New to Mustangs

Question
I am aquiring my first Mustang. He is 9 y/o and has mainly rode children.  The owning family love him and say he is just broke to ride ride ride. No lungeing, or "exercises" on a consistant basis.  I rode him to try him out at their place and they told me he hadnt been ridden in a couple of months. He was a little uptight and pushy wanting to graze and very observant of his surroundings.  They have ridden him on trailrides and in parades with no problems. My question is should I try and just ride him as he is? Should I use techniques for respect I have used on my grade horse? I feel I am in a whole new world and I dont want him to get the better of me then outsmart me at every move to get out of riding. I just want to basicly trail ride with my son. He is novice rider and I basicly am too.  I have used Clinton Anderson methods with my present horse which I am building a good relationship with. Also, do you have video's or books, material about Mustangs, that you can recommend that we can learn from? Thank you.

Answer
Teresa,

You are going to find he's much smarter than a domestic horse.  You commented that he was very observant of his surroundings.  That's a Mustang trait and it never changes.  They always know where they are - I never got lost on rides in new areas because my Mustangs would always take me back to the trailer.  I rode one on the NY 3-day 100 mi. ride in 1996.  I had never ridden the ride.  Star had done it 4 yrs. earlier with a friend.  She still remembered the trails.  We had some disagreements about the trail when she wanted to go one way but it had been changed since she had done the ride.  She had done it just that one time before I rode her in it.  These guys never let down their guard on trail so nothing ever suddenly jumps up and surprises them.  I found that things that I thought would possibly cause them concern were not what they cared about.  They had problems with different stuff!  Mine never really spooked terribly.  Stop and look, snort, want to go around it, but never the 180 deg. spin I've had and seen domestic horses do.  Makes them really interesting and a lot of fun to ride.  They do make an effort to take care of their rider.  You just need to spend some time with him and sure, Clinton's methods will work well.  He is, after all, a man and is not according you proper respect, but Mustangs are rather reserved.  They bond much more closely with you than most horses, more like a dog.  He's going to spend a little time figuring you out before he forms an opinion.  But that's the sort of thing that evolves through time.  Take him out and ride him.  If he doesn't have access to grass then let him graze a little.  Be considerate and respect him and he'll do the same for you.  

You are a lucky person.  I have 2 new Mustangs, one I adopted and the other was taken by one of my former Junior riders.  His 1st horse.  Both have been started in training, although not much since they came because of the weather.  I look forward to training my Mustang mare, Faith, to ride this summer.  She's 8 yrs. old now so it's time.  The other one is just 4 and has a lot of growing to do.  He'll get a lot of ground work and maybe so light work under saddle with a rider that is only a little over 100 lbs.  Tommy is going away to college so Chance can grow and mature while he's away.  He won't be able to ride him until he's at least 6.  

But they are both well the time they will need now to be ready to ride.  That's fine with me.  I know the results.

So relax, get to know him, establish your expectations with him and he'll be fine.  He sounds like a nice horse.

Good luck!!

Lyn