Our first trail ride....

I hadnt had time to ride Ruka the last 4 days, been spending a lil time on improving our ground work... so today I figured I'd dedicate my day off to riding! Well let me tell you what... I LOVe this lil horse more & more everyday. I took her in the indoor & warmed up with some trotting & practiced our stops. She even did a couple sliding stops :-]!!!! Then Sara rode Midnite aka Nightmare with me & Ruka. Ruka & I lead for awhile, then followed. It was really muddy out, & most other horses walk around the brush- Ruka loves to walk over anything! Only once was Ruka a lil scared & all she really did was start flaring her nostrils.. It was back where all the deer & coyotes always are deep in the woods. She didnt once spook though. Oh & I got her some black girl hair products hahahah to help her mane grow, its like gel/detangler. Hahha! Tomorrow after I get off work I'll be trail riding with my lil Ruka...

Its been 1 whole month... wooh time flies when your having fun

I wish I was still workin for my parents full time & had all day to be around Ruka.. But I worked all day till 8 pm @ the animal hospital! Came home & went to the barn to spend time with Ruka. I decided we'd just work on the basics & spent a lot of time grooming & HUGGING. I had a horrible weekend & didnt even go to the barn yesterday, although Im thinkin it would have helped... But anyways tonight I rode & she was great, practiced our Whoa's & trotting over poles. And flexing of course. Only rode her for bout 1/2 hour though. Thank you to my mom & Sara who works @ the barn for us for putting Ruka out & bringing her in @ night like all the other horses. But for those who are reading this & dont know, Ruka goes in the round pen where all the horses can see & smell her. Its right next to the pasture. By the way she leads in & out like a pro! lol no more MuleNess!! HA there for awhile I thought I had gotten half burro-half mustang jk. & I think I forgot to mention that Ruka loves to go on walks through the woods.. Thats bout all for now.. Night

Along the way....

Ruka has accepted the saddle very well, she ties, and she is very intelligent-she only pulled back twice and then stood very well.

By the way Ruka is a 14.0 hand Bay Mare with a long black forelock and she has a little bit of white on her cornet band.

FeB 8th One month into challenge

Figured I'd create a blog.... So 34 days in, Ruka & I are moving right along! Yesterday we went on a trail ride. She is soooo smart! She is also Miss personality!!!! Attitude sometimes and all.

I'll do some updating for everyone... Day 1 we arrived @ the holding facility & I was so sad to see all the once wild horses, whom now are scared outta their mind! Ok, so we got 0015 home & I put her in the lil condo I have set just for her. I started trying to catch the lead the guy had put on her @ the holding facility.. That took a good hour. Next I started touching her all the meanwhile talking to her. That night I curried her down, legs & all! SHe was filthy.. A hot mess as Vetter would say lol I spent about 4 hours with her that night. She was pretty nervous but still munched on the hay I had for her.
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I had actually started to right some things the night after I had gotten Ruka, this was before I had figured out to make a real blog!Im usually not on the computer much I prefer to be @ the barn :).
This is what I had wrote that night--

January 9^th: Today is the day I get to go pick up my mustang! I chose pick up on the soonest date & time I could get, didn’t want to wait till Sat. I could hardly sleep as it was…. So it was a fun trip down there, Tom wanted to go & take his truck so that was cool. It was me, Vetter, Austyn, Tom & Aunt Donna. We had a good ride, of course I was super hyper so there were some random saying we about died laughing from. “Brown Chicken- Brown cow” & I couldn’t decide on a good name yet so I came up with “A Bay Bay” till I do! Haha Oh & I think all of us had gas that morning.. We stopped @ a tack store then head back on route. We arrive @ the BLM holding facility in Ewing, IL & it was so SaD L to see all those horses out there not knowing what is goning on, they once roamed free now they are in 8 foot high fences with people around them. I go in & tell them who I am & met the lady who puts on the Midwest horse fair. Then I sign the paper work & the guy says I get #0015, & that she is gonna be a 4yr old & a solid Bay… “Vetter you were right” & “Mare to boot” ! We head out to the shelter while they’re sorting her out. She gets run up into a stock & is scared for her life. Aww she is PERFECT!! The guy suggests he put a halter on her, so I was like “ok”. That was a toughy! I could tell she was smart from then on. She kept her head buried to the ground so he couldn’t get to her. He almost fell in the stock with her. He said “you would of hear a grown man scream” haha… so they open the stock where the trailer is backed up to & she run & jumps in all while scared outta her mind. The guy said to me “ I think you got a smart one, she wasn’t banging herself off the panels when we were sorting her out.” & he also said “ She is the best one that’s left today” although I didn’t kno if he was just sayin that or what. Oh, Hah I kept saying how Cute she (0015) was & I think I made the other wrangler nervous. He was like “young lady have you ever trained a wild mustang before. And Tom said “She had a gold fish when she was younger!!!!” I have a feeling he though I had no idea what I was doing. Haha Then we watched the next horse load, it was the girl who got picked from SD. She got a black horse about the same size as mine, although I don’t know the gender. In the trailer she came up & sniffed our hands, & was very alert! We get in the truck & head to town. We arrived home finally @ 5pm, & got some panels to kinda push her into the stall. She(0015) went in right into the stall. The lead rope was around her neck so I just stayed in the stall talking to her. & after about 3 hours & lots of spooks, banging off the walls & nostril flares I finally got the end of the lead rope. Woooh I just stared with touching her left shoulder & letting her smell me & feeding her hair outta my hand. Even curry combed her a little. Halley came over to see her, & some other friends to. By the end of the night (11pm) I left on a good note. I could walk up to her with a little hesitation from her, which was amazing! Told her good night & went to get some shut eye myself

January 10^th- (DAY 2) came to the barn around 7am, fed all the horses & 0015. Then went into her stall which is like a condo might I add, & I started letting her eat outta my hand again and sat on the ground talking to her while she ate. She didn’t seem to mind my company @ all! I left all the horses inside it was kind of nasty out & didn’t want her to get excited wondering where everyone else was. Which by the way, she doesn’t get real excited she’s pretty chill. Then my riding lesson student Lisa showed up for her lesson & I showed her “A Bay Bay aka 0015” for now.. After her lesson I made sure all the doors were shut in the barn & opened up 0015’s stall. She made her way to the indoor @ a steady walk with me behind her. I started workin her with the lasso & she blew my mind! When I walked in a small circle she stayed right on the rail, when I stopped & said Whoa she stopped & turned into me like “what next”. Meanwhile I got her used to me catching her. There were probably 10 people standing on the outside of the panels. Everyone was excited to see her as well. Worked her for about 45 minutes in the indoor & then let her make her way back to her stall. Let her rest for awhile meanwhile people were going up to her stall & sometimes she would sniff them. I worked with her a lil more that evening on getting her to move away from pressure. I let her be, & I went to Peoria to Jenna & Andys house for the evening to celebrate Jenna’s Bday.

January 11^th- (DAY 3) Went to the barn around 9am, mom had already fed & put the other horses out. She was standing quietly in her stall eating some hay. When she heard me she was quite happy & I was too especially from her response! Went right in & walked up to her, I talked to her & told her the agenda for the day… I had planned for us (me & 0015) to get her all cleaned up, she was caked with a layer of mud from her knees & hocks down & the barrel was even worse. Also planed to work on leading today! So I spent over an hour grooming meanwhile I think she thought she was in heaven. Even brushed her tail out. She spooked a good one once when mom walked by & was talking. But she is getting pretty comfortable with me. Mom took lots of pictures yay.. Vetter showed up while I was working her. I worked her about a ½ hour, oh yea forgot to tell ya yesterday she rolled forever. Well today she decided she was tired & just laid down so I let her relax while me & Vetter laughed & how that would totally be us, & we took lots of pics which she didn’t mind. After about 15 minutes she got up haha & I got her and started trying to teach her to lead. Then I talked on the phone & she got bored & flipped the mounting block over a couple times. Me & Vetter came up with a genius idea to go to the pasture & get “Van the Man” out so she could play with him. That was a success!! They love each other.. & I rode Van around bareback so she would get used to me above her. Hah although Van was goofy & gave out a lil buck & spin! Ahah She followed me & Van around & I tried to pony her a bit. Then we put him back to the pasture & she got a lil excited so I made her canter around. Then Vetter helped me, while I lead her she followed a good distance behind & we got her started to lead well! She is picking up her front feet awesome for me now, tried a hind one wasn’t to bad…Abby came down & 0015 met her. Abby helped by following with the lasso while I lead her too. I had her trotting around a lap too! I decided I would take her back to her stall so I could get some lunch. She led back damn well! I let her be, the rest of the day. Came home & picked her stall, with her & the wheel barrow in there. I went to get another wheel barrow & head a sound from up front. It was her (0015) she had the manure pick & was playing with it. Rubbed her down a lil & told her good night! By the way- I Love her