Team Tesoro heart of the horse 2023

08/19/2024

It is still hot and humid in MS!🥵

Luckily Tesoro is very kind and makes me "catching" him to go to the barn easy - even if he has to leave his grazing herd mates....

No halter? Oh well, he will get one at the barn ;)

Simply love this handsome boy!

07/05/2024

Tesoro (the buckskin

05/21/2024

Hard to believe that this handsome cuddle-bug is already gracing our pastures for a year!🥰
Always friendly, always curious and usually the first one greeting you in the pasture. Quite a feat in a 40 acre pasture. ;) Even more so when I walk up with his halter - as this means work and adventures await!
Eager for pets, but always respectful.

I simply love this boy!😍

Even if he starts picking up the side-eye from my mare😂

01/17/2024

The last few days Tesoro was wondering if he was back in WA again... It started out with freezing rain, and then the temps just kept on dropping, down into the single digits this morning. 🥶 Not what one would expect from the South!

Sierra, his fellow Fino herd mate, is in her mid 30ies and gets some warm "tea" on cold days to keep her drinking and happy. She is kind enough to share.
They are just so adorable together. 😍

12/30/2023

I think I will never get tired of watching Tesoro drink - and then savor the last drop from his tongue! ❤️

11/02/2023

Tesoro has slowly, but surely taken over some of the herd boss duties.
We call the horses up to the barn morning and evening by ringing a bell. Tesoro usually hangs back and sweeps the pasture making sure none of the herd is missing.

10/13/2023

I know I haven't updated in a while - but Tesoro seems to be enjoying life.
Due to the relentless heat and humidity and my work schedule he was worked less than I was planning to, and he got a little portly. But he is not as big as this video makes him look. ;)

He is such a cool horse! And by now, the moment he sees me (or he hears me calling his name), this is the reaction I get...

06/30/2023

Thank you, Shelby, for creating such a solid citizen in the short time you had with Tesoro.
Tesoro got labelled "such a delightful horse to have around" by my barn owner. High praise, but well earned.

06/08/2023

Although Shelby has posted some updates, we thought it would be easier if I provided updates about Tesoro's and my journey together myself.

It is hard to believe that he came to me less than 3 weeks ago!
A lot of things have changed for Tesoro, but he seems to be settling in very nicely and has a content look in his eyes.

We introduced him slowly to pasture life to give his body time to adjust to all the grass - and of course his new herd mates... :)
By now he is running with his 8 herd mates and is learning the rules: as in, when the bell rings this signals feeding time and each horse goes to their assigned place in the barn to get some feed if needed and checked get over. The first few times he didn't get the meaning of the bell and was really confused when suddenly everyone headed to the barn, but he is a quick study. Especially now that he discovered the fans in the stalls🥰

Working with him also happens in small steps - after all, we BOTH have to get used to each other! But he is SO eager to do things and always willing to try.

Thank you Shelby for entrusting me with this treasure and giving him such a great foundation!

06/05/2023

Dales fb page has been created! 😊

Here we are devoted to the many arts of horsemanship. Sharing tips, tricks, and the magic horses bring into the lives of anyone who spends time with the...

05/24/2023

Dale and I made it back safely to Washington. It was a long trip for him, so he’s going to just chill out for a few….. and so am I.

05/23/2023

Update for Dale and I. We’ve covered about 1800 miles so far and he’s traveling really well. It’s amazing that just traveling with Dale this distance how much he and I already understand each other. I’m pretty sure in our first video you’ll see it. Oh, and we should be home early in the morning tomorrow.

05/22/2023

Tesoro’s new owner Daniela did great on her first ride and ground work session with him yesterday. Tesoro did great with a new rider AND a new saddle after a pretty busy weekend. Daniela said she’d send me updates and I’ll share them here. I also told her that anything she needs from me regarding him in the future to just reach out 🙂.

Now I’m on my way home with Dale he’s our next adventure as soon as I get home I’ll create a page for him too, his adventure is hopefully going to be one heck of a ride!

Again I love you all and all your support, just know it’s been life changing for me personally!

05/21/2023

I don’t know where we placed overall but I do know we took second one the health and manors class (the first class) and we won the freestyle. I love the freestyle it’s my thing but this time it was different, this time it was for Katie.

05/20/2023

So, I guesss this may possibly be the last video I post of Tesoro and I. This is also the last lesson of pushing Tesoro’s buttons. That last lesson is this; It doesn’t matter how much or little a horse has training wise, it doesn’t matter if it’s a good ride or a bad one. The thing that matters most is enjoying the ride you have in the moment. Every moment is it’s own individual millisecond in time. I cannot thank everyone who has been apart of this journey it’s been awesome!! So here’s our freestyle.

05/20/2023

Our horsemanship/obstacle class yesterday went ok. if there is one thing every horseman here should know, it’s the horse they brought. After the first class yesterday that Tesoro couldn’t have done better in was over I was a bit concerned that I wasn’t going to have much horse mentally or physically for the second class so I took things easy on him throughout the rest of the day.

Once we started our second class of the day I knew Tesoro had a ”bee in his bonnet” sorta speak. Lol now I’ve seen this in him probably twice in the last 4 months of working with him. When this happens it’s not a big deal and I know that with continued time under saddle this will continue to be easier and easier to manage but, it showed up in the show pen. I basically had two options.

Option 1 to “school him” through the class and risk blowing up 4 months worth of work to try and save my ego and not be the leader for Tesoro that I have been for him since from day one.

Option 2 to be the leader that he knows, step back down to his level, and do my best to get us though the class in the best way possible.

I chose the second option, navigating our class the best way I could. I was put into difficult situation to balance. This is a competition so I needed to complete every task I could to make some points. While doing this I had to also be a leader for Tesoro, correct him, and understand his limitations in those moments. I continued to ask if he could give a little more (to try and salvage more points) and every time I did this I had option 1 and 2 available to me to take again. I continued to take option 2 over and over.

Am I upset at Tesoro? Nope. Am I disappointed? Of course but, not in Tesoro or myself. He’s still the fantastic horse I went into the second class with and I feel the way I handled the situation he is still a fantastic horse that has a class under his belt that didn’t go as well as it could have.
What he does not have under his belt is a moment where he was half a** schooled in a moment that would have resolved nothing, damaged my roll as a leader in his eyes, and built up frustration between Tesoro and I. And all for what? To protect my ego. Honestly, I’m completely content with our second class now after writing this because hopefully it helps people understand where I come from a bit more.

05/17/2023

We made it to our destination yesterday evening. Tesoro was plenty pleased to have a moment to stretch his legs. I know he and I both are very thankful for our hosts giving Tesoro a place to stretch and myself a bed to sleep in.

05/16/2023

We are about 2 1/2 hours away from our destination! Tesoro is still hauling great, our drive hasn’t been terrible either. See you all soon!

05/15/2023

I apologize for not updating very well on our trip back to Mississippi. It’s been interesting my gps has changed my route twice due to roads being closed and we drove through quite a bit of rain in Wyoming. Needless to say I’m missing all the riding spots on planned out ahead of time. Good news is we are pretty much at the half way point with about 1300 miles to go!

On another note Tesoro is a champ when it comes to hauling, he’s eating, drinking, and all his other horse duties. He’s just waiting till we get to where we are going 🙂

05/14/2023

About 1800 miles to go, fueling up the pickup and giving Tesoro a bit of time to drink then back on the road.

05/14/2023

Getting closer to that 2000 miles to go mark but found a good stopping point for a bit.

05/14/2023

I’m so proud of Tesoro!!

TEAM TESORO - Shelby Ahrens
Team Tesoro Heart of the Horse 2023

05/13/2023

Here we go! Show some love for the no pros!

05/12/2023

I apologize for our absence, we are packing our bags to head out on the road real soon. Also another pushing Tesoro’s buttons video is almost ready!

05/09/2023

Yesterday, Tesoro had another new rider. She has good riding skills but, definitely had some nervousness riding Tesoro since he’s still a green horse. Tesoro was great! He was just as calm as he is when I ride him. He didn’t feed into the nerves of his rider at all, I’m very proud of him!

05/07/2023

Our last check in for the heart of the horse challenge. It’s kind of a sad thing knowing this is the last check in but, I couldn’t be more proud of Tesoro. He’s become on heck of a riding horse and friend. I entered this competition to challenge myself in several ways and as far as I’m concerned it was a huge success. Tesoro has the foundation of a saddle horse that I’m very proud of and I know whoever takes him on the next leg of his journey will be pleased not only with him but themselves.

05/06/2023

It’s getting closer and closer to the deadline for those adoption applications!
And it’s getting closer and closer to the time Tesoro and I leave Washington and head to Mississippi. Regardless here’s another video pushing Tesoro’s buttons.



Warming up Tesoro

good warm up for yourself and your horse helps guide to a better ride for the day. This is just one part...

05/01/2023

Tesoro absolutely loves this for his job!