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Larry Rushing Mustangs, Campbell, TX, Campbell, TX (2025)

03/21/2022

Back In The Saddle Again
You may have noticed that the posts here have been greatly lacking for the last couple of months. Well, that is not because there nothing to report, but the reports would have been about “Larry the Lumberjack” or “Larry the Mechanic.”
Before we moved to Utah in 2016one tree was leaning precariously toward our shop and the electric wire to it. So, I used a tow chain and a load binder to hold it up, using another tree. When we returned in 2019, two different trees had fallen against the shop and were resting nicely on its edge and roof. Sandi had been after me to get those trees down for quite awhile. I kept telling her she did not need to nag me every 6 months about it; I had told her I would do it. She didn’t laugh. Instead I got the “eye-roll of death.” Then she asked me to cut a limb off of a tree out front because it hung low enough she would have to duck it when she mowed. Now I do most of the mowing, but she really does enjoy it. I was reluctant to do so because it gave really good shade in one of the prettier parts of the yard. So, she talked to God about it and He sent an ice storm which felled the whole tree. The limb was much easier to reach now.
The only heat we have is from a wood stove and we had been out of wood and the winter was getting cold. We were desperate and God stepped in to bless us. A friend of a friend said that a lady offered her stack of wood to him, but the wood was too big for him……so Sandi and I fell heirs to a huge stack of wood. We loaded it on our 16 foot car hauler about 3 feet high and that was only about half of it. It was all about 39 or 40 inches long and I had to cut every bit in two. It turned out to be about 3 cords of wood. Load….cut….unload…..stack…..carry some in….I’m getting old…. But I am slow. Every time I turned around another tree was either dead or fallen and I had to cut it up and get it ready for the wood pile. We borrowed a log splitter for a couple of days just to make some of the giant pieces fit into the stove opening. Fortunately I have gotten too fat and heavy to get on our shop roof to cut those ones my wife wanted down so my slender, luscious wife got a chainsaw course from me and she got up there as I directed which limb next. It took a couple of days, but we finally got them down.
To complicate matters, I visited my orthopedic doctor to see why one morning I just could not lift my left arm above chest level. GOOD NEWS (Ahem) I have a completely torn rotator cuff on my left shoulder and on my right about 5/8 tear. I have to lift my left arm with my right arm up to the saddle horn to be able to get on. I have to lift my left arm with my right arm out to the truck door to close it. Anything overhead that requires two arms…I’m out….no matter how simple or light. Yuck!!!
So….. we have all that going on and one day we were leaving church where Sandi and I try to help and our truck decided to just not go. Drama, drama, drama! Finally, for some unknown reason, the transmission caught and got us the 30 miles home. We had no transportation. A friend had a car available because the person for whom he got it preferred a different car, so for 4 days we had a car…….until……the other person’s preferred car lost it’s transmission and now she need the one we borrowed. (Sigh) We finally caught a decent day and fat boy slid under the truck to take off the transmission pan. DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY DON’T EVEN PUT A DRAIN PLUG IN THEM ANYMORE!!!!!!! The engineers must be politicians of a certain ilk to be that stupid. I undid the pan so that the fluid started out of the back of the pan. Thank goodness I had a 1 acre size pan under there to catch most of the mess. Then, OF COURSE, there was not enough space between the transmission and the exhaust pipe for it to come out. I had to jack the pipe down and the transmission up to create enough space to spill the rest of the fluid on me. Nasty, nasty, nasty. It was the worst I have ever seen come out of either an engine or transmission. New filter in and pan………….ouch………..grunt……….oof………. #*@!!........back on. Put in the fluid and a transmission treatment…………….Hooray! It moves. With great fear and trepidation, we are driving it and hoping.
Oh yeah…..we have horses too! The “Boys” that have been our youngsters are now old enough to start riding. They have been carrying saddles around a long time, but now they have people in them. Sandi has been riding Buckshot and he is a dream. So compliant and just wants to please. He simply “ho-hums” his way anything we throw at him. Sandi has been a little reticent about Star since he has gotten much taller and is more lively, so he has had the pleasure of carting around my excess baggage. Man, he is really coming along too. He has had only about 3 rides, but all were near perfect for his level. Odakota has become great at all the entry level stuff, but got excited as he was breaking from a walk to a lope……. Have I mentioned how much the crust of the earth has solidified in the past 76 years? It has. When I was young, I just know the ground was softer, but now…….whoooo……..It is really stiff when you hit it from about 5 feet up. I’ve talked to Odakota about that and he is truly chagrined. We’ve started Pogo back in kindergarten since she tossed me off last year and I have not had time to be riding her. She had one minor tizzy when I got on her, but is accepting now. We are riding her in a very confined space yet, but she is doing well.
So even with all the misadventure, we now have 4 ridable mustangs. The young ones about ready to go outside the round pen; Odakota needs to learn to lope without a buck, and Pogo will just come along as we see her doing as she should. I probably pushed her too far too fast last year and I don’t want to repeat that mistake….it was painful. But more than that, I do not want to set a negative pattern on a potentially fabulous creature of God.
Oh the saddle that was for sale! What a laugh! It brought out the scammers by the herd. I won’t go into detail but here is a sad but true story I told one of them: “I shot a skunk the other day. I didn't see him for a long while but I could smell him. When he finally showed up in the pasture, I shot him and then burned the body because of the potential of rabies. I'd do the same again.” I liked a lot of things about the saddle and found out if I did the rigging differently, it would work. I re-rigged and re-blanketed and now it is working fine, particularly with my rotator cuff tears it it weighing only 25 lbs rather than the 40+ of my other. Incidentally, I simply hung the heavier saddle in the barn connected to a winch and now just lower it onto the back or Pogo or Odakota. “Ve get too shoon olde undt too late schmart.”

02/02/2022

This is a Wintec synthetic super light weight saddle. Wintec gained its fame as being a leading manufacturer of saddles for dressage, gaming, jumping, etc. and this is their western saddle. It is very light which is what I wanted for my young horses since I am plenty as a load by myself. I also have both shoulders with torn rotator cuffs and cannot lift up high, but this saddle I am able to toss on my horse. The reason it is for sale is that it does not fit my horse. It is built on semi-quarter horse bars and my horse is not built that way.
The saddle is not affected by rain or mud and is easy to clean. The seat is very comfortable and is 17 inches. It has been used very lightly and then only in a round pen or arena.
These sell for right at $700 from dealer and this one is almost like showroom new at half the cost. Take a look; you'll like.
We are in Campbell, TX, 60 mi east of Dallas but Facebook lists it as Dallas. We can ship it at buyer's expense. Will be shipped after funds are cleared.

Please, no more scammers! I am old but I'm not addled. I shot a skunk the other day. I could smell him long before I could see him. When he showed up in our pasture I nailed him with my AR-10 and then burned the body for precaution against rabies. I'd do the same again.

01/12/2022

I think I must be related to Jeff Dunham’s friend Walter. My body seems to be trying to “get me out of my marriage one body part at a time.” Odakota, Buckshot, Pogo and Star have all been suffering from MY old age. Between the Covid, some kind of infection that took me to the emergency room with 104 fever, torn rotator cuffs on both shoulders (one of which has totally given up the ghost not allowing me to lift my left arm except from the elbow), and continuing lower back pain, the poor horses have been going without much training. They do continue to eat, however. Oh well. I will say that is one thing I appreciated in my days riding and racing motorcycles. When I got off of them, they stopped eating.
These guys are like one person told us: “Well, they haven’t been missing any meals, have they?” But, though the training here on the farm has been slackened, the times have recently been very rewarding.
Odakota (Lakota Sioux for “Friend”) came to our place as a TIP horse. He was a last choice for me because another TIP trainer had taken all of my other picks. Odakota was the pen bully and was biting and kicking all of the others in the pen with him. I saw nothing other than a very handsome trouble maker. I brought him home anyway (Dummy) and originally called him “Spooky” since he was afraid of his own shadow and everything else. But, when he made the change; HE MADE THE CHANGE! He is the sweetest, calmest, most compliant horse I think I have ever had. When it came time for him to be adopted out, he cost me a lot of money because I decided to keep him. I’ve never regretted it. I had Sandi ride him a couple of times, but because she has had no more time on top of a horse than Odakota has had with someone riding him, it was not working out well. So, I decided he would be my horse, since he had already bonded strongly with me. He now has had three rides on him and he is so gentle and soft that I am amazed.
Sandi is riding Buckshot, who nothing ruffles. We stuck a 4’ bright pink Gorilla on him and worked him in the round pen. When he stopped, he’d almost fall asleep. HE is working beautifully for Sandi and is very forgiving for her learning curve. He has had only about 3-4 rides but shows every sign of being able to do a simple trail ride with other horses to set the lead.
We just came back in from working Star in the round pen under saddle. He showed us his lope and on one mistake, I stepped out in front and he made a beautiful turn around. He dropped back onto his rear and swung his front around with his head tucked from the fence. It was surprising, to say the least, since he is still looking like a gangly teenager. He has stretched up to 14. 3 ½. He is going to easily top 15 hands since he is still a couple of months shy of being 3 years old. He is also going to be a real star too. His full name is Wyoming Midnight Star, out of Green Mtn. HMA, Wyoming. Buckshot is from the neighboring Stewart Creek HMA. I lived up there and hunted that country for 15 years. I love the area and I love these horses. Pogo is the only liberal of the group coming from California (Devil’s Garden)(oh, that’s an HMA up north, though it might well be a description of Sacramento, LA or San Francisco). After I get back tomorrow from traveling to Dallas for my 3 month Oncology visit, she’ll get some one on one time under saddle but worked from the ground. I hate to say it, but all her time off has led to some regression, but I have every confidence that she will progress quickly and be ready for riding again soon.
A dear friend who is almost 90 says “You have to be tough to get old.” Boy, have I been experiencing that. But these horses are so good for me. My shoulder doesn’t work and my upper back goes out, my lower back has pinched nerves from bulging disc, arthritis in my hands, and no hair on my head, but clambering up on Odakota’s back yesterday was fabulous therapy for my heart. I praise God for making these animals and thank Him for letting me play with them. Winston Churchill was right: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man,” and Sandi adds “or woman.” I don’t think she said “Whoa man.” Oh well, we’re broke but happy.

11/06/2021

Things continue to progress at the old homestead......NOT without adventure. The horses had all suddenly gotten spooked by the rustling of plastic sacks. Sooo we decided to give them a session of shaky sacks. Star whizzed through like a champ and so did Buckshot, but my dear, sweet, calm, easygoing, Pogo barely survived the sack attack. She ran and ran and ran until I decided to take more control and put the lead rope on her. She made rapid and marked improvement. There was still fear, but she was much less reactive.......until.......I was working close with her on her spooky right side. She was circling and I was moving with her circles. All of a sudden the circles got faster and smaller.....until......she veered right into me. I weigh over 200 pounds, but it is absolutely no match for her 1000+ pounds. I went flying.....again, landing on a small mound on my left side ribs. Our round pen is natural earth and not sand. Have you ever tried to say "I'm ok" when you can't get any air? Well, I am ok, but my ribs feel either heavily bruised or cracked. Just one more thing for old folks to get over, right? Sandi asked if I was through. I told her "no." I worked Pogo a little more and I really think she was ashamed for plastering me because she really really tried to comply and we were able to end on a good note.
Now it was Sandi's turn to be scared. She was going to the round pen for only her second time. She had warmed up Odakota in the smaller loafing shed but we moved to the round pen. Odakota is still so stuck on me that he will hardly move without me being in front of him. You will see on the video that he flexes very well, but has not figured out that he can turn along with it. I was making a move back to my right while looking in the camera. (Don't text and drive) I tripped over a milkweed plant and you will see the results on the video. Please excuse the moment of fright on my wife. Sometimes fright temporarily overcomes propriety, however, I was really proud of my wife who handled it well as a novice rider. Odakota is going to be really special. As soon as the instant of fright was over, he was licking his lips. Good boy Odakota. Thank you for taking care of Sandi for me!

11/06/2021

Things continue to progress at the old homestead......NOT without adventure. The horses had all suddenly gotten spooked by the rustling of plastic sacks. Sooo we decided to give them a session of shaky sacks. Star whizzed through like a champ and so did Buckshot, but my dear, sweet, calm, easygoing, Pogo barely survived the sack attack. She ran and ran and ran until I decided to take more control and put the lead rope on her. She made rapid and marked improvement. There was still fear, but she was much less reactive.......until.......I was working close with her on her spooky right side. She was circling and I was moving with her circles. All of a sudden the circles got faster and smaller.....until......she veered right into me. I weigh over 200 pounds, but it is absolutely no match for her 1000+ pounds. I went flying.....again, landing on a small mound on my left side ribs. Our round pen is natural earth and not sand. Have you ever tried to say "I'm ok" when you can't get any air? Well, I am ok, but my ribs feel either heavily bruised or cracked. Just one more thing for old folks to get over, right? Sandi asked if I was through. I told her "no." I worked Pogo a little more and I really think she was ashamed for plastering me because she really really tried to comply and we were able to end on a good note.
Now it was Sandi's turn to be scared. She was going to the round pen for only her second time. She had warmed up Odakota in the smaller loafing shed but we moved to the round pen. Odakota is still so stuck on me that he will hardly move without me being in front of him. You will see on the video that he flexes very well, but has not figured out that he can turn along with it. I was making a move back to my right while looking in the camera. (Don't text and drive) I tripped over a milkweed plant and you will see the results on the video. Please excuse the moment of fright on my wife. Sometimes fright temporarily overcomes propriety, however, I was really proud of my wife who handled it well as a novice rider. Odakota is going to be really special. As soon as the instant of fright was over, he was licking his lips. Good boy Odakota. Thank you for taking care of Sandi for me!

10/11/2021

Odakota stood with our little herd of mustangs and let out a prolonged sigh! Whew! This has been a loooong dry spell for our training and at times, I thought we might starve. Pogo whinnied agreement. Star and Buckshot griped that as the youngest, they had been kicked around a bit while scrounging for grain droppings and grass. Their conversation continued as they discussed the fact that they had almost forgotten who Sandi and I were. The kids commented that Sandi was more familiar, but Odakota said he did not remember me the first time he saw me last week. They couldn’t figure out what had happened. Pogo, the oldest, explained she had heard that Sandi and I had been down with something called “Covid” for almost a month and then followed it up with “pneumonia.”
Pogo explained that they had almost lost their caretakers, but that now they were getting better and able to spend a little more time with them. Odakota commented that he was glad that “dad” had come back out to see a split on his hoof that was beginning to give him problems, but dad got it partially fixed. He laughed that he had kind of forgotten about “dad” being so insistent on making him leave his foot up on the hoof stand, but after a couple of abrupt reminders, he really didn’t mind and that his foot felt a lot better after he remembered he needed to cooperate.
Star and Buckshot piped in with the laugh they got out of hearing Sandi and me talking about how much they had grown. Buckshot whispered to Star that he thought he could get away with more now and actually showed him how he could push past and almost over Sandi to just do his own thing. Star told him, “You better watch out.” “You remember how ‘dad’ deals with stuff like that and you had better not push that issue too much.” Buckshot told him “Yeah, he had already had me remind him of his manners once.”
Pogo commented it was going to be good to get back to the training even though she had rather enjoyed reverting to her feral roots. She also pointed out that she had missed the brushing and all the petting and thought having that again would make the training worth the restrictions. Anyway, maybe they will be able to post more progress reports now as they get help from “mom” and “dad.”

09/21/2021

Help!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anyone know how to fix this training problem? I am doing something wrong in my training. Maybe Camille McCutcheon, or Madeline Hofmeister, or Clinton Anderson, or Pat Parelli could come up with an answer. I’ve watched Sam Rock and Sam Van Fleet teach horses tricks, …………….soooooooooooooooooo I decided I would teach one of my mustangs a trick. I have already taught him to lie down, but I wanted to modify that action and make it more interesting.
I thought my easygoing two and a half year old, Buckshot, could easily master sitting down. A lot of people teach this on the ground, but imagine how cool it would be to see one lounging in a lawn chair! I began the process and it really was not going all that well but he really tried. I had a couple of things to do and left Buckshot to work on it by himself. I came back to find him in somewhat of a predicament. What am I teaching wrong???? LOL

09/14/2021

Oh no, not a “buck!!!!” Well, we finally got it and hopefully got it out of our system. Today, Odakota finished his breakfast while wearing his saddle blanket. He figured out that that horrible thing did not restrict a great activity like breakfast. That was good. So, we decided to put the saddle on again and see how he reacted to it today. The beginning was typical. Odakota started off apprehensive as usual like “What in the world is that awful looking thing you are bringing toward me?” I let him smell it. He really wasn’t interested. He only became interested when I started to toss it on his back. It is so funny to watch his whole side scrunch up as it approaches. Success! We got it on……and off……and on……and off…. and on again. Well, the last time wasn’t so bad. I banged around on the saddle and popped the stirrups up and down to see what he would do. All he would do is yawn and say “that again? I’ve seen that before.” “You’ll have to think of something new.”
So taking his suggestion, we went to the round pen where I decided to stand in the stirrup on one side and see how he handled that. “B- O- R- I- N- G,” he said. So, I tried his right side. “B- O- R- I- N- G!” I thought well, if he would not react adversely to that, maybe I could make him act up some other way. I took the lead rope off of him and began swinging it round and clucking at him at the same time. He took off in a trot in a clockwise direction. He made several rounds that direction, although he indicated he’d like to stop several times, yet kept going as I instructed. I popped out in front of him with lead rope whirling and pointed back clockwise and he made a fantastic and dramatic turn and continued his trot. He acted like he was born with a saddle on. I let him stop and he immediately turned and came to me. We rubbed and petted and then we started the trot in the round pen again. Now mind you, I was trying to make him lope or canter, but he did not break into it just yet. THEN! He saw the dog that ever so often barks at him and the dog was in the round pen in front of him. Odakota tucked his head and finally broke into a lope trying to get the dog and in the process figured out that there was something on his back that he needed to get rid of. He broke into a bucking fit…………of sorts. I wanted to make him continue it to find out he could not get rid of that thing on his back that way. He made 4 or 5 good hops. That is really more what they were. I’ve seen $.25 a ride mechanical horses at Walmart buck almost as hard. I moved toward him and then, he reversed direction and as he did, THEN he made a couple of good jumps and quickly settled to a normal trot again. He looked toward me and turned in at a slow walk to come over to me. Believe me, I tried to get him to buck some more, but he just seemed to think it was sort of silly to put out all that effort only to come over and get rubbed. He’d trot and lope and change direction, but it seemed bucking was off the menu.
When I switched his name from “Spooky” to “Odakota,” it was a good choice. I jumped at him while throwing my hands in the air and yelling over and over and all he would do is raise his head and look at me like I was crazy. I stopped and he lowered his head and came over to me and put his face next to mine. Odakota means “friend” and he is certainly trying to be my friend.
With all this activity, I wanted to see if his reaction to my stepping into the stirrup now was different. NOPE! He acted as though he really couldn’t care less. Either side same story. So we went back to the loafing shed and took off the saddle and blanket. I offered to let him sniff it, but he just put his nose on my chest. I took off his halter and he turned to me again and stepped close as if to say, “Thanks Buddy. Let’s do that again.” I promised we would tomorrow and maybe something new. I hope our friendship keeps this overweight septuagenarian safe on his back and we can start a lot of new adventures together. I’ve had some really good horses over the last 50 years and most of them I could trust with any rider to keep them safe. We had good and close relationships, but I’ve never had a friend like Odakota. I’ve never had one lift his head out of the feed trough to just step over me where I was sitting and put his nose on my chest while he chewed his hay cubes………drooling on my belly. Having that kind of friend is special……and messy.

Larry Rushing Mustangs

03/21/2022

02/02/2022

01/12/2022

11/06/2021

11/06/2021

10/11/2021

09/21/2021

09/14/2021

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