Wow, Busy week at Pony Boot Camp

Dear Diary: Well it has been a week since I had time to put pen to hoof and tell ya'll what is going on here at Pony Boot Camp. Camp Mother was very busy attending a Ranch Roping clinic with Dave and Gwynn Weaver so I was left to just stand around and soak it all in. Here are pictures of the Por Fin Ranch where the clinic was. What a view!

I was talking with Walley who actually got to participate in the clinic with Camp Mother aboard. He said the ranch owner's horse 'sold out' while heading a cow and ran smack into him,then the saddle slipped and the rider fell of and broke 5 ribs. I got real bord tied to the tree, but think standing around was better then all that action in the arena!! Plus cows are dumb and they smell funny. Camp Mother said she finally perfected her Houlihan what ever that means.

Today I got my first real bath with soap, conditioner, the whole box and dice. I certainly don't remember that being in the brochure! And I am not nearly as impressed with my braided tail as Camp Mother is. Please make her stop...

I am very, very excited to tell you the meals here just got a whole lot better!!! I have another great sponsor. Elk Grove Milling is providing me with Stable Mix Pellets..... Boy are they good!!

If you want a great meal be sure to check out Bar Ale Feeds and Elk Grove Milling Pellets!!! Your horse will thank you!! And I really, really thank them both for graciously sponsoring my meals here at camp!! My condition and coat has already improved. (I hope Walley notices, boy is he a hunk!)

It's lights out time. So Ima Your Horse signing off from sunny but very windy California.

Yeah! Field Trip Today

Dear diary: Today was a really fun day at Pony Boot Camp. We started the day by playing "how many things can I wear during a tornado". The rules of the game were simple with the windy blowing out of control you had to put on everything you could find in the round pen. Guess what. I WON... I got a whole bucket of that Bar Ale Distance Plus that Bar Ale Feeds is sponsoring me with. It is really good!! And Camp Mother says it is good for me, not that I care.......

And then we got to go on a field trip. Only mustangs got to go. I arranged it so Walley was next to me!! We went to a neighboring ranch and played with other people and horses. I got to load and ride in the camp bus tied in line just like the other campers. It was alot of fun. Camp Mother wouldn't let me have her camera so I don't have any pictues except for inside the camp bus. Well it's lights out time.

Day 8 at Pony Boot Camp

Hello from weekend two at Pony Boot Camp USA. Well you would think Camp Mother would take a day off cuz it's the weekend, but Noooooooooo She says this storm is so windy, it is a good day to fly a kite. So I told her to 'Go Fly a Kite' (maybe not those exact words). Note to self: After your time-out is over for telling Camp Mother to Go fly a kite, you won't like what is involved in learning to fly one.

Sue was right, the wind was perfect to fly a kite. But since I have no way to throw the kite in the air, it just kept attacking me every time I tried to get it to fly:

Note to self: Horses cannot fly kites. This activity was not, I repeat not in the camp brochure

As the wind died down and it started to rain Camp Mother said we had to switch to indoor games. Not knowing what an indoor game was I told Camp Mother she could pick. Note to self: Never let Camp Mother pick the games. She picked load in the trailer. The gist of the game is I climb in this noisy, steel box and eat a snack, climb out, repeat. Wow like I am still in pre-school what a dumb game. It took me a total of 3 minutes to figure it out. And even when the rules kept changing like lead in the trailer, drive in the trailer, turn around, don't turn around, walk out. back out. I still won the game ever time. with that Camp Mother called it a day, went in the house, built a fire...... and left us wild ponies to be Saturday night party animals like only a mustang knows how to do!! Glad I can sleep in, in the morning Sue has a horse show....TTFN

One Week Anniversary

Howdy from Pony Boot camp. Well camp mother says it is my one week anniversary. Not sure what that means, I have a hard time with this English language thing. I thought anniversaries had something to do with being married. I have had a foal so I must of been married but there was never any talk about anniversaries. Come to think about it we didn't talk about much at all. I don't get it......

Today was a big day as I got to wear a complete horse outfit (Walley was right, camp mother loves to play dress up). Including saddle, pad and bridle. You can see I have a careless, relaxed demeanor most of the time because Sue is so patient and methodical in her training. Actually it is because when I do get worried I get real BIG and real FAST, so it takes allot of energy and I have to save up between episodes. camp mother says those episodes are going to garner me alot of time-outs in my life........ But what is time to a horse???

After we were bord with the dress-up game, we went driving. I am not sure if I am old enough to drive?? I guess in dog years I am...... (Note to self: find out why dogs get their own years.) Camp mother said I drove real well... Maybe I'll get to use that new Dodge truck she said she bought me.... It is Friday night and all.. (Another note to self: Dogs get to have a license too, look into this being a dog thing)

Time to sign off. Give your horses a rub for me and remember: Life is short, Ride your good horse first. Ima Your Horse

Day 6... where is that return ticket........

Well here it is day 6 of pony boot camp. It seems like I spend allot of time being dressed and undressed in outfits I did NOT pick out myself. Walley says that is because Sue who everyone here calls Camp Mother is a girl so she likes to play dress up... I don't know what a girl is but I do know I don't like the dress up thing. I am wearing a bridle and surcingle with a pad so I am told.

I think I am getting a crush on Walley who seems to be the camp assistant around here. That was until he said my bridle brings out the brown in my eyes but the blue pad makes my butt look big. I told him to kiss my hoof, so he is now keeping a respectable distance as seen in the company photo.

It looks like once you have some seniority around here, camp ain't so bad, these mustangs told me they were 'broke' so they get to be in a grass pasture and lay around in the sun, while I live in a small dorm room and have to play dress up all day. When I was rounded up I heard cowboys in Nevada say they hated being broke but looking at these other mustangs I can't wait.

Wow, just when the sun comes out and I don't think I will have to stand in the rain for a few months, I find out they have instant rain here at camp. If I was a fish or frog I might think this was a 5 star place. But personally I am not, let me repeat NOT impressed!

Camp mother brought me my dinner which she said is being sponsored by Bar Ale Feed in Winters, CA. One of those Nevada cowboys said he had a sponsor so he had to go to meetings. I hope if me having a sponsor means I have to go to meetings they have food like this! Of course first I had to dress up in my PJ's. Please make her stop!!!

Good night from Pony Boot Camp USA

My first day at Pony Boot Camp

Well I just got off the bus at Pony Boot Camp. I think I want to turn around and go home, but all the other horses here say they love it. So guess I'll give it a try. My bus driver Sue let me use the camera on the way home and I took pictures out the window of where I came from so I don't ever forget what those snow capped mountains of my foalhood look like. She seems to be a much better horse trainer then computer wrangler, in fact she lost this whole first post once already, that is why it is out of order. If I can get her hooked on, I'll push her to add more pictures of my hood for your viewing pleasure.

My first friend here is Walley, he is a real looker and even has a Nevada accent similar to mine as he came from a hood near by in Twin Peaks. As soon as I got my land legs (20 minutes out of the trailer) he told me to let Sue pet me, so she would stop messing around and feed everybody dinner. So I did and she did and we all went to bed happy.

My second day at Pony Boot Camp

Ima is settling in very well, she loves Walley (doesn't everybody) so I use him to help me work with her. The second day I could take her halter on and off, pick up her front feet and rub her with a towel. She is fine with objects you carry or hang on the fence but completely looses it with the same object on the ground. I was able to hang a rope off her and even work her with a cinch rope and lead her up. Like most mares her back legs may take a few days to handle comfortably. She is very difficult to change eyes with because of a year of right handed work through the holding pens. It make take weeks to get any kind of balance when changing eyes in front. She is very willing and kind, but she keeps looking for her round trip ticket stub back to the Neveda Mountains hoping this vacation from hell ends soon. LOL

Wild Horse Corrals

Here is Ima at the Wild Horse Corrals. Ready for her new big adventure. She is a chunky 4 year old solid bay with not one white hair on her. She is maybe 14 hands if she stands on her tippy toes. She has a big kind eye and is going to be a gem to train. Her neck tag number was 9952. She was gathered in January of 2008 from the South Shoshone HMA (NV0601) near Battle Mountain, NV.

First Week

Welcome to the diary blog for Sue Watkins Extreme Mustang Makeover Horse: Ima Your Horse. I have been a Horse Trainer for 40 years, the last 17 in Lincoln, CA. I was recently interviewed and accepted to participate in the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s 2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover Contest. The contest involves 30 trainers who are provided a wild untouched mustang for 90 days to handle and train. Each trainer will then compete in a variety of contests in front of a large audience at the Western States Horse Expo, at the Cal Expo State Fairgrounds in Sacramento June 12 – 14, 2009.

The objective of the foundation and contest is to help promote the National Wild Horse and Burro program by creating a more marketable product, making wild horse ownership a positive experience by enhancing and showcasing the training programs for critical mustang age groups.

As I was thinking of names before I picked her up, I couldn't decide what to do. I didn't know what to call her because it is bad luck to change a horse's name, and since she is not really my horse I didn't want to name her something the person who adopts her doesn't like. So I decided to just call her Your Horse. That way no matter what the new owner calls her, she will still be your horse. Trying to settle on a 'barn name' became a challenge until a client said: how about a nice girls name like Ima. So Ima Your Horse it is.