Coppersmith #900

Today, my friends handed me a plastic bag with 900 copper pennies and then I hauled Aragon to ride with Justin and Myles and Coppersmith and Doc to Molly Lake. The weather was perfect and the two horses had not seen each other since the Make Over. I had no expectations but assumed that there would be some whinnying between the Coppersmith and his longtime friend and teacher Aragon....I unloaded and Aragon walked over to Coppersmith - they touched noses and exchanged...things are fine...the ride was beautiful and when we returned each loaded nicely into their respective trailer. Life is good.

Radio Interview with the Nebraska Horsemen's corner

www.halebroadcasting.com
scroll down to Horsemen's corner
Weekend edition Part 1
10 minute interview about the Mustang Makeover
and the general training of Mustangs vs. domestic horses.
(Will air from June 24-28)

NORTHERN COLORADO MUSTANG RIDERS FOR HIRE....

Cow work in an english saddle...I am amazed

This is where we live...June 2011, snowcapped Mummy Range

Here are both parts of the Performance at the Mustang Makeover and I will also add some more pictures of the work of Coppersmith #900 - http-::www.youtube.com:watch?v=vhcOFKK6yfo  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=ecNWEWVS1Ck

Click on each link above seperate and get both sections of the performance of the Northern Colorado Mustang Riders.

Long time no see - MUSTANGRIDERS OF NORTHERN COLORADO

The Mustangs have settled into their June shining coats and I have taken up riding Veedawoo and Aragon. Silhouette and Galicio are next. Here is a little video of the little drill riding performance of the Northern Colorado Mustang Riders at the Extreme Mustang Makeover 2 weekends ago in June 2011.
More to come  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=ecNWEWVS1Ck

The story continues....after the auction, ...

I delivered Coppersmith to Justin Ripley of Sundance Resort here in Redfeather Lakes, Colorado. That evening Coppersmith gathered the string of dude horses and the next morning he had his debut as leader of the string...I am speechless....

FT.COLLINS X-TREME MUSTANG MAKE OVER JUNE 10-12, 2011

Pictures can tell more than a 1000 words...and all is in the game...Thank you Coppersmith again...and thank you and credit to the photographers and friends, Melody Perez ,Melody Masters, Gabriele Kaercher, Linda Hanick...

One last picture from the Mountains as the Extreme Mustang Makeover approaches.

Photo by Gabriele Kaercher...

I want to thank my friends and family for the support during this MY CHALLENGE... My son Moritz and his family who undertook a challenging move without my help, my father in Germany who is living vicariously through my mustang stories, my friend Patricia Burge for the Mustang Riders, Melody Perez - what a wonderful and talented new friend and mustang advocate, Deanne Mc. Cormick, who is seeing me through the last hard days... Lourie Zipf, I hope you have a great move to Tucson(thank you for coming to Canon City, for the photos and for the article), Tim Singewald for giving the start-up at his great facility in Wellington, Trisha Swift, who always swiftly oscillates with my constantly changing schedule, Justin Ripley for the Icebreaker First mount, Terry Lober for all the preparatory encouragement with Escalante, Gary and Krisz Gayler for inviting me to their outside arena, LuAnn Goodyear for inviting me to her inside arena,Cindy Loader for inviting all of us to her facility for drill practice and  Linda Hanick and friends of the Cloudfoundation, Michael Golembeski for the wonderful videos in the progress reports, The Northern Colorado Mustang Riders for exciting riding, the COWHBP, our local advocacy group including all the PRETTY HORSE... THANK YOU COPPERSMITH # 900....

Agent ORANGE and BIO-Security...EHV-1 and is there any place left where I can ride....

With the new developments around EHV-1 and the barns swinging their doors closed I was left high and dry in the mountains....then to my despair we also refrained from travelling to events with horses...But today I found yet another solution and as you can see, Coppersmith is having quite the time of his life....I am not sure where this road will lead...but telling by the cheering from the KING SUPER (another great horse name) shoppers, I was on the right track ( and all for 1 cent, ONE CENT, unbelievable...thank you ELSA NERVIG>>>>

Coppersmith#900 - we are now on a freshly mowed meadow...

I spent all day today mowing a beautiful meadow for Coppersmith and Aragon...and then worked him on it in the sunshine. Due to the Virus-outbreak all arenas are closed to us and the mountain don't yield the kind of training we need now. So my friend Trisha made a maiden property available, so that we are basically in quarantaine and separate from all the other horses...This is actually pretty posh, except it challenges the rider since the footing is grass and there is no rail or fence...for guidance...

Here is the beautiful finished painting by Melody Perez, Coppersmith#900, with his beautiful neck carriage.

"COPPERSMITH TAG#900" by Melody Perez, ...

I have been waiting for this one, there was something about that day, when Linda Hanick came by and met Coppersmith and we rode for her. He was exemplary, the way you hope them to be during the Makeover...And as of today he is on his way despite Herpes and Rain....and Melody has been a steady companion and visitor...Her home is a warm place that emits the dream of Wide Open spaces (room to make a big mistake) good cooking and amazing images of life-size wild horses in the rugged Sandwash Basin...I know it is not easy to cough up a couple of thousand dollars for an original painting of Picasso, more so I embrace and respect her determination and conviction to keep with her passion and with her art.

Photo by Linda Hanick - Painting by Melody Perez of www.runninghorses.weebly.com

If nothing else we are establishing a collection and library of what might be gone soon and to our and the benefit we are learning and engaging in a very worthwhile and beautiful adventure....

June the month of the shining horses...Equine Herpes gets us all wrapped up.

MOSAIC put together by Lourie Zipf of all my mustang experiences in OSHOTO>

I took Coppersmith out of the barn about 10 days ago to do trail and cross country work and was planning to have him in an arena environment again by today. But that is not possible. I am hesitant to return him to a barn with Clinics and traffic of horses coming and going and that is in fact not even an option because most facilities have closed down. So we work on getting SHINY...and I think we are doing great, the grass is growing and the muscles start to bulge...

THE POWER OF SUGGESTION...WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LIFE MAKES...

This is what happens, when you train a mustang for the Extreme Mustang Makeover, it is evening and time to take a nap...the bathroom sink is reflecting an image....

NORTHERN COLORADO MUSTANG RIDERS FOR HIRE....

Always trying to add new aspects of the life of the Wild Ones...Gary Gayler on Gracie, Patricia Burge on Marvin, Gabriele Moritz on Aragon, Taryn Hillman on Koda, Megan Jones on Nevada, Robyn Hall adoring Coppersmith#900 and in the Foreground: Janet Carabello and Candy...

We are accepting new members, especially from the NEW generation....(Photo:Lourie Zipf)

Bitless and treeless...

No pictures of today, the mountains are veiled in Fog and it is very muddy...Coppersmith had a simple lesson plan today. Walking and grazing by the road while cars drove by and trotting with me without overtaking me and staying nice parallel. Then he lunged in the meadow on a hillside in trot and some canter and got good out of breath (8000ft elevation), then he got to graze and then he got to have more plastic bag with equine senior all over. We were in the roundpen with the woodshavings and the ball and then he got to graze some more...Aragon, who is a member of the formation drill team and also has to be prepared for the Makeover got to wear the FREEFORM treeless saddle and the LG Bitless bridle today....I love riding with minimal equipment...all treeless saddles have great close contact, one can feels the muscles of the horse without putting too much pressure on the spine...The results when I pull the saddle off are convincing. So I can use one saddle for all my different horses...There is the BOB MARSHALL SPORTS saddle for x-country and trail/endurance, the ANSUR for more dressage and arena/jumping and now the Freeform/high tech...always with a solid 3/4inch temperfoam saddle pad. Either a Grandeur or a SKITO or a Supracor or a Saddleright...The LG-bitless bridle was developed by my friend Monika Lehmenkuehler from Germany. She is at the forefront of negotiations and trials to change the rules of the International Dressage Federation to allow bitless riding in higher leves of dressage competition. Her bridle is a headstall with a wheeltype element next to the mouth which when engaged excerts some pressure on poll, nose and chin...without metal in the mouth...HER SLOGAN IS:
The bit in the horses mouth creates a saliva building chewing and eating reflex interfering with air-intake...TRY JOGGING WITH A SPOON IN YOUR MOUTH...
Anyway, Coppersmith is not there yet, neither the treeless saddle nor the bitless bridle....but I am working on it...

This goes to show that intention and practice can overcome any odds...

 This started as an idea during last year's Mustang Make-Over when I thought that it would be only fair, if the local mustang owners would have a chance to show off their horses during an event like this. Then the word was that usually those kinda pipe-dreams don't amount to much, when the actual riders are challenged to put something worthwhile seeing together...Well that might be true, but we tried again this year and started out with calling and talking to people who we knew had mustangs and were able to ride them or wanted to participate some other way. Then we started riding approx. 12 of us and quickly it showed who had the stamina and resilience to stick to it. (I thought that if we end up with half of what we start out with, we will be doing fine) well surprise: WE ARE EIGHT -the cool eight...
And after practicing nearly every weekend we are getting together and are making sense. There is some fun factor in this also...And the horses now actually stick together and when the heads come together in the flower there is some smooth operators and good headshaking and nuzzling going on....We would love to do more of this and are looking for more riders to add to our group...

Photos by Linda Hanick, taken at CSU equestrian center in May 2011

Photos Linda Hanick

Photos Linda Hanick

NORTHERN COLORADO MUSTANG RIDERS FOR HIRE....

Heads up and smile...Pat Garrett...praise the tall, but saddle the small

A little bit of EYE CANDY by Michael Golembeski...

Branded - who can read this Freezebrand (photo Linda Hanick)

I love the Coppershine on Coppersmith with his coppercroup and his coppergolden eyes...

The NORTHERN COLORADO MUSTANG RIDERS...

 Taryn Hillman, Gabriele Moritz, Gary Gayler, Cindy Loader, Mark Loader, Megan Jones, Patricia Burge (missing Shannon White)

Patricia and Coppersmith#900, this is a class horse...

Photo by Michael Golembeski

Coppersmith has not had a lot of time off, yesterday he met with lamas, bicycles, packers with flapping maps, dogs off leash, donkey, drunkard in tent and he had to go over bridge stump and back through L, he had to wait in the trailer and then he came back home up here to meet Escalante, the grey horse in the blog picture, who usually is not the most accommodating to new herd-members....So he had his plate full....He got a nights sleep, good water and hay and good mountain air and today I hauled him with Aragon to our drill practice and the first thing that Pat did, was put him on a tree trunk....this is a class horse and it will take a class person to win his heart...

It getting a bit quiet around here...

With the days passing, I realize that part of the attraction of the Makeover might be not knowing exactly how it all went day by day....So here it will be getting a bit quiet until June 10th...The horse is getting a break for a day, I am laying out some plans for the competition and mostly I feel it is time to do the endless loop the 8 Lying on its side a little quiet...Always happy about comments and questions, both on the blog and on Facebook...Some of my friends are in the Sandwash Basin to visit the Wild Horses and this is the best time to be out there actually encountering the herds and band structures...I hope they find beautiful horses - healthy and wild - and bring back stories of comraderie, images of art and inspiration for paintings...

Coppersmith visiting CSU Equestrian Center to meet some of last years mustangs from the Makeover

Today we hauled Aragon and Coppersmith to the CSU arena drill practice. And he met Koda (Taryn Hillman) and Nevada (Megan Jones) and Candy (Janet Carabello's burro) They are all participating in the formation drill that we are practicing for the Makeover...Coppersmith had a little workout at THE LAST RESORT before and we had some leftover jumps in the arena from the 4H last night....