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Wild Rose meets Manolo Mendez

2009 Westerm States Extreme Mustang Makeover

Follow along on an amazing journey:
Krista and Dave gentle and start two mustang youngsters in 100 days.

Here's the story from beginning:

This event is presented by the Mustang Heritage Foundation to promote adoption of Mustangs by showcasing their value and trainability through competition. Twenty-nine trainers were selected to gentle 50 Mustangs in 100 days. The trainers are not allowed to choose their own Mustangs, but will get to meet those chosen for them on March 13 and 14 at the Sacramento Horsemen's Association arena. The horses will be presented for judging at the 2009 Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, June 12-14.

The Competition

Initial competition will be based on 3 criteria:

1. Conditioning (20% of score): weight, muscling, conditioning, hair coat, overall presentation. This score will not reflect conformation.
2. Groundwork and manners (30% of score): Presenting their horses in hand, horses negotiate a series of obstacles and will be judged on their response to leading, turning, walking, trotting, picking up their feet, loading and unloading out of a stock trailer, and stepping over obstacles.
3. Mustang Horse Course (50% of score). Horses with riders will negotiate a timed course. Trainers will then show their horses "at their best" either in the saddle or from the ground.

The Top 10 places will continue to the Finals, where competition will consist of 4 minutes of freestyle with all of the requirements of a reining pattern. Trainers are encouraged to use props, music, and all of their imagination in this freestyle presentation. Additionally, one cow will be available.

Awards
All trainers will receive a small training reimbursement for costs incurred during the 100 days of training, and will be eligible for a percentage of the adoption fee should their horse sell at auction on June 14. Prize money will be given to the Top Ten Trainers. An additional Trainer Sportsmanship Award will be presented.

April 2006

Little did anyone know at the time that this journey was actually beginning in Spring of 2006 when Krista began working with Mustang Nevada Gold and his owner Sherry Benkovsky. Shortly after they began working on circles and other arena training, Krista and Nevada were in the money in a Reno reining competition. Says a delighted Sherry: "It was like a fairy tale where the duckling turns out to be the golden goose." A talented horse with a great work ethic, Nevada took Krista to Reserve Open High Point in the 2006 Wild Horse and Burro Expo in Reno. In 2007, they took Open High Point in both English and Western. Sherry has also earned two gymkhana buckles with the Redwood Riders, as well as High Point (2006) and Reserve Champion (2007) at the SCCHA shows. To further prove their versatility, they were in the money at the Salina Rodeo for Champion Parade Horse, and have a drawer full of ribbons as well!

In 2008, not only did Krista ride Nevada to the Open High Point win, but she took Domestic Aim (Mystic) to a High Point win in Green Horse. At the same show, Mystic's owner, Sydney Blankenship, rode Mystic to a High Point win in Novice. Sydney had been smitten by Mystic and adopted her just months earlier at the 2008 Western States Extreme Mustang Makeover where she was presented by trainer Jenna Nelson. Krista then trained Mystic for an additional 90 days.


Syd and Mustang Mystic happy on adoption day!	Mystic explains life to 'Auntie' Sherry.	Sherry rides Mustang Nevada bareback over a jump.

February 9, 2009

Chosen trainers are announced and Krista is offered the opportunity to gentle 2 Mustangs. It took precious little debate for Krista to decide to accept both horses and the help of cutting horse trainer, Dave Kneller.

March 13-14, 2009-Pick-up Day

The pickup location was changed from the Sacramento Horsemen's Association, in Sacramento, to Susanville! Truck repairs caused a late start and our fearless trainers arrived in the far northeast corner of California at 4:30 in the morning. All the mustangs are mares this year. Lottery chose a beautiful red head and a good-natured plain girl, both of whom loaded easily.
After a couple of hours of sleep, and a long, long drive the Girls unloaded and have started their new lives under the guidance of quarter horse Too Hot. Gentling has begun, and the red head has been named Wild Rose.

Rose

Wild Rose Must Tango Straight from the 'Wild'

Dark Mustang

The Dark Mustang has no name yet!

Too Hot, the Dark Mustang, WIld Rose

Too Hot Watches Over The Dark Mustang and Wild Rose

April 11-The Dark Mustang is officially named Maria Must Tango. The winner of the Name-That-Mustang contest is Carrie Carr.

April 15-Rose's First Ride at the Corralitos Corral

This was a big day of firsts for Wild Rose Must Tango! It started off with an uneventful trailer loading. Practice had gone well, but this was the real thing. Trailering is probably one of the biggest challenges for a horse: a big, noisy, confining box. When something that unnatural becomes no big deal, that's a very big deal in their training.

Once you get to where you're going, the next trailer challenge is standing patiently tied to it for however long it takes.

Since this is a Corralitos Play Day, Rose has a long wait while everyone works the Flag. Horses are coming and going. Trailers are pulling in and out. The Flag is flapping behind her. And Rose stands quietly and waits. Practice has encouraged her innate patience. This is a good test and Rose has passed.

Krista has gotten Joe ready. Joe is a master at ponying babies, as he'll soon show. Joe is at his best when he has a job to do.

Rose has been ponied off of Too Hot, at home. This is a whole new situation: new pony horse, new surroundings with swing sets, children running, basketball, tennis, new horses and riders. Definitely not the quiet and safe home she's gotten used to. Dave has gotten her in a good frame of mind to work.

It takes a little body English to get her moving. Joe's a big guy, but more importantly, he has a very big, gentle presence.

Rose is quickly convinced that going forward is the best choice.

Just walk forward from right here? No problem. Rose is relaxed and moving nicely.

Rose was doing such a great job that they were quickly able to up the pace. Rose is cantering nicely and is just about to straighten out her body and change leads.

Anatomy of a Turn

Now that Rose is going forward nicely, it's time to ask for some lateral movement. And Joe knows just how to do it.

Start with just a look

Get her weight back to get that shoulder moving over

And don't take no for an answer.

Preparation

We all understand that the start is everything in horsemanship as in all of life.
Dave and Krista continue to prepare Rose for her first ride. Rose has been thoroughly introduced to her new surroundings and has buddied up with pony horse, Joe.

Dave now prepares Rose for mounting. She knows where he is and what he's intending. He holds her reins short, with no pressure on her face and has a handfull of mane, too.
Dave is going at Rose's pace and is in no hurry. If he doesn't get any farther than this today, it will have been a good day.

All ears are on Dave.
Rose is using her legs to balance herself.

Dave slowly and carefully throws a leg over. He's the center of Rose's attention, but she's still relaxed.

Dave's weight is low and spread out as much as possible over Rose's body. He'll stay in this position for a bit, until he knows she's ready for the next step.

And Rose has her first rider on her back. Dave is reassuring her by petting her neck, letting her know he has her reins, and keeping his legs off her body. Joe's still very present for her.

Maria Must Tango

While Rose is showing herself to be a very trusting, unemotional quick study, Maria has a completely different personality.
Sometimes it's possible to be just too mentally quick for ones own good. This might be the case with Maria.

Maria seems to be able to see beyond the moment. It makes her more of a skeptic than serves her in this new, domestic world. She's a little head shy and it's taken a lot of persistence and ingenuity to convince her that the face is a safe place for a human to touch. This is progressing, and she's becoming accustomed to the halter. Since this is an important building block for her future, Krista and Dave are giving this all the time it takes.

Wild Rose Must Tango Lies Down

	A little ground work to get warmed up. There has been a lot of preparation for lying Rose down and this is NOT the first time she's done it. The rope has gone over Rose's back and around one foot. These are her cues to tuck and roll. And down she goes, as relaxed as could be! Krista can move around her without upsetting her at all.

	Real trust	A tender moment. Krista appreciates Rose's trust


For the biggest leap of faith .. .. ..	.. .. .. all the way over.	A very vulnerable position.	The reward: a good roll in warm sand!

Wild Rose Must Tango Meets Dressage Great, Manolo Mendez Please note that these are the interpretations of this observer, and are not endorsed by Manolo Mendez. Please read the Articles by Manolo Mendez for more information.

Krista prepares Rose for this momentous occasion.	Manolo, being from Australia, is familiar with brumbies: wild thoroughbreds. He's fascinated by a wild mustang of Spanish Barb descent. That's Dave's hat shading Rose's eyes from the sun.	Greetings! Notice that Rose's head is being directed from the top of her nose. Think about it: the nose should be encouraged to stretch FORWARD and down, not BACK and down as our usual lead rope would do.	The head must be lowered for relaxation and proper body posture. The eye should not rise above the hip. Did you know that lowering the head releases endorphins: think grazing.


Manolo integrates stretches with his own style of body work.


There is no stress or pressure of any kind. Rose is a relaxed and willing partner. There is no question in her mind that this is for her benefit.


Manolo has asked Rose to lower her nose. Now that she's moving towards the proper posture, she can raise up her back by using her belly muscles. Her topline will create a nice upward arch which then allows her to reach her back legs under her for more power, control, and grace.	This is what we usually have. Note that the back is contracted which is emphasized with the weight of the rider. The horse is strung out and has little power.	This posture maximizes the strength of the back and allows for maximum impulsion. Fascinated by this: check out Sustainable Dressage	Nose down, back/belly up, step over.


Step over	Think about this: It's the feet we're ultimately talking to when we ask our horses to move. Why not speak directly to the feet, rather than indirectly through the body as most of us were taught. In this way, we're minimizing the confusion for the young or inexperienced horse.	Trot forward	Rose's eye is level with her hip, and her topline is building. She's going to be able to build the muscles she needs to carry herself with balance and suppleness.

This is all that Rose is going to be asked to do today. And it's a whole lot. Another horse might well not get any where near this far along. But Rose is easy-going, trusting, and willing to try and to learn. This work will carry over into her riding. Because of the circumstances of her training (Krista will present her with just 100 days of work, total) Rose won't be able to progress at the slow, purposeful pace that Manolo would recommend. But this will add to her solid foundation.

The Journey Continues

Krista@FromStartToFoundation.com

831-588-6214

1425 San Marcos Rd. Paso Robles, CA 93446