my wild mustang mare

Question
Hi,
my friend has a full breed black mustang mare, Lunner ,that is pretty much wild ,and she doesn't have the time to work with her so i am taking her in as my winter/summer project. this mustang is used to beign around people and horses, but u cannot ride her or touch. She has been ridden before but the trainers ,were thrown and injured by her. She has a lot of potential, she just need some help . i wanted to know what u thought i should do . i have one other mare at my home. and  she will be foaling April 7 of 08 . and i was wondering if i needed  to keep my pregnant mare and the mustang away from each other and  how i can gain Lunner's trust with out hurting myself. i don't have a whole lot of experience because of my age(15) but i have broke a few horses and they have turned out beautifully. thanks  

Answer
Grace -

If you put the Mustang in with your mare, they will fight.  If for no other reason than to establish a pecking order.  If and when that happens, your mare may get a few strong kicks to her stomach.  Once they bond together, odds are that your mare will be more difficult to deal with.  My advice would be to keep the Mustang alone in a small paddock to encourage it to bond with you more quickly.

As for training the horse - well you said it yourself, you are young and inexperienced.  And while I don't think that makes it impossible, it makes it much harder and much more dangerous.  If other trainers have tried but gotten hurt - that means the horse is serious about not cooperating.  If she was once trained and now you can't even touch her - well that means she knows she doesn't have to cooperate.  Re-training a horse is much harder than training one, and I think you are looking at going back to square one and re-training this mare.

If you are set on trying, I would free lunge her in a round pen first.  Lunging is a good way to establish that you decide when it is time to move, what direction to move, and when to stop.  You will need to really focus on ground training and building a strong foundation on the horse first.  The horse probably knows what it has to do from previous trainers, you have to convince the horse that what you are asking is okay.  Numerous, short training sessions will be of more benefit than long drawn out ones.

I can't express enough how dangerous this can potentially be.  A Mustang is like a completely different animal than a domesticated horse.  They work on a whole different set of rules.  While I think it is possible for you to train this horse, I have to tell you it will be extremely difficult.

Best of luck, and be careful!

Michael Hockemeyer
Kicking Bear Mustangs