Pie to Your Piper and Maizey Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge

11/07/2024

Piper was a bit hesitant when I began spraying her, but she quickly decided it was not so bad. She stood mostly still for the entire bath which included both sides of her body, neck, chest and front legs, hind quarters/back legs.

09/07/2024

Piper had no problem with the tarp. she was willing to walk over it, follow it, or have it draped over her.

03/07/2024

Piper stands calmly for saddling. She isn't crazy about taking a bit, but only requires a little convincing to accept it.

01/07/2024

Piper really has great ground manners! She stands ground-tied for every part of grooming - including fly spray and picking up feet.

25/06/2024

This little girl has lots of "good citizen" skills. She did a great job standing ground tied even with that beautiful green grass all around her.

21/06/2024

Piper has great ground manners including walking through gates. She is patient, listening and waiting for her handler.

20/06/2024

Piper had a visit from my farrier today. She did a great job - zero hesitation about picking up or holding her feet for the trim. BTW, the farrier said she has great feet!

18/06/2024

So she's easy to catch, but how does she lead? Also, like a dream. She sometimes falls a bit behind, but responds well to cues to match her handlers pace.

14/06/2024

Let's start at the very beginning; a very good place to start 😜 Piper is extremely easy to catch! In fact, she enjoys attention and will come catch you first.

12/06/2024

Piper is a 14.1 hand, ~16-year-old Arabian cross mare. She is a sweet girl who enjoys attention and is great on the ground. She leads, ties, stands for grooming (including fly spray and picking up feet). She also calmly accepts the saddle, and trailers with no problems. She is the submissive member of my herd; getting along well with mares and geldings. I'm looking forward to discovering all that Piper can do.

10/06/2024

Howdy! My name is Torri Whitaker and I am partnering with Pie to Your Piper - aka Piper - for the 2024 Training Challenge. I became a member of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society in 2017, and this is my sixth Training Challenge. I return to the Training Challenge each year because I have the opportunity to improve as a horsewoman, be a part of an encouraging community of horse people, and most of all give these incredible equines a chance to find their forever homes.

25/05/2024

Thank you so much for liking our page!
If you have questions about this horse or about how adoption works, please contact our Adoption Counselor at [email protected]. She’ll be happy to walk you through how adoption works, get info about the horse(s) you are interested in, etc.
If you are an approved adopter who is interested in adopting this horse, please contact our Adoption Coordinator at [email protected]. The horse won’t be available for adoption until the Challenge on October 5.
The Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge will be held on October 5, 2024 during the Bluebonnet Horse Expo at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor, Texas. All Challenge horses will be available for adoption from Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society that day, unless their trainer adopts them.
For more info on the Challenge, visit http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com/blog/challenge.
For more info on the Expo, visit http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com
To learn about adoption, visit http://www.bluebonnetequine.org

We may also have other horses available for adoption who are not in the Challenge. We will have volunteers who can show those horses to you, and if you adopt a non-Challenge horse you can take him/her home once you have signed the contact and paid the fee.

23/08/2023

Yesterday didn’t quite go as well as I hoped, so today we backed it up and did something fun. The video cut right before she did a big sigh and lick ❤️

07/08/2023

Getting back into the swing of updates !

I haven't posted much recently BUT Piper and I have been working hard. It's just so hot and I like to stay off my phone when I'm with the horses. Here's a list of what we've done and are working on:

✨ we went out to my friend's place and got tortured with pom-poms, pool noodles, a string of bottles -- all the things. I wish I had a picture, but my phone was in the truck. She did amazing.

✨ we've had 4-5 rides at the trot - both at home and out at the ranch where I ride.

✨ we're working on accepting the whip - she is always big eyed when the whip is out. I have a feeling she was whipped on and probably scolded harshly for any sort of negative reaction.

✨little miss is still trying to work off her fat belly - so we've been working super hard at teaching her to carry herself correctly. She's a very fast learner.

She is teaching me so much. She has taught me to soften my reactions and find different ways of correcting behavior. She can get overwhelmed really quickly and will shut down. But she has improved SO much and I'm really enjoying trying out different ways of getting her to engage with me and her surroundings.

24/07/2023

It was a BIG weekend for Piper! We did her first three rides! The video is her very first. I’ve been working with a good friend of mine who is a fantastic mustang trainer. Drumclog Mustangs . I did her next two rides on my own and we just took it real slow and let her relax. I’m so proud of her. She’s for sure been ridden before, but it doesn’t seem like it was a good experience for her. So we’re working on making everything a good experience. She is the best girl and has so much try. I’m so excited for the next part of our journey.

18/07/2023

Since it’s supposed to be 107 today… our morning session is standing in the barn with tack on while I clean. I am SO pleased with how much Piper is learning to relax. As I write this I’m watching her do lots and lots of licking and chewing and her eyes are super soft.

When she first got here, everything was scary. She’d shut down and just take whatever it was we tried to do. She wasn’t accepting, just tolerant. She is still apprehensive but she’s learning that saddles, whips, tarps, all the things — are things she doesn’t need to worry about.

We’re working on saying bye bye to the hay belly 😂

14/07/2023

Piper hauls like a dream. And here’s how she handles new places! Curious and attentive, but no shenanigans. Hauled out to an awesome friend to get some help with ground work exercises. She’s a VERY fast and willing learner. We’re still working on backing out of the trailer, but this girl loads like an absolute champ.

03/07/2023

✨Today we’re working on : Relaxing with the saddle.
Piper has a lot of signs of having been ridden previously. Some of those aren’t the best. She has two saddle sores on either side of her withers and girth scarring. So we’ve been doing lots of work making the saddle a positive experience! Today we didn’t have lots of time, so we kept it short and sweet.

She seems like the type to shut down and just accept whatever is going on. But I’d like her to comfortably wear pressure. So sometimes it takes a long time for her to fully relax, but she always gets there!

✨Not shown is: she’s a star student at ground tying. Whether it be for being brushed, unsaddled or sprayed down. The saddle noises tend to make her worried so we kept the saddle on and made a lot of noise with the stirrups, latigo and cinch until she took a deep breath.

03/07/2023

Practicing standing tied!

30/06/2023

But do your horses come when called?

28/06/2023

Her favorite scratching spot ! 💖

22/06/2023

Pie to your Piper is THE sweetest mare. She takes a little while to warm up to you, but when she does... she will follow you around and wants all the forehead scratches she can get. She has clearly been trained and ridden in the past. She knows how to move her body around and we're working on our lunging skills. She does have some girth scarring, saddle sores and scars on her chest. She is nervous around whips and can get panicky when she can't find the right answer. But she is never mean. It's just a lot!

We are working on learning to trust people again and not be afraid of training tools. She is super smart and wants to be good. She has already made so many leaps and bounds since she's been here! We are also doing lots of exercising because little miss has a big ole hay belly.

Once we get a good grip on ground work and accepting things without being as worried, we will hopefully start riding! She is going to make someone a fantastic best friend. I'm super excited to see where she goes

22/06/2023

Trainer Bio :
Hi everyone! I'm Maizey and I'm SO excited to be doing the challenge this year. I have loved horses my whole life but haven't had the opportunity to be in the horse world until the last few years. I went from having one mare in 2021 to having 3 mares and a filly here in 2023. I lost my rescue paint mare, Itty Bitty, just a few days before Piper came into my barn. (I definitely have a thing for mares and even more than that, I have a soft spot for the hurting ones.) My girls have been the very definition of problem children and I have absolutely loved all of the work and research that has gone into caring for each one of them. I have a special place in my heart for the old ones

Our home is full of joy. Joy that we want to share with others. Whether it be the joy of caring for horses or the joy of raising puppies or the joy of helping others design and imagine their own spaces of joy. We are here for all of it! 

15/06/2023

Thank you so much for liking our page!
If you have questions about this horse or about how adoption works, please contact our Adoption Counselor at [email protected]. She’ll be happy to walk you through how adoption works, get info about the horse(s) you are interested in, etc.
If you are an approved adopter who is interested in adopting this horse, please contact our Adoption Coordinator at [email protected]. The horse won’t be available for adoption until the Challenge on October 7.
The Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge will be held on October 7, 2023 during the Bluebonnet Horse Expo at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor, Texas. All Challenge horses will be available for adoption from Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society that day, unless their trainer adopts them.
For more info on the Challenge, visit http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com/blog/challenge.
For more info on the Expo, visit http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com
To learn about adoption, visit http://www.bluebonnetequine.org

We may also have other horses available for adoption who are not in the Challenge. We will have volunteers who can show those horses to you, and if you adopt a non-Challenge horse you can take him/her home once you have signed the contact and paid the fee.