Freezemarks

Big Mak's freezemark is shown in this picture. His freezemark has been grown over by white hair.

Allegro is a light Palimino so his freezemark is not very noticable, but if you were to shave the hair around the freezemark it would become visible.


* "The BLM uses freezemarking to identify wild horses and burros that have been gathered from the public rangelands because of overpopulation. Freezemarking is a permanent, unalterable, and painless way to identify each horse as an individual. It is applied on the left side of the neck. It follows the International Alpha Angle System, which uses a series of angles and alpha-symbols that cannot be altered. The mark contains the Registering Organization (U.S. Government), year of birth, and registration number.
The technique is simple and completely painless to the animal. The left side of the neck is shaved and washed with alcohol, and the mark is applied with an iron that is chilled in liquid nitrogen. The hair at the site of the mark will grow back white and show the identification number.

In addition to the freezemark on the left side of the neck, sanctuary mustangs are marked on the left croup with four inch-high Arabic numerals that correspond with the last four digits of the freezemark on the neck.
Although every effort is made to apply freezemarks that are legible, occasionally freezemarks do get blurred. This happens when the iron is applied: the animal moves and all or some of the identification number cannot be read. It can also be difficult to read some freezemarks because of the color of the animal." *

Example of a shaving the hair to see the freezemark.

 Information is from:

http://blm.gov/

and

http://mustangs4us.com/

Burros

One of my friends from the BLM just adopted some burros. They are absolutely precious!

Here are some pictures:

I believe one of them has Jerusalem donkey coloring while the other one is black.

The black one.

You can almost see the cross on his back where the black line comes down from his shoulder, which is part of where the name Jerusalem coloring comes from. It is also related to the Biblical passage in Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19 where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

The Spanish brought donkeys - or "burros" in Spanish - to North America. In the western United States the word "burro" is often used interchangeably with the word "donkey". Sometimes the distinction is made with smaller donkeys, descended from Mexican stock, called "burros".

Wild burros in the U.S.A. are protected by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. These animals, like mustangs, are considered to be a living legacy. However they are periodically at risk from overpopulation and exhausting natural resources. To reduce herd populations and preserve grazing land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts roundups of burro herds and holds public auctions.

For more information on burros and how to adopt visit the BLM's page on adoption here:

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/What_We_Do/wild_horse_and_burro0/how_to_adopt.html

Or for additional information on how to adopt a wild horse or burro, please call 866-4MUSTANGS

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.

EMM yearling edition rules

The preparation for the EMM is coming well, Rachel is extremely excited about the yearling EMM, and I can't wait for the futurity (or the guidelines on the futurity for that matter). I thought I'd share the rules of the yearling competition so you'd have more of an idea of what Rachel is preparing for.

In Extreme Mustang Makeover the contestants will be judged in four different classes: handling, conditioning, showmanship, and a in-hand obstacle course.


Handling: The contestant will release the horse and then be expected to catch it again. Judging will be based on the mustangs behavior, and responsiveness, and technique, as well as the handlers showmanship.

Conditioning: They will be judged on the mustang's weight, muscling, coat, and overall appearance.

Showmanship: A showmanship pattern where the mustang is shown by the youth. The maneuvers may include walk, trot, back, pivot left and right, and stand quietly for the judges' inspection.


In Hand Obstacle Course: This is like a practicality test to show the people who are considering adopting the yearlings where the horse's training is. The horses complete basic maneuvers and obstacles that may include walking over logs, lounge line work, back through a simple chute, pick up all four feet, brush horse, and load and unload from a trailer, as well as navigating around cones, and spray bottles.

A serpentine cone pattern in the obstacle course at a trot.

The ten mustangs with the highest scores will return for the freestyle finals to showcase their horses special talents, although there will be required maneuvers that must be included in this.

Madi hooping on her 'bronc' from the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Fort Collins, Colorado June 2010 in the Freestyle. (This was not in the youth division but I thought it illustrated the point anyway. =] )

Big Mak pictures

Here are some pictures of big Mak and Rachel:

(Flash back 2009) Early choreography.

Here are some more pictures from when I was doing the Extreme Mustang Makeover yearling edition with Allegro in 2009. I was experimenting with choreography for the freestyle routine.

Before standing came sitting.

Good luck to this year's competitors in the adult, youth, and futurity!

Here's a link to the information on this year's Extreme Mustang Makeover, Murfreesboro, TN:

Extreme Mustang Makeover

More updates on the yearlings

Everything has been going fairly well with the yearlings and Allegro. Jessi and Amanda are still thinking about names for theirs and Rachel and Big Mak are getting along. It just takes time to get to know the horse before you can give it a name that suits. Jessi was thinking about naming her horse "Hot fudge sundae" to which I said "That would be a mouthful!" :]

Here are some pictures:

 

One nice thing about these yearlings is that they actually have hair on them. When I first got Allegro his mane and tail were very nearly nonexistent.