MnC's One Year Bloggiversary!!!

Happy Bloggiversay to MnC, Happy Bloggiversay to MnC, Happy Bloggiversary, God Bless Everyone, Happy Bloggiversary to MnC! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!!!)

On the 10th of September, MnC celebrated one year of blogging!!! A lot has happened in the last year! However, instead of recapping the year I would like to dedicate this post to "Maggey" ...Travis' Mustang mare. For those of you who don't know, we lost Maggey during the guys 2006 Sierra Nevada Pack Trip. We like to think that her spirit is roaming the Sierra Nevada's making "Lake of the Lone Indian" her home. Maggey was two years old when Travis adopted her from the Ridgecrest, CA BLM. Travis, Tony, our friend Jann, her daughter Vikki and I traveled the 3 hours to Ridgecrest to pick out two new Mustangs.

When we arrived at the facility, we were taken out by golf cart to the mares pasture where about 100 mares roamed. TnT voiced the fact that they were kinda small. They wanted to find a couple of mares that would grow to the size of Cahlibur and Coal. Good Luck!!!



After taking note of a couple of mares tag numbers, we were taken to the geldings pasture. TnT gave the numbers to the wrangler and while they cut those horses out of the herds, we were taken back to the front where the holding pens were located. From here we would be able to take a better look at the horses that TnT picked to choose from.

As we were waiting, Vikki found a newborn donkey in a couple of pens south of where we were standing. I took a picture of the donkey and also of a couple of other donkeys that were getting bathed for a show. By this time the wranglers were bringing the horses into the pens, making sure they kept the mares separated from the geldings.

At this point, TnT took some time to watch the horses, paying particular attention to their size, how they socialized, checking out their back lines, head posture, the size and shape of their hooves, etc. TnT conversed in low tones commenting on this characteristic or that attitude while Jann, Vikki and I checked out coloring and how long tails and manes were before saying anything about other attributes that really mattered.

After much deliberation, Tony picked a beautiful dark grey mare and Travis picked a stunning line backed dun. He mentioned that she might be pregnant! The mares were loaded in the stock trailer and after paying $125 for each mare, we headed home. Before hooking up to the trailer we ran into town and ate at a nice Steak House.

As we pulled into the F.F.H.A. stables a crowd started to gather. And before TnT could get their wild mustangs out of the trailer into their pens, there were people standing on the rails and watching the new mustangs scurry from one pen to the other. It all happened so quickly there was no time to tell everyone to back off of the rails and give the horses some space. Being that it was February 2nd, the pens were wet and soggy and the grey mare ended up running into the middle rail tearing a huge gash between her eyes that ran down her nose. To this day I don't know where the crowd went, everything went into slow motion and all we had eyes and ears for were the grey mare and the vet. Tony called Dr. P. (his regular vet) and left a message. Each time he got a hold of another vet and they heard "mustang" they couldn't help.

After about 15 minutes (it seemed like an eternity), Dr. P called back. She asked Tony a few questions finding out that the grey mare was not yet halter broke, possibly had broken her nose and needed medical attention immediately. Dr. P didn't hesitate...she headed for Taft and the horse in need. She told the guys later that the way they took care of their horses was a deciding factor in her coming out to take care of a wild mustang!

Tony was able to take a shirt and put it over the grey mares eyes, thus getting a rope around her neck and just about had her tied to the fence by the time Dr. P and her assistant arrived. Dr. P. mentioned that the dun mare was pregnant and promptly took care of the grey mare. She put in a draining tube after cleaning the wound as best she could. The grey mare had only cracked her nose and would probably have a pretty good scar when all was healed.




Two months to the day that Travis adopted Maggey she foaled! On April 2nd, 2005 a little lined back dun colt shared Maggey's pen. Maggey waited until no one was there and delivered her little one by herself. She was a maiden mare, but she had been raised in the wild and knew no other way than to take care of her colt by herself!



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MnC's Disclaimer: At no time is excessive force, cruelty or brutality used when training the horses pictured in this blog. Reinforcing pats and firm gentleness, along with calmness from the trainers, encourage the horses to do as they are asked.