Chato Shines in Local Horse show

I really thought I was going to write alot more than I am, but the good thing is that I'm riding alot more than writing. Yes, I said riding. I've been riding him for about two weeks. We spent about a week in the round pen getting used to going forward, turning and stopping. Then we went out into the western arena. After that we went to the jumping arena. The 4H class with all the kids were riding around and he took it all in stride. I've had about ten rides on him now, so I thought it was time to take him to our local horse show to see how he would be around all the commotion. He was great so I entered him in a couple of classes; mustang trail and green horse pleasure. I was really happy with our classes. We even got a third place ribbon in mustang pleasure. Did I mention there was only three horses in Mustang Pleasure? The next show is May 3. I'm hoping to do better. Today I was in the English arena and the girls said "jump the small x jumps." He jumped them beautifully. Then I took his saddle off and rode him around bareback. He is really comfy and bareback is my favorite way to ride. I think I can really show him how to move off my legs more quickly bareback. Oh, by the way, the judge at our horse show is one of my competitors for the challenge. She brought her mustang, "Diva," to the show for the experience too, but she wasn't riding in the show. But it was really fun to get to meet somebody else who'll be competing in Sacramento. We even got to let our horses meet one another. We talked about what we were doing in our training, but neither of us divulged much info. Her horse is a bay also. The BLM has given all the trainers mustangs that are all about the same age, color and size to keep the competition as fair as possible.

Millpond Equestrian Center - The Facility

Chato is living and training at Millpond Equestrian Center in Bishop, CA. MEC is located at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains set in the scenic Owens Valley and has 25 acres of corrals, arenas and paddocks with 24-hour on site staff.


Owner/Operator/Trainer
Hilke S. Ungersma

Millpond Equestrian Center Website

Go Janet! Go Chato!

It's been my pleasure to witness my sis-in-law and good friend Janet working with this amazing horse. I want to kidnap him and take him home! Janet's gift and passion is working with horses in general, and mustangs in particular. Chato is so curious, level-headed, smart and giving, they make a perfect pair!

These are some of the pictures I've taken in their first two weeks together.

First Couple of Weeks!

Week one and two were spent getting to know one another, lots of time spent just hanging out in the corral with Chato. I worked on teaching him how to read my body language. He moves away with the slightest bit of pressure. We worked on moving forward in the round pen, then walk, trot, and canter from voice commands. I was able to brush him all over by the end of the first week and he was leading so nicely that I decided to take him out for a walk around the ranch. We have a little trickle of a creek out back so I decided to take him over for a look at the creek. It was real shallow. What surprised me was how he put his nose down and dug a little well with his nose so the water could pool up so he could drink he loved the water. Not scared at all. When I'm filling his water bucket he likes to grab the hose. He's very playful. Week two was getting him used to the bareback pad, then the English saddle, then the big scary Western saddle. Just a few little bucks. Now it was time to put some weight on his back. Sand bags work nice . I think by week three I'll be ready to take my first ride in the round pen. I've been putting weight on him by hanging on the fence. I'll let you know how it goes.