Latest / The Touch of a Mustang / 8 Kids and a Dream of Mustangs with Nicci Lynn | Episode 56

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8 Kids and a Dream of Mustangs with Nicci Lynn | Episode 56 · The Touch of a Mustang

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It's overwhelming if you think I have to be a professional before
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I start. You have to have a beginner's
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mindset and know I'm going to suck at Chapter 1 and I have to
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be OK with me sucking and I have to be OK with it being
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embarrassing and sloppy and ugly and not get discouraged by that.
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But go, OK, I'm learning and I'm going to I'm going to keep
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learning and eventually my sloppy ugly is going to start to
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get a little bit better. And that's one thing with
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anything I've done. There are people in every and
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it's not. And I feel like people say this
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about the horse world. People also said it about
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Photography World is you have two camps.
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You know, you have the people that are really great with the
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beginners and then you have the people that will just put them
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down. Everybody has to start
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somewhere. Everybody is going to be a
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beginner at this and be the person.
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If you are in Chapter 20 and you're looking at somebody at
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Chapter 1, be the person that makes them want to continue.
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Be the person that inspires them to do better instead of
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embarrasses them for being in Chapter 1.
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Because everybody's been in Chapter 1.
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Everybody. Nobody's born good at anything.
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And the people who are really doing well at it and feel secure
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in what they're doing get really excited about helping other
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people who are trying to to get into it and to start and, and
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starting where you're not good and things don't look pretty.
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There are healers on this planet with the power to soften the
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suffering of mankind if they have remained in the recesses of
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the world, abused, discarded and labeled as trash.
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This is the touch of a Mustang. I am your host.
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Shalise Clough and I'm here to tell the story of wild horses,
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Mustangs and the humans who are discovering and sharing their
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gifts while working to protect their well-being and preserve
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their spirit so this divine power won't be lost.
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Join us on this quest with the Wild Mustang.
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Nikki, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for being here.
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Thanks for having me, I'm excited.
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Yeah, it's going to be good. Talking about Mustangs and
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probably some of the craziness that goes on with Mustangs and
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having family. Absolutely awesome.
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So where did your where does your kind of story with horses
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start? When did you get first get
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involved with them? Like most little girls, you
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know, I feel like if you're a horse girl, you probably were
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born that way. It's a genetic thing.
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I don't know. It didn't run in my family.
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None of my family. Like we didn't have horses.
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I just was infatuated at an early age.
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And like I kind of said before, my parents were always
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supportive, even if it wasn't their flow, if it wasn't their
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lane. And that's something that they
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were really hard to allow me to enter into.
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I think I was 7 or 8 when I started writing at a local barn,
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and they paid for lessons. And when I was old enough to
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help out, I mucked stalls and hung out all Saturday and helped
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with writing lessons. I taught writing lessons for a
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little bit. And so I probably took lessons
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from 7:00 or 8:00 until 17 maybe.
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Of course, then it's like cars and boyfriends and everything.
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Yeah. That seems like a typical
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storyline, like the horses drop off and adolescence.
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Not sure if it was a wise decision at the time, but you
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know, it is what it is. But yeah, so I showed for the
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barns, rode barn horses, never owned my own horse.
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I had good friends with horses. We'd ride at their houses.
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I dabbled in mostly English unless I was at my friend's
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house. So I did hunter jumper seat.
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I did some dressage. I kind of just went all over the
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board with it. If it had to do with the horses,
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I was there it. Didn't matter too much what it
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was. No it didn't.
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It's awesome. So yeah, it started pretty
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young, so. It kind of dropped off in
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adolescence. How did you then find your way
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back and into the world of Mustangs it.
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Was decades later. Oh.
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My husband and I are high school sweethearts.
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We started dating when I was in high school and we got married
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age when I was 17. Agreed when I was 18 and we had
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our first baby. I was pregnant at 19, had him at
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20. So good job.
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I was just, you know, I thought we'll get back into it
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eventually. We thought maybe we'd have, you
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know, 2-3 kids Max. We have 8.
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That's why. And they were pretty much
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back-to-back. So we had eight kids in 12
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years. Wow.
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And. See, I thought I was wild, but
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you have it was 8. I look back and I'm like, I
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don't people are like how you, how did you do it?
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I don't know. You just do it.
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You put 1 foot in front of the other and you just do it.
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Exactly, Yeah. And of course, when you're
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living something out like that, it doesn't seem wild until
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you're looking back at it. And that that has to go with a
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lot of my life. I like being able to step back
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from it. You're like, wow, that's not
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conventional. But while you're doing it, it's
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it's what you're doing. So yeah, I took a a long break.
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And after my 8th was born, I was 34 when I had him and I started
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kind of thinking about it when he was a toddler and we had the
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land and we bought, we'd purchased the land in the house,
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we built the house and purchased the land when our second was
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when I was pregnant with our second.
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So we'd had it a while, but that was the intention was we wanted
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a country place so we can eventually do something like
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that. And out of a whim, my daughter
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and I kind of started seeing Mustangs.
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This is really cool. My oldest daughter at the time
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was 1615 or 16. And she's like, let's do this.
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And my parents were always the parents for me that would
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support that, that would wouldn't say, oh, you shouldn't
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do that. You can't do that.
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That's not something we should do.
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They were always the ones that that told me like, let's OK,
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let's figure it out. What does that look like?
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Let's figure out. Like, great, we got to do it.
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So I'm like, OK, but I don't go into things blindly.
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I do tend to research and sometimes I can get stuck there.
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But we went to a Mustang gentiline clinic that was near
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us and I don't even remember how I found it online for Googling
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things. I don't know.
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But I found one and we went and she wanted to adopt those two
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right off the bat. And I said we, we didn't have a
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barn, we didn't have a bin. I'm like, what are we going to
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put them in the garage? So that was March.
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By May we had a barn, a paddock and horses on the way.
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Wow. That's kind of how we moved on
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that, yeah. But a good lesson for her to
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realize, like there's work that goes on behind it before you can
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get to the fun part. And she helped me hand dig every
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single hole that that fence. We did not have a tractor.
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We had a hand hogger and then a gas powered hand auger that we
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used to do the entire pasture and the entire batter.
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The. Two of you did.
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The two of us did. That's incredible.
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Yeah, well, my husband was at work.
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That was just. We would be busy digging holes
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but. What a what a cool experience to
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have together. Like there's something cool
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about working with your kids and.
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Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Something.
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And that was over the 20. So we adopted them in 2021.
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So while it wasn't in the beginning of COVID, it was in
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kind of that still that lockdown, everybody's not doing
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anything. And we had decided to that point
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we were going to just make our home since we had to be there
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all the time anyway, like the coolest place we could possibly
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imagine. So we dug a pawn that year.
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We got horses. We did a lot of, again,
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unconventional stuff, but it made it a lot of fun.
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That was really fun. Where did you guys find the
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horses that you brought home? So again, I cannot remember how
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I found her Meg from Unbridled Ranch and she's become one of my
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very good friends. She had done, I think I started
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following her on Instagram. She was doing a red roan at the
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time. It was gorgeous little
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strawberry roan and another, I can't remember what the other
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one look like. And I thought, OK, reach out to
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her. And that was the first two
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horses I think she had ever tipped because she was a tip
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trainer back when that was part of the Mustang program.
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And I was like, we, we want horses, we want horses, how do
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we do this? And she was so great because,
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mind you, here we are a 16 year old and a 39 year old who are
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I've, I've, I had ridden, I had experience with horses, but it
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had been 20 years prior, outside of just some pleasure riding
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here and there, I hadn't ridden competitively or regularly.
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And I'd never owned a horse. And I probably would have told
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myself you're crazy. That's stupid.
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Probably shouldn't do that. Yeah.
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Those are the best things. Don't get 2 wild Mustangs that
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have never been handled before. But she kind of knew I was
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already set on it. She gave me all the information
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I needed to get. She was super helpful along the
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way. We could not have them at our
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house right off the bat because they were not tip trained.
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They did not. I don't know what the
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requirement is now for you to have them without 6 foot
8:24
fencing, but that time they had there was had to pick up all
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four feet. I think they had to load in the
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trailer. So they had tip trainers at the
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time. So she kept them.
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We picked them out down in at Falls Creek in Tennessee, I
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think is one of the holding facilities down there and we
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showed up. We showed up there, me and my
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daughter took our pickup truck and drove down there.
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Never met big before. Stayed at her house and then
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drove with her. She lived in Kentucky at the
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time. We drove down to Tennessee and
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we arrived. We didn't realize that we were
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picking out of horses, out of a Mustang Magic pen.
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So they were some really pretty colors.
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They were some flashier ones. They were made for people that
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were coming to pick up for Mustang Magic.
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And now that I know what that was and that Aaron kind of in
9:08
that world now, there was a couple of really cool trainers
9:10
there that I had no idea who they were at the time.
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We didn't. Even know to be impressed.
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No, I didn't, but they got first pick and the horse that I
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wanted, it was a Gruya, picked her out.
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You know, of course, domestic courses, you pick them out due
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to, you know, you ride them, you check their papers, you check
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all the conservation. It's like wild Mustangs.
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You go in and be like that one over there.
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That one looks good. Yeah, because you don't have
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that ability to do that, right. I picked out this Gruya as my
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first choice and then I got a second choice, third choice,
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fourth choice based on the photos that Falls Creek had
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posted and they all went all of them.
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So we were kind of down to because we got last pick, we
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were down to what was left and I just couldn't make a decision.
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And then I get a call in the middle of all this that my third
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born and 4th born were in AT bone accident like a car T-bone
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and they were getting sent to get looked at and I am spiral
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and Meg was so like one of our I think our main hinges of our
10:10
friendship came from she prayed over me and it was in that
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moment that's what I needed. It really was.
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So it all just went Craig and all of a sudden I'm thinking,
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what horse am I going to pick now?
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I'm thinking my kids are, you know, I'm in Tennessee.
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My kids are back in Illinois. They've been in an accident.
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They were OK, but you're still kind of shaken up.
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And come to find out the Gruya that I picked had an injury
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under fat lock, a pretty big gaping injury, probably from a
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trailer getting them in and out through the shoe.
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And the Mustang magic trainer that picked them didn't think A,
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they didn't know if it would heal up without stitches.
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And of course, at this point we have an unhandled horse.
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So what are the probably actually getting stitches?
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B, you would add time and you have 100 days.
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So it wasn't a good choice for her.
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She defaulted that to us and said, do you want do you want
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her? And I said absolutely.
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So they, you know, loaded him up, scared him into the trailer
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because at that point that was pretty much all he can do within
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this point. That was pretty accurate about
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what you do. Yeah, I.
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Mean you flag them in, you know that's the only way they can go.
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It was pretty uneventful, but it was just a crazy day in my mind
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just because of all the the new excitement and then the car
11:16
wreck and everything. So it was, it was a very
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eventful day. It was a character film.
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About yeah. So how did that go with the
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injury on the gorilla? It was.
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And of course, most of the story, you know, you look back
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hindsight's 2020 and it's you see God's hand in it all but
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fine, nothing came of it. So Meg had our horses for 30
11:36
days because they have to be, they had just meet requirements
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to come home to our house because we had five foot fencing
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and she had 6 foot fencing, right?
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And she cut me, posted the whole way and said everything's
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looking good. You know, it's healing up.
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It doesn't look infected my horse.
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So the so we got two horses that day.
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I got one in my daughter. Mine was agreed and hers was a
11:54
BAE. And my horse was actually the
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first horse to pick her feet up and she was ready to go before
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my daughter's horse was ready. And she was a little bit tricky
12:03
with her feet, and that was the only stumbling block there, but
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we hit it. I want to say it was 30 days,
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maybe it'd been a little bit more.
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But Meg drove them up first. We didn't have a trailer.
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We had no way of transporting them.
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So she transported them up for us.
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And actually, that's what she does now.
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She transports Mustangs when people adopt them and transfer
12:21
them to wherever they need to go.
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So she did that for us and dropped them off.
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And that was, I believe July, because it was a couple days
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before my husband's birthday. It was in July, so from March,
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so nothing to May adopting horses to July of having them in
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our house. It was a world.
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It was, but in 2021, yeah. It sounds like did your daughter
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have any experience with horses before this So.
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My daughters, I have four daughters and the older three
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took writing lessons close to us for maybe a year or two prior to
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that with a friend of mine. And so we actually, I don't even
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think we told the girl that we were doing riding less with that
12:55
we were getting because I figured everybody's just gonna
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think I'm crazy and try to talk. About me?
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Crazy. They probably would have tried
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to talk you out. I had lots of people trying to
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talk me out of just the idea of getting a Mustang.
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Yeah, yeah. And, and again, I can see where
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this looks really stupid on paper.
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And most, we'll tell you like do not match somebody who doesn't
13:13
know what they're doing with a horse that is even green, let
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alone completely on hand. So I'm not, I am not advocating
13:22
that. I don't think that's for
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everybody. I know my personality and I knew
13:27
that if I believed I could do it and I put in the work that that
13:30
we would get it done regardless. I'm stubborn.
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Oh, we, we did it and my daughter did along with me and
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it worked out. It worked out well, did.
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You have any doubts as you're going through this process kind
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of doing that's a? Loaded.
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That's a loaded, yes, but it was, it wasn't doubts like long
13:50
term doubts. It was in the moment.
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What would? What am I doing?
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How do we figure this out? What did I get myself into?
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But it was never, I shouldn't have done this.
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It was just like anything. When you hit those hard spots,
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you always second guess. Or at least I feel like I do.
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Maybe not everybody. But I think it's as.
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Confident as I seem, and I feel you always, I always hit spots
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where I'm like, OK, I don't know what I'm doing and I have to
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figure this out because I'm already in it.
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Yeah, but that's I'm. That's part of putting faith
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over fear is you have to just step out in that faith 1st and
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worry about the house and wins later.
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Is that smart all the time? Probably not, but it's better
14:31
than being stuck never doing what you really want to do,
14:34
yeah. For sure.
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I definitely agree. I think we stop ourselves from a
14:38
lot of great things because we imagine the worst instead of
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just, yeah, taking a step, seeing where it goes.
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And so you get the horses home. Was it like you imagined?
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How did that all go once they were home?
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So 2021 I got to think back this has been a bit.
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So 2021, my son child got married about two weeks before
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he got married was our first sit I could get on.
15:04
We had saddled, we gotten over saddling.
15:05
So Meg did the tip trains when they came to us.
15:07
They could lift feet, they could load into a trailer and they
15:11
could be, they could be led by a halter.
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That was the extent of the tip training.
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Meg did a great job. But when they came to us, we're
15:18
different people and the only exposure that these horses have
15:21
had had been with her and occasionally I think her
15:24
husband. So it wasn't, it wasn't that we
15:28
started from Ground Zero, but we definitely didn't start where we
15:31
didn't pick up where she left off.
15:33
We definitely was a reverting back several steps.
15:36
So we got them leading again. We got them to trust us with
15:40
their feet. We started work with a saddle
15:43
and I will tell you what we started with a gifted saddle.
15:46
This gifted saddle was an old western pleasure show saddle.
15:50
And if you know anything about western pleasure shows, they are
15:53
500 lbs of metal and leather. I'm exaggerating, but still,
15:58
when you're close and you're holding a saddle of bubble
16:01
horses, you know, and bring it up and set it down because you
16:03
don't just plop it up there, you.
16:05
Swing them up there swinging it. We got to work out.
16:08
We definitely got to work out. And I finally decided like we've
16:11
got to go. We've got to find something a
16:14
little easier than that. So we went and bought $175
16:18
fabric Weaver used. I don't think we ever even rode
16:22
in it. It was just one we we could toss
16:24
up and down real easy to get him used to it.
16:26
We got him cinched, we got him running with it, and then it was
16:30
OK, what's next? Now we got to get used to having
16:33
somebody on their back, and that was right before my son's
16:36
wedding, and I had great success the first time I got up on her.
16:40
But I am a little bit impatient and if I feel like this is
16:43
working, I'll just go with it. I've been my muck boots.
16:46
I had no intention of doing this, so I'm not putting my feet
16:49
in the stirrups because that would be stupid.
16:51
I do know that I've got rubber grippy boots on and I don't want
16:53
to get my foot stuck and, you know, the whole 9 yards.
16:56
So I'm up there, everything's great, get down, elated,
17:00
completely elated. About a day or two goes by and
17:03
we're doing the whole thing again.
17:04
Something hits her butt in the process and she takes off and I
17:08
don't have my feet in the stirrups.
17:10
My husband has no control over the situation.
17:12
She's just doing like laps around this little round pin
17:16
that we have. And I'm looking.
17:17
I'm going OK, where do I bail? Do I bail because I'm not
17:19
staying at all? I'm 39 years old.
17:22
I haven't fallen off a horse in forever.
17:23
I'm trying to find the best way to land in my head and not kill
17:28
myself. And I landed.
17:30
My husband said your feet touched before you're like, I
17:33
have my feet over my head. It was, it was a oh, my
17:37
goodness, rough landing. And so I got a little bit
17:40
bruised up on that my back. I needed to take a week off, but
17:43
my son's wedding was like in a month.
17:45
And I said, I can't, I can't break my arm or anything like
17:48
that. Maybe.
17:48
I shouldn't do this right before a huge family event.
17:51
We. Took a break and then got back
17:54
at it the next spring because that was October, end of
17:57
October. And at that point it got muddy,
17:59
it got gross. We did not have the footing to
18:01
do something safely with with untrained horses.
18:05
And so we picked up again and then 2022 and that's when we
18:07
really got a good foundation on my horse.
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I mean, Outer source is a little bit different.
18:12
It's a little bit over way different personalities.
18:15
And she sent hers to a trainer, which was the best thing that
18:18
she could have done with hers. Yeah.
18:19
So many good points you bring up in there that are things like
18:22
you don't think about when you think you're going to bring a
18:25
horse home, especially a Mustang, like all the different
18:28
variables, you know, from like the tack and gear and like
18:31
what's going to work best for you to like them coming home
18:34
from a trainer mean like, well, you're a totally different
18:37
person. You have different experiences,
18:39
a different approach probably. And you know, then even the
18:43
weather and all these different variables that are going to kind
18:46
of impact the experience and how long it takes and, and all the
18:50
progress and goals after you had your crazy second ride or set,
18:57
like how are you feeling? Were you like, I'm I'm fine,
19:00
we're going to do this again. Was it a little what am I doing?
19:03
I. Guess did you?
19:05
So did you ride growing up? Where you did you ride as a
19:08
young child or teenager? Yeah.
19:11
OK. So you probably know, at least
19:13
in my anecdotal experience here, when you're a teenager, you I
19:17
would hop on anything and I didn't think about it.
19:19
And you know everything, and you know how to do everything.
19:22
And I wasn't I was never capable of dying right.
19:25
You know it was I wouldn't ask is this horse broke?
19:28
Does this horse know how to do this?
19:29
Is this horse rear Does this horse buck I would just OK can
19:32
pick and wear a saddle awesome. It's right, which was probably a
19:35
mix of ignorance and overconfidence maybe.
19:39
But it worked and I was OK. It worked out.
19:41
But as a 39 year old mom of eight who you know, has taken
19:47
care of kids and knows her mortality, it scared me a little
19:51
bit because I little higher. Yeah, I thought I felt like I
19:57
broke my back. I didn't.
19:59
But I you know, I'm thinking this is I don't want to hurt
20:03
myself. And this is AI mean even in
20:05
under the best circumstances with trained horses, it is a
20:08
dangerous sport. That being said, depending on
20:10
what your passion is, there's always.
20:13
A risk for reward for stuff. And I, I still this day know
20:16
that it's a dangerous sport. I know that's a dangerous sport
20:18
with my kids. But at the same point, if you
20:20
are passionate about that, that is a risk you're willing to
20:22
take. And I'm, I would rather end my
20:25
life and say not in but but at the end of my life, be able to
20:28
look back and say I took those chances and I may not have
20:31
coming out perfectly and I may not come have come out with a,
20:34
you know, not scarred body, but I did those things on it.
20:38
I'd much rather that than live to 100 and never do any of those
20:41
things. So it's, you know, some people's
20:44
thrill is riding motorcycles and they feel dead without it.
20:47
Some people's thrill is skydiving.
20:48
Some people's thrill is taking the trash out.
20:51
If you know your level, it just depends on what your your thing
20:54
is. And my but I did it was an eye
20:56
opening experience that OK, what do I need to what do I need to
21:02
do to make myself as safe as possible?
21:04
But also what where is my mind need to be that I'm not always
21:07
going to be afraid that something's going to happen.
21:10
And I have I think every time you you get near a horse that's
21:13
not specifically trained, you know, easy broke or kid broke or
21:16
grandma broke, you have to talk yourself through that, you know,
21:19
or if you've had a wreck recently.
21:21
And that's not something I remember as a teenager going
21:23
through. If I, if I took a fall or a
21:25
stumble, it was like, oh, OK, you dust yourself off, get back
21:27
on you. Yeah.
21:29
It's wild how it's. An adult, you know, it's a
21:32
little bit more of a struggle, but still you have to be able to
21:35
get back up there when you're physically able to get back up
21:38
there and and do it again. Otherwise you just let that fear
21:41
you alive and you can't. That's not a way to live.
21:43
I don't want to live that way. Yeah.
21:45
That's cool. So like what happened with your
21:48
next ride, your next attempt, or?
21:50
So my horse was really good about lunging with a rider.
21:54
And I know, again, that's one of those things you have to know
21:56
your horse and you have to know their ability to respond to a
21:59
halter or a bridle or wherever you're you're lunging with, you
22:02
were lunging with a halter at the time and your ability to
22:05
control it. And Amber, so my horse is named
22:07
Amber. I agree.
22:07
Yeah, Amber was really good at responding to face pressure.
22:10
So if she got overly stimulated or spooked or scared about
22:14
something, as long as you like kept her and pulled her back,
22:17
she would come back to you. So she was she would, she gets
22:20
scared easily. She still sometimes gets scared
22:22
of silly things, but we'll come back to you.
22:24
She doesn't overreact. It's not like she rears up and
22:27
you know, throws herself on the ground.
22:29
Now my daughter's horse is a little bit more of a bigger
22:31
reactor, but set her off. So knowing the difference in the
22:35
horse, I said we need to start with a lunge line.
22:38
I think that would be your best bet.
22:40
And my husband doesn't lunge. And my SO my second youngest
22:43
daughter, my 14 year old said, well, I'll do it.
22:45
And I would rather be in control of the horse.
22:48
She didn't know how to control the horse, but she definitely
22:50
could sit it like she could sit out more bucks than I thought
22:53
this horse was willing to put up, especially since I've been
22:56
on her and I had ridden around. Only thing she did with me is
22:59
just took me for like a little crow hopping thing around the
23:02
pen at a fast speed. But had somebody been there to
23:04
hold her hold on George, I don't think it would have been as as
23:07
big of a reaction. And so I said OK.
23:10
And we did get her first technical ride with my it was my
23:13
14 year old sitting. I had the lunge line and of
23:15
course the minute she felt the bounce on the back, which is I
23:18
think what spooked her with me on her last time.
23:21
She's kind of took off and I was able to kind of pull her back to
23:24
me. And that session ended so well
23:27
once she realized that that bouncing was not anything that
23:30
was going to kill her. It was just that weight kind of
23:33
being redistributed in the saddle.
23:35
She's like, oh, OK. And if you look at the the
23:37
clips, because we did that whole thing recorded, if you look at
23:40
the clips from the very beginning to the end of the
23:43
session, which was like 20 minutes long.
23:45
It wasn't even that long. It was a totally different
23:47
horse. She's like, oh, OK, cool.
23:49
That was that wasn't something to panic about.
23:52
And then after that it was pretty, you know, she was, she's
23:55
really smooth. I mean, she's a really smooth
23:58
horse. So even Faith, who was used to
24:00
riding some very well trained like 1D barrel horses, said
24:04
she's, she feels like butter compared to some of the ones
24:07
I've been on. So it was kind of cool to to
24:11
kind of see it all come together pretty quickly.
24:13
That's cool. And then how are things going
24:15
with the Bay during this time? So the Bay trying to think if I
24:20
don't think at that point she'd made it to the trainer.
24:22
We had done some saddle. She she bucked like a buck and I
24:26
mean, she booked like a rodeo bucker once the saddle was on,
24:28
she did not like the feel of that saddle.
24:31
My daughter did that and I realized with her, her reactions
24:34
were way different. And I said, I, I don't, I can't
24:37
do this. I shouldn't say to you, I'm not
24:40
willing to do this and I'm not willing to let you do this.
24:42
So we need to bring in some help.
24:43
So she actually had Hey girls Mustangs, which is Audrey and I
24:48
can't remember where she's at now.
24:49
She might be in Kentucky as well.
24:50
Took her for three or four months and she did a really good
24:54
job with her and she came home and the problem with her now is
24:59
that my daughter, so my daughter's just recently
25:01
married. She's moved out, so I still have
25:03
her. What I need to do is probably
25:04
just trade her off. I just at this point, so I
25:08
don't, I know horses are move and sell.
25:11
I know people she's not a good fit for the kids I have at home
25:15
because the kids I have at home are not, I don't, I don't feel
25:18
comfortable with them handling her.
25:19
She is a really good horse, but she needs a really confident
25:23
writer and I just don't have that.
25:25
I don't have the time for more than one horse with eight kids
25:28
and all that. Yeah, I know it's hard to find
25:30
the time. So, but I've I've yet to do that
25:33
just because I know I know how horses end up the pipeline and
25:37
I'd rather her be a companion to my animal and and us use her how
25:41
we use her, which is as a pet at the moment, yeah, then her we.
25:46
Have some big pets also. I know, you know, I just, I
25:50
really don't want to end up, I don't want to do right by her.
25:52
She's a great horse. She'll make a great horse for
25:54
somebody, but it has to be the right fit for her.
25:57
So right now we, we solely ride Ember, my daughter's horse, the
26:00
BAE. She named her V8 because she's a
26:03
Mustang. So we call her V.
26:05
And so she just kind of hangs out with us when we do stuff.
26:08
And. Yeah, yeah.
26:09
That's cool. Do you think you'll do it again?
26:13
You know, I've, I've talked to my husband.
26:14
I'm like, you need a horse? He's not a horse guy.
26:17
Yeah, mine neither. So I mean, he, he loves my
26:21
horses and he will ride with me occasionally, but it's not
26:24
something that he's super, it's not his thing, he.
26:28
Doesn't get the passion. Yeah, eventually I would.
26:33
So we have, our barn has three stalls at the moment.
26:35
So we have two, two horse and they aren't stalled ever, but
26:39
they have a stall. We have two, two of them with
26:41
horses and then the other one is our hay stall because we don't
26:44
have a hay loft. It's like a run in shelter that
26:46
are stalls instead of run insurance, if that makes sense.
26:49
So we don't have the space right now to get many more than two.
26:53
Yeah, we had a third horse for a little while, but she passed
26:56
away. So we've always talked about
26:58
about doing it again. But to be completely honest, I
27:01
would love to. I don't have the time for it
27:03
right now. Yeah, and.
27:05
Struggle to find the time for my to make me and myself as
27:07
consistent as I need to be with my own horse.
27:10
And I hate to. I'd hate to not feel like I was
27:14
doing justice if I got another one.
27:16
So right now, no. In the future, never say never,
27:19
yeah. Yeah, no, that's smart though.
27:22
And it's good to, you know, realize your limits, that you're
27:25
not getting in over your head. That's definitely important,
27:28
especially with Mustangs and all that they can entail and like
27:32
you say, like the huge variance of the horse that you may get
27:35
and what it might require of you, whether that's financial or
27:38
time or learning any of those things.
27:40
So definitely important. What are some of the kind of
27:44
lessons and takeaways you took from bringing Mustangs into
27:47
life? It's a there's a lot of
27:49
confidence that you start off with none because you just don't
27:52
know. And you don't know if you know,
27:54
you hope it's going to work out, but you just you never know
27:56
what's going to happen. And you never know if if I try
27:59
this, is this going to go well? Is this going to be something at
28:01
the end that I'm going to go, OK, that worked out.
28:03
And obviously you can always adjust course and make it go
28:06
that route. But you know, looking back, it's
28:09
like, OK, I've trained, I've trained a wild horse from
28:11
scratch myself. Like we've we've done Ember
28:13
completely up here on our own. And I'm not a horse trainer and
28:17
I have don't have the background in horse training.
28:19
I mean, we did some a little bit of trading work when I growing
28:23
up riding, but it was very minimal.
28:25
And I thought it in my mind, I thought it was more than what it
28:29
was. Because I think when you get get
28:32
finished horses, when you're riding finished horses and even
28:34
halfway finished horses, it doesn't require the amount of
28:38
horsemanship knowledge that Mustangs do or that training a
28:42
horse does or that starting a cold does.
28:44
And I even domestic colds the world opened up to me when I
28:48
started realizing all of the stuff that went into getting
28:52
them desensitized, getting them used to stuff, getting them
28:56
where they're not spooking at everything without, you know,
28:58
flooding them. All of these things.
29:00
I had no idea back when I used to write, had I had that been
29:04
taught to me along with just heels down, chin up, you know,
29:09
shoulders back looks great, you know, smoother transition.
29:12
Ask for for the flying lead change.
29:14
If the mechanics of writing, if the mechanics of horsemanship
29:18
were taught along with the mechanics of riding in most
29:21
horseback riding lessons, I think your outcome would be
29:23
totally different. Yeah, I agree.
29:25
I think you're really right. We teach such limited
29:28
information about horses with the assumption that you're going
29:31
to have a horse that doesn't need you to be very present or
29:34
knowledgeable about about them. And yeah, kind of teach some
29:39
very basic different mechanics for riding, but not necessarily
29:42
for your interactions with horses.
29:44
It's very true. So, yeah, so my confidence in my
29:46
horsemanship went up even when I didn't think it needed to, I
29:50
guess is the that sounds arrogant, but, you know, like it
29:53
was ignorance. I didn't know what I didn't know
29:55
back then. Yeah.
29:56
And I thought what? You know, you, you start getting
29:59
into this stuff and in this day and age, right, with Google and
30:02
YouTube and, you know, and I laugh.
30:04
I always say I'm YouTube educated, but it's in the same
30:07
sense you can you can learn a world of information easier than
30:12
you ever could in any time in history.
30:14
And I have a love hate relationship with the Internet.
30:16
Trust me, same. I really do.
30:19
Sometimes I talk to my cousin like I really wish I would have
30:21
raised you in the 80s and 90s because I.
30:22
Know can we just go back in time that way?
30:24
I do need my Google Maps. But then I think, OK, if I
30:27
wanted to learn all this stuff, I'd have to go check books out
30:29
from the library, which would have been 1.
30:31
You know, we're at a small town. I mean, the town that we live in
30:33
is 400 people and we don't even live in town.
30:36
So, you know, it's just one of those where the world is at my
30:41
fingertips, good and bad. But if?
30:44
You choose to. Look for the good in it.
30:46
You can really open up a world of education and learn off the
30:50
backs of, you know, Buck Branaham and all the.
30:53
Other the best. Yes and for free, right.
30:56
Like, I can't even imagine getting that knowledge in any of
30:59
my barns, even if you, if I look at the wisest people there and I
31:02
respect the barns that I wrote at.
31:03
But having an unlimited access to that person was not, you
31:07
know, you got him for an hour, your trainer you got for an hour
31:10
a couple times a week, once a week.
31:12
And even then it was again, more focused on your riding and your,
31:17
you know, showmanship than it was about the horse itself.
31:20
And learning that is, I think, crucial.
31:23
I think it should be taught together.
31:26
I. Agree.
31:26
I wish that it was more and I wish that, you know, sometimes
31:29
kids had horses that were not, you know, they had to do a
31:32
little bit of work to to kind of get that relationship going.
31:35
Because when you have a horse that's just kind of been there,
31:38
done that, you know, gone through kids or people, then
31:41
yeah, it's a totally different experience than a Mustang that
31:44
you really need to build a relationship with.
31:46
And like you say, you have to know the differences in the
31:49
horses and how they're going to react.
31:50
And I found the same thing. Like, I didn't even think about
31:53
most of that stuff until I got a Mustang.
31:56
You know, it's just kind of like they're misbehaving.
31:58
This is how you correct it. And beyond that, you know, hop
32:02
on and ride. And it grows you at 100% grows
32:05
you I, I would hope, I don't think it's for everybody.
32:08
And I'm not trying to say a Mustang is for everybody, but
32:11
stuff, when you get that experience it, it makes it
32:14
really makes you aware of things that you would never be aware
32:18
about before. Just like they in the wild have
32:21
to be aware of everything around just for their own survival.
32:23
When you're dealing with an unhandled horse, you have to be
32:26
aware and the there's little things, so much, so much stuff
32:30
I've learned about just body language.
32:32
And it's amazing to me that you can change nothing with the
32:36
intention in your mind and your horse can pick up on it.
32:39
And that's something, again, anecdotal evidence here, but
32:42
with my riding with domestic horses was not a skill they had.
32:47
Or if they did, I didn't notice it.
32:49
And if or if they did, it wasn't as as sensitive.
32:51
Yeah, but I'm talking the two Mustangs that we've got.
32:53
The Mustangs that I've been around are sensitive to where
32:56
your eye contact is. You know, if you're if you're
33:00
slightly above ahead of their driveline or 1/4 inch behind
33:03
their driveline. It's so minute that you can
33:06
almost like think the thought and because you thought the
33:09
thought you make a slight difference and I don't even know
33:11
what the difference I made was but the most.
33:13
Picked up. Yeah.
33:14
It's crazy. So true, though.
33:15
They are so in tune to everything that's happening that
33:18
you're like, I didn't even realize I was feeling nervous,
33:21
but they could tell that I was feeling nervous.
33:23
And that totally changes the experience.
33:25
And it's, it's been, it's funny, I just had my dog.
33:28
So my second daughter is now 17 and she was writing Amber the
33:33
other day. And I said, you're not, you're
33:35
not looking where you're going. How is she supposed to know?
33:38
And she said, well, she's not going to know because I'm
33:39
looking. And of course she's looking the
33:41
other way and it's OK. You know, she didn't, she didn't
33:43
pick up a feel in the rain. It wasn't, it was just probably
33:46
a slight balance adjustment in the seat that she felt.
33:49
And it was like, OK, we're going, we're going that way now.
33:52
I said, you're, she's not, you're having a hard time.
33:54
You're, you're pulling on her more than you should because
33:56
you're not looking in the direction you're going.
33:58
It was wild. It was.
33:59
Really cool. It's neat to see them.
34:00
It's so good for kids to just realize the way you present
34:04
yourself to the world then reflects back and impacts how
34:09
kind of the world reacts to you so.
34:12
I've always I've, I don't know if this is true, I didn't Fact
34:14
Check this, but I've read several sources that you could.
34:17
Your horse will sink their heartbeat to yours within like
34:20
an 8 foot, I want to say radius, which is crazy to me.
34:24
And I know there's been research done on just the impact and
34:28
there was relationship between horses and humans.
34:30
And if you look at some studies, it's wild.
34:33
It is really wild. And it's, you know, they're used
34:35
for therapy. I've never used them for therapy
34:37
and I've never actually been a part of that.
34:39
That would be really cool to see.
34:40
But I have heard stories about that that blow my mind sometimes
34:44
about just how that reflection of your own emotions can be such
34:49
a big thing. Yeah, it's really incredible.
34:51
It's almost like a different world, you know, like one we
34:55
don't see until you can kind of slow down and tune yourself into
34:58
it, and then it's pretty amazing.
35:01
Yeah. I mean, it's almost like an
35:02
invisible world that that it all, it comes to the physical
35:05
sense. When you're there, you don't see
35:07
it, you don't hear it, but all the sudden you get a horse there
35:09
and you're like, oh, there it is.
35:10
It's there. Yeah, yeah, it's very tangible
35:13
when you're feeling it, but kind of hard to explain or to create
35:19
in any other way. Yeah, for sure.
35:21
So what did your husband think about all this?
35:23
Like let's go get some wild horses and bring them home.
35:27
I. Had the best husband in the
35:29
entire world. I feel like it's he is
35:33
definitely my opposite, but in a good way.
35:37
He's always been one where I will bring him a crazy, wicked
35:41
idea and he'll be like, cool, awesome.
35:43
Like no big reaction. No, like, are you nuts?
35:46
He's an enabler. Just kidding you.
35:49
Shouldn't do that. Yeah, no, I mean, he's never,
35:53
like, on board with it. Let's go.
35:55
This is awesome. But he's always supportive.
35:58
It's always me with the crazy ask and it's always him that
36:03
figures out a way so that we can do it because I've done some,
36:09
I've come to him. We, we built our first house
36:11
when I was 19 from a from a drawing.
36:15
I drew on a piece of paper. Oh my goodness.
36:17
And like, this is the house I want.
36:18
My dad was a contractor. I drew it out on a drafting
36:21
board and had like the walls and we built that house.
36:24
Wow, that's awesome. And then two years later, I
36:27
wanted land and I said we should do this again.
36:29
So I was 21, I think, when we built the building, this house.
36:33
And yeah, again, I brought him a piece of paper and this is what
36:36
I want the outside of the house to look like.
36:38
This is where the rooms are going to be.
36:39
OK, cool. Let's do this.
36:41
Yeah, that is really neat though, so.
36:43
He's been super supportive. If I told him I wanted to bring
36:46
another one, he would probably question my sanity, but he'd
36:49
probably he'd probably. Yeah, it'd be all right.
36:53
Anyway, yeah. I keep telling him we need to
36:55
have. I want, I want a Palomino out
36:57
there. I really love Blue Rome.
37:00
You just kind of have to. Yeah, you need one of each
37:02
color, right? At least some color variation
37:05
out there. Yeah, that is the fun thing with
37:07
Mustangs is you don't really know what you're getting.
37:09
There's some small hints you can look at, but yeah, on that it's
37:13
kind of just choose your own adventure and see where it goes.
37:18
And Even so how they act, when we picked up our horses, we kind
37:21
of were looking at how they were acting to other horses in the,
37:24
in the, you know, corrals with them.
37:26
They were in with maybe 5 or six horses apiece and how they were
37:29
acting. But you're getting a 15 minute
37:32
glimpse of a very not normal situation.
37:35
They're they're putting with horses.
37:37
They, they just arrived in a trailer with and are now in a
37:39
new place, you know, and they're 24 hours out from that.
37:42
So they're not what you're going to see all the time.
37:44
And personality wise, I don't think I had any clue about what
37:49
1 was over the other. They didn't look mean, they
37:51
didn't look crazy, but they also I did was not able to
37:55
distinguish. This one is going to be the one
37:57
that reacts bigger but to less things.
37:59
And that was just something we figured out working with them.
38:02
They are just two totally different personalities.
38:04
Yeah, it's definitely a journey and a process, which is part of
38:08
what is so cool about it because it's not a horse you're jumping
38:11
on and riding, it's a horse that you're really, like you said,
38:15
you're going to learn and grow together and and find out a lot
38:19
along the way and need to use all that vast information that's
38:22
online now. Yeah, yeah.
38:24
And it's when you're making your own horse and not buying your
38:27
own horse. I will say there's advantages to
38:29
not having to work with problems other people have put in them
38:33
because, you know, riding at Barnes, there's always that
38:36
horse that they always put the beginners on.
38:38
That is, it's dull, won't do anything, but still has all
38:42
those, OK, well, this is what you have to do with this one
38:44
because that's just the way they are.
38:46
And they've been like that for 10 years.
38:47
You've got kids pulling their mouths, they're not sensitive.
38:49
So even the horse that's been ridden and started, and in a way
38:55
I probably, you know, the leverage of my legs, how I use
38:59
my seat is going to be different from who trained them.
39:01
You know, hopefully I ride decently enough that it's not
39:03
going to be that much worse. But when you have some other
39:06
people trained how far forward you put your foot when you're
39:08
asking them for a front, you know your height, your front
39:11
move over and and how far back you put your your back when
39:14
you're asking for a high end yield it it all depends.
39:16
And when you're doing it yourself, you're getting a horse
39:19
that's super sensitive you because you're more consistent
39:21
than what if everybody in the world's riding your horse.
39:24
Yeah, so. That is a definite benefit.
39:26
Like you are able to teach them the way that's going to work for
39:29
the two of you. And yeah, every, every horse is
39:32
still not, you know, mechanical creation.
39:34
They all have feelings and emotions and experiences that
39:38
are going to come come with them, which like you're saying,
39:40
if we could teach most of the people interested in horses that
39:43
a little bit earlier, a little bit more, it would be really
39:45
good for the horse world as a whole.
39:48
Yeah. And good for the horse that
39:49
they're using. And that because how I've been,
39:52
I've been on horses where you've had to train out bad, not bad
39:57
behavior, but just learned behavior because every time you
40:00
ride a horse, you're teaching them.
40:01
Yeah, yeah. And when you've got a lot, a lot
40:05
of people riding horses, you're going to have a lot of variables
40:07
going in and, and that is 1. Nice thing with the Mustangs is
40:10
they are in clean slate. You're not working against
40:13
anything else that may not have been.
40:14
Now that being said, you and you know, I was always scared like,
40:18
am I going to mess up? Am I going to am I going to make
40:20
this right? Am I going to do right by this?
40:22
And I think you probably could totally mess up if you really
40:24
tried, but you do realize that it's not.
40:26
You don't have to get it perfect every time.
40:28
You can learn this as you go. You can touch things up.
40:31
You don't have to have it all figured out when you start.
40:34
You can step out, learn, grow, get to a point where you're
40:38
stuck, step out. But again, learn, grow, get to a
40:41
point. You don't have to know.
40:42
You don't have to know Z to get started with me.
40:44
It's just not necessary. And almost anything that you do,
40:47
yeah. That's huge.
40:48
Yeah, because if you look at, I mean, if you went into it
40:51
knowing, thinking that I have to know, I have to be Buck before I
40:56
start, you're never gonna start. You know, it's it's not.
41:00
Yeah, you get inspired and you learn this step and then you go,
41:04
OK, well, I need to be better. And you take the next step and
41:07
you learn, then you try and then you grow.
41:09
And then you get stuck there for a second and go, OK, I need to
41:11
be better. And you take another step and
41:13
you, you know, you try and you learn and you grow and you're,
41:16
you have to get to the end goal. And really there's never an end
41:19
goal one step at a time. You're not, you're not flying to
41:22
that end step. You're not ending up in chapter
41:23
20 after doing, you know, reading your, your first
41:26
chapter. You are taking it step by step.
41:29
And it can be anything that you do, especially when there's not
41:32
an end goal and there's not. It's like a lifelong thing that
41:35
you're never going to get to arrived at.
41:38
It's overwhelming. If you think I have to be a
41:40
professional before I start, you have to have a beginner's
41:43
mindset and know I'm going to suck at Chapter 1.
41:47
I have to be OK with me sucking and I have to be OK with it
41:49
being embarrassing and sloppy and ugly and not get discouraged
41:53
by that. But go OK, I'm learning.
41:56
I'm learning and I'm going to. I'm going to keep learning and
41:59
eventually my sloppy ugly is going to start to get a little
42:03
bit better and I can look back and laugh at that.
42:05
Definitely know that that's where you start and that's one
42:08
thing with anything I've done. I've gotten into photography,
42:11
I've gotten into horses, I've gotten into a lot of different
42:13
things. There are people in every and
42:15
it's not, and I feel like people say this about the horse world.
42:17
People also said it about photography world is you have
42:20
two camps. You know, you have the people
42:22
that are really great with the beginners, and then you have the
42:24
people that will just put them down.
42:27
Yeah, part of it is just ignorance.
42:29
Everybody has to start somewhere.
42:30
Everybody is going to be a beginner at this.
42:32
And be the person. If you are in Chapter 20 and
42:36
you're looking at somebody at Chapter 1, be the person that
42:39
makes them want to continue. Be the person that inspires them
42:43
to do better instead of embarrasses them for being in
42:47
Chapter 1. Because everybody's been in
42:48
Chapter 1. Everybody.
42:50
Nobody's born good at anything. Yeah.
42:52
And I think the people who are really doing well at it and feel
42:55
secure in what they're doing get really excited about helping
42:58
other people who are trying to, to get into it and to start and,
43:02
and starting where you're not good and things don't look
43:06
pretty. Yeah.
43:07
And it's easy to look at that and be like, oh, well, that was
43:10
a mistake. Well, of course it was a
43:11
mistake. Everybody makes mistakes and
43:13
you're going to make mistakes the entire way along.
43:15
And those people that go, OK, well, like let's figure this
43:18
out. Let's help you figure this out
43:19
and and help you move forward and help you want to move
43:23
forward. Are that our goal, our absolute
43:25
goal And that's hopefully, hopefully we can all learn from
43:29
that. I feel like that's the kind of
43:30
person I want to be. I don't ever want to be somebody
43:32
that's and I can't believe this person's doing that.
43:34
And part of the reason I didn't talk a lot about never owning a
43:38
horse before, before I started this with a lot of people in the
43:43
industry was because I knew that's where it would go.
43:45
My face doesn't lie sometimes. And I'd be like, did I ask for
43:49
your opinion? No, I did not Thank you.
43:51
Move on. And I probably wouldn't have
43:52
been very nice with my words. But again, I met several people
43:56
and my parents, my parents are my neighbors, which is great.
43:59
But that we're like, you can do this for sure.
44:02
Yeah, that makes such a difference.
44:04
Yeah. It's so defeating if you got it.
44:06
Yeah, it's so defeating if you get the other message when it's
44:09
like, you already know that you don't know everything.
44:11
You already know you kind of suck.
44:13
But to have those people that are like, that's OK.
44:16
Like keep with it. And I think the cool thing about
44:19
that is if you can do that to begin with, you can do that
44:23
every time you hit something new that's hard, that you don't know
44:27
how to do, that you're not very good at.
44:29
And what a difference that makes just over a lifetime.
44:32
Absolutely, if you're too embarrassed to be, if you're too
44:36
embarrassed to suck at something to do it, you'll never learn
44:39
anything because that's, that's just your that's your starting
44:41
block. You're always going to start
44:42
there. So, and I think, I think part
44:45
and and that's of course my love hate relationship with Internet.
44:48
And then part of that is, is when you put yourself out there
44:50
and you probably know this for being online and you know,
44:54
there's, you can do 2 things. You can only put your highlight
44:56
reel out there. You can only put what's perfect
44:58
and nice. And, you know, and everybody's
44:59
going to say, well, you're fake and, or it's, it's not realistic
45:02
or it's not, you know, showcase and everything.
45:04
Or you can put everything out there and then you're picked
45:06
apart by the mistakes you make. It's hard.
45:09
It's, it's not, it's not an easy road to, to be on when you feel
45:14
like I'm going to put this out there and I'm going to have to,
45:16
I'm going to have to put up with, with the idiotic comments.
45:20
Love shouldn't, of course it shouldn't happen, but it did.
45:23
And this is what we're learning. Yeah, yeah, that's very true.
45:26
It's really tricky kind of exposing yourself in that way,
45:30
in something that you have this passion for, this desire to do,
45:34
but maybe you don't know how to quite get there yet.
45:37
Yeah, but the main point is you're trying and I'm, I am 100%
45:42
open to constructive criticism or ideas or knowledge, but it's
45:49
got to come with a kind heart. And that's, and when you're
45:51
delivering things like we've got to learn that.
45:54
We've got to learn that in every not just a horse world, but in
45:57
life, you're going to, like I said, you're going to be the
46:00
person that discouraged that person from trying again because
46:02
they feel silly or you're going to be the person that inspires
46:05
that person to try again because you can go, hey, I, I've screwed
46:09
up. We've all screwed up.
46:10
This isn't isn't going to kill us.
46:12
We can just keep going with horses.
46:14
It might kill you. But that is true, there is a
46:17
real aspect of safety involved. But you're right, like you can't
46:21
ever truly learn until you start doing something.
46:25
And you know, I think we've both kind of talked about how we did
46:29
this, but it's maybe not the best way.
46:31
But I do think there is something really incredible to
46:34
like going and kind of hard and crazy if if you're willing to
46:40
learn and you're willing to learn how to do it the right way
46:43
because, you know, taking Mustang those untouched or just
46:47
trip just tip trained is a totally different experience
46:52
than getting one that is under saddle and you think it's going
46:54
to be perfect. And like we've kind of already
46:56
talked about, even that horse may have some quirks that are
47:00
coming out down the line, But when you've worked with them so
47:03
much, you can kind of be like, Oh, I know exactly what
47:06
happened. Oops, you know, we messed up
47:08
there. Or you know, this horse is
47:10
different and now I know about this horse.
47:12
I have one horse who she does not like being tied up.
47:15
She will flip out with pressures against her.
47:18
And you know, I didn't know that at first.
47:19
So there's sometimes I'm like, Oh my gosh, I feel so bad.
47:22
But now, you know, I know like even walking, if you just try
47:25
and pull her and pull her, she'll freak out.
47:27
But if you just let her have it back for a second, you know,
47:29
she's like, OK, I just want to not be forced.
47:32
I want to like choose to walk these.
47:33
I do. So those are all things that you
47:36
get to learn when you kind of do go into it where it's like, I
47:40
don't know at all, I'm going to do this, I want to do this, and
47:43
I'm going to learn along the way.
47:45
And I'm going to, you know, stay humble enough to learn.
47:48
I know for me, I kind of ended horses when I was an adolescent
47:51
also when you think you know everything.
47:52
So I was thinking about horses, I'm like, oh, I know lots about
47:55
horses. And then like, I get them and
47:57
I'm like, maybe not right. Yeah, yeah.
47:59
So yeah, it is a really amazing learning process.
48:03
It is for anyone who wants to do it.
48:05
But I definitely agree you have some good mentors in place, have
48:09
some people who are supporting you, and definitely take your
48:11
time and learn in the right way. But certainly possible if it's
48:14
something that people want to do, yeah.
48:16
I think if your heart's there, you'll figure it out, yeah.
48:18
Yeah, and that is true. Like the heart and the
48:21
dedication, like you started this, see it through, you know,
48:25
keep, stick with it 'cause I think a lot of people think it's
48:27
gonna be a magical experience and there's some really cool
48:30
stuff about it, but it's also very frustrating and
48:32
discouraging for sure. Yeah.
48:34
So yeah, you really do have to be realize like it's going to be
48:38
a process, it's going to be hard and willing to stick with it if
48:41
you're going to have a good life with a Mustang, I think.
48:44
And. I think it totally is a magical
48:46
experience, but it's a hindsight.
48:48
You can see it in the rearview mirror while you're going
48:51
through some of it. It's like not being able to see
48:53
the forest through the trees. Like when you step out of it,
48:55
you go, OK, that's really cool. I look back and I said like we
49:00
got twelve horses. Some 16 year old and 39 year old
49:03
mom decided 1 summer to get some horses and we rocked it.
49:07
Yeah, those years that we were doing it and it was frustrating.
49:10
It didn't feel as magical as it. I can speak about it now.
49:15
Yeah. And sometimes it's like, you
49:17
know, you have days or months or years of like hard stuff and
49:20
then it's like, oh, you get like an hour or something.
49:21
That's really awesome. And you kind of got to grab onto
49:24
that and let that carry you through because it the work
49:27
comes first for sure. And my husband knows my attitude
49:32
and my mood highly depends on did I get?
49:35
Did I get right? Yeah.
49:38
How did you kind of manage that to be able to work with your
49:41
horse with, you know, having 8 little kiddos running around
49:45
here and there and everywhere? Well, they are definitely
49:46
desensitized to kids yelling, screaming, running and dogs
49:50
barking, so that's good. Those are important.
49:54
My horse is actually Ember is a totally different.
49:57
It's weird to see because I've never seen this in such clarity
50:01
with other horses. Totally different horse with my
50:03
little kids. Totally different horse with my
50:05
little kids. Like she knows and the the
50:08
Instagram account that I used to have based around our family,
50:11
when I would share clips, I would have people go.
50:13
She acts totally different around little kids.
50:16
Oh really? They noticed from.
50:17
The start and she does. I mean you could pick up on it
50:20
no problem whatsoever, but finding time was the biggest
50:24
issue for me. It still is the biggest issue
50:26
for me, to be completely honest. I'm not consistent like I should
50:30
be. I should be more consistent.
50:32
I can't should all over myself though, because it is what it
50:35
is. I have the time.
50:36
I have. My life is what it is.
50:38
I hate people who say we all have the same 24 hours in a day
50:40
because we don't. We don't.
50:42
We really don't. I look at people with one kid or
50:44
people with special needs kids or people with aging parents or
50:48
whatever the case is. We all have a different
50:50
experience we don't have. We may have the same amount of
50:53
time, but what we have to fit in that time is all different.
50:56
Yeah. Different priorities,
50:57
responsibilities. Right.
50:59
And it is and it is based on priorities.
51:01
And I love my horses, but my kids are my priority and my
51:03
horses are my. You know what helps me get
51:06
through that? Priority.
51:08
Yeah, I know, I know. Sometimes my husband will be
51:10
like, the horses cost so much. I'm like, well, they probably
51:12
saved you a lot, right? I'm just saying therapy, dude.
51:15
I'm still here. I'm still mostly mentally
51:19
capable most of the time. But yeah, but that's a
51:22
comparison issue. Like I can't compare my time.
51:26
I look at the Mustang makeover, people that do it in 100 days
51:29
and I look at people who bring them home and have these
51:31
finished horses. And to be completely honest,
51:34
here we are in 2025. We've had them for, we've had
51:37
them for four years. We've been riding for 2 1/2
51:40
probably. And I mean, I can side pass, I
51:43
can do some things I've taught, but essentially I still think of
51:48
my horse as a green horse. Maybe I will, I will always
51:50
think of her as a green horse because, you know, we built this
51:52
house 20 years ago and I still think of as a new house just
51:54
because it wasn't one boy. She's definitely by no means a
51:57
finished. I can take her anywhere, do
52:00
anything with her. Of course, maybe I'll never
52:02
think that ever, but it's I definitely am not as far along
52:06
as somebody who is doing daily rides for hours of time.
52:09
I can't do that. I would love to at some point in
52:11
my life I might be able to, but I don't have that ability right
52:15
now. Or I do have the ability, but I
52:17
don't. I have my priorities in a
52:18
different bucket right now. Yeah, definitely.
52:21
And I think it's good to share that because there's not one
52:25
perfect way to own horses or have Mustangs in your life.
52:29
It can be OK, but it takes 2 to get them ridden.
52:33
You know, I think obviously there's some things we want all
52:36
horses to be able to do so that they can live safely in the
52:38
human world. But, you know, just the fact
52:40
that they have a good home and it's something that brings you
52:43
peace like that, that is a good way to live with horses, you
52:46
know, even. Enough.
52:47
Yeah, even when, like, I'm sure we both would love it if just
52:51
every day all we had to do was horseback ride.
52:53
But you know, there's a lot of other stuff that's entailed in
52:56
in raising kids and just other things in life, whatever that is
52:58
for people. But it doesn't necessarily mean
53:00
that you need to be excluded from this world of horses.
53:03
And it can still be really beautiful.
53:06
Great relationship and. There is there is a place for
53:08
everybody and this is mine, so. Yeah, well, I love that and it's
53:12
it's great to see someone else who's doing it a little bit
53:15
different and what looks a little bit crazy from the
53:19
outside. I definitely.
53:21
Felt a little. Unsure what people would think
53:23
when I'm like, I'm getting a wild horse with a bunch of tiny
53:27
kids right? Isn't this a good idea?
53:30
It really was. You know, there's a lot of good
53:32
stuff out of it. Yeah.
53:34
So tell us what you're up to now and about the things that you're
53:38
doing. Oh my.
53:39
Goodness. Oh yeah.
53:40
Everything. Everything and anything.
53:42
Yeah. So yeah, yeah, I I've got 8
53:45
kids. Three of them are moved out,
53:46
five of them are still at home. One of them is a senior at our
53:49
local high school. I homeschool 4 of them.
53:51
I run a business the branded bronc from.
53:54
I'm in my messy shop so you can't hear my dogs.
53:56
Oh, that's awesome. So do you make the clothes and
53:58
stuff there? I do.
53:59
So I, I do embroidery, I do leather patches.
54:02
I have an engraver that engraves leather.
54:04
So I started out solely doing leather patch, custom leather
54:07
patch hats and I was kind of all over the board with that.
54:10
But mostly I did a lot of blue collar or AG or ranch related
54:14
businesses. And so I kind of got in that
54:15
lane and just this year I pivoted to just equine related
54:19
stuff and then customs. And that's because that's where
54:22
my heart is and I can't, I can't be everything to everybody.
54:25
So I thought I need to pick something.
54:26
And that was where I was and I was already making a lot of, I
54:30
don't have it on now, but the Mustang brand stuff for people
54:33
because I love to wear the brand.
54:35
I think it's cool. I think it's a cool personalized
54:37
thing and everybody loves something personal to that.
54:40
So I started doing the leather patch hats for Mustang owners.
54:43
And then recently I got an embroidery machine, which again
54:46
was one of those things where I had no idea what I was doing.
54:49
I have never done embroidery in my life.
54:51
I bought a commercial embroidery machine and everybody said it
54:53
takes, you know, a long time to figure out and don't do it if
54:57
you haven't had any experience and what the hell, let's do it.
55:00
Sounds perfect for me. And I figured it out and it's
55:03
going really well, yeah. No, that is awesome.
55:05
And I mean, it is so much a part of if you're willing to try, you
55:10
know, like that's the first step.
55:12
So really cool to see the different things you can learn
55:15
and do and accomplish. Absolutely.
55:17
Yeah. Well, awesome.
55:18
Thank you so much for being here for talking about Mustangs.
55:20
We'll definitely leave links and stuff for any Mustang lovers
55:24
that want to get some really cool gear, super cool gifts to
55:28
get for someone or you know, get for yourself because they are
55:31
really fun to to have. You know, your Mustang
55:33
represented some very cool. Well, thanks so much for being
55:36
here. Thank you for having me.
55:38
Thank you for joining us and learning about horses that heal
55:41
and the humans who help them. We hope you'll continue with us
55:44
on this journey. We'd love for you to subscribe
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55:53
Please share with your friends anyone who loves horses or
55:55
anyone who might be struggling and could benefit from this
55:58
message. If you have felt the healing
56:00
power of horses or help them in their divinely appointed
56:04
mission, please reach out. We want to hear your story.
56:07
As we say goodbye, always remember that the horse is
56:10
always there to help you heal.