gentling a mustang

2011 kiger adoption

2012-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is Amis

This is Lilly

We have two Kigers in for gentling from the 2011 Kiger adoption.
both are 2 years old and will be going to Chatanooga Tennessee in 2012!

2012-01-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

Amis getting ponied.

2012-01-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

Kevin working with Amis

Kigers 2011

2012-01-11T20:16:00.001-08:00

Amis loading in the trailer for the first time!

first day home

2011-12-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

spirit

2011-04-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

"MUSTANGS"

2011-03-02T08:27:00.001-08:00

"Mustangs have taught me more about horses and myself than anything else I have ever done...patience, prayer, body language, understanding, not taking things personal, creative thinking, different perspectives...if more people understood the true reward and could grasp the real meaning, no mustang would ever want for a home..." By Fred Woehl

Fundraiser For Cystic Fibrosis!

2011-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

T.I.P. horse

2010-11-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

We went to Burns yesterday and picked up 2 wild horses for a client. The white mare is a 6 year old form Cold Springs HMA. The black gelding is a 1 1/2 year old gelding from the same place. Sunrise as we waited to load. Kevin worked the mare first today. She is extremely flighty and snorts a lot. She is very afraid of us and is shaking anytime we come near her. Kevin says she is wonderfully spirited. He likes her a lot and has already started a bond within minutes. He calls her little lady.

Ellie's 5th birthday party!

2010-11-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

Our granddaughter Ellie received a horse from us for her birthday. This is the yearling filly we adopted at the youth and yearlings competition.
Ellie named her horse Daisy.

up date on Santana!

2010-10-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

Santana is doing great. He had an abcess on his lip and it caused him not to eat good which caused him to colic. Just like Secretariat!! It popped and he is doing great but lost a lot of weight!

Santana

2010-10-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Santana is suffering from colic. It has been going on for two days and he has been tube with oil and is on Banamine. It is a weird sort of colic as he's not throwing himself on the ground or kicking at his stomach. But he does lay down for a minute and then gets back up. Please say a prayer for him.

MUSTANG MAKEOVER

2010-10-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Scenes of Oregon

2010-09-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Columbia River

Sept. 27th Back in Oregon

2010-09-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Jackson is hauling good. He seems happy as a clam back there loose in the trailer. He keeps getting into the bales of hay. I think he's on his second one. When we stop at a rest area and take him out he doesn't seem weary at all. I think we already found an adopter for him;:-))))

Wild Horses near Vale, Oregon

Sept. 26th

2010-09-26T14:13:00.001-07:00

Well the adoption is over! It was pretty hard to see these well trained horses going for so cheap. They went from $125(injured) to $2400(best horse there!), but most went for around $700 to $900. Noche went for $375 and got a good home. Jackson only went for $175 and Kevin got him back! It was sad to say good-bye to Noche and I cried when I did, but the really hard thing was when we were leaving the parking lot and Jackson was whinnig in the trailer for Noche. I started sobbing because they have been together for 3 years. We are leaving Lincoln, it is 4p.m.

final results

2010-09-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

I place 9th in the top 10. It was so much fun, I really enjoyed it. Got $350!! I really need to thank my husband for helping with the finals. If it wasn't for him designing my coarse and giving me pointers we wouldn't have looked as good! Love you honey!

Top Ten Tonight!

2010-09-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lisa and Noche' made the top ten!!!

Sept 25th.

2010-09-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well We are done with the riding portion of the contest. Kevin and Jackson did really well, and so did Noche and I. We are waiting for them to post the scores at 3 p.m. to find out who is in the top 10 and they will perform tonight at 7p.m. So we really don't know how we will place. There are a lot of super trainers and awesome horses here. I have videos of our goes, but they take too much time to upload and I don't have a lot of time right now. So you will have to wait awhile.

Sept. 24th.

2010-09-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

In-Hand Coarses for Kevin and I today. It went really well. Kevin and I also did Craig Cameron's Extremem Cowboy Race today with Noche And Jackson. They did pretty good. It is a indoor trail coarse with speed. Don't' know how we placed yet??
zAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. We just got the results for body conditioning and In-Hand. I was 6th! in body conditioning and Kevin was 7th. I am currently in 12th and Kevin is 14th!

Sept 23rd.

2010-09-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

We are here! This place is HUGE! There are 4 indoor arenas and 1000 indoor stalls. All the buildings are interconcected.

Sept. 22nd. Nebraska

2010-09-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

We're almost there. It's been strange going 70 miles an hour and having semi's pass you doing 75 or 80 mph. The speed limit is 75 in all the states we've been in but Oregon.Trucks have to go 55 in Oregon. We have seen soooo many trucks! More trucks than cars most of the time. The diesel has been cheaper then Oregon everywhere.

Corn as far as the eye can see!

Great Platt River Archway Museum

Kevin and I have been talking about what we wll do if we make the
'top 10" We have picked our music. I will be doing Sammy Hager, Were Eagle fly.
Kevin will be doing Rush, Monkey business. We don't know what we will be doing for a routine yet though???

SEPT. 21st. Wyoming

2010-09-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Saw some neat rock formations between Utah and Wyoming!

We saw quite a few wild horses today,but only got a picture of these 2.
And then we saw these neat rocks out side of Cheyenne. They were all piled up on each other like someone stacked them there!

Sept. 20th Twin falls, Idaho

2010-09-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is a golf coarse on the snake river!

A woodpecker at a reststop
We arrived in Twin falls about 3p.m. The horses hauled really nicely and settled in quickly at the fairgrounds here. Tomorrow we will drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Sept. 19th, Getting packed

2010-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

We packed today and are leaving here at 3:a.m. Heading to Twin Falls Idaho to stay the night at the fairgrounds

7 days until the competition

2010-09-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

We will be leaving in 2 days. We are busy packing, planning meals, and getting everything ready for us to leave. We are so excited, not only about our competition but also our trip. It is the first time we have been on a vacation for away from home for more than 5 days. And we are going to see some new country! I will be posting everyday on what we are doing and were we are, with pictures, so stayed tuned!

The Roseries

2010-09-08T09:14:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I took a trip up to the high lakes in the Cascades called the Roseries. It was a very special Labor Day ride with our awesome mustangs. We go to Nebraska to compete in 14 days and it was great to take them to this special place because they are very special horses!

Beach rides with friends

2010-09-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach with our friends and took Noche and Jackson. Everyone got to ride Dino in the surf!
Noche gets thirsty.

We adopted a yearling at the Teens Event!

2010-09-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Remi is a yearling filly from Paisley HMA. She is extremely gentle and will be our granddaughters horse.

Youth and Yearling Program

2010-08-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

Tess and Riley cooling off~

http://fitzfarms.com/teens-and-oregon-mustangs-comp.asp
Shelby on the left with her horse Wiley, Loren on the right with her horse Quest.
Both horses are from South Steins. The third Picture is of Isabelle and Rosie.

I am posting about our local youth and yearlings program. That is where kids ages 10-18 have 100 days to gentle a yearling mustang straight from the wild horse corals. The yearlings will be actioned off on August 28th and the kids with get some of the money from that. Here are a few kids and there babies.

2010-08-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Shelby and Wiley

Loren and Quest
These are both VERY nice horses!

Finally an update

2010-08-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

At the horse show.

On the trail.
We took Jackson and Noche to the beach to ride the trails with some friends. It wasn't long before Jackson and Kevin were out in front leading. They soon disappeared ahead of us. They were trotting and walking and we finally got up with them. Kevin was standing on the ground and said his briddle broke and Jackson stopped anyway. We fixed the bridle with a zip tie and were on our way again. Kevin and Jackson were again way out in front and the next time we saw him he was on the top of the dunes getting ready to head down to the beach. Our friends horse stopped going up the dunes and wouldn't go. I tried to go around him on Noche and he got spooked and took off down the hill. He wasn't bucking really, just hunched up the back running. I remember thinking o.k. if I come off it's nothing but deep sand everywhere so it won't hurt too bad. Then Noche ducked right and I went left and went face first into a pine bush. I can remembering thinking when I hit "oh, this is bad,:" because the bush didn't give when I went in face first. The momentum of the nose dive caused my back to wrap around the bush. I heard lots of cracking in my back and was sure I broke three ribs. I couldn't move for about 5 minutes.I couldn't ride, it even hurt to walk. Finally got back to the trailer and headed home. The next day I went to the doctor and found out I have a cracked rib and pulled muscle in my back.
The next weekend we headed for Wild Trails Horse Expo in central Oregon. We took Jackson and Noche in In-Hand Trail and they did almost perfect. There were log jams and scarey things (the only thing they were afraid of was the crowd) We stayed at our friends house and put the boys in her coral. It's a four foot hog wire fence with electric on top. It starting raining and the boys got to playing and the next thing we new was Jackson jumped out of the coral without even touching the fence!!! He was easy to catch, and stayed in the pen the rest of the weekend. It was a great weekend!!

First horse show

2010-07-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

We took Noche and Jackson to their first horse show this weekend. Noche took first place in Halter! It was a class of 3 EMM horses and he took 5th our of 12 mustang geldings. I am so pleased. Today he and Jackson will do In-hand trail!

2010-07-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lisa and Noche

2010-07-12T06:51:00.001-07:00

kevin and Jackson

2010-07-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

The boys are coming along nicely

2010-07-11T06:42:00.001-07:00

We both have sat on out horses and walked them a few steps by the third week. Yesterday we rode with the bridles on and did walking and trotting. Kevin did the trail coarse on Jackson! They are both very sweet and have great minds.

2010-06-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

These boys are AMAZING!!!

2010-06-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

We were touching both boys with minutes of getting home. Jackson the bay is very curious and wants to know what you're doing all the time. The black (no name yet)is a little bit flightier but is responding quickly. Tonight Kevin has him lunging at a walk and trot and whoaing!!!

Here we go AGAIN!!!

2010-06-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I will be competing in the Nebraska Extreme mustang Makeover September 25th. We picked up our horses today. Both are geldings, both five years old. I got a black and Kevin got a bay. We had to drive to Reno to pick them up.
As we drove into the Corals in Reno we saw all these babies sleeping in a line!

Two Five yr. old geldings

2010-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

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ANother great ride at the beach!

2010-04-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

I took Santana and Serendipity to the beach Sunday. I had a great ride on Santana first. We trotted and cantered on the trails. It was hard not to work him to much as he was having a great time. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I think he is on the rode to recovery.
Serendipity was Matt Zimmerman's EMM horse that I brought home to put more miles on her for the new owner. She went on the hardest trail and did great. She is a great little mare and I'm going to miss her when she goes home.

An article in the local paper!

2010-04-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Taming the Mustang
Red Prairie horse
Trainer participates in
‘Mustang Makeover’
Adoption event
By Garret Jaros
Correspondent, The Sun

Twenty days into the Northwest Extreme Mustang Makeover competition trainer Kevin Sink of Sheridan knew he had no chance of winning. When he led the 6-year-old gelding he’d named Santana into the middle of Albany’s packed Calapooia Arena for the wild horse auction-adoption that marked the culmination of the 90-day Makeover, he also had no illusions.“I realized he wasn’t a 90-day horse because he had some injuries to work through,” Sink told the crowd. “When we first got him we could tell he had some previous injuries. There’s nothing broken.
It’s more chiropractic work. It’s just mending old injuries.” And then he added — “I want to take him home.”
He sealed the deal with a $125 bid that went unchallenged by the cheering crowd, which numbered in the thousands and by a show of hands, was filled with mustang owners and admirers.

The Mustang Makeover
The Extreme Mustang Makeover was part of the Northwest Horse Fair and Expo, a three-day event March 19-21, at
the Linn County Fair and Expo Center in Albany. The Mustang Makeover began in Texas in 2007 as a way to help the Bureau of Land Management prepare wild horses for adoption. The BLM is tasked with managing wild horses and burros to ensure their health and to keep them from overpopulating the range. The animals roam free on public lands in the West and are protected by federal law.
The Mustang Heritage Foundation, which started the Makeovers, now stages events across the country throughout the year. The Albany Makeover included about 25 horse trainers from Oregon, Washington and Idaho whom were randomly assigned a wild horse from Oregon. The trainers were given 90 days “to gentle” them before demonstrating their abilities during the three-day horse fair that culminated with the mustangs being auctioned for adoption on Sunday. Few animals are more impressive in battle than an infuriated mustang stallion. With ears laid back and nostrils flared they can move faster than — you. They can crush bones, remove fingers, and clamp down with jaws strong enough to hurl a mountain lion. They can knock a bear down with their hind legs or crush a wolf under their forefeet.
Continued from PAGE 1
And to a wild horse, man is nothing more than a predator who wants to eat him, Sink says. But when you talk to mustang people, you begin to hear the same words and phrases again and again — kind, loving, patient, smart, and best horse I’ve ever had.
“I absolutely love this horse,” Sink said of Santana. “Santana has a kind heart. He’s willing. Even though he’s been in a lot of pain and discomfort he never really tried to attack you or plain say no. He had a heart, he wanted to try and he was cuddling. He’s just a wonderful little guy.”
Wild Horses
It’s estimated that about 30,000 wild horses roam on BLM lands alone in 10 Western states. Nearly half of that population is found in Nevada. Another 30,000 are estimated to be in holding pens awaiting adoption or transfer to long term holding pastures in Oklahoma and Kansas. Wild horses in the United States are descendents of animals that were released or escaped from Spanish explorers, ranchers, miners, the U.S. Cavalry and Native Americans.
Mustang wranglers can point out the breed lines of a wild horse on sight. Some look quarter horse or thoroughbred, others draft or Arab. A distinction that may become even sharper as the ailing economy has led some horse owners, who can no longer afford to feed and care for their steeds, to turn them loose in the wild, said trainers at the Mustang Makeover.
It’s estimated that Oregon has a wild horse population of about 3,700, said Tom Duke, who manages the BLM’s Burns District Oregon Wild Horse and Burro Corral Facility outside of Hines. There are 21 wild horse herd management areas across Oregon, but all the mustangs distributed for this year’s Mustang Makeover came from gathers in southeastern Oregon.
“We have excess horses,” Duke said of the Oregon wild horse population. “Our low numbers are supposed to be around 2,700.”
There are currently about 550 horses at the Burns District facility. The mustangs weigh 900 to 1,200 pounds apiece and eat a combined 8 1/2 tons of hay a day at the facility.
‘Gentling’ a wild horse
This was Sink’s and Albany’s second Mustang Makeover where trainers “gentle” a wild horse for adoption and compete with each other in the process. “I support this competition one hundred percent,” Sink said. “I really like doing it. It’s a challenge. I’m very competitive. This year flat tore me up because I wasn’t in there, I wasn’t in the competition, but I got a heck of a horse.”
The mustangs and trainers competed once each day during the Albany event and were given scores based on the condition of the mustangs and how well they performed at obstacle courses and tasks designed to mimic trails, ranch work and equestrian events.
The top 10 finishers squared off in a freestyle event on Sunday for a $10,000 purse. The winner received $2,500 and a belt buckle while the others received a share based on their placement. Jasmine Lechner of Seal Rock captured first.

“Arena work is not his work,” Sink said of Santana.“You get him down there on the beach and trails, that’s where he shines.” Gentling a wild horse takes time and the Mustang Makeover is a bit of a rush, Sink says. “We try to get a saddle on them as soon as possible then, but normally I like to take 30 days to gentle a horse, 30 to 60 to get them gentled and with good ground manners,” Sink said. “The first thing is you want to gain their trust. They are afraid of you and they think that you’re gonna eat ‘em. Once you gain their trust, then you can start working closer to ‘em and start petting ‘em and start touching ‘em. It’s a slow process sometimes. Other times you can walk right up and they just like people.” He was able to touch Santana on the first day. Sink, who works as construction estimator and project manager for Knife River when he’s not training mustangs, said he fell for mustangs while he and his wife were on a ride in 1995. “There was this beautiful horse on the trail ride and come to find out it was a mustang,” Sink said. “And that sort of hooked us and we just sort of went over to the BLM Burns (District) and just got hooked and started adopting.” The couple now has eight mustangs and a couple of others he’s training. Sink only works with Mustangs now. “My heart is for these mustangs and I prefer to use them,” he says. “They will tell you what they’re gonna do. Domestics can sometimes be sneaky about kicking you but mustangs signal with their ears back. It’s plain and simple.” Sinks believes Santana is not only a great horse but also well on the road to recovery. The vet has looked at him and ruled pulled muscles and tendons and prescribed six months of rehabilitation. Sink invites the public to visit and talk about their mustangs. “We just love these things,” Sink said. “They are our lives and our kids.” Adopting a wild horse is not for anyone without solid horse skills and a willingness to go the extra mile. Even horses adopted from the Mustang Makeover, which have benefited from professional training worth an estimated $2,500, may need follow-up training. A resource of local trainers and even stipends to help pay for trainers are available through the BLM.
“Just give them a chance and adopt them,” Sink said. “There are so many people that won’t give these guys a chance to prove what they can do.”

Just 2 & 1/2 weeks to go!

2010-03-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was decision night and it was a hard one to make. But Santana is just not able to compete in the riding portion in the EMM. His health issues early on has set me back a month and a half. He's just not ready for the riding portion and I'm just not going to push a horse that isn't ready. But we will do the i...n-hand and rute every else on!. Now I am asking everyone to vote for Krissy Matherson in the competion for favorite trainer as we will not be ready to compete for that. She deserves to have the chance to compete over me. Thank you.
http://helperwidgets.com/widget.cfm?WIID=681C4988-E74E-D285-85E22BB8D7EE9EAD

Another day at the beach

2010-03-04T19:52:00.001-08:00

Santana goes to the beach by himself!

2010-02-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well it's been awhile. There really hasn't been anything to write about. I have been riding Santana very little. He seems to be feeling good and doesn't seem to be in any pain, but when I ride him for a little while he will stop and when I asked him to go he will buck. He will just stand in place and give one buck. Then I will ask him to go again and he will buck again. This has been going on for about 4 weeks. We did have a nice ride out back of our place on the gravel road a couple weeks ago. But he doesn't like to go to the left in the arena. The only thing we can figure out is he that he was in pain for so long that he is expecting it to hurt.
Today I took him to the beach by himself and we had a wonderful two hour ride. He went through water and just trucked right along. He does not like it when I squeeze him with my legs to ask him to go. Our new concern is a spot under the saddle that is always sweaty when we take off the saddle. It is in the spot right under were my thigh is, so I'm sure it's not pour saddle fit. He had this sweaty spot after riding in the trailer a couple of times. I know this is a sign of nerve damage, but he seems to be sensitive when you go to touch it.
So, we are moving along, slowly, but It was a GREAT day!!!

A dry, warm day in the northwest?

2010-01-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

Santana is feeling great after 5 days of anitbiotics for his cough and 3 days of Bute for his pain. He went out to pasture for the first time. He ran and bucked and played with Dino.

Sanata has a visit with the Vet

2010-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Santana saw the Vet about his pain issues. He definitely had a shoulder injury at one time that caused him to put most of his weight on the other leg. He has a shin split on that leg. On his injured side the leg is a little crooked from putting his weight on the other leg. The Vet said he will probably be able to be ridden for 5 years before the Arthritis in that shoulder will set in. There is a test that can be done, it costs about $1200, that would tell us the extent of the damage to muscle. It is were they shoot a nuclear dye into the muscles and then scan the body. It would show them everything. But we won't be doing this procedure anytime soon.
We will Bute him for 3 days to get any swelling down and then try and ride him next weekend. Bute IS NOT a drug in is an antiinflamatory, like an Aspirin!
He saw a farrier last Monday and he said that with corrective trimming and maybe shoeing we can correct his crooked leg.
It is amazing that he survived out in the wild for so long. We are thankful to have him in our lives!
We have completely changed directions with Santana. He will no longer be a 90 day horse for the competition, but we will be attending and definitely do in-hand unless he miraculously gets better.

News about Santana

2010-01-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Santana has not gotten any better since just after his chiropractic visit. It seemed to help for awhile. He was seen by a vet for his cough and she thought it was allergies. We are watering down his hay but it still hasn't helped. I have not been able to ride him without him being in pain. We are not sure what is wrong with him as it would cost a lot of money to get e-rays on his hip and shoulder. He will be seeing a vet this Saturday to try and determining if we can figure out were his pain is originating. He is such a sweetie and we would hate to send him back to the BLM corrals as he would then have a strike against him. Three strikes and you're out, means they have three chances to get adopted. I'm not sure what happens to them if they get three strikes.
We have been doing lots of ground work and in hand trail and he is farther ahead on this than I expected.

Friday

2010-01-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

Santana is like a new horse since his visit with Dr. Gene the chiropractor!

Friday part II

2010-01-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today I drove Santana through the trail coarse. This is only the second time I drove him and the first time outside of an arena. He did amazingly well. He Is like a different horse!!! He is much more relaxed (he was so stiff before). He is willing and very smart.

Santana's trip to the Chiropractor

2010-01-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Wednesday Santana had his visit with Dr. Gene the Chiropractor. Gene said that Santana had many issues that had been with him for a long time. He had a shoulder injury at one time that probably caused is body to be so out of whack. His spine was rotated and his neck, his pole, his shoulder and his hips were out. Gene said that Santana would be like a new horse in a couple of weeks and that I could start riding him on Saturday. He gave us some exercises to do for a couple of weeks. Santana was very good for Dr. Gene, but a couple of times he put is ears back when Gene would push him to get an adjustment, then when the adjustment was finished Santana would lick and chew, which means he was accepting it, and even liking how he felt.

Even in the Snow!

2010-01-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

NEITHER rain, nor sleet nor snow will keep Santana from practicing his trail
coarse!

Trail horse STAR!!!

2009-12-27T20:17:00.001-08:00

His first day practicing in-hand trail and Santana was a star!

Santana will get to see the Chiropractor tomorrow. We are anxious to see what he has to say.

Christmas at the beach

2009-12-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

The horses are wet because we just got done wading through small lakes. Santana just follows along behind Dino he would make a great pack horse!

Week 2

2009-12-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today we had our Christmas party at DD Mustangs with Pacific Wild horse Club members. A few of us brought our EMM horses and others brought their horses to play with. Lisa rode Santana with me leading her and I rode him with Lisa leading me. It was a great day!

Santana is telling Kevin a secret!

He is having some problems with bending and is stiff in a lot of areas so he got a visit from a horse physical therapist named Julia. He really enjoyed the stretching and it made him feel better. She said he had a shoulder injury at one time and this may be the cause of his discomfort. She said he needs to be adjusted by a chiropractor so we will be making him an appointment for that. He was such a good boy for her. He stood completely still for her except when it hurt.

Julia with Santana

Our friend who is also in the EMM, Dawn Martin, worked with Santana and Kevin worked with her horse Doug.

Dawn and Doug, Kevin and Santana

Kevin and Doug

Dawn and Santana

Alisha with her newly adopted mustang Pumpkin. She got her as a Christmas present today. Pumpkin was in the Trainer Incentive Program with Dawn.

Santana takes the girls to the fairgrounds!

2009-12-13T16:40:00.001-08:00

I took my daughter and granddaughter with me to the fairgrounds with Santana and Dino. Santana was just having a relaxing day and gettng accustomed to new things. He walked into a dark barn through a mud puddle and went in a stall. He had a nice roll in the fresh dirt and then just hung out. Ellie had a great time playing with Dino. She wore him out dragging him around the arena. For those of you who don't know, Dino is a 14 Kiger Stallion.

Day 8

2009-12-13T05:26:00.000-08:00

We took Santana to our friend Debbies arena again yesterday. We did some drivng with him. He didn't like this at all. He didn't like the ropes around his back end and he didn't like me behind him. Lisa had to lead him so he wouldn't spin around. We did this for about 15 minutes. He then got a bath with aloe iodine wash. He has a skin fungus. It was about 30 degrees out so he just got a sponge bath with a bucket of hot water. He enjoyed his first bath and then got a blanket on.

Santana goes to the beach!

2009-12-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

I took Santana to the beach with Dino, buy myself. Do I need to say more?

He is following me, towing Dino!!!!

It was a beautiful day, 45 degrees and the ocean was very calm!

Day 5

2009-12-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

I took Santana to our friend Debbies arena yesterday. I loaded him into the trailer with Dino. I tied to the trailer when we got there, and he just stood there. I saddled him and he walked right into the arena. Our friend Kim was there to help me. I ponied him behind Dino and then She did the same. I got on him and he didn't do much. Kim tried poning him behind Dino with me on him, but all he wanted to do is jump in Kim's lap, so we decided to bag that idea. So I got off and had Kim get on him and I led her around the arena. He was fine with that, he really likes girls! He was such a good boy! Oh yay, he was glad to see his friend Barney the Burro!

2009-12-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Santana is coming along so nicely! He started eating grain on the second day and will do just about anything for a taste. He tends to have a attitude sometimes. He will put his ears back when he's tired of something, but never acts on it! I did sit on him several times today, but Lisa somehow didn't get a video of it. He doesn't care much if I get on him. He loaded in the trailer several times and led outside his pen. Every day he is a changed horse. He really needs a bath, he has some rain rot. Too bad it's so darn cold out, and Lisa won't let me bring him in the house for a shower! He is going to be a neat horse. He won't be anything like Princess. He is more business, she was more about being a PRINCESS. He has a williness to do things and takes it in stride and looks for what is next. He reminds me of a ropers horse!

Day 3

2009-12-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Can you tell were this picture was taken from?

Santana ties!

Day 2

2009-12-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

His name is Santana! He is a very good boy. I worked with him for about 45 minutes, then went and got Dino. I put Dino in his pen and then put the saddle on Dino. This didn't even phase him. Then I got on Dino and ponied him around his pen. Everything I did to him he took right in stride. I then saddled him and he didn't even care. He doesn't spook at things that other wild horses would. It is Kind of amazing to us. I led him out side of his pen and over to the horse trailer. I loaded Dino, but he wasn't interested in loading and I didn't want to push it. What you see in the video is just him. Calm, cool and collected.

Stay tuned......

Day 1

2009-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

We got home at 8 p.m. last night. Got my horse settled in and went in his pen to see how he would react. He is very calm and let me walk up to his face within 5 minutes. I was petting him down to his withers within the half hour. I left him alone for the night, and went out this morning to find out he has an infection is his shealth from being gelded. So he got his shot of penicilan this morning and he took it like a champ. I will be keeping a close eye on him and giving him some exercise.
He is a 5 year old and is from Hogs Creek HMA near Harper Oregon. He is 15hh.

He's here!

2009-12-04T18:05:00.000-08:00

That's him on the left!
We picked up my mustang today for the EMM competition. He is a very nice looking sorrell. He was very calm in the shoots when he was getting his halter put on. In fact he even stuck his nose into the halter when the wrangler put it up to him. He rode home with a burro we picked up for a friend. It was nice that he had company for the 5 hour trip home.

In the loading shoots

2009-12-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

Getting his halter on.

2009-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

2009-12-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

In the trailer

2009-12-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again!

2009-12-02T04:04:00.000-08:00

We will be getting a new wild horse Friday! It's time for the Extreme Mustang Makeover. It will be held in Albany Or. again. So Friday we will be heading to Burns to pick up my horse for the competition. I don't know what I will be getting, but have heard that they are all geldings. Last year I wanted a gelding so bad, and after a week of getting Princess home, I would have wanted nothing else. So stayed tuned to see what my horse looks like on Friday. Lisa will take pictures and upload them right away.

Our T.I.P. horses both found Great homes!

2009-10-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

Dunbar with be staying with us for training. He was adopted by friends of ours who need a new trail horse as their's is getting old.

Duke has gone to a wonderful home in S. Oregon. He will become a search and rescue horse. His new owner, Stacy was riding him within 3 weeks of getting him home. I think it was a match made in heaven!

It's been almost a month

2009-06-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

Kevin working with Dunbar with Dino's help.
I know it's been quite a while since my last post. A lot has been happening. First we moved to a new place and so the boys have been put on the back burner as we've just been too busy.
Second, Duke had an accident on his third day home and we have been waiting to see if he would recover enough for us to continue training. He flipped over in the round pen and got a bad concussion. We had the vet out and had him on steriods to get the swelling down on his brain. He has held his head with a tilt and every day it get's a little better.
Dunbar has been difficult to work with. Kevin has been working with him but has not been able to get very far. He can scratch his whithers and up his neck, but then Dunbar bolts. He wouldn't let Kevin get to his head. Kevin has finally been able to scratch his head a little.
I finally started working Duke again the other day. He is different than most horses. He get's scared when I am next to him. He wants me facing him. So I approached him and bent my head forward so he can smell my hair. He put his nose up to me and smelled, then his lip went up. I guess he doesn't like my shampoo. I did it again and he sniffed my hair and gave me a little nip with his lips. It was quite an experience to approach a wild horse this way, I couldn't see him as my head was bent down. He lets me scratch his forhead with the stick and then I can work my way up to use my hand. He kind of goes into a trance and then realizes I am there and snorts and moves away. It was quite a thrill for me as Kevin has always been the one to gentle the wild ones.

First week

2009-05-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well it has been kind of crazy around the ranch, so the boys haven't been worked very much. We can pet both Dunbar (Coyote Lakes gelding) and Duke (sheepshead gelding). They are still very leary of us when we go into there pens. Once we get a hold of the rope we can touch them with the stick and work our hand up to pet them.

Having their feet trimmed

2009-05-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

The wrangelrs at the Burns facility were nice enough to trim our horses feet and worm them before we loaded up.
Here are pictures of the trimming process. First they put them in a squeeze shoot that it is padded inside. Then it squeezes together so they can't thrash around. Then it tilts over and the bottom opens up. The tie there feet down so they can't kick and then the trim away. They use a electric trimmer sort of like a sander. Pretty neat and fast.

2009-05-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

Day 1

2009-05-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Kevin worked with Clyde(I just have to call them something)the Coyote Lakes horse when we got home. He responded really well to the first pull on the rope and the stick touching him all over. Kevin did touch him on the nose a few times. Then he worked with Duke, (sheepsheed horse)for just a short time. He was not responding as well as Clyde. He was shaking with fear pretty bad, so Kevin didn't push him too far.

We picked up our two T.I.P. Horses today

2009-05-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

We picked up our two T.I.P. Horses today. We have 78 days to get them ready for the mustang show July 25th. They will be available for adoption at this show. We will also be showing them at the Pacific Wild Horse Club show July 18th and 19th in McMinnville.
We first looked at a few mares and had one picked out. She was built really nice. We had them put her aside so we could look at the geldings next. They brought the geldings in and Kevin had one picked out right away. Tom the Manager of the corrals pointed out another nice guy to us, and we said, “we’ll take that one for sure.” We had to decide on the gelding that Kevin picked out and the mare he picked out. It was a tough decision but, we eventually went with the gelding. Kevin said if we got the mare he would end up keeping her.
They brought the boys into the shoots and trimmed their feet and wormed them for us. That was a bonus! The boys were really well behave in the shoots, but when it came time to halter them neither one of them were having any of it. Finally the halters were on and we loaded and headed for home.

2009-05-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is the mare that we liked but did not bring home.She is from Coyote lake/Alvord Tule. She is three.

2009-05-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

This gelding is a three year old from Sheepshead herd management area

2009-05-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

This gelding is also a three year old from Coyote Lake/Alvord Tule HMA.

2009-05-02T21:04:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I will be picking up our wild mustangs Friday May 8th in Burns for the trainer incentive program. This blog will follow our journey with them as we get them ready for new homes.

Lovely

2009-04-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is Lovely, my 3 year old Kiger filly. She is out of our stallion Lui.
I went out this morning and worked with Lovely, my 3 year old Kiger mare. She has been saddled and driven one time before. I sat on her once that first time. I saddled her today and drove her, she was doing really good. I had planned on riding her today so things were going as planned. I put my foot in the stirrup and stepped up. She moved once. I did it again and she didn't move. I went to the other side and did the same thing there. I went back to her right side and put my foot in and stood up, she didn't move. I swung my leg over and sat down. She didn't move, and i gave a big sign. Then......this is the good part! My little kitty was meowing and walking towards us. She wanted to see me. I was trying to say PSSST with out scaring Lovely. It was having no affect on either of them. Then my kitty walked right under Lovely. I just sat very still and told myself everything would be fine. The cat would just walk under us and keep going. Lovely was watching her. She would normally like to chase the cat. So what does the cat do? She lays down. I waited a seconds and pulled on Lovely's rein trying to get her to move a foot. She did and the cat got up and left. I breathed a huge sign of relief and then preceed to ask Lovely to walk. She did without any problems. We worked on walking, stopping and turning. She doesn't like the turning to much. I will have to drive her more. Anyway, it was quite an adventure and I just had to share it with you all. Lovely is a pretty good girl, I am very pleased with her.
Lisa

Lovely's first ride!

2009-04-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Expo

2009-03-26T06:57:00.001-07:00

The adoption

2009-03-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well, It's the day after the adoption and we are still a little sad. Princess went for $1650 and we only had $1500. It's o.k. though, we don't need another horse and I think she went to good home. A lady bought her and she will be this lady's first horse. The lady has grown kids so I'm sure Princess will be spoiled a little bit! And she is coming home with us for a little while to be boarded with us. We finested 10th and won $100. I also was awarded the Sportsmanship award by the other trainers and received $500 for that! That was so neat it meant so much to me that the other trainers thought that much of me. We will be heading home tonight after a very long weekend. Thanks all for coming along with us on our journey. I will try to keep this blog going for awhile.

2009-03-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Finals@

2009-03-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

Kevin and Princess finished 12th last night our of 28 and made the top 10. They are sitting in eighth place right now. Finals at 10:00 a.m

Round 2

2009-03-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry the video isn't very good. I was trying to watch Kevin's performance without looking through the lense.

Wow, what a shock!

2009-03-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

We got the results from last nights competion and I couldn't believe it we were in first place!Princess scored a 51pts. out of 60, and that was the highest score. We place 2nd, in In-hand trail, so with the two combined we were in first. I couldn't believe it.No stress here going into tonights competion. We had three trail obstacles to do and then a figure eight at the canter. Most of this we did with out a problem. Princess wouldn't pick up the leads I asked for so it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. We then had a 2 minute freestyle. It didn't go as planned, but after looking at the video, it wasn't as bad as I thought. At midnight tonight they post the top ten going to the finals. We will wait until the morning to find out if we make it.
Dino did the Extreme Cowboy race today. It went pretty well, but I don't know if we'll make it to the finals on Sunday. We had one obstacle that we blew. It was a set of panels in the shape of a C that you had to back through. It was so narrow Dino barely fit in it. We had a lot of fun though. I will try to post the videos.

IN-HAND TRAIL

2009-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

1St day at Expo

2009-03-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well we got here at 7:00 a.m. and got Princess and Dino settled in. I rode Princess for a little while and she did really good. Then we got a number painted on her butt for the adoption. She is number 25. We had along wait until the 6:00 PM IN-hand trail coarse. We had a 3:00 p.m. trainers meeting and I got a big surprise! BLM presented Dino with a blanket for High Point Senior Mustang for the Mustang buckle series last year. It was a great honor and very neat that they presented it in front of all the other trainers.
We got Princess ready and headed over to the arena for our trail coarse. We were selected to go 23 out of 28 horses, so we had a long wait. Lisa got to watch all the horses go before us. Princess and I went in and did our thing and I was disappointed that we had one bobble. We had to load in a horse trailer that had cow manure in it and she didn't like it. She JUMPED in on the second try. The rest of the coarse went well. When I came out of the arena I had one trainer shake my hand and tell me it was flawless and another trainer who went behind me came out and said mine go was GREAT! Then Lisa came down and told me that most of the horses didn't load in the trailer very well. So I guess we did pretty good! It felt great. Lisa got a video of it, but it's almost 11:00 so we will upload it tomorrow.

We are on our Way

2009-03-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

We are leaving for Expo this morning. I will try to blog while I am there. I don't know about pictures, we'll try. We are as ready as we hoped to be so wish us luck.

PICTURES BY MOLLYDILLPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

2009-03-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

I am a Mustang

2009-03-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

WELL IT'S JUST 4 DAYS AWAY!!!

2009-03-15T15:21:00.001-07:00

Princess has come so far I am just amazed with her progress. This is a recent video of her practicing lead changes. We are so excited about the Expo our nerves are really kicking in. This is a Video of me practicing trailer loading with Dino for the Extreme Cowboy race. We ride on Friday the 20th at noon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSmsy3HfhU

It's snowing here again!

2009-03-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday I took Princess and Dino to the beach again. I have only been able to ride Princess once a week as the fairgrounds has had OSET there all month. I don't get home till after dark so I just have the weekends. Now that the clocks have changed I will have daylight when I get home.
I rode Princess first and she was quite nervous. I don't know why. She kept looking behind her and prancing. So our ride wasn't that good.
Then I rode Dino and we had a wonderful ride. We did figure eights and rollbacks on the beach. He really was enjoying himself. I guess I can't expect to have two great rides all the time. Then I took him through the dunes and was cantering down a little hill. I felt his back end go out from under him a little bit. I think it was his stiffle muscle. The chiropractor said he was very stiff in that area.
Sunday I took Princess and Dino to the ABRA show in Albany to do 1 trail class with both of them. Dino was still stiff so I decided not to ride him. Princess did fairly well in her first trail class, but she was acting nervous again. I then took her in open trail as I wasn't riding Dino. She was really nervous this time and wouldn't hardly do any opsticals. She was nervous about the crowd and a big orange caution sign. She couldn't wait to get out of the arena and was charging out the gate. I made her stop and she reared UP!!! I don't know what has gotten into her. I guess I am going to ride without spurs for awhile and see if that helps. I have been telling Lisa all along that I have been waiting for her to hit a wall (so to speak) and now she has and of coarse it's the week before Expo. Well, what are yah going to do? The best you can I guess.

Princess and Kevin in the BLM Newsletter!

2009-03-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

For immediate release: March 6, 2009

ATTN MEDIA OUTLETS: Great human interest story; lots of opportunity for trainer interviews before, during, and after the event...call for more information, or if you'd like to meet/contact a trainer in your area!

NORTHWEST EXTREME MUSTANG MAKEOVER HEADED TO ALBANY

HINES, Oregon – With only two weeks to go, trainers participating in the Northwest Extreme Mustang Makeover in Albany are putting the final touches on their once-wild Oregon mustangs.

The Northwest event is a spin-off of the highly successful Extreme Mustang Makeover held first in Texas in 2007. The Mustang Heritage Foundation, a
501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), created the Extreme Mustang Makeover events in order to recognize and highlight the value of Mustangs through a national training competition.

McMinnville, Oregon trainer Kevin Sink said, “We might get our show ring canter slowed down and work on side passing, but other than that, Princess
and I are really ready to go.” Having a once-wild mustang show-ring ready
in just three months is something to be proud of.

Sink, along with 30 other Oregon and Washington trainers picked up their “to-be-tamed” horses at BLM’s Wild Horse Corral Facility in Hines the first weekend in December 2008. From there, it is a race to the finish: who can best train and show their randomly selected mustang at Oregon’s first Extreme Mustang Makeover Challenge.

Sink admitted, “I was a little worried in the beginning because Princess was a kicker. But she is fantastic these days – she follows me everywhere.”

These events give the public a unique opportunity to see the results of wild horses becoming trained mounts, and to display the beauty, versatility and trainability of the rugged horses that roam freely on public lands throughout the West.

Mustang Makeover trainers will gather March 19 to 21, 2009 at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center in Albany as one of the opening events for the Annual Northwest Horse Show and Expo.

· On March 19 at 6:00 p.m., the Oregon mustangs will be on competitive
display. Trainers are evaluated on the body condition of their mustangs, as well as their ability to handle the horse "in hand" through a series of maneuvers including picking up the horse’s feet, maneuvering it through obstacles and loading it into a trailer.

· On Friday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. trainers mount their animals and
complete a "horse course" that includes a series of obstacles and requires the trainer to demonstrate the level of competency the horse has accomplished.

· The top ten finalists compete in a freestyle event on Saturday, March
21 at 10:00 a.m -- just one hour before the awards presentation and competitive bid adoption for the trained mustangs.

Sink said, “Bottom line, I want Princess to go to a good home. If at all possible, I want to bring her back home with me!”

For more information on the Northwest Extreme Mustang Makeover, call the Burns District BLM Office at (541) 573-4400. Additional information about the Wild Horse program is also available online at:
www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/wildhorse/index.php

About the BLM:

The BLM manages more land – 256 million acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.

Wild horses and burros are managed in Oregon in accordance with the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. This act gave the Bureau of Land Management the responsibility to protect wild horses and burros while ensuring their populations are managed to maintain or restore a thriving ecological balance.

Submitted photos: 1) Kevin Sink and Princess during their first meeting at Sink's "Stormy Ranch", and 2) Sink and Princess taking a stroll on the Oregon coast in January

(See attached file: Kevin_Princess_Day1.jpg)(See attached file:
Kevin_Princess_Week6_Beach.jpg)

tara

_____________________

Tara Martinak
Burns District BLM
Public Affairs Specialist
Volunteer Coordinator
541-573-4519
_____________________

Expo weekend schedule March 19th-22nd

2009-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

The Mustang Makeover begins on Thursday night at 5 pm. Tickets are only available at the gate and are $10 each.

Friday, Sat, and Sunday tickets are $10 in advance at coastal farm and garden and $12
at the gate or try contacting Linn Co. Fair & Expo Center at 800-858-2005 where they'll hold your tickets until you get there.

In addition to the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Craig Cameron's Extreme Cowboy Race will also be kicking off it's preliminary round on Thursday night. The ECR will begin at 4 pm in the Silverlite Arena, followed by the In Hand competition with the mustangs. Kevin and Dino will be riding Friday at noon in the Extreme Cowboy Race.

Makeover horse riding course (trail)will be on Friday night, at 7:00 p.m.
At 10:00a.m. on Saturday the finals will start following with the adoptions of the EMM horses.

In addition, Kevin will be riding Dino with the Kiger Mesteno association. Times are Friday 5:00 p.m. Saturday 2:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

2009-03-02T09:08:00.001-08:00

Photobucket Album

Figure eights

2009-03-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

We took Princess and Dino to Debbies arena yesterday. They were having another Expo practice and Lisa is riding a friends horse in the PWHC mustang demo at Expo. Lisa rode Dino for awhile and she was amazed at how different it felt riding him after his Chirpractic adjustment. She said he was so light and supple. Princess also was different to ride she was smoother, not so choppy. We had a great ride and Princess is learning her leads. We did figure eights and changed leads often. She doesn't like to take her right lead and is choppier that was. She is coming a long great though.

http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e127/stormyranch/Princess/