Zen the Mustang

04/17/2025

And a fun little blooper! Zen did the teeniest little shy at a dressage letter that’s been in this ring, you know, the whole time he’s been at RRF 😂 I do blame my tucking his forelock into that side of his cavesson and it starting to come out, so it’s entirely possible his whole right eye was covered at this moment and the letter could’ve “jumped” out at him. But look at that hind end engagement—piaffe, here we come! 🤣 Video in the comments since apparently I can’t upload a picture and video at the same time 🤨

04/15/2025

Zen felt amazing during our most recent ride thanks to trying a saddle from an awesome friend that finally feels good for me and fits him without sliding much! I wont sit on Zen in a saddle that doesn’t fit, but even ones that look appropriate sometimes slide around thanks to his barrel shape, and while a breastplate would keep it from sliding severely it didn’t keep the smaller slips from happening that are still somewhat unbalancing (and I prefer not to over-tighten the girth whenever possible).

So we’d been riding in an older treeless saddle, but it both slipped and left me behind the motion, which exacerbated the slipping because I was never able to be truly balanced. It’s incredible how much confidence feeling balanced can create—and if I feel this way as the rider, imagine how much of a difference it makes to horses when they’re truly feeling balanced?

Everything I learn about tack from cavessons to saddles is that it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but it absolutely makes a huge difference for it to be functional for what you’re trying to do with it. And without Zen having to compensate for me constantly being out of balance, he could really move!

04/04/2025

Some fun in the jump chute today! I’m pretty sure that second jump (2’) is the highest Zen’s ever jumped—we don’t do much jumping! Theoretically, the goal of a jump chute is for only the horse to jump, but Zen wanted some emotional support, so it became a workout for the both of us 😂

Three years ago, I was ONLY comfortable working with Zen at speed in protected contact, and rightfully so—he didn’t have the emotional regulation to canter anywhere near me without lashing out. And you might notice that I only reward him for certain behaviors: 1) Targeting my hand, and 2) Completing the jump (then at the end, I do reward him for offering a polite calm trot up to me just because that was really sweet, ha, then we finish with our end of session/break signal by me dropping food on the mounting block, which means that my asks are done, and he’s welcome to offer more, but it won’t be reinforced—to keep him from offering behaviors when I’m trying to clean up/leave the arena, and to keep him from getting frustrated that he’s not being reinforced for anything he offers).

My +R is far from perfect, but I try to put measures in place to prioritize safety and enjoyment while decreasing frustration and overstimulation. You’ll notice when he follows me at the canter, there are moments his ears go back and he gets ahead of me—no problem, I just don’t reward until he’s back in his default position and targets my hand so he doesn’t get the reward for ”chasing,” which can become dangerous. We keep most of our +R walk/trot for now and don’t play with speed often, and do so with plenty of breaks to try to avoid frustration building :)

04/03/2025

I’ve been skimping on Zen footage! We’ve been up to plenty the last month, but I end up getting busy most times I think of posting something!

Zen and I have had a couple of rides and several groundwork sessions at the new place, and he‘s been great! I figured I’d share a little piece from one of my lessons with Amy Skinner Horsemanship, with a question—what do you think is happening in this moment, and happened just before? Answer in the comments 👀

03/03/2025

Already reaping the immense reward of living right next to Zen: just being in his proximity so often, peeking out the window or from the main barn to see what he’s up to, how he likes to spend his time, how he interacts with the other horses in his field.

Or, like yesterday, pulling up the driveway and seeing them in nap mode, and perhaps indulging myself in some nap time cuddles 😂Already, it’s just so different. I pop into the field or talk to him at the fence a couple of times a day with no agenda. When I lived further away from Zen, that did happen some days that I just wanted to see him since non-agenda time has always been really important to me, but it was harder to find a balance.

It’s also really important to me for “work” to feel good for the horse, but I notice a shift in my own nervous system between ”do mode” and “be mode” that was hard for me to regulate when I knew I had a task I wanted to accomplish by the end of our time together, and now, that’s far less important—I can give myself more time to problem solve or come back and try again later.

Anyway, enjoy a handsome Zen napping with his buddies (not pictured) from yesterday 🥰

03/02/2025

Never in a million years did I think my commute from the front door to Zen would go from an hour in the car to just over two minutes walking 🤩 It still doesn’t feel real to live onsite with Zen, but we’re loving it here at Rainbow Rooster Farm! Much more Zen content to come now that I’ll be seeing him literally every day 🥳

Massive thank you to Felicia for so many years of learning, support, and helping dreams come true 🥰

01/03/2025

Happy belated New Year from me and the sweetest teddy bear of a Mustang! His mane got some recent detangling while his tail (and a saddle that fits both of us properly; right now I make sure it fits him but I'm having trouble finding one that fits, me, too!) is a work in progress 😂

12/16/2024

Zen had some absolute 🔥 moments this morning! It’s so interesting to watch videos with the main purpose of watching me instead of him—today’s goal was to release the inside rein and pick up contact with the outside rein. Rewatching my videos, I did pretty much everything but that despite thinking about it so hard during our ride 🤣

I think the reasons are two-fold—one was that Zen NEEDED forward today. Last post, I mentioned he was a kite coming down to the arena but settled as soon as we were inside. This time, he was very polite coming to the arena, but the moment I sent him out to warm up, he trotted then even cantered! I’m not sure if he’s ever offered canter on the lunge before without any forward ask, so I was a little intimidated that I’d chosen this as a riding day!

My first instinct when Zen would get too fast used to be to try to slow him down, but I’ve learned how much more effective it is to direct the forward instead of holding him back, and I saw some pretty impressive movement from him! A springier, floatier trot than ever, and his canter transition was actually pretty beautiful! I had no interest in cantering under saddle today (and he didn’t offer it under saddle, or on the lunge after that first time), but it suddenly clicked to me that I could ride safely as long as I encouraged forward.

I knew that I couldn’t be passive in the saddle, and it was confirmed as soon as I got on and his body locked, which could potentially mean he was ready for a buck or anything else people tend to consider “excited” behavior (he’s only ever bucked twice under saddle, so while it’s very unusual for him, I also know what his back feels like when his body could be preparing to buck)—I encouraged forward and got release, then he pretty much immediately chose to trot (I didn’t ask for it).

This is when Past Cam would try to get him in a small circle to slow down, but after watching him warm up, I knew that I had to allow the forward at bare minimum, and continue encouraging it if he was moving fast but locked (secretly hoping he wouldn’t canter, but since he had such a smooth transition on the ground, I felt safe if he did choose to canter). We had a kind of scattered trot circle, I forgot about my reins, then we came to an ungraceful stop in front of a wall. Oops! But his knowing that I wouldn’t shut down his forward, and my knowing in return that we could move forward safely, created a sense of security and assurance that I could support him even while he was feeling anxious—that’s a new one for us!

At some point, I remembered my goal was to work on my reins, and like I said, I somehow managed to do just about everything BUT let go of the inside and pick up the outside for a while, but then Zen started to soften, and I released my minor death grip on the inside—it was pretty kind of him to release first when that should have been me! But while I was willing to lead the charge into forward, he led the way into relaxation, and my reins became more even, and we got some lovely strides of connected trot! (This, by the way, is part of why I’m still riding him not only bitless, but in his fleece cavesson—it’s more forgiving on him as I’m figuring things out!)

It was so, so cool to feel THIS horse. I thought I’d always have an energy conserver, but there’s some fancy out there for the world to see that I‘m now able to welcome due to having a lot more confidence—even when it comes to making mistakes! Huge thank you to Amy Skinner Horsemanship for our lessons; I’m absolutely stunned with the progress in a short period of time!

11/30/2024

Yesterday, Zen and I had our first ride in quite some time! I can’t explain exactly why I’ve been really nervous about riding Zen this year. The beginning of the year we did some things a little differently, and that brought a lot of uncertainty into our interactions. It wasn’t bad, I just realized that I struggle to problem solve through new things on my own, and Zen, like most horses, really appreciates focused, intentional handling. I will give myself credit in that I was mindful, but my uncertainty kept me from being intentional—and Zen needed both.

Since starting my virtual lessons with Amy, I’ve gotten a lot more intentional, and MUCH better at trying to stay focused regardless of situation. Even when it’s cold and windy, even when horses are galloping past, even when there’s that tractor Zen always spooks at, staying focused on the task at hand ends up being the best way to meet Zen’s needs. So, maybe Zen shies in the wind—then he comes back. Maybe Zen locks up and calls to his herd mates—then, we resume moving forward in rhythm. And, what do you know? He didn’t even notice that “scary” tractor.

Yesterday, Zen was about as flighty (descriptive term, not prescriptive) as he’s ever been being caught, coming in from the field, getting to the arena. Then, I remember something funny happening. We got into the arena, and I thought, “Thank goodness, I can focus.” I wonder what would have happened if I started focusing far earlier 😂

He went from being a kite at the end of his lead into work mode. The arena door slammed in the wind, and he didn’t mind. There were a few more spooks as he noticed new things he hadn’t seen in a while, but after moving through each one with the same focus, I actually felt confident enough to try getting on and having good reason to believe it would go well.

From the moment I sat in the tack, I focused on rhythm and trying to keep Zen forward—which feels scary when your horse has been so “up”! But his spooks tend to be freezes, then explosions, so the more forward he’s going in rhythm, the more he looses up and less likely he is to spook. And while it wasn’t the prettiest (very short) ride, he didn’t take a dangerous step, listened to all of intentional aids, and had moments of lovely softness.

I decided to quit while I was ahead as I’d already surpassed my expectations, but knowing I had enough in my toolkit to ride him calmly and safely on one of his flightiest days did loads for my confidence and kept me humble in the importance of good preparation. I owe so many thanks to Amy Skinner Horsemanship for our lessons giving me those tools, and by telling us we were ready to get back in the saddle! And huge thanks to Kieran for filming, assisting, and being the best reassurance 🥰

10/05/2024

I’m so excited to share that Zen and I are now getting three monthly virtual lessons with Amy! The idea of virtual lessons intimidated me for a while, but Amy offered the perfect opportunity at a time Zen and I really needed direction. Objectively speaking, not much has gone badly, but as Zen and I started practicing new things together, I found myself growing uncertain.

Uncertainty doesn’t offer any security for the horse, so issues started popping up that I’d never experienced with him before—like some difficulty catching, and one time he bucked while I was on him (only the second time he’s ever bucked being ridden, and first time since our first right lead canter in 2021). And, of course, the doubt crept in that I’d kept at bay for most of last year: that I was ruining my horse.

If I’ve learned one thing from my year of being a full-time therapist, it’s that human nature leads us to assign (often negative) judgment to neutral events and hang onto stories that don’t serve us. The logical part of me knows this, but it takes a lot of practice for that knowledge to balance the immediate emotional reaction and accompanies such miscommunications.

I told Amy that I wanted to work on catching Zen since I’d inflated it into a massive problem in my head—then, with Amy’s guidance, we resolved it with zero theatrics in about two minutes. And Zen stood quietly, caught, ready to work. The next “problem” was Zen working with his buddies in the pasture, them wanting to engage with each other, knock over the camera… and each time I worried about a problem, Amy reminded me of my task.

It was only part way through the lesson that I realized Zen didn’t sn**ch grass at all, and even as his favorite friends came over to see what he was doing, Zen started to remain focused on me… because I was starting to remain focused on him. At one point, a loud noise spooked the herd and caused them to jump around, and I was certain Zen was going to try to engage with that. But I went back to the task, and Zen even re-focused with the other horses still worried about the noise.

This is a long post to highlight the importance of focus—you can notice, acknowledge, and respond to what’s going on around you, but as long as you, your horse, and the surroundings are safe, the more focused you are on what you’re communicating to your horse, the more focused they’ll be on you.

I can’t wait for my lesson next week, and I’ll be practicing focus on the meantime 🎉

Focus -

Many of us are happy to complain about our horse’s lack of focus. We want the horses full attention, but we often really have no idea just how scattered our own attention is!

We notice AFTER the horse does the wrong thing, but fail to have a clear picture in our minds of what we even wanted in the first place. Many riders chase down every little thing the horse does that we don’t like, but haven’t developed the personal discipline to know what we want and ride that in our bodies.

I often compare guiding the horse to singing next to someone who is off key. You have to essentially stick your fingers in your ears sometimes and sing the song as you know it goes, instead of following every mistake the off key singer does. We follow the off key singer’s tune into its highs and lows, and then try to pull the singer back to a tune we’ve gotten too far away from to recover - but the reality is, the horse can never know the tune if we can’t sing it ourselves.

Many of us getting lessons are unknowingly hooked on a steady diet of distractions - a stirrup problem, another horse too close, too hot, too cold, need a break, my horse is too close to the gate, and so on - and so progress , or even lining out a solid beginning is difficult or impossible because we cannot focus on the task or what we want for the duration of a session.

It’s pretty amazing to experience the distractions melt away, and the problems melt away, when we really focus on the ride - the horse no longer pulls to the gate, looks for his friends, veers in the corners and so on, because we are mentally present, and physically clear. Suddenly every little thing is no longer a problem because we are truly guiding.

It’s an incredible feeling to be in the “zone” with a horse and find them more than happy to be there with us.

So focus is truly a human issue, and rarely a horse’s. Horses like to be guided with peaceful clarity - but we have few experiences in our lives developing that, and so guiding with peaceful clarity is a weak muscle -

Just like any muscle, it becomes strengthened through repetition.

Set up your tack, clothes and environment, and then focus on the work.

Photo by Jade Premont

12/21/2023

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone, and for folks in the northern hemisphere, here’s to warmer days ahead ☀️

Here’s a quick video of Zen catching me in the field from a couple of weeks ago—in this huge pasture, I didn’t even have to put his halter on for him to come with me! He‘s always good to catch, though he doesn’t always decide to follow me without any cues, so this was a treat 🥰 I didn’t have any food on me here and he knew that; I rarely bring food into his pasture because of all of the other horses (he gets food once he’s at the grooming station, or at least out of the pasture).

Eventually we got far enough away from the other horses that he did get a little unsure, so I haltered him to bring him the rest of the way in, gave him his food, and turned him right back out. I had planned to work with him but was just so smitten by his offer to come hang out that I wanted to keep things really low-key.

As wild as it might seem to drive 70 miles round trip to just hang out with your horse, there are days I go see him that we don’t even leave the pasture. When I turn him out, I walk him to his favorite herd mates whenever possible so he doesn’t need to search the large fields alone. I can’t say for certain whether that’s helped our relationship, but it certainly hasn’t hurt, and I love doing it! Quietly observing and interacting with a herd without an agenda is a wonderful privilege that I think every horse enthusiast should try to take part in at some point if they can!

12/14/2023

Happy National Horse Day to the best a person could ask for! It doesn’t matter whether it’s been four hours or four months, I’m always just as excited to see this horse as the day he arrived in Montana, and we always pick up right where we left off. I hope we have many more years to come… I tell him every day that he’d better be here when I‘m 50, which means he needs to tolerate me for at least 23 more years 😉

Photocredits to Wonderfur Photography