Still halterless.

Wildairo still wanders around as naked as the day he was born. I spent some time today rubbing his neck with the halter and putting it above his head. I don't see how it can be put back on from this side of the fence. We have a cattle chute but I don't want to put him in there because it would really scare him and that's the last thing I want to do.

Anyway he's really glad to get the halter off.

Wildairo gets naked

I was having a great deal of pain today and didn't go to see Wildairo till after lunch. He was fed hay by Brad about 8am.
His halter was pulled over one ear and he looked like a drunken sailor. He loves to have that one ear rubbed so maybe when I was late he decided to rub it himself on something. I was afraid it would come over his other ear and so I unbuckled it and took it off.



I put a rope around his neck and put his nose in the noseband but I couldn't put it the rest of the way on from my side of the gate. I waited till Brad came home. I thought it would be easy to get it back on but we couldn't. The wind was blowing hard and he wasn't used to having two people messing about with him. I worked with him to get him used to being restrained and putting his nose through the nose band, but that's as far as we got. I held him with a rope around his neck and Brad tried to get the halter on. Soon as Brad tried to get the halter behind his ears he's step back out of reach.

We'll figure something out. At least I can hold him with a rope.

He didn't call for the herd when they headed up the hill on their way out for the night. He saw them go then came over to me for a back rub. I think he has figured out they always come home in the morning.

Wildairo is Horsesome

Wildairo and I made a lot of progress today. I want to get him ready to have his halter taken off and put back on and being tied. He was nervous about his neck being touched but today he decided he was ok with anything I did. I held onto the lead rope and made him aware of being restrained. No longer could he go and come as he pleased. He was great! I held him close to his head and rubbed his neck and throat area till he settled down and enjoyed it. And he really enjoyed it, he wiggled all over with glee with his top lip going a mile a minute!

Holding him close to the gate I massaged his forelegs. I even picked up his hoof. Oh I wish I had my pick with me because his hooves are just packed with stuff. After awhile he gently pulled back and I had to let his foot go. Right after he got his hoof back he decided I was really ok and leaned along side the gate so I could put both my arms around his neck for a cuddle.

Just a little tug on the lead rope and he steps up to me. I'm wondering if this boy isn't a fully tamed horse that got in with the mustangs by mistake. lol. But then I remember those first few days when he acted like wanted to kill me. In those first days he would bite the brush when I groomed him. I'd give him one stroke with the brush and he'd give it one bite and that's how we went along until I had enough and told him "NO".

Wildairo is truly horsesome!

A day in the life of WildBoy

I'm introducing my mustang to all kinds of new foods to let him know there are some perks that go along with being captured and loosing your freedom.

For breakfast he ate a bran muffin, apples, handfuls of fresh alfalfa, baby carrots mixed in with sweet grain and canola meal followed by a pile of hay. Best of all he appreciates a big tub of clean cold water to wash it all down.

After his breakfast I tortured him with a beach ball and introduced him to having a halter waved above his head. I cannot walk yet because I'm recovering from ankle replacement surgery so I have to do all my gentling from the other side of the fence. I have got him to lead a little bit along the fence! I put on his lead rope and saying "come on" and he will go along the fence with me as I hobble along on my crutches. Wildairo has to cooperate with me by coming to the fence. If I push him too hard he walks away but the funny thing is when I call him back he can't resist it and comes right to me.

Brad goes in the pen with Wildairo and I hate it for two reasons; I'm jealous and Brad doesn't know what he's doing! He will disagree with that though.

Here are the photos of 'a day in the life of Wildairo'.



















Wildairo ending up putting his nose through the halters nose band. I want to get him ready to have his new halter put over his old one so he gets used to being haltered. I hate to have him wear a halter all the time.

When Brad was in the pen, Wildairo turned his business end to Brad a couple of times as a warning. This is something I won't put up with but Brad seems a bit oblivious. During the first few days I had give Wildairo a very quick hard slap across his mouth for trying to bite me through the fence. I also give him a bum slap and shout for raising his back foot at me. Now Wildairo won't even put his ears back at me because he gets a loud "No"! Soon as he knew I was the new herd leader he was more than fine with it. I'm sure when I can go into the pen with him I'm going to have to go over a few thing's with him so he understands I'm the boss on both sides of the fence.

He's a quick learner and is a very loving horse. I call his name and he nickers back to me. He's feeling safe and is trusting me and it's a very wonderful feeling. I've owned horses since 1970 and I've never felt this way before. I love my Mustang!

The Wild Bunch.

Here are some photo's of the 2 yr old geldings at the April 27th BLM adoption just out side of Odessa. All the horses in this pen were from Beaty's Butte Oregon. Of the 22 horses there that day only 2 were adopted.





Wildairo makes eye contact with me for the first time and I think he gave me the evil eye. He and his chestnut friend were the class bullies I think. Behind him you can see his friend mauling the poor guy who's trying to relaxe.



Here's a better view of the chestnut bugging the other horse. Look what he's doing with his hoof!

Wildairo gets groomed

Although I can't go in his pen yet Wildairo and I have managed to figure out a way to bond through the gate.

I wave around the brush and call him over.



Wildairo is pretty much in control of what part of his body he wants brushed. Last night I brushed out his pretty mane and tail. He didn't seem to mind how hard I tugged.



When he becomes a ranch 'trustee' he will be allowed to roam free on a few hundred acres.




I think it will remind him of the Beaty's Butte area he was born free in before the 'outlaws' captured him. lol

Message for Andrea.

Hi Andrea,

I'm really disappointed the sorrel didn't find a home. He was a real crowd pleaser at Odessa. Wildairo was really bonded with him. My records show they were captured together. I was wondering if they were together would they be so bonded they would be harder to train or would they in fact be better and feel more secure out on the trail?I feel so sorry for Wildairo because the cattle and my Morgan come in for water, chew their cud and leave again. He calls and calls. Last night I went to him with grain and carrots and sat with him in the dark. I know he's unhappy alone and it's not natural for him.

As I write this I've decided to TRY to get the sorrel for Wildairo. My darling morgan is 22, I've had him for 20 years and he won't be around for ever. If Wildairo and 'the horse with no name' were together they could be stay that way for the rest of their lives. We have hundreds of acres of sage brush and it would be just like home for them.

How do I contact that nice lady that was at both adoptions? I don't know her name. We are almost out of hay till we can put up our first cutting. We have no wild horse approved trailer. When we adopted Wildairo the BLM guys brought him home for us because we live in Odessa and it was a real short haul for them.

The smokey black came up to me too. When he was at the Odessa adoption he was affectionate with a little girl. He's begging someone to love him and adopt him! That big bay with white socks I think may be was the 5 yr old that was being gentled saturday afternoon.

In my first blog there are photos of the sorrel 'horse with no name' with Wildairo at the Odessa adoption event.

Wildairo is moved to bigger pen.

While still in his small pen Wildairo ran into a spot of bother. A plastic bag blew into his pen. I was trying to fish it out with a pole he beat me to it and grabbed it in his teeth. That is when the plastic bag attacked him! No matter how Wildairo tried to shake it off or danced backwards into the fences, the bag gripped onto the end of his nose. I was at a loss on how to rescue him because I'm unable to walk to go into the pen and I wouldn't have anyway because he was going berserk. Once a pile of hay was tossed in the pen and Wildairo opened his mouth to eat and the bag let go of his nose and I was able to fish it out of the pen before the silly boy grabbed it again.



Here are some pictures of Wildairo's move to the bigger corral. He was very reluctant to leave the smaller pen. He discovered some grass in the alley way and stopped for a snack. I put a drag rope on him in case of trouble but he was very well behaved.

After he did a little jig and got used to his new pen I called him over and took off his lead rope. Wildairo has got used to the fact I can't go in his pen because of my crutches, so he comes over the gate and turns towards me any part of his body he wants scratched. Sometimes he gently backs up to me till his bum is pressed up against the gate and lets me give him a real good back 'n bum rubbing. I feel safe from any hoofing he might give me because of the gate. He hasn't lifted up his hoof to give me a warning since the first few days. It will be interesting to see how he acts when I can finally walk again and go in the pen with him.

We went to the Ride the West horse expo in Spokane on May 17th. We went over to take a look at the BLM wild horses that were up for adoption. Wildairo's best buddy was there. A very well put together 2 yr old sorrel gelding with a white blaze and one white hind foot, #7941. I felt so bad because his friend looked so sad without him and I know Wildairo wonders where his friend he is. They were captured together as yearlings. I would love to know if he was adopted and where he went.

We enjoyed the wild horse gentling demo by Susan Kirk. Because of my current inablity to walk I have been doing my own form of gentling and it's working really well. My wild horse has to come to me and stand at the gate while I rub and poke him with a pole and tie scary thing's to my whip to annoy him with. I tried to stick the pole through a fence to show my 22 yr old morgan how modern horses are tamed and he wanted nothing to do with it and left for greener pastures. I'm so looking forward to walking into the pen with Wildairo.

Wildairo's first week home.

I'm very pleased with my new darling 2 year old mustang. I cannot walk because I'm recovering from getting my ankle replaced. It'll be 4 more weeks till I can put any weight on my repaired ankle. So I sit outside the pen and talk to Wildairo. Within the first few hours he nuzzled my hand, let me pet his nose and learned to eat out my hand. During the first few days if I petted him in the 'wrong' place or were too slow getting treats out of my pockets he'd lash out with his front hoof. I had to let him know I wasn't one of his wild buddies by clapping loud every time he did it and shout "No"! He'd bang the metal gate really hard with his hoof and I'm glad it wasn't my knee.

I'm impressed how the little stinker would rather stand and fight rather than keep away from me. I'd rather work with a bold fearless horse than a spooky one any day. I noticed his herd interacted with each other by using their front hooves and biting each other. I did note though that none of them had any wounds. He will put his ears back and threaten to bite if he reads my actions wrong. I'm being very careful not to become an irritation to him.

I've owned horses since 1970 but Wildairo is my first wild horse and I'm finding out that he has no idea how to interact with humans, so he's treating us like other horses. He hasn't lashed out with his front hoof since about the third day but he still threatens to bite if you make a move he's not sure of. Almost 40 years ago I cured an Exmoor pony of biting by biting HIS ear, what can I say.. I was a kid, but it worked and up until the day he died, decades later, I never heard of him trying to bit anyone again. I think Wildairo will stop once he doesn't feel threatened anymore. He will be a very sweet and gentle horse.

I have been scratching him all over with a bamboo pole and I'm amazed he has no fear of it, in fact he loves it! He also has no fear of plastic bags and quickly learned that they can contain treats. Because I can't walk I had my husband go in the pen and instructed him what to do with Wildairo. Here are some photos I took of Brad and Wildairo after he had been home for a week. Although it must be noted that Wildairo was at this stage within a few days of being home. I was shooting into the sun, so the quality isn't very good.








By the end of Wildairo's 'wild no more' lesson he was following Brad. He did threaten to bite when Brad raised his hand too quick. He'll get used to us very soon because as you can see he's a little darling. Brad became convinced he was tame and wanted to lead him around but I said to wait because Wildairo is not ready and I didn't want to push him. He's only 2 and up until a week ago was considered a 'wild horse'.

Next week he'll go into a much larger pen and he won't feel so defensive.

Adopting a Mustang April 27th 2008.

On April 26th 2008 we went to the BLM wild horse adoption outside of Odessa, Washington. I was interested in maybe adopting a horse to keep my Morgan, 'Apple Pi Foxsun Bay', company in his old age. One look at the 2 year old gelding pen and I was in love.



I sat and studied the darling bay and was very impressed with him. He was best friends with the sorrel and they stayed very close together. The bay had a very kind and gentle face and I've always loved bays.


The next day I returned and we adopted him.

Here he is being sorted and loaded for me.



I named him Wildairo. (Wild Air O). Here he is a few moments after arriving home getting used to the halter and lead rope.


We were very surprised how calm he was and within a few hours he came up to the fence and nuzzled my hand, later he licked an apple I was eating. Everything got his attention, cars starting up, distant trains, he would lift his head and listen carefully but he showed no fear. His pen is very small and he'll be only be in it till the bigger one is ready for him. He doesn't shy away hardly at all and prefers to stand his ground and check thing's out.