thoughts on the Mustang Longe Line Futurity

That is one long title!

As I've posted before, the lunge line futurity is going to be held alongside the normal EMM event in Murfreesboro TN for the 2009 yearlings adopted out last year from the previous youth competition.

Allegro and I have been working pretty hard! I won't deny it's been frustrating. The first few months he kept getting sullied up, because he was not at all used to being asked to lung at a circle for any length of time. This was not what I had trained him to do before. Whenever we did lunge before it was with mostly half circles and turnbacks and the idea of walking in a longe line was the least used word of his vocabulary. He's made a lot of progress even though this isn't his foremost talent. Some horses have a natural inclination to move the way that longe line asks for (not that this will be judged exactly on tradition rules) but Allegro's mustangs roots seemed to have a different idea of how to move.

Just recently we had Allegro shod because he had bruised his front foot. It's very frustrating that it was the front foot on his good side because now his former good side had become his weaker side and his former weaker side his stronger side now. He's not much a fan of the shoes. He's been picking his knees up more because of the new feeling (we also have booties on to protect the shoes). I know I'm may be being a bit picky. Just because he's picking his knees up is not a reason to obsess; it'll will probably fix itself once he gets used to them.

I think I learned most of what I know about lungeline from watching YouTube videos. :] It makes good sense

I feel I've really learned a lot from this. For one thing it's good that I was able to work with Allegro entirely on my own for this especially since longe line was something a genuinely had no knowledge on; it was like taking a crash course on how to train and perform lungeline. I doubt I know half the things a profession would tell me about lungeline but no doubt I've learned a lot since working on it. If you work over a 100 days on something every day you are going to have to work not to learn something.


Here's my check list for things I look for in longe line:

1. Consistent and acurate gaits
2. An even circle
3. The handler not "traveling" (having to chase the horse, or having to walk a large circle)
4. Smooth transitions
5. Ease of movement
6. Attentiveness to handler
7. Style, and overall presentation (longe line isn't riveting exactly so it pays to make it look like more than it is; give it some stage presence!)
8. Ease of moving into the circle, changing directions, and coming out of the circle.
9. headset and technically correct gaits (correct lead, not cross firing)

Supreme Mustang Makeover

The richest wild horse competition in history came to Fort Worth, TX, on August 13-14, 2010!

The $100,000 purse was offered to more than 100 trainers with over 100 mustangs willing to accept the challenge of competing in the Supreme Mustang Makeover.
The Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover is the sister competition to the highly successful Extreme Mustang Makeover first held in 2007. Unlike the Extreme Mustang Makeover, where trained horses are made available to the public for adoption after the event, adoption of the competition horses was required prior to the event.

"Another big difference was that this group of mustangs were older, at six years old, than the usual three to four years old we work with," said Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF) Executive Director Patti Colbert. "Older horses are generally harder to adopt and are usually headed for long-term holding at this age, so the Supreme Extreme was created to add value to those older horses."
The trainers were required to ride the horse through a series of obstacles and complete basic maneuvers, such as a walk, trot and lope, stop and back, and also compete in a horsemanship and trail riding component, and show cow work. The top twenty finalists competed in a freestyle competition to determine the winner.

The winner was Teryn Muench II of Marfa, Texas.

To watch his video please follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daQKJQf1q8s&feature=player_embedded#!

The cattle that were used for the competition

Teryn took home a check for $50,000! Teryn II is pictured with his father, Teryn I.

A contestant shows in the trail class.

Mr. Dale Lively loping Tres the mustang.

 Check out more of Mr. Dale's training exploits at "Dale Lively's Nauvoo Ranch".

Mr. Dale is a frequent competitor for the EMMs and an accomplished horseman.

30 days

This competition is about 100 days long and we're at (roughly) day 30.

Rachel has been trying to make the best of time so far, which requires a lot of work and dedication on her part. She's doing a fine job. And it's really neat for me to see her use what she's learned in the past on this horse and to see her growth as a trainer and horseman. I'm certain she will learn a lot from this too. The intensity that she puts into is such that she wants to spend hours working her horse everyday. Teaching a horse from the ground up when it has no knowledge of what we consider training is a great process, and different than working with a domestic horse. With that kind of focus on your skills it's really difficult not to learn something.

Although we have noticed some problems that will need to be fixed most of it is coming smoothly. Rachel is really enjoying the experience but it definitely is challenging, and at some times very stressful.

Rachel and Big Mak explore the possibilities of a feed trough.