Congratulations and welcome home! You’ve made the decision to add an addition to your family, you’ve picked up your new mustang friend, and loaded him into your trailer. You’ve made the journey home and now you’re pulling into your mustang’s new home. You’ve prepared your facilities according to the last blog post. (If you haven’t read it yet click here.) Now what?
Your first step is to unload your new mustang off the trailer. Must horses it's no big deal to unload a horse. However, a mustang is a different story, it will become extremely difficult and even dangerous if not preformed correctly. First, you need to back your trailer as closely as possible to the area where you will be keeping your mustang. Next, you will want to get out the panels you have set aside, mentioned in the previous post. Take the panels and line them up on both sides of the trailer, then connect the panels all the way to the gate of where you are keeping your horse. This will create a temporary chute for your horse. If you have a sturdy wall or fence in the path, you can use it as a part of the chute. Once you have your chute set up you will want to make sure you secure your chute. There are a number of ways you can do this; one option is connecting them using metal wire or rope. Make sure the gate to the area you are keeping your horse in is open. Next, open the door to the trailer, make sure no one, including yourself are in the chute or trailer. Open the door and hold or tie the door open, so that it doesn’t swing and hit your horse, spook him, or create a potential hazard. Typically, your mustang will come out of the trailer as fast as possible. This is because your mustang probably has been in there a while, its loud, dark, scary, and small. Depending on many different factors you may need to encourage your mustang to either leave the trailer or to leave the chute and enter the new area. While staying outside of the chute, this can be done by waving, but not hitting, your hand, a rope, a whip, a stick, a hat, or practically anything at your horse. Be sure to wave your item with your horse between you and the area you are sending the horse into. If your horse is leery to leave the trailer once he is out, you will want to shut the door so he can’t go back in. Once the horse enters his new home calmly and swiftly shut the gate. At this point you can put the chute panels away but keep them nearby. You can now put away your trailer as well.
For the next few hours or as long as possible but not before your horse calms down. You will want to stay nearby to insure your horse settles in safely. You don’t have to stand there and only watch your horse the entire time. Just be outside around the horse where you can hear and see him while you’re doing something else. This will also help you with your training because your mustang will begin to get used to seeing, hearing, and smelling you. He will also start to realize that you are not there to hurt him. The more time you spend near him the better. So, if you feel like reading a book or being on your phone or computer, take a chair or blanket out near your horse’s pen, but not in, and sit and just be near your horse. Try to be as quiet, relaxed or calm, and nonthreatening as possible. It would help if you can watch your horse as well, as you will learn things about your horse, for example things he does and doesn’t like.
Most mustangs have never seen anything but hay and grass. So, they may be leery at first of grain and treats. I would recommend cutting up some different treats and putting them in separate buckets. Since, the mustang is going to be nervous, I would recommend using a flat feed pan. These sit on the ground and are little over a foot in diameter and only a few inches high. Personally, I really like the rubber ones as they are quieter, flexible, and durable. This will be a lot less scary for your mustang then a typical bucket. When giving the treats you can do them all at once, but in separate pans or one at a time. The purpose of this is to find out what your horse does and doesn't like. It also gets your horse acquainted with these treats, which will help in the training process.
There are many methods for training, this is simply my method. I hope you enjoyed my article. Let me know in the comments if this helped you or just taught you something new. Be sure to subscribe, to receive our monthly newsletter and be notified when my next article comes out. If you have any questions, or need training advice, leave a comment, or send me an email and I will get back with you as soon as possible!
Jaynie Kiel
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