Latest / The Touch of a Mustang / She Thought Her Life with Horses Was Over with Jaime Davis | Episode 45

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She Thought Her Life with Horses Was Over with Jaime Davis | Episode 45 · The Touch of a Mustang

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I felt like Whisper had kind of been that glue that held
0:03
everything together. I was afraid that I had lost
0:06
that passion for the horses and the working with them and
0:10
growing the knowledge I had regained with Whisper.
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I felt like, you know, where does that go now?
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We had Holiday and Joe and and and Scout, but I didn't have the
0:19
same connection with them. You know, I feel like some of
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these horses, anybody can ride horses.
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Everybody can mess with horses. You don't have the same
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connection. And so I was really afraid of
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losing that. And then the thought of getting
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another horse, I didn't know what to what to do.
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I kind of didn't really want to and I didn't really know how to
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go about buying a horse for myself because I felt like
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they'd all kind of found their way to me.
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I didn't go out seeking any of them.
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So I didn't know what to do. I was pretty surprised that
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about two months later, a guy I know through Instagram started
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posting about some horses. He was affiliated with a rescue.
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That rescue had purchased just a large number of horses from
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auction in Texas. These horses had been rounded up
1:05
off a reservation in Arizona. There are healers on this planet
1:10
with the power to soften the suffering of mankind if they
1:13
have remained in the recesses of the world, abused, discarded and
1:17
labeled as trash. This is the touch of a Mustang.
1:21
I am your host, Shalise Clough and I'm here to tell the story
1:25
of wild horses, Mustangs and the humans who are discovering and
1:29
sharing their gifts while working to protect their
1:32
well-being and preserve their spirit so this divine power
1:36
won't be lost. Join us on this quest with The
1:40
Wild Muslim. I've never done a podcast before
1:48
so I'm a little nervous but. Yeah, that's OK.
1:53
Lots of people I talked to haven't really done podcasts
1:56
before. Yeah, I feel like I felt a
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little silly at first because I was like, I don't, you know, I
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have a story, but I've not really affiliated in, you know,
2:06
advocacy or a group or, you know, working with, with people
2:10
and with needs or anything like that.
2:12
So I'm like, I'm just, I'm just a girl with a story.
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I mean, that's me too, so. And those are the ones I
2:17
actually really love because I think that's where the Mustangs
2:20
really touch people's lives on those individual interactions,
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you know? Yeah, obviously the programs and
2:26
sanctuaries and everything are awesome, but I love the yeah
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stories of how like 1 Mustang has totally helped one person.
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Yeah. And I feel like that's kind of
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where I've, the types of people I've I've connected with when
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I've listened to your podcast, I feel like I know exactly what
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they're going through or I can totally relate to that.
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So. I love to hear that.
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Yeah, I'm super glad that you reached out to to be on it and
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to do this, because I know sometimes it can be a very
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personal thing. You know, for me, it definitely
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was when I started. But.
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Yeah, it's like I don't. Know if I want to share this,
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but also I love the what like the horses helped me do so well.
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Thank you so much for being here and for reaching out.
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I'm so excited to hear your story and the way Mustangs have
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helped you in your life because, you know, I've seen how powerful
3:14
is and it's really cool to connect with other people who
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are like, like you said, like, yeah, I know that I felt that
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also. So thanks for reaching out.
3:22
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you.
3:23
Thank you for having me. Why don't you go ahead and give
3:26
kind of a quick introduction and maybe talk a little bit about
3:30
just how you got connected with horses in your life and we'll
3:33
take off from there. So my name is Jamie, currently
3:36
live in Montana with my husband, two dogs and four horses.
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I didn't grow up with horses, but I'm pretty sure I was born
3:44
horse crazy. Yeah, with the spirit of the
3:48
horse in you, Yeah. I drew horses on everything.
3:52
I read books about horses, stories about horses, and
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collected briars like probably every every young girl.
3:59
And I still have all of them. Oh, that's awesome.
4:02
I had some. I don't have them anymore.
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I don't know where they went. I might have one.
4:06
Some of mine are on display, but most of them are boxed up.
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Some some. That's fun, yeah.
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And so horses didn't really become a significant part of my
4:16
life until I was about 13. My dad had done some work with a
4:22
woman who ran a horse rescue in North Idaho, and that's where
4:25
I'm originally from. And he was telling her how much
4:28
I loved horses and she invited him to bring me out to the
4:32
ranch. And I don't think he knew what
4:35
that was, what was getting. What I was going to unleash,
4:38
yeah. Because I spent just about every
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weekend from that day on until I was like 18 or 19 working out at
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that ranch. I was just kind of like thrown
4:52
into all aspects of horses. I much salt.
4:55
I have stacked hay, helped build fences, fixed fences.
5:00
You got the full reality real quick.
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Yeah, like doing that. Like that's all the hard.
5:04
Work, yeah, I got to spend a lot of time with the horses,
5:07
grooming horses, riding horses. I wasn't really a horseman, but
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I was a brave kid so I kind of just would get on anything kind
5:17
of, you know, go up to any of the horses and.
5:19
And spend time with them. I always felt like I was kind of
5:22
an awkward kid, so I really felt comfortable with with the
5:26
horses. And so most of the horses, let's
5:30
see, she had anywhere from about 25 to 35 horses out there at any
5:34
one time. That's pretty big.
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Some being hers and most of them being the rescues and really
5:40
kind of saw the good, the bad and the ugly of horse ownership
5:44
and kind of what happens to the unwanted horses.
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We saw some pretty horrific cases, but some of them were
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really, you know, had really happy endings.
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So it was, it was really good. Most of the horses came there
5:59
either through owner relinquish or they worked really closely
6:04
with the Sheriff's Department. So they would do seizures of
6:07
horses that were abused or neglected.
6:09
And then some were abandoned, which was actually how my first
6:13
horse ended up there, her and a big paint mayor.
6:16
They were abandoned at a property and some neighbors
6:19
found them and called them in. And so that's how they ended up
6:22
at the the rescue. They were emaciated.
6:25
They didn't know how long they'd been there.
6:27
Thankfully, when I met my first horse, her name is Tizzy.
6:30
I met her and she had, she'd already gone through the the
6:34
rehab process, so she was healthy.
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She was basically ready for adoption at that point.
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And so when I turned 14, my parents officially adopted her
6:43
for me. And I don't really remember how
6:48
we, we clicked because they keep, you know, four to six
6:51
horses in each pen. And so I'd just go in and just
6:54
hang out with them. And somehow she and I ended up
6:56
just kind of bonding. And she'd start meeting me at
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the fence and she'd, she'd follow me along the fence line,
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She'd Winnie or knicker at me when I came up.
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And she just kind of kind of became my, my little horse after
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that. And so we really had a pretty
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cool bond, did quite a bit with her, did some 4H, did trails and
7:16
stuff like that. And it was kind of funny the the
7:19
gal who ran the ranch, Cheryl, she told me that when they'd
7:24
first gotten tizzy and she was actually kind of aggressive
7:26
towards people. And so they were kind of worried
7:28
about where she'd end up after she got healthy and for the
7:32
adoption process. But she never showed any sign of
7:35
aggression. She definitely became a very one
7:37
person horse. She tolerated people, but you
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could tell that she and I really just just clicked.
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So that was kind of my first really bond with a horse.
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Yeah, and what a cool time for you to get involved with horses,
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like in those teenage years. Yeah, because I think that can
7:53
be such a tricky time of development.
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How did that kind of change your experience in those teenage
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years? It should have changed things
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for the better. I I think it always kind of gave
8:04
me a little bit of a grounding. But as I got older, I kind of
8:07
struggled with who I was. We didn't have a big horse
8:11
community and the cowboy culture definitely was not cool.
8:15
This was the the mid 90s, so at least where where I live, it was
8:20
cowboy wasn't cool. On the weekends when I worked
8:23
out at the ranch, I'd wear my boots and wranglers and, you
8:26
know, then I'd go to school as the, you know, whatever was the
8:30
the trend in the 90s. Yeah, I think there was people
8:34
that probably didn't even know I I had horses.
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So I really kind of kind of struggled with with that, of
8:40
kind of wanting to fit in with a group that really wasn't, wasn't
8:45
me. And so I think that that kind of
8:48
changed some things. And so I I kind of went down
8:50
some some paths that probably I didn't need to go down.
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Yeah, I mean, it's a hard time. I think we all struggle with
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that during that time and even beyond that time, really just
9:02
trying to find our place in the world.
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So still working out at the ranch, Cheryl had a friend who
9:10
owned a BLM Mustang stallion. So this was kind of my first
9:14
experience with with Mustangs and.
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And how old were you around this time?
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Probably about 15 or 16 the the friend of hers was downsizing
9:24
his herd and so she ended up buying this horse from him.
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His name was Hematite. He was your like movie star
9:32
horse. He was like black stallion to
9:35
the T He had the long black mane and tail and the forelock that
9:39
came over the face and he was just absolutely gorgeous.
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He was like a miniature and illusion or or Friesian kind of
9:46
looking horse. Yeah.
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So she ended up buying him and she actually had I think 2 foals
9:54
out of him over the years. So we decided that my mom needed
10:00
a horse of her own. My mom, bless her heart, she
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spent just about every weekend out of the ranch with me.
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She had, she had a horse as a teenager, but she definitely
10:11
didn't have the, the horse bug that I had.
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So but she really enjoyed being out there.
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She enjoyed the people, she enjoyed the horses.
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So we decided she needed a horse of her own and we ended up
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breeding tizzy to hematite. And so that's where I got my
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little half Mustang horse that was supposed to be my mom's, but
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she ended up having some health problems and kind of turning her
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over to me. She did name her, she named her
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Whisper sweet nothings. So we call her Whisper for
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short. I I kind of had no idea what I
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was doing with a baby horse. I know we yeah, I know.
10:49
We we got a halter on her. We taught her to lead.
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I think the farrier was the first person to ever touch her
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feet. We there was a lot of things
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that I know now that I didn't do probably to start setting her up
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for success. Yeah, I think that's true for a
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lot of us. Like we look back at our first
11:06
interactions with horses and we're kind of like, oh, wow.
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Yeah, yeah. Learned a lot since yeah.
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And then we ended up moving her and tis to a private residence
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boarding that was a little closer to to our house because
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by that time I was, I think I was 18.
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So I'd graduated high school. I was working full time and I
11:26
think I was had just started attending a Community College.
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So that kind of ended my work at the ranch.
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I didn't have the time to be out there anymore.
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And so here we are with this horse and this baby horse that
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I'm boarding. I again, not having as much time
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due to the work schedule and the schooling and wanting to hang
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out with friends and discovering that I liked boys and all, you
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know, all those, you know, late teen feelings.
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And so I kind of didn't spend as much time as I should have with
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the horses. Whisper.
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We ended up sending her to training when she was about 3
12:08
and then again for kind of a tune up when she was four.
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And at that time I didn't really understand that a young horse
12:15
needs a lot of consistency. You know, you get them back from
12:17
the trainer. They're not, they're not just
12:19
trained. Yeah.
12:20
They're not. Yeah, for like.
12:22
Yeah, you still have to work with them.
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So I think that's kind of where things started falling apart
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with my relationship with her due to some of the things that
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I've been just the lifestyle I'd kind of been living.
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I think I started developing some some anxiety and some a lot
12:37
of self esteem issues, some self doubt.
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And that kind of transferred into working with Whisper.
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She'd do something, she'd pull back on a rope and and break it.
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And I kind of didn't know what to do.
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I didn't know how to fix it and I didn't think of myself as a
12:51
horse trainer and so I kind of just wouldn't do anything, which
12:55
was definitely not the right answer.
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And so I kind of started getting scared of things that she would
13:02
do. I didn't know how to reach out
13:05
for help. This was like the early
13:07
thousands. So we had the Internet, but not
13:10
like we do today. So I couldn't just I couldn't
13:12
just Google, you know, help with my horse.
13:15
And a bunch of videos come up and, and, and I was embarrassed
13:19
to reach out to the trainer for help because I kind of felt
13:22
like, oh man, I've just ruined this horse.
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I can't, you know, go back to this.
13:25
And so we struggled for quite a few years with just our
13:29
relationship and how to how to even, you know, kind of have
13:34
what tis was going through health issues at that point.
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I she'd kind of been retired and again, still didn't really have
13:44
much of AA horse community at that point.
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So a relationship kind of suffered.
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In 2009, I met my first husband and it was kind of a whirlwind
14:01
relationship. He moved in with me pretty
14:03
quickly. We got engaged pretty quickly
14:07
and kind of a lot of love bombing and I wasn't used to
14:10
that type of thing, so I kind of ate it all up.
14:14
So I didn't really see the red flags of our relationship.
14:19
He was, you know, had narcissistic behaviors.
14:22
He was gaslighter, love bombing, alcoholic.
14:25
I think I kind of was at that point too.
14:28
He just had a lot of science. But at that point, I don't think
14:31
those things really had names and those types of things
14:34
weren't really talked about. Yeah, we definitely did not talk
14:37
about them as much. As yeah, so I.
14:39
We do now. Didn't really know what you
14:43
know, is this normal? And I'm sure some of my
14:45
relationships before had been similar.
14:47
So it kind of seemed familiar and normal to me.
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So in let's see, Tis ended up passing away in January of 2011.
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She was probably in her mid 20s and she just had had a lot of
15:02
health problems. I don't know if they had stemmed
15:04
from what had happened to her previous to go into the rescue
15:07
and stuff, but I struggled at that point because now I now had
15:13
Whisper and we still had this kind of strange relationship.
15:16
And I toyed with the idea of selling her and kind of didn't
15:25
want want to because I loved this horse.
15:29
She was kind of my tie to my first horse and the memories at
15:33
the ranch. And I also kind of felt like,
15:36
you know, I brought her into this world.
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I'm responsible for her. I've kind of messed her up.
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So I'm afraid to send her on down to somebody else because
15:44
what if they don't take the time with her?
15:46
What if they just, you know, send her on to the next person?
15:49
And after working at the ranch, you know, I didn't want her to
15:52
end up with that kind of end up in the wrong hands and, and
15:56
just. Yeah.
15:57
Not seeing what could happen. Yeah.
15:59
Yeah. So which is an important thing
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that I think all owners should be kind of thinking about this.
16:04
You know, when you reach that point where you're not really
16:06
sure if you should keep them, it's like, well, where is your
16:08
horse going to? Yeah, it's pretty uncertain.
16:10
Yeah, I mean, she wasn't dangerous, but I didn't think
16:13
that I had said set her up for success to where she could go to
16:17
any loving home. She'd have to go to somebody who
16:19
could have the time to work with her and get her over some of
16:22
the. Things and I think most people
16:24
do want the horse where it's like they're finished, they're
16:27
easy, they're not work and I think that's probably not most
16:31
horses. Yeah, Yeah, it's a lot easier to
16:33
sell a finished horse than a project.
16:36
I mean, I know there's people out there who love a project.
16:38
So that time husband at the time, I'm just going to call him
16:44
my ex from here on out. Sounds good.
16:46
So he he started talking about that he wanted a horse of his
16:51
own. And I thought, well, maybe maybe
16:54
that's a good thing. And so actually let me bounce
16:58
back for a minute here. He'd kind of before to his past,
17:01
he'd kind of started ruining horses a little bit for me, just
17:05
being out with them and spending time with them had been kind of
17:07
my my Zen. Even though I didn't ride a lot.
17:10
I just would spend time with them and he would call and text
17:15
and message like, you know, when you going to be home, how long
17:19
you going to be out there? I'm bored.
17:20
So it really brought out that anxiety of I couldn't enjoy
17:25
myself out there, so it would just be.
17:27
Yeah, kind of wanting to keep him happy also.
17:29
Probably, yeah. So I'd just go out there, do
17:31
what I had to do and come home. And if he did by chance ever
17:35
come out there with me, he kind of was, you know, same thing.
17:39
Like I'm bored. Can we get home?
17:41
So that was another thought of, you know, selling Whisper, as I
17:45
don't even enjoy being out here sometimes anymore.
17:48
And that was really unfortunate because horses had been such a
17:51
such a love for me and such a good, happy place.
17:54
Yeah. So he'd expressed that he wanted
17:57
a horse of his own. And I thought maybe that would
17:59
help things in the relationship. We'd have something we could
18:02
kind of do together. And maybe it was that neither of
18:05
those horses were his, so he didn't feel like he wanted to
18:08
spend time with them. And so I ended up buying a, a 11
18:12
year old quarter horse gelding. He was kind of the husband
18:15
horse. The been there done that.
18:17
And I should have known better because my ex, you know, decided
18:20
he didn't, he didn't want to have anything to do with them.
18:22
They didn't get along or whatever it was.
18:24
And so here I am with two horses again, that right now I'm in
18:30
this position again. Yeah.
18:33
But I mean, that's kind of the story of life, you know, we
18:35
think we hope for something that will help.
18:38
And, you know, until you try and kind of walk that path, it's
18:41
something you just. Yeah, it's easy to look back and
18:43
be like, oh, I should have known better.
18:45
But yeah, I mean, honestly, we all have to kind of learn as we
18:48
go. But I really did appreciate him.
18:51
His name was Joe. The horse was was named Joe.
18:53
And because he was such a been there, done that easygoing
18:57
horse, I could actually ride him and feel OK, even though I'd be
19:02
like this shaking ball of nerves sometimes.
19:05
But it didn't faze him. And so that kind of helped me
19:09
get back into enjoying a little bit of my time with them because
19:13
Whisper was a very, she's a very in tune horse and she really fed
19:18
off energy. And I don't know if that was
19:23
from the Mustang side of her. I don't know how much of that is
19:25
inherited, especially since her mom was domestic and she was
19:29
born into domestic life. But she really would feed off my
19:35
energy. And so if I was a ball of
19:37
nerves, she was a ball of nerves.
19:39
And then we were just a train wreck.
19:40
Yeah. So it didn't work well
19:45
sometimes. So I really appreciated having
19:48
having Joe around. So in like 2013, I think it was,
19:55
my ex was going to take a new job.
19:58
The job he worked, he would either work out of state, he'd
20:01
work camp jobs or just long hours.
20:04
And he was getting tired of that and kind of wanted to have
20:07
something that was a little more normal.
20:09
And this job was coming up in Montana.
20:11
And so we decided to move. And I was pretty excited about
20:14
this because like my lifelong love for horses, I've had this
20:18
attraction to Montana my whole life and I don't, I don't know
20:22
why. Again, I thought this could be
20:23
something that would help our relationship, you know we get
20:26
away from. And the people we were hanging
20:28
out with, the places and the things that we were doing, and
20:31
maybe this would give us a fresh start.
20:33
And plus we'd be buying a home that was on the five acres.
20:38
It was in kind of a rural subdivision.
20:40
And I'd get to have the horses in the backyard for the first
20:43
time in my life. So we ended up moving the first
20:47
part of 2014 and the job ended up not happening.
20:52
I think they contracted with with somebody else.
20:54
So he ended up going back to his his camp job.
20:58
And that was probably the saving grace for why I stayed longer
21:04
than I should have. His schedule was a month gone
21:08
and then home for two weeks. And mm, hmm, that two weeks was
21:13
pretty terrible. And when he'd be home.
21:14
So I'll save everybody the, the details of things.
21:19
But he, we, we'd had some incidents.
21:22
He was not physically abusive, but I, there's no doubt in my
21:26
mind that it eventually would have gone that way.
21:28
We had an incident where something happened.
21:32
And that next morning, let's see, it was April 15th of 2015.
21:37
So. Wow, almost almost 10 years ago.
21:40
Yeah. I was sitting in a police
21:42
station talking to a deputy about the incidents that had
21:46
happened. The whole time my ex is texting,
21:50
hauling, leaving me nasty messages, leaving me apologetic
21:54
messages, threatening me, the home, the animals, himself and
22:00
the deputy. They send an officer over to the
22:02
house and he is arrested. I am granted a three-week
22:07
restraining order, and the deputy tells me that if I were
22:11
you, I would be gone in three weeks.
22:14
And at this point, you know, I'm living in Montana my whole life
22:18
and home and everything I know is back in Idaho.
22:22
I could have moved back, but I chose to stay in Montana.
22:25
I felt there was some reason why I was there.
22:28
And, you know, I'd always had this love for it.
22:31
So I just kind of felt like I'm going to stay here and try to
22:34
make it work. I'd kind of become friends with
22:36
the neighbor across the street. She had a horse, and we rode a
22:40
couple times, and she helped me pack stuff up and move.
22:44
I moved the horses to a boarding facility, and my dog and I moved
22:47
into a small apartment. We all know how restraining
22:51
orders work. They're just a piece of paper.
22:53
And of course, that person could at any time break that.
22:56
And I thank God that he didn't do anything during that time.
23:01
I was pretty scared that he would because I was staying at
23:04
that house and was just kind of afraid that something would
23:07
happen. Like you said, I thank God that
23:09
it did not. So I got settled into kind of my
23:14
new life. And I think it was later that
23:17
year, the neighbor gal that had helped me, she invited me to go
23:21
to a clinic, horse clinic. And of course, I'm like, I don't
23:27
know if I want to do this. Yeah, but I figured it was a
23:30
good thing and that whisper and I needed to start kind of
23:33
working on things. And so we went to this clinic.
23:36
It took me two hours to get Whisper loaded in the trailer.
23:39
That was that was another one of our our issues.
23:43
And probably more typical than we think.
23:45
Yeah, well, it didn't help that, you know, we'd both be in this
23:48
trailer together and I'd be just, you know, heart pounding.
23:53
And and so she's probably looking at me like, are we
23:56
supposed to be scared like this? You're scared?
23:58
Are we supposed to be scared? Right.
24:01
And so we go to this clinic. It was a 2 day clinic and it was
24:05
a couple hours away from my house.
24:06
So we, we stayed there and the first day he, the clinician
24:11
wants everybody in the arena saddled up and we're going to
24:14
start that way. And so we're in the arena that
24:16
morning, everybody's warming up and I'm trying to put the bridle
24:20
on whisper. And this is another one of our
24:22
issues. And she's fighting it.
24:24
She's walking all over me. She's tossing her head, throwing
24:27
the bit out of her mouth and, and the clinician sees what's
24:31
going on and he comes over. And like immediately we become
24:35
the example of, you know, we become a training opportunity.
24:40
Right. Yeah, that was just kind of the
24:43
set the stage for that whole weekend.
24:45
And I felt like I was continually the problem child
24:48
and continually the the example. And it just made me feel like
24:54
what? Like why do I even have horses?
24:56
I clearly look look like I don't know what I'm doing.
24:59
I'm embarrassed. I felt like everybody else was
25:02
kind of judging us and which they probably weren't.
25:05
That was probably in my head. So I just couldn't wait for the
25:08
weekend to get over. I'm pretty sure, you know, I was
25:12
not in the mental state to really learn anything that was
25:16
happening. The day that it after it ended,
25:21
we were getting loaded up to go home and of course trying to get
25:25
my horse loaded in the trailer again.
25:26
We've got to be the last learning example of the clinic.
25:31
And. I was.
25:32
It was just frustrating to see this guy get my horse in the
25:37
trailer in less than 5 minutes and she's calm, cool, collected
25:41
and just happy as a clam in there.
25:43
And I just couldn't understand why I couldn't connect with this
25:48
horse like that. And you know when you know
25:52
something about yourself and you don't want to admit it and you
25:56
don't want to say it out loud and well, the clinician said it
25:59
for me. He said I was my horse's
26:02
problem. And like that stung, but it was
26:06
the truth. Yeah, that is hard to hear.
26:08
Yeah. And it's like, I know this.
26:12
So we got back home and I really decided that, you know, it was
26:16
time for me to kind of work on issues that I had, whether it be
26:22
from the marriage or growing up and having the confidence issues
26:26
and, and whatnot. So it was time for me to, if I
26:29
was going to be able to connect with my horse better that I
26:34
needed to kind of work on on me. So that was a slow process.
26:38
But we started and in 2018 I met my now husband and he was just
26:47
such a blessing and just I, I was such a hot mess at that
26:52
point. And he was was willing to take
26:54
that on and I felt really comfortable talking to him about
26:58
a lot of my stuff I had going on things with Whisper.
27:02
And he really helped me get a relationship back with Whisper.
27:06
My husband is a he's a farrier and he used to do a lot of horse
27:10
training when he was younger. So he really helped us kind of
27:14
get back to a good place. And I remember one day we were,
27:19
we were working in the round pen and I was doing whatever I was
27:22
doing with Whisper and, and he just looked at me and he said,
27:25
you know what you're doing, You just have to have the confidence
27:28
in yourself. And so that was probably one of
27:32
the nicest things, best compliments I've heard in a long
27:35
time. And so that really just just
27:37
meant a lot that somebody recognized that, you know, I was
27:42
doing something good. Yeah, yeah, that's hard.
27:47
We beat ourselves up a lot. So for someone to see the good
27:50
enough is is a big help. So the next couple years things
27:55
just got better. We were getting out riding a lot
27:58
and a lot of trail rides, just really using our using our
28:03
horses more than I had and what seemed like forever and my
28:07
confidence started coming back. I really started learning how to
28:11
kind of control that my emotions and that anxiety and whisper and
28:17
I really just started becoming the the partners that I feel
28:20
like we should have been our whole the whole time I'd owned
28:23
her. You're probably hoping for.
28:25
Yeah. You know, I'd had this horse
28:26
since she was born and, you know, just felt like we were
28:30
always just kind of button heads.
28:31
And so as things kind of started, you know, going better,
28:37
one of my favorite things was my mom and I would talk once a
28:40
week. She still lived in Idaho.
28:42
And I'd always call her after a ride and tell her about it and
28:45
I'd send her pictures and videos.
28:47
And I think she was really happy to see Whisper.
28:50
And I find they really, you know, doing what we we should
28:53
have been doing. And I know she felt kind of
28:56
guilty because when she couldn't work with the horses anymore, I
29:00
think she felt kind of responsible for handing her off
29:02
to me. And then she felt, felt kind of
29:04
guilty that maybe I, I was having some of these issues with
29:08
this, this horse that I know shouldn't be having issues with.
29:13
And so on May 10th of 2020, couple days after Mother's Day,
29:19
my dad called and told me that my mom had passed away.
29:23
I don't think it really hit me. And I know I kind of felt like I
29:27
put on kind of just a strong face to, to go back home and
29:31
help my dad with some things. And so I don't know that I
29:34
really processed it and I felt like I also had I had whisper
29:38
and she kind of was that tangible memory of times with my
29:42
mom and things like that. So it was, I can't remember if
29:46
it was that week, I'd seen a Facebook post on one of our
29:52
local horse groups and there was a gal that was looking for a
29:55
farrier. I recognized the gal's name.
29:58
She was the daughter of one of my clients.
30:00
I groom dogs. That's my that's my day job.
30:03
And so I reached out to her and I said, hey, my husband's a
30:07
farrier, You should give him a call.
30:08
He'll come come get you helped out.
30:10
And by the way, I groom your mom's dog.
30:12
So she, you know, thanked me for reaching out.
30:15
She ended up reaching out to my husband and he went out and took
30:18
care of their horses. And he was chatting with her and
30:21
her husband and talking about riding.
30:23
It was springtime and everybody was getting ready to ride.
30:25
And so they made some plans for us to all get together and ride.
30:29
And he comes home and he says, so I went out and shot that
30:33
girl's horses and we got to talking and we made some plans
30:36
to ride. And he said they're riding this
30:38
weekend and I think you should go with them.
30:40
And I don't remember what hit why.
30:43
I don't remember why he couldn't go.
30:44
I think he had made plans with somebody to, to help him with
30:47
something. But so all of a sudden I'm in
30:49
like panic mode. I'm like, my mom just passed
30:52
away. I don't know these people.
30:54
I don't know where we're going. Like I don't think I should do
30:56
this. And he said, I really think you
30:58
should. And I ended up taking Joe just
31:00
so in case I didn't have a panic attack.
31:02
I had the old trusty guy with me and I went and I had an
31:07
absolutely fantastic time and she and I have become really,
31:12
really good friends. The hard part about that was not
31:16
being able to call my mom. Sorry, I told myself.
31:19
I wasn't going to cry. No, you're OK.
31:22
It's hard stuff, so. I, I wasn't able to call my mom
31:27
and tell her about this person that I had just met.
31:31
And so anyways, but so that's that was pretty hard that next
31:41
spring I whisper and I were doing awesome and I decided I
31:47
was going to redeem myself and we were going to sign up for a
31:50
clinic. So we went and did a clinic here
31:53
locally. It was another two day.
31:55
It was like a horsemanship and and trail clinic and and we
32:00
started working towards this and I went to this clinic and my
32:03
only expectation, I guess it wasn't really an expectation.
32:06
My only hope was that we would not be the example and that we
32:10
would not be kind of the stand out student.
32:13
Right. And just like I don't want to.
32:15
Repeat them, yes, I don't want to repeat that.
32:18
And we went to this clinic and I didn't even recognize who this
32:24
horse was or who I was. And we just, I mean, it was like
32:28
a totally different horse from that previous clinic.
32:31
She was super mellow, she was calm, and we just had such a
32:35
good time. We had a couple hiccups on some
32:37
of the obstacles, but we were able to regain focus and get
32:43
back to to what we were doing. So it was just so proud of that
32:47
horse at that point and proud of myself for how far we had.
32:50
Yeah, to see all that progress. And that again that we, you
32:54
know, why hadn't we been like this?
32:56
The the whole whole time. So I'm going to kind of jump
33:02
back a little bit because we ended up adding two horses to
33:08
our herd in 2021, Joe and Whisper.
33:13
We're both kind of in their early 20s at that point, so we
33:16
wanted to have a couple other horses in case something
33:19
happened or somebody kind of needed to be slowed down.
33:23
We wanted to do some hunting and packing and and camping and
33:26
stuff with the horses. So we needed some pack horses.
33:29
So in 2021, we brought home a quarter horse gelding that we
33:38
named Holiday. A client of my husband's bought
33:43
him at auction. She felt sorry for him.
33:46
He was pretty beat up. He had come from Texas.
33:52
He'd been raised on a, on a race farm.
33:55
I don't think that he ever actually raced, but he was used
33:59
as a a pony horse for the tracks.
34:02
He was, he was 11 when we bought him.
34:04
So for whatever reason, they sent him to Billings, Mt where
34:08
they have a big auction and he'd fallen in the transport trailer
34:12
and was kind of beat up and bleeding.
34:15
He had a hip out. I don't know if that was from
34:17
the fall or from from previous something that happened.
34:21
He was thin and he was just very kind of just sad looking.
34:26
And I think they ran him through the sale loose.
34:28
Nobody bid on him. And this client of my husband's
34:32
was was there and she was talking to the transport guy
34:35
after the auction and she ended up buying him and brought him
34:38
home. She wasn't sure what she was
34:40
going to do with them. And my husband was out there
34:42
shooting her horses that day and they got to talking about him
34:45
and he decided that that we would buy him and bring him
34:48
home. And so we treated him for
34:50
ulcers. We did some chiropractic work on
34:53
him and got his hip back into place.
34:56
We got his teeth floated, had a vet check on him.
34:59
And like I said, he was really thin.
35:00
So at that point we just kind of let him be a horse and gave him
35:04
gave him access to hay and just kind of let him be and hoped
35:08
that he would he'd come around. He was kind of slow to gain
35:12
weight. So it took about two, almost two
35:14
years for him to totally get back into shape.
35:17
But. Yeah.
35:18
He's just the biggest love, he's just the sweetest horse and he's
35:22
a tank now. And just just to think that, you
35:26
know, this horse's personality and the training and everything,
35:29
he's just a fantastic horse. And to think that somebody just,
35:33
you know, didn't want him anymore.
35:35
Yeah, and what a chance for you guys to take like, you know, he
35:39
didn't look. Yeah, yeah.
35:41
And then in 2023, we brought home a little paint mayor.
35:47
We named her Scout. And she also came from a client
35:51
who had gotten her from somewhere else.
35:54
I tell you, we can't. I can't trust.
35:56
You want to find horses become. A fair, But this little paint
36:00
mayor had been a ranch horse and she'd been cowboyed on and she
36:05
was sold to a gentleman for his grandkids and she ended up
36:11
kicking this guy and so they decided they were going to get
36:14
rid of her. She was also a little thin.
36:17
She had a hip and a rib out, which is probably part of the
36:20
reason why she kicked at this guy.
36:22
She just probably wasn't feeling good and instead of trying to
36:25
figure out why they were just going to get rid of her and this
36:29
client of my husband's. She does body work and so she
36:34
ended up taking this horse, working on her and getting her
36:40
those those kinks worked out. And my husband was over working
36:43
on her horses and they were talking about her and this
36:46
client already had three. She really didn't need a fourth,
36:49
didn't know what she was going to do with this horse.
36:51
And so lo and behold, she ended up at our house.
36:54
And so here we have kind of another horse we have to rehab.
36:58
And because she was pretty thin at that point too.
37:01
So we kind of did the same thing.
37:02
We had her checked out, teeth floated and just kind of let her
37:06
be a horse. And this is another hard part.
37:10
On October 10th of 2023, this would have been a little bit
37:13
after we brought Scout home. Whisper was goofing around in
37:18
the pasture like she always does, and she made a wrong step
37:22
and ended up breaking a hind leg.
37:25
The vet said they could do surgery, but they weren't
37:28
optimistic and they weren't, they couldn't guarantee that she
37:34
would be sound or be comfortable and there would be a possibility
37:37
of other surgeries and she'd have to be confined for quite a
37:40
few months. And, and with her age, because
37:43
at this point she was 24 and I just, I just couldn't do that to
37:47
her. Yeah.
37:49
So we ended up having to put her down.
37:56
I feel like all the emotions from sorry, trying to compose
38:01
myself again, all the emotions from losing my mom, losing tizzy
38:10
things in my past, just kind of all came flooding in and I felt
38:15
like Whisper had kind of been that glue that held everything
38:18
together. Yeah, I was afraid that I had
38:22
lost that passion for the horses and the working with them and
38:26
the the just growing the knowledge that I had regained
38:31
with Whisper. I felt like, you know, where
38:33
does that go now? We had Holiday and Joe and and
38:37
and Scout, but I didn't have the same connection with them.
38:42
You know, I feel like some of these horses that are kind of,
38:46
you know, anybody can ride horses, you know, everybody can
38:49
mess with horses, you don't have the same connection.
38:52
And so I was really afraid of losing that.
38:55
And, and then the thought of getting another horse, like I
39:00
didn't know what to what to do. I kind of didn't really want to.
39:03
And I had, I didn't really know how to go about buying a horse
39:06
for myself because I felt like they'd all kind of found their
39:09
way to us or to me or to to us that I didn't really go out
39:14
seeking any of them other than Joe.
39:16
But he wasn't originally for me. And so I just kind of didn't
39:20
know what to do. And so I was pretty surprised
39:24
that about two months later, a guy I know through Instagram
39:28
started posting about some horses.
39:31
He was affiliated with a rescue somehow.
39:34
I don't know if he was friends with the gal that ran it, but
39:37
that rescue had purchased a large number of horses from
39:41
auction in Texas. These horses had been rounded up
39:44
off a reservation in Arizona. And this, this guy that I know
39:50
through Instagram, he was going to be bringing 15 of them to
39:54
Montana to find new homes. And so I don't know if it was
39:59
the fact that they were Mustangs or that they were rescues, but I
40:04
was like hooked on this. But I was like, just drawn to
40:08
this little thing that was going on.
40:10
And he'd post some stories here and there about it.
40:13
And then they finally arrived here in Montana, and they
40:17
weren't very far from where I live.
40:19
So I was kind of intrigued and he was looking for homes for him
40:23
and I reached out to him and just kind of asked a little bit
40:27
more about him and, and he gave me some information and I said,
40:31
well, let me ask my husband and I'll get back to you.
40:34
And I'm like, am I crazy? What am I doing?
40:39
I have no idea what I'm doing. And I think I walked into the
40:41
living room and my husband was sitting there watching TV.
40:44
And I think I just threw it out like this casual conversation
40:47
of, hey, do you want to adopt A wild Mustang here in Montana?
40:51
Just like, no big deal. And he looks at me and he's
40:56
like, like, do you have more information than that?
41:00
And so I kind of told him what I knew.
41:03
And he just continues looking at me.
41:05
And it's like, well, if you want to go look at him, just find out
41:08
some information. And if that's what you want to
41:10
do, we'll go look at him. And I think I was kind of like
41:13
floored. I, I didn't know what to think.
41:16
I was waiting for him to say no or what?
41:19
Are you crazy? So right.
41:22
So now I've got this ball rolling and I have to go through
41:24
with it. Yeah, like too far in now to
41:27
turn around. We got at least give it a.
41:28
Try somebody gives you the green light to buy a horse and you're
41:31
like, yeah, yeah. So I got some more information
41:36
and we ended up going to look at them and there was, there was 15
41:40
of them and they're just darting around like a flock of birds.
41:45
You couldn't get close to them. They're either all bunched up or
41:48
they're hiding behind their hay bales.
41:49
So you didn't really get a good judge of what they were.
41:52
They were supposed to be like yearlings and two year olds.
41:55
And so they were all pretty small and pretty young.
41:57
And my husband picks out a couple and that he kind of saw
42:01
some potential in. And I ultimately got to make the
42:05
decision and I chose a little sorrel that had a flaxen mane
42:10
and she has her tail is like every single color in in her
42:15
tail. And so a couple days later, we
42:18
ended up bringing her home and we named her Willow.
42:21
And I used to kind of think of whisper as my whisper in the
42:26
wind because she'd always kind of, she was always just there.
42:29
She'd always just kind of come up to you or behind you.
42:32
And so now I think of Willow as my my wind in the willows
42:35
because she's kind of the same way.
42:37
She she's just like appears right behind you and is very
42:41
curious. Yeah.
42:42
But so she came home in January of 2024.
42:47
And winters in Montana, January and February are pretty brutal.
42:52
They're usually the coldest and the the snowiest.
42:55
Yeah. And January's coolest?
42:56
Yeah, like I think the, the day after we brought her home, it
43:00
was -40° And yeah, yeah. So we didn't do a whole lot with
43:07
her the whole the first couple months, the snow and the ice and
43:10
the mud kind of made it hard to to work with her.
43:12
Basically my goal was to just just spend time with her and
43:16
just be out there and kind of slowly gain that curiosity.
43:21
And it was, it was funny because every time I got to like just a
43:26
little touch on her or she'd come over to me or she'd nuzzle
43:30
me or something, I'd come in the house and my, my husband said I
43:33
was like a little schoolgirl. I was just like, yeah, guess
43:36
what? Yeah.
43:38
And so fun. And so she and I have really,
43:41
really bonded. And it's just really kind of
43:44
ignited that that passion again. And let's see, we've gotten a
43:49
halter on her. She's we've taught her to lead.
43:52
She's had her feet trimmed quite a few times.
43:54
We practiced deworming using applesauce and A and a plunger.
43:58
She's had a saddle pad on her. She's had a bareback pad on her.
44:01
She's had a lightweight saddle. She's had, she's been lunged,
44:05
she's had a a bit and a bridle on.
44:08
And she's just takes to everything like once or twice.
44:13
And she's, I got it and you can put her in a halter and she's
44:17
all business and. Yeah.
44:19
I really attribute working with whisper and really getting over
44:23
some of those, those fears and, and confidence issues.
44:27
I had to to really help me to work with Willow and to have the
44:32
confidence and really keep going with that that that passion.
44:36
Because I know if I had had the anxiety and things that I did
44:40
with whisper, I don't think that we would be as far as we are.
44:43
And it's just been such a such a cool experience.
44:47
And I really feel like I have that, that connection again and
44:51
that that relationship that's, that's just mine, like I had
44:55
with Whisper and like I had with Tis.
44:57
So it's been just really a neat journey to to bring her home
45:02
and, and give her a chance and just really set her up for a
45:08
successful future so. Yeah, I love that.
45:11
That's so beautiful that she could come in, you know, to your
45:14
life. Sometimes I think we think we're
45:17
crazy, but in reality we're kind of listening to our intuition
45:20
and like leaning towards what we feel like we need.
45:23
And I can, I can relate to a lot of that with just how those hard
45:28
horses can teach us a lot. And that's how it was with with
45:32
my first Mustang too. Like I wanted it to just be easy
45:35
peasy and, you know, be a 30 day Mustang makeover.
45:39
Yeah. And yeah, it really highlighted
45:41
like you've got some work to do, yeah.
45:43
Yeah. So it was good, yeah.
45:44
What are some of the ways you feel like Whisper kind of helped
45:47
you regain that confidence and kind of overcome?
45:50
And I guess tell me if this resonates with you, like some of
45:53
the things that weren't necessarily from horsemanship,
45:55
but helped you move into a more confident, healing version of
46:01
yourself. I think just wanting to have
46:04
that relationship with Whisper and knowing that we, we could
46:08
really kind of motivated me to do that and, and getting away
46:13
from the things that I had been doing in my younger lives.
46:18
I, I did quit drinking, going back to church and really just
46:22
kind of letting go some of those things that I couldn't control
46:26
and wanting to move forward and not just dwell in the past.
46:32
And I don't know if that. That's so huge.
46:35
Yeah. And I don't know if that comes
46:36
with age or just you get tired of being the same way or doing
46:42
the same things and and not getting anywhere.
46:47
So. And then with each thing where I
46:50
felt more confident or each thing we accomplished, I felt
46:55
kind of like, OK, what, what can we do next?
46:57
Like what's the next thing we can do?
47:00
And I really feel that with with Willow doing the things that I
47:04
either didn't know to do with Whisper when she was younger, I
47:08
feel like, oh, we could, we can do this.
47:10
And I'm going to teach her to do this.
47:11
And so it's like all these little things that keep you go
47:15
moving forward that really help and seeing a light or a goal at
47:22
the the end of the tunnel, you know, however you want to put
47:25
it. And that's kind of what keeps
47:27
that that moving forward and continuing the healing process
47:31
with each step. And then just having the support
47:35
of my husband to him, recognizing that even though it
47:39
probably sounded crazy to say, hey, let's bring home a Mustang.
47:43
Then he recognized that I really needed that in my life to
47:48
continue that passion and that drive and the, the wanting to
47:51
move forward and, and the goals that I hoped that whisper and I
47:55
could have achieved them before she passed away, which it was.
48:00
We, we always used to joke about her because at 24 years old, she
48:04
had never, I think the worst thing she'd ever had was a hoof
48:07
Abscess. And other than going to the vet
48:09
for a routine, teeth floats, things like that, she was the
48:13
healthiest horse I'd ever had. And I don't know if that was
48:15
contributed to the Mustang jeans, but she was hearty.
48:19
She was healthy, never had a, you know, and we'd always joke
48:24
that she was going to outlive us.
48:25
And so we're like, what are we going to do?
48:27
We're going to be like 80 and this horse is still going to be
48:30
around. She's still.
48:31
Going to be running. Around SO.
48:34
Yeah. So it really was, it was, you
48:37
know, a bummer losing her, but. I'm very.
48:39
It's so, so hard. Those life moments are just so
48:42
hard. Yeah.
48:42
And then we actually I, I forgot to interject this part in there
48:48
in let's see, it was last fall. We actually had to put scout
48:52
down too. She, she didn't really gain any
48:56
weight through the winter and that spring we took her over to
49:02
friend's house to be on pasture to see if that would help.
49:04
She ended up losing weight. And so we took her to the vet
49:08
and she ended up having a really severe heart murmur and it was
49:13
just kind of just draining everything.
49:15
And so we ended up putting her down and I, I really was, was
49:22
thankful that we were able to give her, you know, just kind of
49:26
a soft place to land because I think she kind of had a rough,
49:30
rough go of things in her life. And so I was just glad that we
49:34
were able to give her give her that chance.
49:36
And I think that she kind of served as a placeholder between
49:42
Whisper and Willow. That's kind of that's that's
49:44
hard to say. Whisper and Willow.
49:47
Why? Why did I choose W names?
49:49
I mean, I think they're great names.
49:51
Thank you kind of that something to focus my attention on after
49:55
after whisper passed away and kind of Intel Willow was able to
50:00
be here and I I'm a big believer in things kind of happened for a
50:03
reason and you know, things get set in motion and that they
50:07
happen for a reason. So I really feel like in order
50:12
for, I mean, I don't want this to sound bad, but in order to
50:17
continue this journey that things had to happen the way
50:20
that they did and for things to continue on with with Willow and
50:25
to keep growing and moving forward.
50:27
Yeah, I mean, I've felt the same thing, Like the horses seem to
50:30
come into my life just went like there's some lessons or some
50:34
support that I need from them. And so I think that's true for a
50:38
lot of people that like the horses, have a special place in
50:41
our journey on this, in this life.
50:44
Like you need them for for different seasons in your life.
50:47
You need a a different horse. I'll hear a lot of people talk
50:51
about a heart horse. For the longest time I never
50:56
thought of. I always thought tizzy was my my
50:59
heart horse. And then as things progressed, I
51:01
also felt that way about Whisper and I even feel that way about
51:05
Willow. So I don't think you're
51:07
necessarily only allowed one in your lifetime.
51:10
I think it's maybe different seasons in your life.
51:13
You need a horse for whatever lessons you need to go through
51:18
in that time. Yeah, I think that's true.
51:20
And it's beautiful to think about.
51:22
I think just that. Yeah, if we can kind of listen
51:25
to ourselves and maybe even have that support your story with
51:27
your husbands. Funny because my husband doesn't
51:29
do anything with horses, but when I was like, should I go get
51:32
this Mustang? He's like, yeah, dude, OK.
51:37
Are you sure? I had no idea what I was doing.
51:40
But I think if he would have been like, I don't know if
51:42
that's a good idea, I would probably would have been like,
51:43
yeah, you're right. It's probably not a good idea.
51:46
You know, one of those decisions that you're just like, I'm just
51:49
so happy that yeah, that we took that journey even though it was
51:52
hard and tricky and crazy. So that's really.
51:55
Cool. And I've looked into years ago,
51:58
looked at some of the auction sites and kind of looked into
52:01
actually adopting a BLM Mustang. But at that time and I, I don't
52:07
know if I knew that they had some of the programs of the like
52:09
the prison program and the some of the trainers that'll get them
52:13
to a certain point. And then you can adopt from,
52:16
from those trainers. I don't know, they probably had
52:19
them. I just wasn't aware of them.
52:20
But looking into it, I thought, I don't have a facility for one
52:24
of these horses. I can't, can't do this.
52:26
I would love to, but I don't, I don't think it was feasible.
52:29
And then I think it was 2017, I worked, I did some volunteer
52:34
work with a local group here that works with Mustangs and,
52:39
and veterans. And so I got to see a little bit
52:43
more of that side. So I've always kind of had a
52:45
draw to Mustangs. I just never, other than having
52:49
Whisper who was half Mustang, I always kind of had to draw to
52:53
him, but didn't really ever think it was going to be
52:55
something that that I could do. And so now I have my little
52:59
reservation Mustang. Yeah, no, I love that.
53:03
It's interesting the different ways they find this.
53:05
The other thing I was going to say that I think is really cool
53:07
is just how you guys have taken in so many horses who were kind
53:10
of in a bad position and just like that's so powerful because
53:15
you know, the rescues are great, but it is it is a lot on the
53:19
rescues. It is a lot of hard work.
53:21
It's really hard. So to see private homes just
53:24
kind of taking a chance on some horses.
53:26
Like that's really that was really cool to me also that that
53:29
you guys are willing to do that, like take a chance on these
53:32
horses that, you know, we don't even know if they can walk or
53:35
they'll be rideable or whatever and giving them that forever
53:38
home. That's really, really cool.
53:39
So something I think anybody could do, like the rescues don't
53:42
need to be doing everything. We can all kind of take a chance
53:45
on that horse that you know, maybe is is in your mind and
53:49
you're kind of feeling that draw towards.
53:51
So Yep, that's really. Cool.
53:53
Yeah. And they they just kind of found
53:55
us. And again, I don't know if it's,
53:57
you know, from working for the rescue when I was younger and
54:00
just kind of having a heart for that.
54:03
And you know, I'd take in every horse if I could, but I know
54:06
that's not feasibly possible, so.
54:08
Right. Yeah, I know.
54:09
I think a lot of us would. But we all have to live in
54:11
reality, unfortunately. Yeah, because.
54:13
We don't want them to end up in another, another bad situation
54:16
because our, our, our heart was too big, but right.
54:21
But yeah, it's, it's been a really cool journey with, with
54:24
all of these horses and really looking forward to the future
54:28
with all of them. And we, I did mention that we
54:31
had four in the in the beginning.
54:33
And so real quick, we did bring home another one.
54:38
He was not a rescue, but he came from another one of my husband's
54:42
clients. So yeah, really beginning to
54:46
think. Which is good.
54:46
It keeps them out of the rescue system.
54:48
Yeah. The client, this one's a 2 1/2
54:52
year old quarter horse gelding. The client's an older gentleman.
54:55
He, he rides for search and rescue and goes out quite a bit
54:59
alone. And so he wasn't sure that a
55:02
horse this young that he was prepared to, to do the training
55:06
and stuff with it. So he ended up selling him to us
55:10
and it's been so much fun because he's 2 1/2, He'll be 3
55:15
next month. And we think that Willow is
55:18
about that same age, she's just quite a bit smaller.
55:23
And to watch these two babies has been so much fun.
55:27
And they've brought out such a personality in Joe and Holiday.
55:32
Joe will be 25 this year and Holidays 15.
55:35
And just to see these babies, the way that they play and the
55:39
way that they've gotten the two older geldings and just
55:42
watching, watching these four horses from 4 completely
55:47
different backgrounds just come together as a family and has
55:52
been so cool. I mean, I, yeah, that is, I walk
55:56
on my treadmill and the window overlooks the the pasture and
56:00
I'll just watch them while I'm walking and just, they'll play
56:04
and they're just so funny. And that's a really good way to
56:07
get to learn about horses too, is just to see how they interact
56:11
with each other and see the differences with Willow and kind
56:14
of that wild instinct in how she how she interacts in the herd
56:18
with, you know, three domestic horses is is you can really see
56:22
that it's. Funny.
56:23
And so it is really interesting. Yeah.
56:26
And I agree, just watching the horses is there's something
56:29
really cool about it. I'll like, take a book out and
56:32
sit by my horse and my husband's like, what are you doing?
56:34
Like, I don't know. It's just fun.
56:35
It's peaceful, just like a nice place to be.
56:38
It's a good little reset. So that's awesome.
56:40
The other thing I loved is when you're talking about training
56:43
whisper, like you're just saying all these little, you know,
56:46
steps. Like we got a saddle pad on her
56:48
and then a bareback pad. And I think that's such a cool
56:51
reminder is like, it really is all the little tiny steps that
56:55
you add up. And yeah, those are all little
56:58
victories that are going to lead to a really solid foundation.
57:00
So that's really cool that you kind of took on that approach.
57:03
I think some people, you know, want to get them home, get
57:06
started, get a saddle on them. And that's a lot for a horse to
57:09
take in. So yeah.
57:10
And it's been kind of over a year process and I am not a
57:14
horse trainer. I don't claim to be.
57:17
You know what I've I mean you. Are.
57:20
Not, not a professional and so just it's just from the learning
57:26
over the years and the the guidance from my husband, from
57:29
his his years. But it's been really cool
57:31
because I've done everything where with Whisper, we did a
57:35
little bit, but back then I didn't think I, you know, I'm
57:38
not a horse trainer. I'm not going to be the first
57:39
person to try to put a saddle on her.
57:41
I don't want to ruin her. And now it's like what?
57:45
I'm going to do everything. I want to put the first ride on
57:47
her when that time comes. And so this year we're hoping to
57:52
get her out on some trails just to to be ponied.
57:55
Like I said, she's she's only about 30 ends right now, so I'm
58:00
hoping that she'll get to about 14 Tis and whisper.
58:04
We're both 14 one and 14 two, so they were a little smaller.
58:07
But from what I've read the the Mustangs kind of can take a
58:10
little bit longer to to reach full.
58:12
It's almost a surprise what you're going.
58:14
To get yeah, yeah. And.
58:15
And it is. We have no idea.
58:17
And so I've told myself too, that we want a teacher.
58:20
There's some different things that if she doesn't get big
58:23
enough to for an adult to ride her, that I'd like to be able to
58:26
teach her to drive. And she'd definitely do some
58:29
packing. And so that, you know, she can
58:32
have a very fulfilled and usable life, maybe we'll throw some
58:35
kids on her or something like that to her.
58:37
Yeah. It doesn't always have to be
58:39
about just riding. You know, everybody can and
58:42
really should be a trainer for their horses, you know, learning
58:45
together, working together. So I think that's really cool
58:49
transformation. You kind of shared from just
58:51
being so unsure to being like, no, I can do this, I know how to
58:54
do this, and I think everybody can do that if you're willing to
58:57
put in the work and learn and be teachable.
59:00
Just knowing what can be and just having that positive of,
59:04
you know, we're gonna, we're going to try this.
59:06
What's what's the worst that can happen?
59:07
Well, what's what's the best that can happen?
59:09
Yeah. Really, so much of it is that
59:11
belief, like you have the same physical capabilities the whole
59:14
time. But when that belief changed and
59:16
I experienced the same thing, or it's like, yeah, when you can
59:18
change that belief or even just say, I don't know it all now,
59:21
but, you know, I'm willing to, like, figure it out.
59:23
I'm willing to find some mentors.
59:26
We can do a lot more than we often think that we're capable
59:28
of, whether it's with horses or just, like, in general.
59:31
Yeah, that's really neat how you're able to gain that.
59:33
And horses have been a big part for me of like overcoming fear
59:36
and having more confidence. Yeah, but so.
59:39
It's really cool and it's like, I don't even necessarily know
59:41
how it happened, but it's definitely, yeah, I can
59:44
attribute to them, yeah. Like where that light switch
59:47
turned on? Because even now like asking for
59:50
help and putting myself in, in situations where I'm a novice at
59:54
this, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to go
59:56
anyways and I'm going to learn or, you know, doing some of the,
1:00:00
the roping is big around here. A lot of, you know, rodeo type
1:00:04
stuff. And whether or not I ever do
1:00:06
some of this stuff with, with my horses, I'd like to learn about
1:00:09
it and have these opportunities, you know, go in and move in
1:00:12
cattle or stuff like that. And.
1:00:15
I've never done it before, but if somebody gives us the chance,
1:00:17
we'd love to do it and just keep having having that kind of that
1:00:21
that keep moving forward attitude.
1:00:23
I love that, that and just the idea of, you know, I don't know
1:00:27
everything. I am a novice.
1:00:28
That whatever, whatever you're endeavouring, I think really
1:00:31
opens any of us up for whatever we want to pursue to the growth,
1:00:35
to just be able to learn really good ways to accomplish what we
1:00:38
want to. Yeah.
1:00:38
Not of what did I read if it's something, not being afraid to
1:00:42
be bad at something for the first time or something along
1:00:47
those lines. Yeah, yeah, I've seen some of
1:00:49
those two. You kind of have to go in being
1:00:51
willing to be better, and then you figure it out and you learn
1:00:54
and you do better until, yeah, you're training your own Mustang
1:00:58
so anybody can do it. Thank you so much for being here
1:01:01
and so much for sharing your story.
1:01:03
I know a lot of hard, deep moments in there.
1:01:07
And it was really cool to just hear about how the horses were
1:01:10
kind of there walking beside you and such a big part of that.
1:01:13
And even despite those losses, which, you know, are still hard,
1:01:17
like those losses still stay with us.
1:01:18
How life can continue to be, to be beautiful and we can continue
1:01:22
to grow. And I think your story is really
1:01:25
inspiring. And just the way that you've
1:01:26
approached it and stuck with it and like created a really
1:01:29
beautiful life for yourself is really cool to see.
1:01:31
So thank you. For sharing, thank you.
1:01:33
Thank you for letting me. I've never really talked about
1:01:36
some of the things and you know, I obviously didn't go into to
1:01:39
depth about most things, but but just allowing me to to talk to
1:01:43
it, you know, hopefully anybody can resonate with it or, or get,
1:01:46
get something from it. Yeah, I think a lot of us
1:01:49
probably can and there are definitely things or is like, Oh
1:01:51
yeah, yeah, I know that. I know how that.
1:01:53
Goes that that's that's what I felt listening to a lot of
1:01:56
years. Well, I'm so glad you're here.
1:01:58
Glad to have you on board with Mustangs and thank you so much
1:02:01
for coming. Tell everybody that would like
1:02:04
to follow, maybe see pictures and videos of Willow, like where
1:02:07
can we find you? How can we support and connect
1:02:09
with you? And so mainly I'm on Instagram,
1:02:13
that's kind of my my favorite platform.
1:02:15
My handle is my dog and pony show.
1:02:18
And there's a the period in between each word.
1:02:21
And that's on Instagram. That's where I pretty much just
1:02:25
share horses, dogs, some updates on Willow.
1:02:29
The best thing? Yeah.
1:02:31
Yeah, so if anybody's interested and they want to follow along
1:02:33
there, I might kind of start getting a little more personal
1:02:37
on there, but who knows, we'll see.
1:02:39
And then also in my spare time I I hand braid tack reigns and
1:02:45
halters and breast collars and stuff.
1:02:46
So if they want to follow me on that platform, I'm on Instagram
1:02:51
and Facebook as you Bay Ranch Co.
1:02:54
And that's TWO. It was named lovingly after both
1:02:58
whisper and tizzy because both of them were practically
1:03:01
identical Bay horses. The only difference between them
1:03:04
was whisper was I'm just a little bit taller than than
1:03:07
tizzy. So that's kind of my my tribute
1:03:10
to them. I started doing that when see,
1:03:13
because when I got it is it was back in the the 90s, we had very
1:03:17
few options for tack stores or colors of any sort.
1:03:21
It was very, you know, minimal. And them being smaller horses, I
1:03:26
always had to modify stuff. So I always told myself I need
1:03:30
to learn to make things. And years and years later, I
1:03:32
finally started making things. And then my husband was like
1:03:36
what are you gonna do with all this stuff?
1:03:38
Cuz I just had random halters and things like I'm practicing.
1:03:42
So finally I set up an Etsy store and so I do sell it on
1:03:45
Etsy as well so. Cool.
1:03:46
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to check that out.
1:03:48
I'm always looking for good tech and cute stuff.
1:03:52
Well, yeah, and we'll include all that in the bottom so people
1:03:54
can find it easy. But thank you again so much for
1:03:57
being Yeah. Thank you so much, this was fun.
1:03:59
Thank you for joining us and learning about horses that heal
1:04:02
and the humans who help them. We hope you'll continue with us
1:04:05
on this journey. We'd love for you to subscribe
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1:04:11
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1:04:14
Please share with your friends anyone who loves horses or
1:04:16
anyone who might be struggling and could benefit from this
1:04:19
message. If you have felt the healing
1:04:21
power of horses or help them in their divinely appointed
1:04:25
mission, please reach out. We want to hear your story.
1:04:28
As we say goodbye, always remember that the horse is
1:04:31
always there to help you heal.