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Wild Idea Horsemanship

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Laporte, CO
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!

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.

02/19/2025

Bravo. He's so handsome and so deep 💜

02/14/2025

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

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.

01/31/2025

Flint, 4yo mustang from Triple B Nevada

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!

01/14/2025

Bullseye's first time wearing the ba****ck pad. Another no biggie moment!

01/09/2025

Flint and Bullseye are starting to tie.

There are lots of different personal preferences on tying horses. I prefer to use friction ties 99% of the time. And pretty much 100% of the time if I'm actively around a horse while they're tied-if I'm grooming or tacking, for example.

I expect all of my horses to be able to hard tie without issue. But I rarely do hard tie because, for me, the safety risks of having a horse hard tied most often outweigh the safety risks of them pulling a friction tie loose in a panic moment.

In cases where the risks are flipped, then I hard tie.

Typically, when I first introduce a horse to tying, I do it in my round pen. I pass the lead rope over the top rail and then wrap it 2-3 times around the solid 8inch post. Tying higher is almost always safer if a horse pulls back, hence why I pass the rope over the top rail. Using a friction-based slow release tie method helps to reduce the panic response if a horse starts to pull back.

And more importantly, it helps reduce the chance of a horse having a mentally or physically traumatic experience while tied.

I use enough friction so that the horse feels solidly "held" by the rope in most situations, but the rope will slowly slide in a true panic.

I also love Blocker tie rings, and most often use them with the rope passed around the middle finger twice instead of just once. With my lead ropes (other ropes may be different), this is enough friction that it's almost impossible for a horse to slip the rope thru in normal circumstances.

I find that for most horses who chronically pull back while tied, the origin of that behavior was a panic response while they were hard tied early on in their education. Often, it was a combo of lack of preparation and being hard tied to something that breaks or instantly releases completely (like some safety mechanisms available).

Bullseye and Flint both have had completely non-dramatic exposures to being tied so far. They've explored the boundaries of the rope, moved around enough to realize that they're "stuck", but with zero concern and nothing resembling a pull back.

And yes, Bullseye (the bay curly) really is that butt high. I sure hope his withers catch up soon!

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333 Bonner Springs Ranch Road
Laporte, CO
80535

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