Formally Tag #8645, Vega is an approx. 5yo Red Dun Mustang from Sulphur Springs, UT. She was gathered in Feb 2022, and was in holding until I adopted her Sept 11. 2023

I was going to wait until next spring to adopt another, but with the uncertainty of getting wildies to the East Coast for the foreseeable future, and the stars aligned with hauling-I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

This HMA is known for having more of the difficult mustangs to gentle, so I’m really excited to take my horsemanship skills to the next level. I have heard once Sulphur horses trust you, they give you their heart.

After a little encounter with my new Mustang this morning, I thought “hey, this would be some good info for people to know and prevent some future mishaps between horse and owner”. So here we are!

Horses bite for many reasons. Sometimes its playful, sometimes it’s not so playful. Sometimes it’s even loving; like during a grooming situation. Sometimes it’s because they’re asking for those treats you’re always giving them. In this particular situation, it was to “test the waters”.

Nova, my 7-year-old BLM Mustang has been with us for a couple months now. She is getting into the routine, trusting more, and is getting more comfortable. With that, she is trying to see what her role is in my herd. In the wild, horses are testing each other every day to work out the pecking order in the herd. Why should it be any different with people?

It was a normal morning. I gave her a handful of her ration balancer, filled her hay bag and put it under her run in. When I went in there to put her fly mask on she was just calmly munching on some hay. Just as I had secured it on, she turned her head towards my lower belly and just did a little “I’m kind of annoyed you’re here” nip. She didn’t do it aggressively (no laid ears back, no real effort put into it) but I did feel teeth through my shirt.

Now, if I had…moved back, even a little bit, like the normal person would if they got startled. If I had ignored it and walked away out of the ring (like I had planned on doing after I put her mask on)-this is something that could have turned into a bigger problem. This is a situation where a little annoyance nip could turn into an “ears back, full on grab flesh” kind of bite.

This is because, this is horse language. This is how horses communicate.

Through body language, even if its ever so subtle. If Nova had done this to the lead mare, or a mare above her in the hierarchy-she would have gotten the crap kicked out of her. For real. Look at horses in the wild, they aren’t gentle, and have a system in place for a reason.

Nova said to me “hey can you get out of here, you’re kind of annoying me” and I said “NOPE BUT YOU CAN”. This all happened within less than 3 seconds. I didn’t beat on her; I didn’t scare her. But instead of backing up when she did that, I immediately slapped the side of her neck, drove her out of her area where she was eating, pushed her around the round pen with only body language, and I didn’t let her come back into where the hay bag was until I said she could. When I saw that she understood I wasn’t messing around, and she was respectfully and calmly waiting outside her run in-instead of trying to barge by me; then I let her in. And I walked away.

Biting is just something I do not tolerate with my horses or any horse I am training. It is one of the only situations you will ever see me aggressively “hit” a horse. Even then, an open slap on the neck is nothing compared to what they can do. I have gotten bit, that has drawn blood, and it’s not great. It is a very small thing that can turn into a very big and dangerous thing, fast. Which is why I “nip” it in the bud, just as fast.

A friend said to me “with horse training, 85% of the time it’s connection and butterflies and rainbows and the rest it’s having a “come to Jesus moment.””

Because one just wasn’t enough!

Nova is a 6/7 year old Mustang mare from Fish Creek, NV. She was gathered in fall 2019, went to Idaho, then Tennessee, then to the East Coast! Quite a journey in such a short time.

We picked her up May 8th from an awesome TIP trainer near us. She was supposed to be this trainer’s husband’s first Mustang project, but he just didn’t have the time needed to invest in her with working full time. Perfect for me though, because as much as I wanted to start riding Maya this year-she really needs more time to get stronger and develop.

So, Miss. Nova will be my new project in the meantime! So far, she can lead okay, and is okay with head scratches and neck touches-but she’s still pretty feral and unsure. However, I can already tell she has a great mind on her, wants to trust, and is just all around super sweet.

I am very excited to see what the future has in store for us. Stay tuned for updates!

Titan was purchased by us in late 2020 from a sales barn. He was to be the “been there, done that husband horse” that said husband could take down the trails. When we went to test ride him, he was amazing…one handed neck rein, responsive to leg and seat, etc. Everything was abit different when we got home. So, needless to say we’ve only been on a couple trails with this guy because turns out-he’s extremely reactive to all of the things.
I have spent all of 2021, and this year trying to get this guy to not blow up at the drop of a hat (literally). There is not much we know about his history, and we can only guess his age by his teeth (thinking about 15), so that is over a decade of unknowns with this guy. With that much history, I can’t totally fix everything, but I can get him to accept things a little bit better.

I have learned in this time; Titan is a very introverted horse. He just wore pressure, until finally something was enough to just make all the pressure explode-and they we’re big explosions let me tell you. It has been difficult to get him to be a little more extroverted, but not overreact. It is such a seesaw with training a horse like this.

BUT, it is not all bad, he is a super sweet, and sensitive guy deep down, and now that he has opened up a bit, learned to trust, and know it is ok to react in the correct way to things-he has come a long way. I have learned alot from him, and continue to learn from him every day. We have bonded alot more than I thought he would, and he will always have a special place in my heart.

Maya is a Mustang from Warm Springs HMA in Oregon. She was a SA Mustang, offered up for adoption numerous times without being adopted.

I adopted her back in May of 2021 based on a single photo I saw in a Facebook group, and I just fell in love. She is my second Mustang I have started; they are an incredible breed and are what have pushed me to peruse a career in training horses.

Sight unseen she travelled 1500 miles and arrived at my doorstep. I was shocked of how tiny, weak, and skinny the poor thing was, but she was already so trusting and loving. We spent the spring, summer and fall putting weight on her, healing a nasty hoof infection, and doing an abundance of groundwork. She trusts me so much already, and basically would do anything I ask of her.

When she is ready, I will be slowly starting her under saddle as a trail horse. She’s already amazing for saddling, and I’ve backed her a couple times (just stood there and flexed).

In such a short amount of time she has become my heart horse. I cannot wait to spend my days with her, and I’m excited to see all the things we will accomplish together.

-Lilly, Heritage Horsemanship