speaker-0 (00:00)
Welcome to the Landy Peak Podcast. I'm your host and friends, Landy Peak, and I am thrilled to have you join me. In each episode, we will explore what makes life truly fulfilling: happiness, deep connections, and self-discovery. Together we'll uncover that happiness is not a destination, but a way of living. Now, let's dive into today's episode.
Mm.
Before a horse learns anything from you, they're studying you. And people are doing the same. We're paying attention long before we ever ask a horse to do something or another human to do something. We're noticing whether you're predictable, whether you're consistent, whether you're paying attention, and whether being around you feels safe or stressful, confusing or clear. And that's one of the things I found most fascinating about spending time with.
with horses. Because when most people think about horse training, they think about teaching the horse. And what I'm saying is that way before learning happens, there's a relationship happening. Welcome back to the Landy Peak podcast. I'm Landy Peak and I am so thrilled that you're joining us today. So today we are continuing our journey with our Mustang challenge. Last week we found out that we have Denny as our Mustang and we're thrilled
And this week we got our first one-on-one experience with Denny experiences. We've had a couple of days with her as we're learning her, creating and building on that relationship, and doing a lot of firsts. So today I have some special guests. I hope you enjoy our conversation as we go through our first two days experience with Denny with my daughter Tegan and my son Isaac. And I gotta tell you.
It is a different experience training a horse, any horse, especially a wild Mustang, with two kiddos who, as with any kids, can be unpredictable. So we have an unpredictable horse, two unpredictable kids. Denny in her yearling stages around a teenager in human years. So it's been an interesting experience for me as the unexpected does happen. Things like
Isaac jumping off a fence, things like noises as they get banged around.
The foundation that we built with Denny in that trust, in that safety, and that we're okay and she's okay has really gained us a lot in what we were able to do with her in her first that we'll share in this episode, because we had that solid connection ahead of time. So I hope you enjoy this. It's a fun conversation with my kids, and they'll share the unexpected things that happen as we went along. Welcome, welcome.
This is Landy Peak, and today I have my daughter Tegan with me as we continue our series on the Mustang Challenge. And I have a very special guest, my son Isaac, who is I also working with our Mustang Denny. Tegan and Isaac, do guys want to say hello? Hi. I already did. You already did. Okay. And today we're talking about our first experience with.
Training Denny. So Denny is staying where the yearlings β were housed for their quarantine. We're boarding there with Wild Rose. And there is one other Mustang yearling that is staying with her. Don't know why that popped up unless Tegan didn't. Yes. There is one other Mustang yearling who is with her. And so we have two horses in our paddock and us. Now, as we work with Denny.
We have established a β I think, foundation of trust and connection, especially since we got to go in. And all three of us have been working with the entire 10 β mucking and feeding and talking and petting β over the last two weeks that they've been in quarantine. And then we have kind of an existing relationship with Denny, which is awesome. So
I'd love you both to share what our first day's experience kind of working one-on-one with Denny in our initial training, what was that like?
speaker-2 (04:45)
First day first day was very successful in my opinion. We got to groom her, we ought to brush her. β surprisingly we got to put a halter on her first day. That blew my mind. I can't believe that. And like I don't even know how it happened. Just wow. I'm speechless. That was so huge.
speaker-0 (04:55)
There we go.
That's
speaker-2 (05:14)
We took the h she was doing so good, so we took the halter out. β just so she could get used to it. We let her play with it, play with it-ish, β sniff it, chew it a little, drape it around her neck. She was doing so good, so we just decided to slide it onto her nozzle, not do anything else. We did it a couple times, and then we just decided to put it on, see what would happen. She did amazing. I can't believe.
speaker-0 (05:41)
Leave
it. It was unexpected. And for first day, we had already done some hand touches all over Denny. We had our arms around her just in the two weeks that we got to feed and take care of all 10. We had developed a relationship and been able to touch her. So we're going in a little bit ahead.
Of where β somebody else who had just picked up their Mustang β maybe were because we had an existing relationship, which gave us a little advantage for first day. What are your thoughts, Isaac?
speaker-2 (06:14)
Well, she was really skittish at the first day. But after
speaker-1 (06:21)
couple weeks.
speaker-2 (06:23)
She's now like okay with almost anything we do. We can jump down from the fence, we can climb the fence, we can even lean on her. She's very tolerant.
speaker-0 (06:39)
So Isaac's right. So the very first time that she came off the trailer in the first few days, she wasn't comfortable approaching people.
speaker-2 (06:48)
She
was scared. She she wasn't approaching many like I don't think any people. She's come so far since then.
speaker-1 (06:51)
like.
speaker-0 (06:59)
She has. So some of the other horses were facility born and so they were more used to people. Denny, and we should probably do a little backstory on Denny. So Denny was gathered in 2020 September 2025 with her mom. She was estimated to be about three months old at that time. We have found pictures of her mom through the Double Devil β Corrals, which have been they have been awesome working with us, helping us find pictures of Denny's mom.
Giving it giving us some information around her as much as they have, because there's not a lot. So it's really neat to see that she came from the range, was gathered with her mom until recently. And when she came in, she was a lot more hesitant than the facility-born horses, who were more used to people and pets. And so they came right up to the fence. Dania would hang back at the back of the group, very curious in humans.
But not super confident. So it took a couple of days before she was accepting pets and always curious, always checking out what we were doing, but it took a little bit of time warming up. And so we've had that two weeks to really create that bond. And she's gotten to be able to just exist with us as we came in and fed and mucked. She's used to Isaac climbing fences and noises and
Things like that. So she was really comfortable with us to begin with. Now, Tegan's right, our first day went way beyond what we expected. Because our first day we were thinking, or I was thinking, that we would do some grooming. We've touched her pretty much all over with our hands at this point. But β I guess back. I hadn't really touched her legs up until now.
And so we brought out our our grooming kit. We showed her the brushes. There's Isaac got some awesome video of her mouthing and holding a brush. But she got to sniff and all both kids were really good at showing tools before we use them on her. So she could see what they are. Now, as we are training, she is in her little paddock. It's a pretty big paddock, but she's in her paddock with the other horse porter.
We do not have her haltered because we haven't had a halter on her, and she has the free ability to move away from us. So this is all connection-based training that we're doing and all training that she has choice. And I think that's one of the coolest things is she can easily move away from us, and we are letting her move away if she wants without any force. So being able to groom her as she is just free and really tolerating.
The brushes, β there were certain things that as we brushed her and we were vidtering everything. So it's fun to go back and watch the video. You can see as we moved around her head and her neck, β she was really enjoying that brushing. We got back towards her rump and her whole body energy shifted. Her ears got a little bit more back facing, her body's a little bit tenser, her eyes got a little tenser.
She wasn't saying no, but she was really like, I'm not sure. And so we're tuning in to her saying, Is this okay? Now, Isaac, do you wanna share? Because you were brushing her mane and really saw kind of a difference in I like this or I don't like this.
speaker-2 (10:32)
Well what you wanna do β after a couple s so you wanna brush for a couple and then you wanna let her sniff it, make sure it's not β hurting her, then keep doing it.
speaker-0 (10:45)
Yeah, so there's a lot of give and take. It is not just a hey, we're gonna groom a horse like we're gonna groom a horse. β and there's different tools that we use. So we tried the curry combs, we tried different brushes with diff textures, stiffness of bristles, softer brush she liked better, stiffness of bristles and certain parts of her she liked better than other parts. And so is it that was kind of our goal is to just be able to brush her. And
speaker-2 (10:58)
Yeah.
first day, I was not expecting a halter. Like I was expecting grooming, maybe a little bit more touching, like going down a little bit on the legs, not too much. Mainly just bonding. And we all halter on like what?
speaker-0 (11:32)
So
we groomed her really easily. She wasn't a huge fan of her mane being brushed. And so we still don't have her mane fully brushed. We have little pieces. Little pieces. She's improving. She's improving. but we watched the cues, and that little bit of tugging on our mane just wasn't something that she was super happy with. And we want all of these experiences with us to be good experiences. And so we just decided to bring out a halter and see what happened.
happens. So the intention really wasn't to get it on her, but we'd done grooming, she's fine with touch. I'd put my arm around her neck. I've touched all over her face. She's fine with that. So we got out a halter just to see what would happen.
speaker-2 (12:13)
Decided to bring out the halter. I thought we were just gonna get her used to it, and we ended up putting it on her. So
speaker-0 (12:23)
So we started with just putting the halter, β letting her smell it, letting her play with it. She mouthed it, she held it. It's letting her see that this isn't anything scary. We did the same thing with all of our brushes. And then I took it and rubbed it against her. See, this is nothing scary. This is okay. I could drape it over her neck. And then I held it out to see if she'd let me put it over her nose. That was easy. No big deal. She kind of chewed on it some.
We put it over her nose a couple of times and we worked up to the space where we could just slide it on her face and then put the entire halter on. So the halter is where β does not have anything in her mouth. It doesn't have a bit, it goes around her nose, up the side of her face, and then over behind her ears. And it's where you see people leading horses. And so we have a rope halter that ties. So it doesn't have anything clangy or heavy. It's very light, it's kind of a soft texture.
And the one that we were using was too big for her. β but without putting it on her head, we used the smallest one that we could find at the time. And so we put it on her nose and she was okay. She was okay if I lifted it up and put it around her face. She didn't care. So we could slide the strap over and we held it. So at any point, if she spooks, if she's upset, if she doesn't like it, we can get it off really easily. So we did that several times.
And then the next day, Tegan and Isaac both tried that and we were able to tie the halter and let her wear it around. And again, she didn't care. A lot of that feedback is she's looking to us to see, like, are we okay? If we're okay with this, then she decides that she's okay with this. And so there's a lot of that relational reading in making sure that things feel okay. And we're watching her cues to know how far we can work with her when she's done.
Part way through our session today, she's like, I'm hungry and I'm gonna eat. And since she's just free, she can just walk over to her hay and eat. In that time, we let go of my intention to put a halter on her again. We'd gotten one on her yesterday. We tried again today. β so we let go of that. I had to let go of that intention and shift to we're gonna just play with her more. And then
We started just playing with putting on her halter as she was eating. And that was a way that she was happy eating. She was great with us putting it on her. She really didn't care. So a lot of it is just kind of play and watching her. Isaac, what's your thoughts?
speaker-2 (15:03)
β and still remember, this is still on the first or second day.
speaker-0 (15:08)
Right. So this is way farther than we ever thought we'd get. So first day we got her tag off. So Tegan, do you want to take tell about getting her tag off? Because I think that's a really big thing for musting. For a forest service musting. Yeah.
speaker-2 (15:21)
So for those of you that are like tag, it's no big deal. Well y your horse has to be comfortable with comfortable β with you standing next to the horse and untying it. 'Cause it isn't like a swift whee. It's you have to stay there and untie it. It
speaker-1 (15:31)
That's true.
speaker-2 (15:45)
And at some parts it got stuck and I had to tug a little bit, but the hands are moving all around. It can be a little scary for a horse and you first day is huge because hands moving, a little bit of tugging. You have to be okay with the person that's doing that. Like if you aren't okay with that person that's doing that, she could
speaker-1 (15:57)
Like, hey.
easily get spooked.
speaker-2 (16:13)
Well, as Tegan was saying about β the taking the tag off, it takes a lot of tra
speaker-0 (16:19)
Mm-hmm. It does. And so the tag is β a metal tag that is around the Mustang's neck β with held on with a rope. So it's tied on two ends. It's kind of woven through some holes in the metal tag, not a tied knot.
speaker-1 (16:19)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-2 (16:36)
The
rope is there's these little bunches, so like I had to tug to get it to get them to β
speaker-0 (16:43)
So the Mustang has worn this β rope and number with the tags for a while. So the rope is a little bit worn. And so there is a little manipulation that has to be done to get it off. So it's not just a quick snip snap and we're done. It is a little wiggle. So there was a lot of trust in allowing her being willing to stand for a while as Tegan, you know.
fiddled with it to be able to get it untied, but she did awesome. Do you want to share a little bit about kind of trust in the things that you've done with her? Because you've done some things that were very unexpected for me that I was not sure how she was going to take, but she took them really well.
speaker-2 (17:26)
Something y yeah Denny is fine with, yeah is really unexpected, is I can jump down a β fence here pretty high up.
speaker-0 (17:39)
Yes.
speaker-1 (17:39)
Probably
died.
speaker-0 (17:44)
So one of the things that I've learned as training a horse with kiddos is that there is always the unexpected. And Isaac loves to climb fences. He is, and one of the things Denny has been used to is Isaac's climbing fences. Well, not just Isaac. A lot of us, instead of using a gate, climb over the fence to get into pizza operated with the horses. And so she has seen before.
Isaac coming up and over a fence, other humans coming up and over a fence. Not necessarily something jumping down from the fence. And she was in, Isaac was in line of sight, so she could see what was happening, but she is a prey animal. So something coming from above her at her can be really scary for a horse.
speaker-2 (18:33)
something leaping onto you and once it's on your like almost any creature something on your back, so that's super scary for
speaker-0 (18:43)
Right. So for a prey animal having something jump down at you can be very, very scary, like Tegan said. And she saw Isaac and Isaac jumped down from a fence and multiple times. My expectation when I first saw him do it was like, β she's gonna spook. And she didn't. She looked at him and she was okay. Now when you jumped down beside her once, she did kind of startle. But other than that, she was good.
speaker-1 (19:09)
so much.
speaker-2 (19:10)
β What was that? And she does it only trust us, she loves us. Tested it. β I went in a corner pretending to be sad and she came over like, Are you okay?
speaker-0 (19:16)
Yeah, it's true.
She did. So she seeks them out, which is really neat. So as they've walked into the paddock, she has approached them. So we're looking at connection. Isaac did β kind of go over in a corner of a paddock of the paddock and she did come over on her own to see and sniff him, and she won your boot. And so it is really neat to see the relationship. And we got to experience today where she bolted and we don't know what spooked her.
speaker-2 (19:52)
Windy
day, stuff could have rattled. It's a thing. And I would near her.
speaker-0 (19:54)
Right. It's a horse.
And Isaac was the one standing right beside her when she spooked. Do you wanna share what that experience was like?
speaker-1 (20:04)
Well,
speaker-2 (20:05)
What it felt like was when it was about to happen, you're like I no, she gonna hit me? But surprisingly did didn't. She β avoided me the best she could. She went away from me instead of towards me. Which would would have been the easier way because if the
speaker-1 (20:18)
See you
speaker-2 (20:33)
with more stuff blocking her this way than this way. But she still wet this way. So she cares about us.
speaker-0 (20:41)
She does care about you. So one of the things I loved about Denny when we were in working with the 10 was that she was very self-aware and other aware.
Very much so. And so when we'd watch her β get pushed around by another horse or moved, she would watch our bodies and move her body so she didn't bump into anyone. And we saw that again today, where she did bolt with a spook and she didn't run far, but Isaac was right next to her. He handled it well, backing off. We got it on video, which is interesting to watch because you can watch her body and she's so relaxed and chill. One minute and then the next, boom, she's running.
And so Isaac moved away, but she also, as Isaac said, moved her body away from Isaac, where direct line would have been bumping right into him. So
speaker-2 (21:33)
If I wasn't there, she would probably move where I was, because it would be easier for her to move there than there.
speaker-0 (21:41)
Right.
So she was really awesome in kind of watching that body awareness as we're watching her body awareness.
speaker-2 (21:49)
And
then a actually I'm after was very surprising and very sweet and I love it. After she bolted, she took, I don't know, a couple seconds to check in with herself and make sure she was okay. She just stood there for a couple of seconds. Then she came every single one of us individually and made sure we are okay. She came to Isaac, she came to me, she came to Landy slash mom. Yeah.
She came to my dad slash Robert. She made sure everyone was okay.
speaker-1 (22:26)
page.
speaker-2 (22:28)
I love it.
speaker-0 (22:29)
It was neat to see that β coming back to connection. So she is watching us as we are becoming her herd. And as we like, I mean, I startled, I flinched as she ran. But she then recovered and looked back and said, well, you guys are okay. So then approached each one of us to get loves and have that kind of reconnection happening. And we're noticing with her when she spooks or flinches.
speaker-1 (22:41)
.
speaker-0 (22:58)
Or even bolts. She's done that a couple of times. She's not going far. And then she's tuning back into us in like, is this okay? And what am I, what do we need? Am I okay? You're okay? That kind of connection point. So she's really co-regulating with us as a as a herd or as a family, which is neat to see. And what we want with a horse is that we have that safety because if she feels like we can take care of her and we can help.
in a herd environment, right? They're watching, they have each of the herd members they're counting on to also be aware of predators. And so they can relax more if they know somebody else is watching. She can relax more with us and trust if she knows that we are also watching and can take care of her.
speaker-2 (23:45)
Mom, mm. It is much β more
speaker-1 (23:51)
happy of
speaker-2 (23:52)
all the thing we did. If you know there are four people in the pen at the same time with another horse. Mm-hmm. So it it probably is a lot of pressure, but she handled
speaker-0 (24:05)
Right. So there's a lot of stimulus going on. just having us all out there. So the last couple days that we've β my husband, Isaac and Tegan and me have all been out there. And then she's in with another horse porter. And so, and then there's four other horses on property that also meander close to the fence. There's dogs sometimes. There's a lot of stimulus that goes on. And so some of it she's really used to.
Some of it is new and we have to kind of gauge as we're working with her, is this an appropriate time to add in a new stimulus or a new stressor, or is this a time that we're gonna kind of go back? So when all the four horses that are live on property kind of came up, what did we decide to do?
speaker-1 (24:56)
Well...
speaker-2 (24:56)
We decided to stop doing a lot of β crazy stuff because we β saw yes β Denny was doing paying attention to the bigger horses than us. She did it see if it's was safe for us, so we didn't do a lot of crazy stuff. When you're when when you're working with wild horse and like
speaker-0 (25:10)
Right. So
Crazy.
speaker-2 (25:25)
doing stuff with a wild horse or any horse, you need to make sure that their attention is focused on you. If it's focused on anything else, it could be dangerous. So like they could feel like you snuck up on them or on an or if they're paying attention to another horse.
speaker-1 (25:43)
like
speaker-2 (25:45)
That tou because they're paying attention to a bigger horse, which Denny was, then that touch could startle and it could cause a whole commotion, kind of like dominoes. If one horse gets a little spooked, then all horses everything.
speaker-1 (26:04)
it.
speaker-0 (26:05)
Right. And so one of the things that we're
speaker-2 (26:07)
Dorm over to
get down, all of them go go down.
speaker-0 (26:10)
Right. So it can be a domino effect. And so one of the things that we're really doing is tuning into Denny's body. And we are only working with her things like putting the halter on or brushing her. and even when Isaac's jumping down from a fence, we are aware of where her attention is. If her attention is not on us, if she's distracted, we're not doing things with her so that the new novel things, right?
If she gets distracted and we're petting her, we continue petting her. She's okay with that. But
speaker-2 (26:45)
To do something new, you don't want to do it. You wanna wait until her attention's back on you. If you're petting her and her attention goes off, keep patting her. She knows you're there, it's fine. When β she's g when she's a pa paying attention to another horse You can keep petting her, but like putting a hawk there on her, brushing her mane β no.
speaker-1 (26:59)
Bye.
You... Yeah.
speaker-0 (27:11)
Right. So anything that she might need focus on us, then we are backing off and letting her kind of get adjusted to whatever new changes in the environment, and then we'll bring it back. So when all of the horses came down next to their pasture, then we backed off for a little bit in starting something new. When everybody was settled again, we tried again. So we can still kind of maintain that contact, but we're not.
Introducing anything new when her attention's not on us and focused. So one of the really cool things that we β did get to try is we were able to lift up a hoof. So within the first week that we've worked with her, the incredible thing is we've got a halter on, we've brushed her all over, and we got to pick up her front hooves, which is really
speaker-1 (28:01)
It
was second day. Second day. day.
speaker-2 (28:05)
Can't believe Danny. Working with her is like work It feels like I've been working with her for at least like three months for the trust that she's put and the things that we are allowed to do. It's crazy, like crazy. The hoof was actually accident. it was crazy. I'll let No
speaker-1 (28:18)
to.
Mm.
speaker-0 (28:32)
So do you want to say it?
Okay. So it was unintentional to get our hoof the very first time. β so as we talked about, we're really these, especially right now as we're kind of building that relationship, we're touching we're following Denny's cue. And so mid-session yesterday, which was our second day, β Denny decided she's hungry. And since she is free roaming where we are, she has choice to participate in anything that we are doing. So she can easily move away from us. And we always make sure.
That she has one side she can move away from. So if we have humans, they're all on one side of her. So she has an easy access to just sleep. And so we were working with her. And my intention, and you never bring intention in because it's never gonna go the way that you want. my intention was to do another halter because we got it on yesterday. Let's try it again. And so we brushed her and groomed her, and she's looking awesome. And she decides I'm hungry, and she goes over to do hay.
So we're gonna back off and let her eat. And we let her eat for a little bit and then came up and she was eating for a long time. And so we're just starting to play again. She wasn't sure about having her mane β brushed the first time we tried. She tolerated it a lot better. Absolutely.
speaker-2 (29:49)
Long
story short, Mom ran her hand down the leg and Danny picked up her leg.
speaker-0 (29:57)
Okay, thanks for like breaking that one for me. β so even like we tried the mane with β while she was eating hay, she tolerated that a lot more than when she wasn't. Still not her favorite thing. And yes, as Isaac said, as she was eating, I was just running hands over her. As I ran my hand down her one front leg, β put a little pressure, which is the cue to lift, not on her hoof, but just a little pressure.
β put a little pressure, which is the cue to lift her foot, and she lifted it for a second. And it was like, yay! And we celebrate it and then played with that more as she ate, played with the other front hoof as she ate. So it really was kind of the accidental. My intention wasn't to get her to lift. It was just to have her touch me, have me touch her all the way down the leg, see kind of that tolerance, and she lifted it and it was like,
We've got this, she understands.
speaker-2 (30:55)
This
is still the second day. And β when I tried it, I got her to hold it a for a s couple of seconds and then left it down. It's still on the second this is
speaker-0 (31:05)
So the
second day. β Denny has done phenomenally well for the two days that we have really worked one-on-one with her. And I credit a lot of that to the trust that we started with and kind of built that foundation. So we are not new and novel people in her life. It's like having two weeks of training already under our belts. And we each got the opportunity to put a halter on her. So it's not just a one person thing.
All of us have put a halter on her and she's tolerated that really, really well. As well as Tegan and Isaac have both lifted a hoof as β we've played with it, and Isaac was very determined to have his chance at it and did really well in being able to lift, and she did hold it longer with him than she did with me when we were first starting. So we're building that confidence and that trust because, like we've said before, there's a lot β of
trust that has to go into I'm gonna give you my hoof that's gonna allow me to escape.
speaker-2 (32:11)
This is the second day. I've said that again. The second day. This is a wild yearling.
speaker-1 (32:21)
This is
speaker-2 (32:21)
Smash
Trust.
speaker-0 (32:25)
It's unexpected.
speaker-2 (32:26)
Feels
like she's a domestic horse that has been training that we have been working with e a month or two months. It's crazy.
speaker-0 (32:39)
So one of the things that I think we're gonna have to remember as we go forward in our training is that she is still wild. And with her bolt today, that's a reminder, she's a horse and horses spook and she is wild. So while she feels really calm and β tame from back of letter, please do.
speaker-2 (32:59)
β when we were lifting up our hooves, if you don't think about it that much you're like, okay, you're lifting up a foot, so but β doing a three legged race, you don't have control of one one of your legs, so it's hard to walk.
speaker-1 (33:09)
it like
speaker-2 (33:19)
You need a lot of practic to good to walk good. Also And she had no practic, so it was really it would probably really scary for her. Also in three legged races, you have to rely on the other person and have so much because if the other person falls, you're gonna fall. It's so scary, especially for a prey animal. Like sh is she was raised in wild, so she knows at any time she could get eaten, she could get attacked. It isn't
speaker-1 (33:40)
T.
speaker-0 (33:42)
It's right.
speaker-2 (33:49)
She isn't gonna get eaten, she isn't gonna get attacked, but she doesn't know that. So giving up her one a way to actually almost all of her ways to escape, so she gives up that and if she bucks, she can't buck. Because one she needs both to stay balanced. So she's giving up every single way to stay safe.
It takes so much trust. So I have two things to say. Well, one I just forgot, so one thing to say. It's like doing a three legged w race with a bear you wanna eat with tons of bears you wanna eat to in the forest where y and the bears are camouflaged. You need to have a lot of trust on the other person to be able to get away.
speaker-0 (34:19)
Like
That's a great analogy.
Right. Okay, so the biggest thing that they are really sharing is that it takes a lot of trust for a horse to allow you to pick up a hoof. And it seems like a pretty simple thing, but it is a huge sign of trust. And to do it so early in our relationship is incredibly impressive. So we have just been blown away by Denny. And I think one of our biggest things is remembering that Denny is wild. And while
That β our first experiences and we're building that trust have been really easy and unexpectedly easy. It doesn't mean that she is gonna react β this way with everything that we do. In our first couple of days working Denny, we were able to get her tag off, we were able to get a halter on, groom her body fully, β mane and tail, not quite so much. We'll get there. And we were able to lift both.
Front hooves one at a time, not together. She's not doing circus tricks. But it's been incredibly impressive. And the really cool thing is we were doing this where she has free choice to move away from us. So all of this, she's choosing to work with us and choosing to be a participant. She can easily leave and choose not to. And when she did choose to leave and go eat hay, we respected that for a little bit and then we went and bugged her again.
speaker-2 (35:44)
They can't do that.
speaker-0 (36:07)
But she was okay with that. She wasn't giving us any signs that I don't like this. She's like, as long as I'm eating, I don't care what you're doing. Any last things that you would like to share?
speaker-2 (36:18)
It also was it the biggest β thing?
speaker-1 (36:23)
Well, I-
speaker-2 (36:24)
This is more of a like thing. Mm-hmm. Experience, I believe, is going to be remembering that she's wild. She doesn't act like it most of the time, but she's still wild. She can still run. She can still she still has that wild instinct. And we are seeing more that domestic instinct and our brains are gonna be
speaker-1 (36:28)
big
Well, full.
speaker-2 (36:53)
But she's fine. We can still like push it. I think we can push it. We still have to remember that she's a wild horse. I think that's gonna be our hardest the hardest thing for us.
speaker-0 (37:07)
She's been really easy and I I agree. I think not getting complacent, not just thinking, well, we can do anything because she's been easy so far is gonna be big. And I think one of the things that I honestly have struggled with is that when the first I shared the first videos and somebody said, but she looks so calm, like she doesn't look wild. And there's a little part of me that's like, β but
I want to prove and I want to have the wild horse that does something that makes it a challenge. And she has not seen that. But one of the things that I really am β coming back to is I have β a horse trainer that I've worked with, and her name's Addison Griffith. And her whole philosophy, and I think Warwick Schiller, who is another one that I follow, but I've worked personally with Addison, is that it should be calm.
speaker-2 (37:53)
Hmm.
speaker-0 (38:03)
This shouldn't be a rodeo that when you laid that foundation for having the trust when they're feeling safe, things get easy. And if you follow, if you're on Instagram, I suggest going and following Addison Griffith if you're interested. β I'll put her link down in the show notes. But one of the things that I love seeing is like she has a video that's recent to when this podcast episode comes out, and it's Toastie's first ride. And it is nothing.
Toasties going around the round pen with her on, with nothing happening. And I think that is the goal. And while we see a lot of rodeoing happening and we see the bucking and the, you know, ideas of breaking in a Mustang, and it's a little bit more that they're gonna buck, that there's gonna be a fight, that there's gonna be something happening that makes them look wild, that that's not really what we want. What we want is safety and a foundation.
And if we have a completely smooth, nothing happens summer, that that is actually a really good thing, even if it doesn't look impressive on video. And so I really want to thank Addison for giving me that viewpoint. And I keep coming back to Toasty's first ride and like, this is awesome. This is what we need. So Denny's first experiences were very chill. There was nothing fireworky.
And that's hopefully how we keep it the rest of the summer.
speaker-2 (39:32)
differently than they actually are. Yes. β I was about to say what Tegan was g about. They're they might look β tame but you're not sure. friend it Denny β looks tame, like she will do whatever y we we want, but she's still wild.
speaker-1 (39:35)
Yes.
speaker-0 (39:35)
the point.
speaker-1 (39:40)
Said? Mm-hmm.
like
Mm-hmm.
speaker-0 (40:01)
Yes. So just because we have an appearance, β we can't just let our guard down. We still have to know that she is a horse who spooks, 'cause horses do.
speaker-2 (40:13)
You still wanna β trust them, but you trust them t so much. It's like if they're wild, trust them. You have to trust the horse. Yeah, but at β the same time, you have to be aware of what's happening everything. But you should be able to trust the horse. Trust the horse, but be aware, just in case.
speaker-0 (40:20)
Right.
speaker-1 (40:29)
You have
speaker-0 (40:38)
I think you really said it with you trust the horse, but you don't let your guard down. Because I I mean, personal philosophy, I don't believe there is anything as a bomb-proof horse, a horse that is not going to ever react because there's still horses and things are s I mean, humans like we spook too. We jump, we startle. β we will work to get our horse. So she is pretty unflappable.
Hopefully, and she's not going to be upset by a lot of things. And she's also reading off of our nervous systems. So when we are feeling calm and we're okay, she's cueing into us and saying, well, this is an okay situation. Just like we co-reg co-regulate with other humans, if you're going into scenario with somebody and they're like, β this is good, then you're also gonna be like, β well, this is okay. So we want that space, but we're don't think we're ever gonna like get the
Horsiness out of her. She will always be a horse who may always spook and that's okay. We will be able to work with her. So ninety-nine percent of things she's gonna be like, well, I'm good with that.
speaker-2 (41:50)
I think the most important thing. When horses spook, I don't want don't want to teach them not to spook. I want them to be okay with stuff. But I want them to know spooking's okay. Being scared's okay. But you do have to be aware of your surroundings when they spook, which will be hard, but Denny's already. What we wanna teach them is
speaker-1 (41:55)
If I sp-
Spoo.
speaker-2 (42:17)
If it β if you think and we think it dangerous but if read the crowd read the crowd. If we we are like so β we wanna make the β horse be like okay, they don't care so I don't care. But if we're like run for the lie we want her to not be like so I don't care. We want her to be like run for the la
speaker-1 (42:24)
Yeah.
Thanks
speaker-0 (42:45)
Right. So we're not going to take the innate β safety awareness out of a horse, but we can create a safe, trusting environment and safe, trusting people that she can know that we're okay with things and expose her to a lot of things. So she knows that they're okay. They're not monsters that are gonna eat her. Okay, this has been an awesome conversation. I want to thank you both for sharing your knowledge, your experiences, and doing this with me. And I gotta say, as a mom,
I am so thrilled to be able to do this with both of you and to be able to watch you both kinda fall in love with forces, I'm hoping. reach that point and really experience this together. I think it makes it so much more impactful and such a bigger memory that we're doing it together and not just me alone. So thank you for that. Okay. Anything else you want to say, or should we say goodbye?
speaker-2 (43:24)
Trust me, I've already
There is certain yeah, I would like to say. Okay. There are two things you w don't want in a horse. You don't want let's say a mouse squeak for them to be scared of it. But you don't want a horse y if they're an bomb you wet off to to not care. Right. You want it in the middle.
speaker-0 (44:06)
We want that protective instinct intact. We don't want a nervous system dead horse where they are so overloaded alone shut down, but still responsive, but also trusting of the environment so that we're not spooking over everything. So there's a fine balance. And so we will experience this more as we continue going through our training and we'll share our story as we go along. So I want to thank you for joining us.
For listening, for doing something incredible for you. I really appreciate you showing up and listening. And I hope that you're finding joy and value in us sharing our experience as we go through the summer with our Mustang Denny in the Mustang Challenge. We will talk to you on the next episode. Goodbye.
speaker-1 (44:54)
Bye! See you next week!
speaker-2 (44:56)
Goodbye followers.
speaker-1 (45:04)
you
speaker-0 (45:10)
Hey, before you go, just a little bit of legal. This podcast is designed for educational purposes only. It is not to replace any expert advice from your doctors, therapists, coaches, or any other professional that you would work with. It's just a chat with a friend, me, where we get curious about ideas, thoughts, and things that are going on in our lives. And as we're talking about friends, if you know someone who would benefit from a conversation today, please share.
Because I think the more that we open up these conversations, the more benefit we all get. So until next time, give yourself a big hug from me and stay curious, because that's the fun in this world.
