The Mustang Diaries: Mama Bear's Training Update - From Untouchable to UNDER SADDLE!

22 hours ago

7 min read

If you've been following Mama Bear's training journey, you know this mare hasn't exactly been interested in doing things on anyone's timeline but her own. And if you remember where we started, you'll understand why her latest accomplishments are such a BIG deal.

MAMA BEAR IS OFFICIALLY RIDING UNDER SADDLE!

Yes, you read that correctly. The same mustang who took nearly two months to reliably halter has now completed FOUR rides, three of which included a full walk, trot, and canter!

But before we get into that excitement, let's catch up on everything else this girl has accomplished.

Four Feet, One Very Big Milestone

One of our biggest accomplishments since our last update has been getting Mama Bear comfortable having all four feet picked up and cleaned out.For a horse whose first instinct has historically been to flee when something makes her uncomfortable, voluntarily giving up a foot is a pretty significant display of trust. But we didn't stop there.

Mama Bear has now had her front feet trimmed completely at LIBERTY! No tying. No restraint. Just a horse who has learned to understand what's being asked of her and is developing the confidence to stand quietly while we do it. Considering that we spent the better part of her first two months just trying to convince her that being touched wasn't the end of the world, this is an enormous accomplishment.

Expanding Her World

Mama Bear's education has also expanded beyond the familiar confines of her training arena.

She's now being led around outside the arena, learning to maintain her communication and responsiveness in new environments.

We've also introduced forequarter yields, adding another important piece to her growing collection of groundwork exercises.

These might sound like relatively simple accomplishments, but each one represents another layer of understanding. We're not just teaching Mama Bear to perform individual exercises. We're teaching her to think through unfamiliar situations, understand pressure, control her body, and look to her handler for direction.

And all of that groundwork was about to become incredibly important.

The Great Saddling Debate: Mama Bear Has Some Opinions

Perhaps one of the most entertaining chapters of Mama Bear's recent education was her introduction to saddling. Her first saddling went surprisingly well. She accepted the saddle, tolerated the new sensations, and generally seemed pretty unbothered by the entire experience. Naturally, I thought we were off to a fantastic start.

Mama Bear, however, apparently had some feedback she had neglected to provide during our first session.

Enter saddling session number two. FULL. BRONC. MODE.

Mama Bear came absolutely unglued. Apparently, after having some time to think about the situation, she had decided that wearing a saddle was completely unacceptable. And she was prepared to make her objections VERY clear.

Rather than immediately removing the saddle when she reacted, I allowed her to move and work through those feelings in a controlled environment. She was given the opportunity to explore her options and discover that bucking wasn't going to make the saddle magically disappear. Eventually, she figured out that the saddle wasn't actually doing anything to her.

We've taken that newfound confidence and put it to work. Mama Bear has successfully completed all of her established groundwork while wearing the saddle. Lunging, yielding, backing, sending, changing directions—you name it. The saddle had become just another part of her daily routine.

Of course, wearing a saddle and carrying a rider are two very different things.

Which brings us to our BIGGEST announcement yet.

From Groundwork to GIDDY UP!

MAMA BEAR IS OFFICIALLY UNDER SADDLE—and as of today, we have completed RIDE NUMBER SIX!

After months of painstaking groundwork, approach exercises, desensitization, and confidence building, Mama Bear has officially graduated to carrying a rider. And now that we've crossed that bridge, she's starting to make some pretty exciting progress.

Mama Bear is currently walking, trotting, and cantering under saddle. For now, we're keeping things intentionally simple. There is no steering yet. Instead, we're setting her on "cruise control" and allowing her to learn one of the most fundamental lessons of being a riding horse: when I ask for a gait, maintain that gait until I ask for something different. I don't particularly care where in the arena she chooses to go right now. I'm not trying to micromanage her feet or overwhelm her by simultaneously asking for speed, direction, balance, and steering. Her job is simply to understand the forward cue, find the requested gait, and stay there. And she's starting to get it.

During rides two and three, I had a ground helper in the arena with us. Mama Bear was doing well overall, but she still had some BIG feelings about moving into the canter. And by big feelings, I mean she got broncy. There were some bucks and crowhops as she tried to figure out what exactly we were asking her to do and how she felt about doing it.

By ride four, however, I rode her without another person in the arena—and we saw a huge change. She walked, trotted, and cantered without offering a single buck or crowhop.

Now, here we are at ride six, and that progress is continuing.

She's becoming noticeably less reactive with every ride. Instead of sticking to the same comfortable areas, she's beginning to explore different parts of the arena on her own. Since I'm not steering her yet, she's getting to make those decisions herself, and it's been really interesting to watch her confidence expand as she realizes that the entire arena is available to her and nothing terrible happens when she ventures somewhere new.

We're also doing a tremendous amount of desensitizing from the saddle.

I move around. I shift my weight. I reach around her body. I make noise. I want Mama Bear to understand from the very beginning that a rider isn't going to sit perfectly still and silent on her back.

Considering this is a mare whose first response to uncertainty used to be GET OUT OF HERE, watching that reactivity steadily decrease underneath a rider is incredibly rewarding. But one of my favorite developments from these last couple of rides has been watching her begin to understand seat cues.

We're only six rides in, and Mama Bear is already starting to connect changes in my body and seat with changes in what I'm asking from her when I am asking for a stop. Ride. Number. SIX.

We're still at the very beginning of her education. She doesn't steer yet. She doesn't know all the fancy buttons. We're not worried about collection, perfect circles, or making anything look polished.

Right now, I want forward movement, relaxation, responsiveness, and understanding.

And Mama Bear is giving me all of those things. She has a great mind.

That's probably what has impressed me most as we've transitioned into riding. She's certainly capable of having some very big reactions—we've seen proof of that! But she's also showing us that once she's given the opportunity to work through something and understand it, she retains that lesson and moves forward.

Today, she's walking, trotting, and cantering on cruise control, independently exploring the arena, becoming less reactive to movement on her back, beginning to understand seat cues, and already developing a strong stop. For a mare who once took nearly two months just to reliably halter, that's one heck of a transformation. And we're only on ride six.

More Milestones: Tying and Bath Time!

As if learning to carry a rider wasn't enough, Mama Bear has also been expanding her collection of essential life skills. She's officially started learning to tie! For a horse with Mama Bear's history of panic and flight responses, learning to stand tied is an important part of her education. It's another opportunity to develop patience, confidence, and an understanding of pressure.

We're approaching this skill with the same philosophy that has guided the rest of her training: building understanding rather than simply expecting compliance. And then there's our next accomplishment.FULL. BODY. BATHS. That's right. Mama Bear has officially been introduced to bathing! Considering the immense amount of desensitization and approach work we've done with this mare, being able to introduce full-body bathing is another exciting addition to her growing list of accomplishments.

These everyday handling skills might not be as flashy as riding through all three gaits, but they're every bit as important. A well-rounded horse needs to be comfortable with more than just the things we ask them to do in the arena. They need to develop the confidence and understanding necessary to navigate all the ordinary activities that come with being a domesticated horse.

And Mama Bear is getting there!

Slow Progress Is Still Progress. Until Suddenly, It Isn't So Slow Anymore.

I think one of the most rewarding parts of Mama Bear's journey has been watching all those seemingly insignificant early accomplishments begin to add up. For nearly two months, our biggest goal was simply getting a halter on this horse. There were no exciting riding videos. No impressive maneuvers. No big, flashy training milestones to share. There was just a lot of patience, repetition, approach work, and celebrating the tiniest improvements. There were moments when Mama Bear would panic and flee before we could even get started. There were days when something we'd accomplished previously suddenly seemed impossible again. But we kept showing up. We kept working on the foundation. And now look at her.

The horse who once struggled to accept being touched is having all four feet handled, getting her front feet trimmed at liberty, exploring outside the arena, learning to tie, enjoying her introduction to full-body bathing, standing quietly for saddling, and completing her groundwork with a saddle on her back.

AND SHE'S RIDING. Not just accepting a rider sitting on her back, either. She's walking, trotting, cantering, and beginning to accept all the additional movement and activity that comes with carrying a human. It's easy to look at a horse's progress and measure success by how quickly they reach the next milestone. But horses like Mama Bear are an important reminder that sometimes the most valuable training happens long before anyone else can see the results. All those months spent building trust, teaching communication, and allowing her to develop confidence are beginning to pay off. And watching her work through her fourth ride without a single buck or crowhop. That was a pretty fantastic reward.

Next Stop: Trailer Loading!

With all these new accomplishments under her belt, Mama Bear's education is far from finished.

Our next big adventure? TRAILER LOADING!

Given Mama Bear's rather colorful history of expressing her opinions about unfamiliar situations, I'm sure this next chapter will be interesting. But if there's one thing this mare has demonstrated, it's that she's capable of learning an incredible amount when we give her the opportunity to understand what's being asked of her.

From nearly untouchable to riding through all three gaits, Mama Bear has come an extraordinary distance.

And we're just getting started. Stay tuned for the next chapter of Mama Bear's training journey. Something tells me she's still got a few opinions she'd like to share!