The last weekend in October Margie Malloy had organized a clinic with Jimmy Wofford at her "3 Day Ranch". I had never had the opportunity to ride with Jimmy and was thrilled to be able to attend.

The first morning started with a lecture, and Jimmy talked about jumping form of the horse, and then the rider.  The second morning we talked about fitness and Jimmy helped us understand his conditioning schedule and how to incorporate it into a competition schedule.

The first day we were in the show jumping arena and Jimmy helped us work on maintaining the same stride as we approached each fence. We were in the beginner novice/novice group and Jimmy said he did not care what strides we got in between fences, just that we got to the fences with the same canter stride.  We worked on straight lines between fences and bending lines.

The second day we went out on the cross country course and worked on maintaining our position and talked about the best way to approach different types of fences out on course.  Phinn struggled with one fence, a novice table near the water complex. It had shrubs at the ground line and Phinn was intimidated and confused and stopped. Jimmy was not pleased and we reapproached with a strong canter, and Phinn, clearly confused about how to handle this fence, scrambled up on top of the table, which was covered with tanbark and then leapt off the other side.  We approached a third time and I help Phinn to his line with a very supportive leg and he soared over the table. I was proud of the learning experience for him even though we had a hairy moment on top of the table.

The clinic offered an incredible opportunity to watch the upper level riders who were preparing for the last event of the season, Galway Down's first west coast 3*.

  Over the summer my work really ramped up and I found myself struggling to have time to ride, but I continued to work on our basics and put together the money to buy Phinn outright from Robin.  Robin helped us over the summer start to really work on our dressage, and we spent a lot of time in the dressage arena working on suppleness and connection.  At one point Robin invited us to come to a piaffe/passage clinic at friend Mark Carter's beautiful farm in La Cresta. Phinn, his first time in an indoor arena, did very well and I was thrilled with his bravery and how he took to working in hand. He showed a natural propensity for piaffe and we were thrilled with him.

I was qualified for the year end Area Championships, which were held at Copper Meadows in September, but I felt that my work commitments had kept me from training as I should have before heading to an Area Championship. I was disappointed, but took the opportunity to school the cross country course after the show.  Phinn jumped very well and we started jumping some of the novice fences.

Over the late summer I had some great opportunities to take a few lessons with Erin Kellerhouse and found them exceptionally helpful in moving to the next step in our jumping,  encouraging Phinn to use his back and bascule over his fences, and teaching me to support him with finer detailed riding between my fences, but allowing him to jump without any micromanagement from me.  Small tweaks in my form helped me be a more supportive rider and have propelled Phinn's education in his jumping.

In September I had a basic pre-purchase exam done on Phinn, with xrays. The vet found Phinn's navicular and sesamoid bones particularly interesting, in their size and density.  I wonder if other mustangs have similar bone structures, which seem to be exceptionally robust for his size.

In late September I was able to  present Robin with a check for Phinn's full purchase price and because his owner.

  Our first event, the June event at Copper Meadows came the weekend after the dressage show in Temecula.  Phinn settled in quickly and seemed quite happy in his stall in the temporary stabling.  I rode him the afternoon we arrived and he was very good, but a little spooky in the dressage area. The dressage area is boardered on one side by a hedge that separates the area from the road along the property line. Phinn thought the hedge was quite spooky and we spent some time walking by it and getting him comfortable with it.   Saturday morning I braided and got ready for dressage, but I was a little bit early for my ride. I waited at the stables  for a little bit and then headed down to warm up.  Phinn and I walked around and watched the other riders and then started our warm up.  When it was our time to go into the dressage ring area Phinn was quite spooked by the other horses, the photographer, the judges, etc. So our dressage test wasn't as attentive as I had hoped, and at first I was disappointed that we hadn't had a more attentive test, but after watching the video of our ride I realized he really didn't exhibit all the spookiness and tension that I was feeling during the ride.  I think I have become so in tune with him that I am overly sensitive to his perceptions and tensions.  We were in the middle of the division after dressage.

Saturday afternoon we were scheduled to jump our show jumping course rather than cross country. I walked the course during  a break and felt fairly  confident because of our work over the spring in the hunter/jumper classes at Del Mar.  I knew he would be spooky and looky, but I was confident that he would jump the fences and that the course supported a forward ride that would suit his experience and confidence level.  He warmed up well in the group warm up and I only jumped him over a few fences since he felt forward and confident.  When we walked down to the arena I was grateful a  friend was standing near the in gate, Phinn was quite spooked to walk into the arena and a lead from our friend was perfect. We picked up our canter, and I made sure he was in front of my leg and off we went. He jumped beautifully and even though I could tell he was a little intimidated by the fences and the environment he did very well.  I was very proud of him and happy that all our hard work was coming together. 

When I checked the score board I found that we were tied for first!

I knew that it was going to be very important to be close to the optimum time on cross country so I went and walked our course one more time, this time paying attention to the distance and timing.

Cross country morning Phinn was happy and relaxed. We warmed up in the same arena that we warmed up in for show jumping and again, Phinn was jumping very well. But when it came time to head down to the start box again we needed a lead to the start. Phinn was very spooky to the first fence and I made sure to send him forward to the second fence. The cross country course at Copper Meadows has natural rock formations and Phinn was really concerned about them as we cantered along.  The second and third fences rode well, but the fourth fence, situated near a large rock formation, which he had schooled a few weeks earlier really baffled him and he almost stopped, jumping at the last possible moment in a very awkward scramble.  We had a good gallop stretch to the next few fences and Phinn found a rhythm and started to settle into his first cross country run.  At one point, after the sixth fence he really got into it and really opened up his gallop, I laughed and brought him back to a slower hand gallop, knowing we wouldn't be close enough to our optimum time if I let him continue at that pace, but I was thrilled that he was getting into it.  He jumped the ditch without any hesitation and we headed to the water. He bobbled a little at the water, but continued his forward momentum and then presented boldly to the max brush fence following the water complex. I was very proud of him.  On the back side of the course he was settled into his rhythm and was cantering his fences confidently.  We cam e across the finish line a little faster than I had aimed to, but still fairly close to optimum time.  Phinn marched back to his stall quite proud of himself and I felt that even though he was still quite green that he had gained confidence over the course and it was a big growing experience for him.  When we checked the score board we had broken the tie with the closest time to optimum time and took home a blue ribbon!
Here is a link to proofs:
https://www.capturedmomentphoto.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Equestrian/Horse_Trials_Combined_Training/Copper_Meadows_(Ramona,CA)/2010_June/Must_Tango_(263)&image=263-MG_0103.jpg&img=16&tt=&tfile=tn_263-MG_0103.JPG

  With our success at our hunter/jumper shows I decided to look at the event schedule for the rest of the spring and decided on Copper Meadow's June event.  I felt that the hunter and jumper shows were extremely helpful, but I also wanted to show him in a dressage show, and of course, take him cross country schooling.

We went cross country schooling with Terri Rockovich at Copper Meadows before the facility closed before the event. I was thrilled with his attitude. He was particularly adept at the banks, ditches, and water, none of which phased him at all, though they are traditionally the bogey fences for young horses.

We planned on the June Temecula CDS Dressage show and worked on our training level tests with Robin.

I planned on trailering in the morning of our show, and so I opted to braid the night before. When I went to go get Phinn, he shied violently away from the halter. We had graduated to a leather halter and Robin had recently presented me with a name plate for him with the show name we had chosen for him: "Must Tango".  Until that day he had happily adapted to having his halter passed over his ears like all the other horses on the farm, but that evening he was terrified.  I was puzzled and worked slowly with him. Later, the next week we saw the farrier, who had come out that day to replace a thrown shoe and tried to put Phinn's fly mask back on him, and apparently it had not gone well.  Phinn spooked at his unfamiliar movement, the farrier's finger was badly sprained in the process, and it took weeks to regain Phinn's trust around his ears.

The show went really well. Phinn was a little spooky in the ring, but handled the atmosphere of the show very well. 
Here is a link to photos:
http://terrimiller.exposuremanager.com/g/thomas_margaret_10tvj

In the afternoon, after we did our two training level tests we had a cross country schooling scheduled with Erin Kellerhouse of Swift Ridge Eventing. The school went really well, much like the schooling at Copper Meadows and I was very pleased with how Phinn was doing. 

When we came back off the cross country course we found out that Phinn had won both of his training level classes with scores in the mid-60s!

Robin and I had a long talk shortly thereafter and I asked if I could buy him, though I needed time to put together the money.  We agreed on a schedule for payment and I scheduled a pre-purchase to get baseline x-rays.

Watching the jumper classes.

  First Hunter/Jumper Shows

In the early spring of 2010 I had a few clients who were going to the "C" hunter shows, so I decided to take Phinn along.  I realized that we had never put him in a trailer since Roy had delivered him to Harmony Grove the previous fall. I had to laugh when he walked right onto my 4 horse head to head and backed into the rear facing spot like he had done it a million times. Again, if properly introduced, Phinn never argues about things that make sense to him. Even though he hadn't trailered more than a few times in his life, Roy made it make sense to him from the very beginning, and it stuck with Phinn.

When we arrived at our first show, we unpacked and then I took Phinn around the facility, walking around the warm up arenas, past the judges booths, port-a-johns, and let him sniff everything he could.  I saddled him and rode him around everywhere.  We started in the baby ring, sniffed everything, and then started with the smallest jumps in the cross rail arena, working our way up to the 2'6" baby green jumps. Properly introduced, Phinn gleefully jumped around all the practice fences in the hunter practice rings.

During the show, I used the baby green hunter classes as a warm up for the jumper ring. The jumper classes were held on the grass and we were not allowed to school the fences on the warm up day.  I thought this would be a good way to help Phinn learn to jump things he hadn't seen before, in a setting where we could affordably repeat courses several times.  I had started to think about eventing him but was worried about show jumping and how he would react to a course he had never seen before.

Having jumped the jumps the day before, the baby green hunter rounds went very well. I hadn't bothered to teach Phinn flying lead changes, I felt he was too green, so I assumed we wouldn't be competitive.  We were lucky enough to land on the right lead a few times, so I imagine it looked to the judge that I missed a lead change once on the course, but I don't think it was glaringly obvious that he didn't know his changes. 

In the jumper ring it was a different story, the jumps were much brighter, and Phinn was quite scared of them.  We hopped over the first one, but the second one, a bright yellow oxer was too much for him, he cantered to a perfect halt in front of it, but didn't spin in objection or try to run from the fence.  Instead, he took a tentative step forward, sniffed the front and back rails, and when I felt his body relax, I turned him around, picked up a trot, and he popped over the oxer.  Unfortunately, you can only do that a few times before the judge, patient and understanding as he was, had to excuse me. Undeterred, we had several more classes, and by the end of the second day, we were jumping full courses and making it through finish flags without being excused. Amusingly enough, Phinn won the baby green division, his snappy knees and a scopey jump put him ahead of several very fancy looking young hunters in his division.

We visited Del Mar several times the spring of 2010, gaining invaluable experience and confidence each time.

Sniffing and inspecting a scary fence.

Happily jumping after inspection.

  The Mustang Joins Us at Harmony Grove

One Saturday afternoon in late October 2009, Roy brought the Mustang over the Harmony Grove, worked him lightly in the round pen and rode him in the arena and out on our trails.  I rode him too, in Roy's western saddle, and learned the most important thing Roy had taught the Mustang, to stop when his rider sat back on their pockets.  I trusted the training Roy had given the Mustang and understood what he had taught him so far. The Mustang was smart and understood everything that was being asked of him. Roy remarked that the ear shyness was still there, and he hadn't pressed the issue because he was afraid he would try to jump out of the round pen again. He showed us how he haltered him and bridled him, which were slow, but workable solutions for the time being.

The Mustang's Early Training

Our early interactions with the Mustang centered on general handling.  We spent lots of time working on the little things we found we took for granted with our other horses.

In the beginning haltering was a slow process, he was kept in a large dry paddock with another horse and he was inclined to hang with the other horse and was shy about being approached. I had to dig back to the little bit of herd dynamics and approach and retreat knowledge I had in order to get close enough to halter him each day.

The ear shyness has been his Achilles heel from the beginning and we have worked on it steadily every day.

I used a rope halter on him for the first several months and at first we could only halter him by slowly bringing the nose of the halter over his nose, then slowly running a hand up the far side of his face, feeding the crown piece over his neck, well behind his ears, and then gently tying it before slowly sliding it up to rest in the normal position.  When he got nervous he would slowly start backing up, so the entire haltering process could involve backing ourselves around the paddock, one step at a time, for 100 feet or more. Moving too fast would result in starting all over again.

For bridling, it was easy to get him to take the bit,  Robin quickly figured out that he was very food motivated and would do just about anything for a cookie.  Getting the bridle over his ears was another story. It was easiest to feed the far ear into the bridle than try to get the bridle over the ear. Once the far ear was in the bridle, the near ear could be carefully fed into the bridle with a cookie for bait and distraction. We were baffled about his ear shyness. We suspected he had ear plaques, but were unable to get close enough to tell. We worked on his ears constantly, daily, rubbing his neck near his ears while feeding him cookies and I spent hours in the round pen with him, using the techniques I knew to help gain his trust in being touched.

We were unable to get the reins over his head for months. We ended up unbuckling them and then re-buckling them around his neck.  Any rope like thing around his ears caused  panic. We had heard that during the fires in 2007 someone tried to rope him in an attempt to get him out of his paddock and into a trailer. From what we heard something went horribly wrong and he ended up dragging whomever roped him out of his enclosure. I've never learned the full story, but he's remained very shy of any rope near his head to this day.

I spent lots of time in the round pen rubbing a soft rope all over his body, running it up his neck, and sliding it off and on. Slowly, over time he became more tolerant, but it was easy to see it still created great suspicion for him to have anything near his ears.

Robin and I conferred and came to the conclusion that he would likely benefit from learning to have something passive touching his ears, like a fly mask with ears. Easier said than done. He would have nothing to do with a fly mask, let alone a fly mask with ears. I finally secured the fly mask to his halter in a manner so that it would slide back and forth over his face as he put his head down to eat, with the hopes that if I removed myself from the equation that he would learn to accept the touch of the material without worrying about what I was going to do.  He actually adapted to the fly mask very quickly and I was eventually able to slip it over his ears in one quick move while feeding yet another cookie for distraction.

We hoped that keeping his ears covered would also help keep bugs from entering his ears, which seemed to exacerbate the sensitivity.

The amazing thing about him was that even though it was clear that he would resist violently to any perceived threat, if properly introduced, he would accept just about anything.

Many times after working in the round pen, I would hand walk  him up to the arena if Robin was riding and we would stand and watch Robin work. While we watched Robin ride, I would let him sniff the jumps in the arena and watch the horses in the arena. I would set jumps for other riders, leading him along with me, using the time with him to bond and expose him to as many things as possible.  At first, when the other horses would land over a fence, or a pole would fall on the ground, the mustang would spook and scoot sideways.

One day while watching Robin ride I started absent mindedly swinging the end of the rope with my back to the mustang. I could see his shadow behind me and noticed he wasn't flinching or backing away. I assumed it was because I wasn't facing him directly and he didn't perceive pressure from me.  Curious, I doubled the rope like a jump rope in my hands and swung it over my head to softly land on his nose, he flinched a little, but the reaction was minor.  So that became a new game we would play, skipping rope.  I would stand with my back to him, sometimes in front of him, sometimes as far back as his eye, and swing a doubled rope over my head, and over his.

One day, about 45 days after the mustang came to Harmony Grove I was walking up to the top round pen to watch Robin lunge the mustang, in side reins, and was amazed at how far he'd come in his training. We had been cautious about putting too much pressure on him in the round pen because we were afraid he would try to jump out, but he was calmly working in side reins at the end of a lunge line, swinging in a beautifully rhythmic trot.

Most of my early work with the mustang was either in the round pen or riding out on the trails around the property.  He seemed more relaxed out in the open and I was quiet happy to hack him around the property at Harmony Grove because I trusted the work Roy had done with him.  Robin would often join me on my hacks and one day we realized a wonderful quality about the mustang.  Anything that scared him, whether it was a log, engineering stake with a tape waving in the wind, etc, he would spook in place naturally, keeping his eyes and ears trained on the object, and then if the thing didn't come after him, he would stop himself and approach whatever had scared him on his own, without any prompting from me, marching up to it, dropping his head and sniffing it thoroughly.  Once he had sniffed a scary thing, he never spooked at it again. The became key several months later when we started taking him off the farm for lessons, schoolings, and shows; we would let him sniff anything he was scared of the day before the show during the schooling sessions and then we found he adapted to any new environment quickly, with confidence.

Winter off

After our first month my mom decided that he was probably too green for her and decided to pass on him as a prospect.  Robin and I continued to work him into the rotation of horses in training through November, but in December we were battling the full effects of the shorter days of winter, a full schedule of training and sale horses, and the start of a very wet winter.

Harmony Grove does not have an indoor or a covered arena, which is common for the area since the weather is usually phenomenal 90% of the time. I remember though reading Kip's entries in Practical Horseman Magazine years ago about her efforts to ride during a very wet winter in southern California, the same issues held true for us that winter, once wet, the arenas never had a chance to dry out and were only sporadically available to use through out the winter.

 My work schedule only allowed me to ride about three horses a day and I had two horses in training, as well as the opportunity to ride a training level eventer, which left very little time for the mustang. So through a variety of reasons the mustang ended up having the winter off while we concentrated on other horses.

In February Robin and I were conferring on the horses, schedules, and priorities and she remarked that we really had to get Mustang sold and wondered if we got him jumping if it would help get him sold. One of my training horses had just gone home and I was happy to start working with him again. 

We started back to work in the round pen and I put a cavalletti in the round pen for him to hop over. He jumped willingly and jumped naturally out of stride each time with great form, tight knees and tidly tucked hind feet.  After a few short sessions in the round pen I could tell he was bored with that, so I hopped on in the arena.  He happily walked, trotted, and cantered like we hadn't taken several months off. I was tickled with him.  After a few days of light flat work, I started working on jumping under saddle. I would say I started teaching him how to jump, but it was clear he already knew how to jump.

At first we hung out in the arena watching the other horses jump while we walked over a single pole on the ground.  Walking quickly progressed to trotting, and then I added single  cross rails.  He would happily trot up to all sorts of small fences and hop over them.  If he hadn't seen a fence before I would let him sniff it first, and then he would readily incorporate it into a course.  We spent a lot of time watching other horses jump because the sound of other horses jumping and landing scared him and he would startle if he heard a horse jump behind him.

We struggled for some time trying to come up with something to call him other than our fallback "the mustang".  I tried out several names on Robin: I tried calling him "Mighty", a dear friend in England had a welsh cob named Mighty and I thought it was a great name for a small horse. Vetoed. I thought about showing him as "Black Mountain" since he was from the Black Mountain Band, or, "Okains Bay" as a tribute to my mom, who I secretly still hoped would want him after some more training. Okains Bay is located in New Zealand where my mom's family originated.  Vetoed. I also tried "Garrett" which is Robin's last name, as a tribute to Robin. Quickly vetoed, with a sneer.  Robin came to the barn one day and said she had put her boys on the task of coming up with a name for him and they had come up with "Phinneaus" after a cartoon character from a show called "Phinneaus and Ferb" I've never seen the show but understand it’s a smart show about brothers who solve problems. "Phinneaus is the smart one" one of her boys whispered to me during a subsequent visit to the barn. So Phinneaus it was, Phinn for short.

The Grid

In early March I had a grid set up in the arena and Robin and I were using it to video the sale horses. After we were done Robin said,  "why not take Phinn through?" I hadn't changed the  grid since the larger sale horses had jumped through, and we started with a cross rail, one stride to pole, then raised the pole to a small vertical. Then we added the third element, first as a vertical, then as an oxer.  I giggled on landing the first time over the oxer, he was foot perfect with an incredible jump. I told Robin, "If only he were 16 hands, I'd buy him in a second".  Robin frowned at me, she asked "aren't there several tall male event riders?" I thought about WFP, and agreed,"yes", so she said, "so put shoes on him, call him 15 hands and forget about it". I was tempted, but didn't have the money, and was quite hung up on buying  such a small horse.

Sometime thereafter Rolex time came around and I found myself studying the taller male riders, WFP, Mark Todd, etc, and thought, if they were over 6 feet tall on 16.1 hand horses, that ratio worked out about the same for me, at 5'8" on a 15 hand horse.  At Badminton I saw Little Tricky, a small gray mare skipping around, reportedly 15 hands.  I was intrigued.

Phinn's first grid, April 2010

  Working with Robin

Robin and I started working together almost immediately. I started riding some of her sale horses, teaching them to jump and assessing their capabilities as hunter prospects. Owen was so young there wasn’t much to do with him and I had time to ride as many horses as my work schedule would allow.  I was working for a company based on the east coast, and as their only west coast employee, I was asked to maintain east coast working hours, so I worked from 5 am PST to 2pm to match an 8-5 east coast work day, which then allowed me to head to the barn and ride until sunset.

In addition to Owen, I also brought a young morgan gelding with me to Harmony Grove.  He belonged to my mother, who bought him just a few months prior to my return to California and she asked me to work with him for a few months.  After a few months of working with Romeo, I had to recommend to my mom that we sell him, I didn't feel like he was going to be suitable for her.  We were able to find a perfect match for Romeo, but my mom was still interested in seeking out a young horse to replace Al, her older morgan gelding.

"He looks just like a little Morgan" - Oct 2009

Shortly after finding a home for Romeo, my mom was due to visit. Robin remarked to me one day, shortly before Mom's arrival, "you know, I have a little mustang that might be good for your mom". I laughed at the idea of a mustang for my mother, but Robin insisted, "no really, he's smart and a super cute mover, he actually looks like a little cross between a Morgan and a small quarter horse".  Having learned quickly that it was always worth following up on interesting things Robin said, I suggested to my mom that we go ahead and meet the little "looks just like a little Morgan".  I don't think I told her on the way over that he was actually a Mustang, but Mom quickly assessed the situation upon arriving, and asked "isn't that a BLM brand on his neck?"

Meeting "The Mustang"

The Mustang was at a private facility east of the 15 with a western trainer Robin introduced as "Roy".  I liked Roy immediately, he was quiet and confident and the horses all seemed happy and content.  A pilot for American Airlines by day, Roy trained a few horses at a time out of his private facility in Northern San Diego County. The Mustang was in a small pipe pen, quietly munching hay and watching us as we walked thorough the gate. He was a small, unremarkable bay and seemed kind and quiet.  Roy haltered him carefully, explaining that he was ear shy, but that as long as he was consistent with how he haltered him, the Mustang accepted it readily.  The Mustang stood quietly as he was tacked.  Roy pointed out a healing cut just below his left hock. 

The Mustang had come to Roy wild as a lark, generally untouchable and unhandled.  The first time Roy worked the Mustang in the round pen the Mustang made a valiant attempt to jump the 5 foot gate, just barely clearing the top rail, cutting his hock in the process.  A vet had come to look at the injury and declared it didn't affect any major structures and should heal well.

In 2 short months Roy had successfully bonded with the Mustang such that he had progressed from wild and untouchable to quietly accepting halter, tying, bridling, saddling and riding.

Robin had heard of the Mustang from a friend who had seen it at a little backyard farm, running around with a halter only half on, dragging a long rope along the ground. The friend had been taken with the Mustang and thought he would be a nice horse if someone had the time to work with him. Robin, taken with the idea of working with a wild horse after hearing about "the mustang challenge", quickly found herself the owner of a wild four year old Mustang. He had been taken to Roy for starting.

The Mustang had been with Roy for 60 days and Robin asked me if I thought we were ready to bring him to Harmony Grove. I had done quite a bit of natural horsemanship work over the years and understood the process Roy had used to work with the Mustang so far and felt comfortable taking over the work.  Roy had been so consistent with the Mustang it was clear he understood the basics, haltering, tying, stand still when mounted, go and stop when told, turn right and left.  The Mustang seemed to have a common sense approach to life and seemed to have a good attitude. My mom was interested in him as a prospect and offered to pay his first month's board at Harmony Grove.

  Returning to California

The summer of 2009 I returned to California for the first time in almost 10 years.

I left California in late 1999 to report to Marine Base Quantico for the Basic Officer's Course before continuing on to flight school at NAS Pensacola, Fl. I served as a helicopter pilot on the east coast until the end of my contract in 2009.

My husband had orders to California, and we relocated in the summer of 2009.

The previous spring I sold my two young event prospects, Echo November, and Fisher,  and purchased a three year old prospect to bring to California. I was unsure of my work commitments once I moved and thought it would be best to sell my beginner novice/novice young horses while I was still on the east coast with current show records and an established network to find good matches for them. 

I packed up my truck and drove across country with two cats and two dogs and Owen, my three year old thoroughbred. It took four days to make the trip, we alternated overnights at friend's farms and overnight boarding facilities.

 One place I really have to recommend is the farm we stayed at in Missouri just outside of St. Louis, about 20 minutes off the interstate, I was reluctant to add anymore to our already long days.  Duke's Bed and Board is located in the middle of beautiful rolling hills, and green fields. Owen got to roll in the indoor arena and was very happy in a large stall with a run. The dogs stayed in a stall while I ate a wonderful steak dinner with the family before retiring to my room off the main house, with a full bathroom and separate entrance.  The cats were thrilled to get out of their crate and stretch their legs. The family was so welcoming and the farm was so pleasant it was a welcome respite. The following morning before setting off I walked the dogs through the fields surrounding the house, with low fog hovering near the ground, I was taken by the history of the farm I learned the night before at dinner and the role the farm played in the civil war. A stark contrast to our overnight in Elko, where the facilities for Owen were wonderful, but the type of hotel that allowed pets made my skin crawl when I arrived to check in.  The poor dogs were so uneasy in the room that they positioned themselves with one taking a post laying across the threshold of the door and one laying on the end of the bed, neither one slept or moved that night from their position as guards for our room.

Harmony Grove
http://www.hghorses.com

When I learned I was moving to southern California in the spring of 2009 I immediately started searching for a place to board. I only knew of one facility, Kingsway Farm in Temecula, which is located across the street from Galway Downs.  I had met the owners, Linda and Terry Payne in 2006 at Rolex. We had a mutual friend, Sheila who had at one time fox hunted with the Payne's.  I had also heard great recommendations for both Erin Kellerhouse and Hawley Bennett, who both work out of the facility there.  However, when we started house hunting it became clear that we were going to be living at least 45 minutes from Temecula and the idea of committing to almost 2 hours a day on the road in order to ride and train full time out of Kingsway was less than appealing.

I called my childhood friend and fellow pony club graduate, Gina Miles and asked her for recommendations. She had one glowing recommendation: Robin Garrett in San Marcos, located at Harmony Grove Equestrian Center. I called her immediately and arranged to visit the facility. The property is large for the area, almost 50 acres on rolling hills. Stall options were either barn stalls or pipe runs with partial covers. I had grown accustom to the green grass pastures on the east coast and lamented the change of lifestyle of California boarding, but the horses were happy and there were large dirt turnouts available for supervised turnout.  The  facility was ideal, with a large jumping arena, a dressage court, a groomed galloping track, and wide tracks through the hills for hacking or conditioning.

http://www.rgdressage.com

The Blog of an American Mustang.

 Must Tango is a 5 year old American Mustang gelding, BLM number 178928, bay, with a white stripe, and two white hind socks, standing just under 15 hands tall.  We met in the fall of 2009.  This blog is a catalog of our journey together.