share the sad news that we recently made the difficult decision to have Lance humanely euthanized 💔.

Lance was an absolute sweetheart who was incredibly smart, willing and always a joy to be around. His gentle nature showed in every interaction with people, including my young cousin who often spent time with him (he loved her, and would eagerly greet her anytime she came to visit ❤️). My heart hurts for him, and for all those who will miss him. I especially feel for Petrie, who agreed to take him on and gentle him in the first place, and put a great deal of time into working with him and handling his health struggles. He deserved so much better and I wish we could have done more for him, but at least he is free from pain now. I know we will all miss him dearly 😞.

- Some Backstory on Lance -

Lance had been struggling with health issues (he was diagnosed with Cauda Equina Syndrome), since we got him in July of 2021. As I said before, he was a sweetheart and I’m heartbroken that he suffered and endured so much in his short life (just 8yrs old according to BLM papers).

We tried with him for a long time, and went back and forth many times on if it was time to call it or not. We knew he would almost certainly have a shortened life span between the injury and the medications to manage it, but we’d hoped to keep him comfortable and happy for longer.

He would go through rough patches where he was regularly having episodes of struggling greatly to urinate, clearly in pain/discomfort and requiring banamine. There were many nights where I had to go out in the dark and get a dose into him and proceed to do regular checks throughout the night. We’d think it was time to make the call, and then he’d turn a corner and seem to be doing really well for a stretch.

Earlier this year it appeared that he was improving. He’d put on quite a bit of weight, seemed bright, was rarely having episodes and could move his tail more. Then he took a dive. He started to lose weight again, have episodes regularly, didn’t show much interest in eating or anything and appeared painful/uncomfortable more often than not. We wonder if as he regained some nerve function and could feel more, he was in more pain. It was apparent that he didn’t have the will to go on and the quality of life was poor with little to no chance of improving. With that, we made the decision that the best thing we could for him was to put him to rest 💔.

10/07/2023

I never got around to sharing these pics of Nugget from the summer. This old boy gets lots of pampering ❤️. He got a new fly sheet and fly mask to help with his bug sensitivity, and regularly has lotion/ointment applied to his scars (which tend to get dry) and any itchy or sore spots he had from the bugs. He’s also getting a supplemental mash twice a day to help with maintaining his weight as he ages. Nugget is one of the sweetest, gentlest horses I’ve ever met, and I’m glad that we’ve been able to give him a soft spot to land and live out the rest of his days 💖.

03/03/2023

Looking for a new home❤️.

Kosmo is a 5yr old branded BLM Mustang gelding, I haven’t sticked him but he’s around 13.3hh. He’s easy to catch and leads well. Knows how to back up, sidepass, yield his hindquarters, send, lunge w/t/c, go over obstacles, tie and is amazing for loading in the trailer. He’s had a ba****ck pad on, and I’ve laid across him, but he hasn’t been fully backed or had an actual saddle on yet. I’m hoping to back him shortly. I do his feet myself with him at liberty, but he was trimmed by another farrier while he was on lease (as a buddy for another Mustang) last year and was good for them as well. My young cousins have handled him and he’s been great with them. He’s currently out in a mixed herd and does fine with the mares and geldings.

Kosmo is very sweet and personable, but can get worried about new things. He would do best with someone who is able to be patient, reassuring and take time to bond with him. I’ve used a mixture of positive reinforcement and pressure + release in his training and it’s worked well for him.

I’m also offering discounted training for anyone who buys him and would like to send him back here for further under saddle work. Please message me for further info or to set up a time to come and meet him 😄.

(Conformation photos are from last year when he was out on lease).

03/01/2023

I’ve recently picked up working with Kosmo more consistently again, and he’s been making some wonderful progress ❤️. I’m happy to see him becoming more confident, and not becoming worried as easily as he did historically. He’s also become much more comfortable with the saddle which has been a difficult thing for him to get used to. I‘ve honestly yet to work with a horse who’s been as concerned about the saddle as he was in the beginning.

Interestingly enough the noises the saddle made seemed to be the hardest thing for him to get past. Once I got him used to having something on his back, he had no issue with me girthing up the ba****ck pad and having him move a bit with it on. Unfortunately the first time I tried with the English saddle things started well, but once he moved a bit and it started making noise he panicked. I try my best to fully prepare them for each thing I introduce so that it can be a good experience that builds their confidence (both in themselves and in me), but there’s always times when things don’t work out the way we planned or we assessed things incorrectly. Thankfully he didn’t seem to be set back too badly by that, and with time, patience and reassurance he’s now to the point where he’s not too bothered about the saddle anymore.

I was working on laying across him the other day and it went very well, so hopefully I can back him soon. I’m also going to work towards fully saddling him again now that he seems to be fairly comfortable with the noises from the saddle and practicing girthing up with a rope. Really happy with his progress and thankful for the learning experience that working through this with him has been ❤️.

For anyone who is looking or knows of anyone looking, Kosmo is still looking for the perfect home. I’m going to post a new ad for him soon, but please contact me with any questions or inquiries about him that you may have. I will be continuing to work with him in the meantime and hope to make further progress towards riding in the coming month.

02/12/2023

Nessie was having a nap out in the sun the other day, so I went and hung out with her for a bit. She was quite content with receiving some snuggles ❤️. Sitting there with her got me thinking, so prepare for a long one if you read the rest 😅.

One of the many things I love about the Mustangs is how they make me more appreciative of the “little things”. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to be bigger and better, to be doing more and achieving goals. I know I’m certainly guilty of it. However, there was a time (brief as it may have been with some) with each of the Mustangs were I couldn’t touch them, or even approach them. When I walk out to the field and pet them, put a halter on them, lead them or even groom them, I try to remember there was a time when all of these seemingly minute things were not yet possible. That at one point those same things were the big goals that I was working towards.

Nessie happens to be one of the more difficult Mustangs I’ve worked with, and I swear sometimes it’s hard to believe she’s the same horse I started with a couple years back. Working with her literally brought me to tears on a few occasions, both out of frustration and out of joy. Due to that she’s the sort that makes those “little” achievements really stand out. Sitting with Nessie the other day the significance of her feeling safe enough to let me be with her while she was at her most vulnerable, when she was once so fearful and unsure of people, truly struck me.

I’ve come to see the feedback I receive from the horses as the most important evaluation of my work with them. While I’m not so naive as to think that they will never feel stress, uncertainty or frustration while I’m working with them, and I know that I’ll fumble or lose patience at times, the horses feeling safe and comfortable in my presence is paramount. The Mustangs (especially the ones who started out particularly fearful), now trusting and feeling secure enough in me to let me be with them even while they’re at rest, is some of the best feedback I could hope to receive.

We tend to want and ask a lot of our horses, but I think we often need to better appreciate what they’ve already done/are doing for us and where they are at now. I think it’s important to keep this is mind as we progress with any horse that we have come into our care, and to remember to not take for granted that which we have already achieved and the things that we now see as givens.

08/10/2022

Always hard to see them go, but I’m happy to announce that Cole found a lovely home a few weeks ago 😄. He’s been settling in very well, is enjoying his new Standardbred buddies (and a very cute little mini!) and is taking well to his new owner.

I’m very careful about where my horses go, especially more sensitive ones like Cole, but I think this will be a great fit for him. His new owner isn’t on a timeline, and said she plans to spend months just doing groundwork and earning his trust before she progresses any further. Hearing this I was more than happy to be able to fulfill her dream of owning a Mustang. Can’t wait to hear about everything they accomplish together ❤️.

05/16/2022

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, so I figured I’d share on update on Zubeia and Raven!

A few days ago Zubeia allowed my to trim her front feet for the first time, and Raven wore a flymask for the first time. I also worked on the flymask with Zu, but I didn’t get any pictures. She was a little uncertain about it at first, and didn’t like the sound of the Velcro when I introduced her to it, but with some targeting/clicker work she quickly came around to it. I think she would have let me put it all the way on that day, but I decided to leave it on a good note with her having gotten comfortable with the Velcro noises near her and having the flymask rubbed over her neck and on her face.

All in all they were both wonderful for everything, and with the help of R+ I was able to easily work them through their few moments of uncertainty. I’m beyond impressed with the mind of both of these mares, and I am incredibly happy that I get to own and work with them❤️.

04/01/2022

Starting on trimming with Raven. Feet tend to be one of the things that can be the most worrisome for the Mustangs to learn, which is understandable considering that having a leg out from under them is a pretty vulnerable position to be in. Working on feet with the help of positive reinforcement has been incredibly helpful for me, and in my experience makes the process much smoother and less stressful for the horse.

04/01/2022

Working with Raven today❤️. Raven has been absolutely wonderful to work with, and as much as I like working through things with my tricky ones, it’s been a nice to have her being so willing and quick to figure out new things. Just the other day I went and decided to try working on picking up her back feet, and she did it like she’s being doing it her whole life.

(Ps: I started on trimming her front feet today but she seemed a little worried when the wind and rain really got going. First trims are one of the things I’m particularly careful about making a good experience, so I paused there and left it on a good note. I’ll finish the trimming tomorrow when we’re supposed to have better weather.)

08/27/2021

Silas has been progressing very well in the last few weeks😄. He even started to wear a fly mask a little while ago. At first it took a bit of time with R+ to get it on each day, but now he’s letting me put it on and take it off pretty easily. He’s also haltering easily, leading well off the short rope, started on picking up his front feet and letting me touch back to his hind end on both sides. For how skittish he could be with me at the start, I’m really impressed with how much he’s progressed!

07/31/2021

Kosmo was “saddled” (I used my ba****ck pad) for the first time yesterday. Zero drama, just the way I like it! Unfortunately these are the only pics I got before my phone died, but I’m glad I got a few to show how great he was!

To prepare him for this I’ve been using the rope to simulate being girthed up, and tossing it over his back to get him used to things moving and touching him there. I also got him to the point where I could lay across him, to get him used to some weight on his back. I tend to do that step before I put a saddle on, because trying to pull a saddle off them quickly if they get uncomfortable is harder than me just quickly sliding off their back. I also back all of my horses ba****ck the first few times (at least) for this reason.

There are certainly times that a horse still throws in a bit of bucking and such even with preparation, but I like to take the time to prepare them so it’s at least a mostly calm and quiet experience when I first saddle, back them, ride them etc… Trying to manage a panicking horse and keep them from injuring you or them-self is no fun, and it’s not good for the horse or their future training either, so I personally find it best to take the time at the start so that doesn’t happen. It’s much easier to avoid creating a problem in the first place than it is to fix one later on.

07/25/2021

Silas (5yr old Mustang gelding from White River, NV) let me halter him for the first time today. He’s been haltered before by his previous owner, but he was pretty shy with us when he got here, so we’ve been working on getting him comfortable in a new home with new people. My cousin did a great job getting him comfortable with us, and she really set him up perfectly to work towards haltering and other more advanced work. Today he haltered up with no problem other than fidgeting due to the flies. Super proud of this little guy and how brave he’s getting 😁.

(Ps: The scrapes are because he and Kosmo aka his brother, insist on playing stallions every day 😂).

07/18/2021

I’m beyond proud of my 10yr old cousin for accomplishing this with her Mustang, Mystic (a 3yr old filly from Spruce-Pequop, same HMA as Amalthea) yesterday❤️. It’s not often that I get a Mustang who’s allowing haltering and started on leading so quickly! This is also my cousins first Mustang, and her first time gentling a horse from the beginning. Mystic has been an amazing horse to work with so far, and my cousin has been doing a fantastic job with her.

I’m not used to having students, so I’m honestly not very skilled at coaching yet, but I’m incredibly thankful that my cousin and her family have allowed me to help with this Mustang journey (thanks Kelly Smith for agreeing to this crazy idea in the first place😆). She has an amazing level of natural intuition and understanding of the horses already, and I’m excited to watch her as she continues to learn and progress💕.

As most know, I sadly wasn’t able to compete in the PA TIP Challenge this year (due to a horse mix up), but I’m glad that both Petrie and my cousin got horses for it. I must say that watching them accomplish things with their horses is just as exciting and joy filled as training my own. I can’t wait to see all the things that these two accomplish!

07/16/2021

I wanted to make a follow up on my previous post about Lance to update on how he’s doing now, and to talk about how proud I am of Petrie Scholtes 😁. Petrie also likes to take their time gaining the trust of the horses, so this wasn’t to most ideal situation for them.

We decided that for the most part I’d be the “bad guy” and do the wrestling for meds, while they’d do the nicer work like getting him to interact with people and working on touch without lead pressure. That way if he was the type to hold a grudge against a specific person, it would be me he disliked. Unfortunately I got my foot smashed by one of the horses a few days ago😅 (not her fault, she was jumping away from another horse coming up the hill and I didn’t see them until it was too late), so Petrie had to take medicating over as well.

Petrie’s done an amazing job with Lance, and has excelled at balancing out getting the medicating done, while also preserving Lance’s mental state and interest in people. It’s been wonderful to watch these two together. They’re an amazing pair and I can already tell that they’re only going to get more amazing over time 💖.

Today he managed to get his drag line off (no idea how he undid the clip lol), but Petrie has gotten him to the point of trusting them enough to allow petting, so they were able to get a new one on. We gave him a shorter drag line now that he’s more accepting of people, so that makes me feel slightly better than him having to drag around the long rope. His meds are done in a couple days, so he can have the drag line off then.

Lance has been much brighter than he was when he arrived. He’s been eating and drinking better and the p*eing has improved. He’s straining less, and thankfully hasn’t had anymore blood in his urine since the one time a few days ago. The antibiotics seem to be helping, but we will have him checked for stones as well once he’s ready for that. I’m incredibly thankful that he seems to be improving, and hope that he continues to do so💕.

07/15/2021

VERY long post alert 😅. Congrats if you manage to get through all of this😆. I marked what I figure are the most important paragraphs with a ✨.

This is Lance. He’s a 6yr old Mustang from Fish Creek, NV who arrived here on the 5th (Tuesday). He’s my siblings draw for the PA TIP Challenge, and unfortunately he came in pretty rough shape (we found pictures so we knew he looked rough at the holding pen, and I believe the haul was hard on him). I wanted to make a post about this guy, both to vent as the work I did with him was rather draining, and because it got me thinking about some things regarding the Mustangs.

You’ll notice that Lance is wearing a halter and a drag line in the pictures, and yes, those were put on day 1. I don’t do this with the Mustangs who come here. I try my best to give them the time they need to settle and come around. Of course there’s exceptions, like if there’s something pressing (really bad feet, suspected dental issue, sickness of some kind etc…) or they just don’t seem to be progressing at all over a long period of time. In Lance’s case he spent most of Wednesday morning lying flat on the ground, rolling or biting his sides. He was also struggling to p*e at all which was rather concerning. We made the decision to try to get him roped and haltered so that I could medicate him, and possibly have a vet out to see him if his condition continued to decline.

✨I spent 6hrs or more with him on the one of the hottest days we’ve had this summer. By the end we were both exhausted, and I felt awful (physically and mentally). I was able to use the rope to get him to the point where I could get close to him, but he wouldn’t allow touch. So I got him used to a stick touching him and then used that to get a halter on him. Once the halter was on I was able to use that to get him to where I could touch him and properly adjust the halter. At this point I also gave him a dose of banamine. Thankfully two doses of that seemed to clear up his colicky symptoms. We are still working on the p*eing, though that has improved greatly as well. I really hate that he has to wear the drag line, it’s a massive pet p*eve of mine when it comes to the horses, but it’s the easiest way to get the meds into him and I wanted it on so we could try to handle him for a vet if he suddenly tanked.

✨What I’m getting at is that this was a rather stressful situation for me, since I’ve made the decision to take my time when it comes to gentling Mustangs. I know ways to sp*ed it up and/or shut them down, but I don’t want to do it that way if I can avoid it. I like how my horses turn out with the way I’ve chosen to gentle them, and maybe it’s just my personality and the fact that I’m an empath, but I personally find forcefully rushing them to be distressing (both to myself and the horse). Not that I never push them or make them uncomfortable (that’s generally at least somewhat part of the learning process) but my training isn’t based upon getting things done on a timeline.

✨As I said above, I generally take my time with the training, so I find how much horses are willing to tolerate and how much you can rush them takes me aback sometimes. It’s startling to see a completely wild horse go from untouchable to being handled all over in the span of a few hours or even a few days, but if you dig in and just keep pushing until they give it up, it’s shocking how “easy” it can be to make things happen right away. In my eyes this all goes back to the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” motto.

I don’t think I’ll ever personally understand the praise and respect that’s given to the sp*ed of the training, rather than the quality of it. While there are certainly trainers who are skilled enough to make things happen quickly (without compromising the horses well-being too much), far too often I see the horses well-being getting pushed aside in favour of getting things done expeditiously. Generally if a horse is progressing quite quickly (and well), the horses mind and personality should be getting credit along with the trainers ability to harness that in the training process.

While I’ve seen a lot of change in the horse world, it would be nice to see the horses needs being taken into consideration more often. I’m really happy with the evolution that horse training has gone through so far, and I hope that more people start to see the benefit of truly gaining trust, rather than just pushing the horse until it gives up and calling that trust instead.

06/27/2021

Harlow has grown into an absolutely stunning mare😍 It’s hard to believe she was such a scrawny little yearling when we first got her! I don’t get to spend much time with this girl, so it was nice to pull her out and work with her for a bit the other day.

She was absolutely wonderful when I had her out of the pen, she stood ground tied while I trimmed her feet, went for a bit of walk around the yard and did some positive reinforcement work to help with being sprayed (she’s not a big fan). I love that I can pull these guys out of the pen even after minimal handling for an extended period of time, and while they may be a little uncertain, they stick with me and look to me for reassurance. It all goes back to why I’m so big on prioritizing gaining their trust before asking them for more.

06/15/2021

Kosmo was just about perfect for his trim yesterday ❤️. While he’s been one of the easier Mustangs I’ve had to gentle, I’m really impressed with how much he’s settled in the last month. It’s amazing to watch the way these Mustangs settle into domestication over time.

06/05/2021

Now that the weather is nicer and my round pen footing is good and dry, I’ve picked Ember’s training back up. Unfortunately her training was delayed by me having a broken foot last summer and then heading to the U.S pretty much immediately after I got my boot off😅. While she’s gotten more comfortable with me in the time I’ve had her, she still hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to connect further with me even with the aid of positive reinforcement. As such, I’ve decided to do more of this rope work with her so that I can work on getting her more comfortable with touch.

This is just a snippet from the middle of our session, so I wanted to clarify that when I start with the stick and rope like this, I work on getting them to just look at it before I try tossing it toward them. Once they’re good with that, I like to see if I can get them to approach and touch the stick (not all of them will, but I try to get them to). The next step is getting them to look at/possibly approach and touch the string while I’m swinging it, then I move on to tossing it over them. When I began tossing it over her I’d remove it as soon as she looked at the rope and investigated it. Now, as you can see in this video, I’m leaving the rope on longer and asking for a little more. She’s been good with this, and with me moving the rope across her shoulder, so in our last session I started working on moving in to touch her with the stick. She’s still not sure about that, but she was already getting the hang of it by the end of yesterday’s session which was good to see!

05/19/2021

Pendragon has been progressing very well in these last few weeks. Yesterday I was able to brush his mane out for the first time and get all the matted hair out. Then today he allowed me to halter him for the first time. This progress was achieved with the help of positive reinforcement/clicker training, which I can thankfully use with him now that he’s past the slight food aggression he had in the beginning.

I had the impression that once he was through the uncertainty and aggressive behaviour, he’d come along pretty well. I’m glad to see that this is proving to be true, and I’m impressed with just how smart this boy is turning out to be! I’m also incredibly happy with how relaxed he’s been with everything recently, and it’s nice to see him becoming so comfortable with people❤️

05/10/2021

It took a bit of work, but I managed to get the halter off this guy today. I ended up putting a rope on him, and then I used a stick to help with getting him used to touching so I could cut the halter off (the halter had been on long enough that I didn’t think I’d be able to undo it, especially with how flighty he is). Unfortunately he was really nervous about the sound of me snipping the halter, so he’d bolt away every time I got a snip in. We got there eventually though, and now he’s thankfully halter free!

I really hate to pressure horses too much, but in this case I made the decision to push him more than I normally would in order to get the halter off. While I always prefer to take things at the horses pace, and I generally find flooding styles of training rather distasteful, I knew it must be causing him some amount of discomfort (which would also make training more difficult). He had been progressing somewhat with mainly R+, but it was looking like it would be a long while before I could get to the halter. Now that it’s off I’m going to give him a while to just relax, and later on I’ll start again with gentling him at his pace.

04/25/2021

This boy very well may be the most chill Mustang ever 😂 I haven’t spent a ton of time with Al, as I’ve been busy working on gentling the more difficult horses I have in right now, but he’s been progressing amazingly well regardless of that. From the start he really didn’t care much about people being close to him, but he wasn’t sure about touching. With some positive reinforcement I was able to get hands on him, and as soon as I got a few good scratches in he decided he was more than happy with it! He’ll already let me touch him pretty well all over, and even let me pull the hair clumps off of his stomach and sides. He also let me halter him for the first time yesterday, and allowed me to do so with no trouble at all. I’m loving working with this brilliant old boy!💙

04/14/2021

Lastly, here is Kosmo’s trailer loading for the TIP Challenge. Kosmo still gets a little tense sometimes if he’s nervous and has pressure applied to the lead, so I taught him to load at liberty with positive reinforcement. The best part is that he didn’t actually load until the morning that we had to film 😂 and I was completely ready to go ahead without the loading. Once he got on once or twice though, he decided it was no problem and was more than happy to hop right on as you can see😄.

04/13/2021

Kosmo’s pattern class. Despite our lack of a trot, I’m pretty happy with how well he did the manoeuvres for this class!

04/13/2021

The classes for the 2021 Ohio Equine Affaire Mustang Challenge have all been posted on the Equine Affaire YouTube channel (here’s the link for anyone who’s interested in watching all the runs https://youtube.com/channel/UCPmdF4ASY6lVUIpptnp1dpA ), so I can now share Kosmo’s classes that we filmed on Thursday and Friday.

First of all I want to thank Rebecca Bowman and Spring Milbourn for allowing me, (and the other competitors who couldn’t make it to the show in person) to compete virtually. I’m very thankful that I was still able to compete! Thank you as well to Rebecca for keeping Kosmo at your place and sorting out his vetting so he could cross the border. Thank you to Jennifer Varga for housing Kosmo and the other Canada bound Mustangs while we sorted out transportation, and to Emilia Quaggiotto for picking them up and keeping Kosmo at your place until we could go get him.

Unfortunately with how busy I’d been with work, and all the mud we ended up with, I hadn’t been able to work with Kosmo as much as I’d have liked to before competition time (edit: I completely forgot that we also picked up late😂 so we ended up with right around 70 days to work with them). This, plus the setback we were working through after I pushed him too fast, had us pretty behind leading up to the show. Well I’m beyond impressed with Kosmo because within the span of just over a week he learned how to: sidepass both ways, backup (we had worked on this a little bit but he didn’t really know how to do more than a step or two), cross a bridge and a tarp, send both ways at liberty and pick up his back feet. He also learned all of this with the help of positive reinforcement, and without me pushing him too far out of his comfort zone again.

Kosmo placed 7th out of 7 in pattern, 6th out of 7 in trail and 6th out of 7 in freestyle. In the end we placed dead last in the adult division at 7th out of 7 😅, but I’m still beyond impressed with him considering that I was certain we’d have to withdraw up until just before the show. I also wasn’t able to teach him trotting due to the slippery footing (they said I could still compete without it), so looking at the scores when taking into account the ones lost due to that and my use of some positive reinforcement in his classes, he actually did quite well!

Overall I’m very proud of Kosmo, and I’m glad that he’s becoming so trusting and easy to work with despite there being some rough moments with him. I generally enjoy working with mares and older horses more than the youngsters (young geldings in particular), and I definitely struggled to keep my patience with Kosmo the same way I do with them. Working with him has certainly been another great learning experience, and I’m incredibly grateful for how forgiving of our mistakes these horses are. While he still has some things to work through before he finds his person, he is available, and I know that he’s going to make someone very happy with all of his charming character and personable nature!