Zen the Mustang

Amy started Zen under saddle, and nearly a year later, he’s sound, relaxed, and confident in his work! I was in the first beta group to start the lunging course in July, and it was exactly what Zen and I needed to find our rhythm again! Zen is truly never more comfortable to ride than he is when I’ve spent just a couple of minutes doing some gymnastic lunging first at just the walk and trot (we sometimes canter on the lunge but not often), so I’ve started to try incorporating that before most rides just to soften Zen’s body and mind.

It’s completely different from the lunging people are used to, and I very rarely (never say never haha) have to worry about Zen bolting or bucking on the line. I highly recommend this for anyone with a cold-backed horse, a horse who struggles with realization, a horse who’s ready to start rehabbing from injury, a young horse, an older horse… truly, any horse! If you commit to approaching the course with an open mind, you can’t go wrong with this one!

You can still sign up for this gymnastic lunging course! It’s not a quick fix, not a fad, but systemic change to create true balance!

Long time no updates, but Zen is doing awesome! He’s happy, healthy, and now that I’ve finished grad school, I don’t have to rush my visits with him, and our relationship is starting to feel even better. Not feeling rushed makes all the difference in the world for me, and I’m sure that makes a big difference for him, too. I can spend so much more time tuning into all of the little ways he tries to communicate with me and don’t feel as compelled to check off “tasks” with each visit, and this is reflected in how much softer he’s been for catching and haltering, grooming, picking up feet, tacking, standing for mounting, and even things like sprays and hosing which weren’t always easy before!

A couple of weeks ago, I joined Amy Skinner Horsemanship’s 6-week lunging course, so we’ve been more focused on lunging than riding lately to reinforce all of the straightness, balance, rhythm, and stability that he learned during his 8 months with Amy. He’s doing so well and looking so strong and supple! Can’t wait to get back on soon 🥰

Big news from Zen and me! We’re a little late in the season, but as part of our Pride month celebration, I’m excited to share that we have our first product affiliation with Padded Ponies! Zen’s lovely saddle pad and ear bonnet came from Padded Ponies, and you can get your own here by following our affiliate link! https://paddedponies.com/camd

Padded Ponies also has 20% off Pride tack all month long with the code PRIDE20, and Zen’s riding halter is available at Counter Canter Designs!

All marginalized folks are welcome here 🥰🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

I have to admit that this is a hard pill to swallow sometimes—and this is Zen! Zen and I had a bit of a rough go of things on Monday. He was unregulated pretty much the entire time, and I was at a bit of a loss of how to soothe him.

Zen always tells me exactly how he feels all the time, and admittedly, I sometimes wish he would just do what I wanted! But how would that improve me, him, or our relationship? So, give me a horse who says ”no”. It’s never easy, but it’s absolutely worth it in the end and makes me a much better horse person!

I want horses to have opinions.

A horse with an opinion will express when they do not feel safe - because they are being pushed too hard, because they are hurting, because we’re asking for something incorrectly, because our energy is off. An opinion can tell me that something is not right - and it is my job to do my best to figure it out.

Leslie Desmond famously said “What value does yes have if no is not an option?” If we don’t give them the ability to express themselves, how will we have a clue how they are feeling? Do we actually care? How will they be able to learn willingly verses through submission? And yes, there is a difference. A BIG difference.

A horse with an opinion is thinking for themselves, verses blindly doing what is asked even when they are not mentally or physically capable. Better to refuse a fence rather than jump it in such a way that is going to be dangerous. Better to be unsettled in warm up and try to figure it out before entering the show ring. Better to act up in smaller ways, rather than push them through until the bigger explosion or the really unsafe risk happens.

In my practice, the horse is a feedback loop. How she moves and reacts, in addition to what I feel under my hands and see, tells me things. I need to be willing to let the horse have an opinion, to express how they feel, so that I do not push beyond boundaries to ask too much. I try not to get to “no”, but no is okay. No is important, just as important as yes.

A teacher recently said to me that the way we train and ride horses is often separating their sensory and motor functions to the point that they really don’t know where their bodies are in space. The way we strap down their heads and prevent full range of eye sight; the way that we restrict breathing and mouth movement (which impacts the entire body) by cranking nosebands tight; the use of harsh bits; when we drug them before we ride; the way that we simply ask for constant submission.

I have not really stopped thinking about this.

We are, in essence, teaching horses to ignore their nervous systems when we are on their backs.

No thanks.

No “dead broke” horses for me. If my horse, or any horse I’m working with, is feeling fear or pain or sweet release, I sure as hell want to know it.

Photo credit: Olia Gozha

I feel like I've been keeping secrets from you all, but truly, it's just that it keeps slipping my mind to update just how AWESOME Zen's going right now! 🤩 Just a sneak peek of some really good moments from our ride on Monday--of course, it didn't all look like this, but he tried his heart out for me! Thank you to Hannah Catalino Liberty Horsemanship and Amy Skinner Horsemanship for giving Zen such a strong foundation and to Kieran for the screenshots--videos to come 🥰

Happy Valentine's Day from Zen! I hope you all got plenty of pony smooches today 💕

Long time no post, things have been busy!! But the boy and I had a HUGE milestone today—our first canter since he’s been back home!! This was one of the first days that I didn’t feel rushed with Zen trying to squeeze time in with him between other commitments, and what a difference! I’ve also been riding a lot of green horses lately who need me to be their security and confidence, and for the first time since he’s been home, I was really able to translate that to Zen.

We lunged in the upper outdoor arena that doesn’t have any fences (if you all remember my post about my first session with Zen at home, it went a lot worse 😅), and our communication was so good. Then, when we went inside to ride (I’m still not quite at the point that I want to ride him again with no fences), there were a lot of new obstacles like needing to open the big sliding door and riding past dusk. He was a bit jumpy at first, but then he gave me the most incredible trot that let me know we were ready to canter.

It felt amazing!! I’m not planning to canter every ride since in my excitement I admittedly rode worse after we cantered 😅 But it’s a huge relief to get that first canter at home without a hitch!!

Zen had such a great day today!! There was a lot going on that could have “ruined” the day—there was a lot of activity, machinery, etc, and one thing that Zen still responds to is sound behind him. And why shouldn’t he? Being vigilant helped him survive in the wild for nearly 6 years. It doesn’t bother me if Zen’s attention leaves me (even in this pictures, his ear are tilted toward the noises outside of the arena); I am a lot more attune to how he does—or doesn’t—come back.

For example, when I was trying to mount, his attention was locked on the gate in the left of this picture. He was standing, so I COULD have mounted, but it surely didn’t seem like a good idea. Instead, I walked him a lap to get his neck loose, and he stood for mounting nicely in tune with me! That set us up for a fantastic ride.

Today was our first intentional trot since he came home, and he was an absolute rockstar on right rein! On left, we got a bit more scattered, and I needed to keep myself from bracing as he picked up speed, and instead just continued to ride the trot and try to get my seat in tune with his back. It didn’t take long us to get back in sync!

Our walk is sooo good; Zen’s ready to stretch and engage as soon as I’m up there! And truly, for the first day of trot, this really wasn’t bad. He had some incredible moments in both directions! Our halts are also so much better, and Zen “tells” on me a lot—the moment I lose my rhythm, he slows down! As frustrating as it may seem at first, this is such a valuable quality for a horse to have! Not only does it make them very safe, but since Zen is more than happy to go forward as long as I’m in rhythm, it helps me become a better rider, too.

I’m hoping to ride most days for the next week or so, and I absolutely cannot wait to make more progress! 🥳

Zen made it through the wacky winter storm okay! I have to admit that I was pretty worried about him, especially on Thursday/yesterday when it was pouring rain and WINDY!! I saw him on Thursday and we did a groundwork session in the indoor to get some reprieve from the rain, then I came back today when it was a toasty real feel of -1F 🤣 I brought him some warm mash, and that was about it! He has mudsicles on his tail, fetlocks, and pasterns that I’ll work on over the next few days, but the very bottom of his tail may just get the big snip if it’s long enough that it gets soaked in mud on rainy days 😬

Given the climate and the fact that Zen is healthy enough to be naked in most conditions, I leave Zen’s mane and tail out year-round—for warmth in the winter and fly protection in the summer. That means he won’t have the most luxurious hair, but I hope his scruffy body helps keep him comfortable!

I hope everyone has a safe and gentle holiday season! 🥰

I have to pinch myself... after nearly 8 months, Zen is HOME! It's funny, these past few weeks have been so busy that I've hardly had time to think about what it would feel like to have Zen home again, and after the trailer pulled away and I was holding Zen's lead, I had the funniest thought: "What do I DO?" Of course, that was fleeting--I know what to do! However, so much has happened since Zen first went to training. My dog was alive and well. I'd gone 2+ years without getting COVID. I still had my old car. Those three things, and many others, have all changed. Just two weeks after Zen went to training, my dog succumbed to sudden, acute aspiration pneumonia. I got COVID. My car was totaled when I was rear-ended in my first car accident. Zen coming back really does feel like a new chapter.

I'm planning our time together week by week. The plan is flexible, but I need it there to hold myself accountable to everything Zen is capable of. But today, we just explored the property, and I introduced Zen to his new field at liberty. He followed me until he felt ready to go off on his own, then I watched him disappear across 40 acres of rolling hills! It feels amazing to be able to give a little bit of the "wild" back to Zen while he's otherwise ridden and cared for like a domestic horse 🥰

Check out this handsome, relaxed boy! It's been just amazing learning how to ride Zen these past few days. Day 1 was riding on the lunge, and when I went off-line for Day 2, I felt like I had no idea how to ride! Amy Skinner Horsemanship was patient and thorough in her understanding, and the difference between that ride and the ride today was night and day! There is a lot of hard work ahead to continue developing Zen, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it.

The fact that our sessions this week weren't perfect is... well... perfect! I got to learn how to troubleshoot when things weren't going quite right, and working through problems made me all the more confident! I got to ride Zen walk, trot, and canter both reins, with both leads! Even with his "sticky" lead, Amy showed me how setting him up with a rhythmic, balanced, forward trot was all I needed to get the right lead canter without any bobbles!

I'm counting down the days until Zen's home--only a little over a week now! 🥰 Photo credits to Kieran!

After 4.5 months without seeing him in-person, I finally got to visit Zen again—this time accompanied by Kieran! Amy gave both us of lessons with Zen, so I got some screenshots of Kieran’s ride.

Zen is doing so, so well and feels AMAZING! After some initial delays on my end following my car accident, Zen is due to come home in just a couple of weeks, and I absolutely cannot wait to have him 🤩

As always, thank you, thank you, thank you to Amy Skinner Horsemanship for taking such great care of my boy and teaching him all of the wonderful new things he’s learned over the past 7 months 🥰

These guidelines are so important to consider when selecting a trainer for your horse! I wasn’t looking to send Zen to training when I came across Amy—however, her worked ticked all of the boxes. I’m so impressed by her program. The horses all look incredible, and when I went to visit Zen for the first time, he FELT incredible, so I can’t imagine how good he’ll feel when I see him again in two short weeks!

Most importantly, Zen was still HIMSELF—he maintained his sweet, goofy personality. I wanted a trainer who could help change how Zen felt without changing WHO Zen was, and it’s just been a remarkable journey going through this process.

This experience has forever changed how I think about training and horsemanship for the better, and I couldn’t be more grateful! I’ll be counting down the days for the next two weeks!! 🤩

Critical thinking for learning horsemanship:

With todays amount of information easily available, it can be both exciting and overwhelming. We are bombarded with all kinds of systems, philosophies, ideas, and- they all seem to contradict each other.

My hope is never to tell anyone what to do, but to encourage them to think. There are many really good programs out there, and there are some that simply don’t work well for the horse. Some are rude, aggressive and disregard the horse. But more insidious, some look and sound nice up front but leave the horse more frustrated, crooked, and ill prepared for the world.

The path you take depends largely on who you are, what your aim is with the horse, and most importantly, what your horse says about it.

Here are some things to consider as you go through your learning- as I’ve been learning myself, I’ve backtracked many times when I ran into one of these speed bumps, and now these are my non negotiable markers for good training

1- the horse is becoming calmer and more emotionally balanced.
This doesn’t mean they are calm every second or can never have a tough moment, but in the overall scheme of things, they are more relaxed, happier, and calm in general.

2-the horse is becoming more sound.
A good training program takes mind and body together into account, and doesn’t ask the body to do things it wasn’t designed for to learn. If you find your horse becoming less sound over time, assuming an exterior injury, genetic issue or trauma hasn’t occurred, it may be wise to look at the daily movement that is being encouraged.

3- the horse is becoming safer to handle
Here’s a not so black and white area, in that this assumes those handling the horse are not doing things to create dangerous behavior, such as over driving, confining to do something the horse isn’t prepared for, etc. But, overall, good training leads to a horse that is quiet to handle and happy doing it- one that can lead, tie, load, get trims, dentals, etc without too much fuss- the timeline is the horse’s, but good training leads steadily forward to these goals

4- my favorite and most important guideline for good training: the horse is becoming more beautiful and looks serene
Good movement and handling makes a horse literally shine. Their bodies develop good muscling that makes them look taller and more majestic, their coats gleam, and their expression is peaceful. This to me is non negotiable - all good training leads to this.

Looking back at Zen’s progress with relaxation and self-carriage over his time with Amy Skinner Horsemanship is truly incredible!

The first picture is from April 28th when he offered his first stretch at the trot—and at the time, he was trying his very best to do something that was completely foreign to him.

The second picture is from September 28th. See how instead of tucking his chin, he’s really REACHING and taking big steps forward instead of the tiny, contracted steps in the before picture!

I can only imagine how much better his body must feel ❤️

I apologize that it’s been ages! September took a toll on me (not remotely horse related) and I feel like I’m just getting back on my feet, but Zen’s been amazing! Because of said September, I had to sadly delay his return, but he is coming back soon!

I feel like I need to pinch myself every time I see how far he’s come. It took 7 months for me to even be able to get Zen to walk in-hand with his head below his withers, and now he not only does it at the trot… but with a rider 🥺

I can’t thank Amy Skinner Horsemanship enough. I can’t wait to see my boy in person and have him home again ❤️

Some Mustang power for your afternoon! It’s extra wild to think about how some people think Mustangs have a certain “look” when these two couldn’t be more different (it is adorable that they’re both the same height though 😊)!

And of course, wise words from Amy. I’m so fortunate to have her as one of my mentors!

When seeking a mentor, find someone who is a better human than you.

Find someone who is grounded to a moral code
Find someone who is less judgmental, more patient, stronger emotionally, and more giving.
Find someone with strong boundaries and a soft heart.
Find someone who you aspire to be like- if you aim for 100% and manage 60-70%, that’ll be far and above where you already are.

Aim for the top, with a sharp eye on where you want to be. A mentor models how to be a better horse person, but more importantly, how to be a better human.

Long time no post, but Zen’s been busy being a good boy for Amy Skinner Horsemanship, rain and shine!

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 4 months since Zen has been away! It felt like it’s gone by so quickly and slowly at the same time! Only a couple months left before my boy comes home! Given that my grad school semester is about to start, I’m sure these next two months will be over before I know it 😂

Reaching 1,000 followers after just over one year into my journey with Zen has read caused me to reflect and think about our mentors. We’ve had so so many but there have been a few that have stood out in their hands-on work for us who have been truly life-changing.

First can be no other than Hannah Catalino of Hannah Catalino Liberty Horsemanship. Hannah and I first got in touch over a decade ago when Hannah was competing in the Youth division of the Extreme Mustang Makeover. I’d found her videos on YouTube and was absolutely blown away! I worked up the courage to reach out to her and had no idea it would lead to such a close friendship over the years!

I finally got to meet Hannah in person for the first time in January 2020 during the Fort Worth Mustang Magic, then spent six weeks with her in summer 2021 to gentle Zen. She guided us every single step of the way, gave constant encouragement, and led me to accomplish what were truly some of my wildest dreams.

I grew up thinking that gentling a Mustang without ropes and putting first rides on a previously wild horse ba****ck and bridleless was the stuff of fairy tales… then Hannah showed me how to do it with Zen! This video is one of my favorites of our gentling experience. It was my very first time doing liberty in a large arena with any horse, let alone a Mustang who had been completely untouched in the wild horse corrals just 34 days ago!

Thank you, Hannah, for paving this path for Zen and me and helping me incorporate liberty into my everyday work with horses to this day! 🥰

Day 34 with a Mustang - Obstacles at Liberty (I know Zen was swishing his tail quite a bit in the video--I haven't asked him to step through water before, and he loves water but doesn't like things drip...