The Making of a Legend
Through many synchronicities Excalibur, a 9-month old slate buckskin Mustang colt, came into my life. He arrived on my birthday this year and was my dream horse. I can honestly say that because I literally dreamt him into life!
For more than a decade I have studied Natural Horsemanship, animal communication and energy healing, all of which has shaped me into the individual I am today. My travels take me around the Globe not only to educate people on gentle communication techniques, but also to expand my own horizons. I have enjoyed many a sunset while observing untouched horses in Australia, California, Montana and Wyoming. For me, it’s a chance to connect with nature, to learn about wild horses; their interactions, personalities, behavior patters and intricacies of their language – "the language of Equus". Thousands of horses have crossed my path and everyone holds a special place in my heart, but there was only one Excalibur.
Excalibur began his life on the Spanish Mustang Registry’s 4,500 acre Ranch in Oshoto, WY. The SMR work to preserve the little horse who evolved from those that came over the ocean with the Conquistadors. They became the cow pony, the Indian pony, the Spanish Mustang – they are known for their personal strength and endurance. This is where all the bloodlines are and where it all began http://www.cayuseranch.com.
At the SMR horses enjoy one of the best existences left for wild horses and it was here that Excalibur spent the first 6 months of his life being raised naturally by his family. Once weaned, Excalibur moved to Red Feather Lakes in Colorado to spend the next 9 months growing up. This is a crucial time in any young horse’s life. They must spend time around other horses to learn their language, social skills, understand respect/boundaries and just to play like horses do.
While at Red Feather Excalibur became exposed to nature’s elements, to wild moose and deer. He learned to negotiate uneven ground, hills and weather conditions. In short he learned natural balance and gained the strong bone growth every horse needs to develop at this stage. With little human handling and lots of exposure to his environment Excalibur grew into a fine young colt in the first 15 months of his life. And it’s here that I met this majestic little fellow.
Within months of inviting Excalibur into my life I had the opportunity to visit his original home during the Spanish Mustang Registry’s 50-year Anniversary. I had the honor of meeting the Brislawn family. These dedicated people have made it their life’s work to preserve this unique Breed and they were honored for their support of such a worthy cause.
During my trip I spent many hours on the plains just observing different family groups, but its one particular family that drew me closer, and of course it was the family of Excalibur.
Here was the rare chance for me to be part of Excalibur’s life before I knew him, to understand his origins. I quickly spotted Excalibur’s father. His name was Canyon Rim Charley and he led one of the largest family groups on the ranch. To my surprise I felt a degree of pride swell up inside me. I sat down at yet another sunset to watch several different bands congregate close to a watering hole.
"Charley" led his herd through passive leadership, no large, boisterous movements or threats not even any sounds; just his presence and a few subtle gestures were enough. He stood proud on the outskirts of his mares and foals carefully placing himself in between the other band stallions. As he calmly observed his family grazing in peace, the entire herd knew they were in good hands with Charley.
Eventually, close to five other bands began to close in on this area. With about ½ mile distance between me and the herd, Charley knew I was no threat to his family and seemed very comfortable with my presence. I watched what I perceived to be a young inexperienced stallion drive two bachelor boys over a great distance. It was obvious that he felt very uncomfortable with their presence; it seemed to unnerve him or even challenge him somewhat.
Once this young stallion felt confident that he had made his intentions clear to the bachelors he returned rather uptight to his 2 mares and foals. With adrenaline still pumping, he watched his 2 offspring play with Excalibur’s sister. Moments later he decided that the games needed to end. He lowered his head and began to "snake" and rather abruptly ordered his 2 youngsters to return to their mothers while running Excalibur’s sister back home.
All this time Charley had stood motionless just watching this interaction. But now, without hesitation he moved purposefully forward, with piercing eyes he held his gauze at the young stud, shoulders squarely pointed forward. He walked right up to him, stopping just short of the Stud’s face. The energy was clear, the message was clear: "Don’t talk to my daughter that way".
Both parted peacefully and nothing more was exchanged. I watched in silence, proud that my young fellar had been raised by a father who knows who he is, has earned respect from the horses around him and leads through wisdom!
As Excalibur’s sister happily returned home, her mother took care of her. Together they walked to the other more peaceful side of the waterhole. They shared a drink and some mother-daughter quality time, maybe they were even exchanging words, who knows?
Dancing Fever, as Excalibur’s mother is known to everyone, is the lead mare. She too leads through her wisdom and matches her partner well. It is moments like these that will remain with me for the rest of my life. For now I understand why X has been blessed with the character he has.
It was my intention to let "X", as we so fondly call him, grow up as naturally as possible with the ideal Learning Plan in place. But, life, as it usually does, asks us to compromise just a bit and it is our responsibility to make the best with what we have. So today X boards at a wonderful Natural Horsemanship facility located 2 hours from my home on the plains of Colorado. He is on a Natural Hoof-care schedule, a Dynamite Diet and receives plenty of care. In this phase of his life he is learning many lessons on living at a facility, taking them in stride and getting ready for whatever comes next.
Running, Playing and (sort of) Jumping
During the winter months I enjoy spending extra quality time with my "boys" – Excalibur, my slate buckskin Mustang colt, otherwise known as "X", and my Australian Shepherd mixes Merlin and Oliver. With X being just 18 months old, I like to introduce him to new stimuli and adventures without overwhelming his body or mind. Each week we explore something new.
Most recently he has taken great amusement in learning the word "touch". Together we investigate the facility touching anything new, exciting or even a little concerning to him. This simple and yet fun "game" encourages X to explore and helps him to build confidence in himself and his surroundings. It also helps to create a motivated individual wanting to engage with me. With a lot of encouragement through voice commands, stroking, rest & release of pressure, X soon learned this new task and we have been able to build upon it.
The facility X is boarded at is surrounded by a small cross-country course and it recently dawned on me that it would be fun to take X, Merlin and Oliver for a walk around the property exploring the many obstacles. So, here we were rope halter in hand, jumping the jumps as a team. Merlin was first, as he loves to perform! Just one voice command to suggest he may enjoy this task; proud as punch he showed the rest of the team how it was done! As clumsy as I am, I attempted to run and jump and… well let’s just say that this kind of physical multitasking was not particularly my forte. As I ran towards the obstacle I found my legs stopping just prior to the jump. So I did what any civilized person would do… I walked over the jump. Quite the comedy act!
As a side note I need to mention that Oliver's job seemed to be to get under our feet and he brought it upon himself to get X very comfortable with multiple dogs around his feet.
X mirrors Merlin's personality, and didn’t even hesitate at the jump. Oozing confidence, head up high, he took that jump and every other one in his stride. He became so confident that he decided whether to take the jump from a standstill, perform in front of the now growing crowd of his own species, or circle and jump multiple times. Here we were learning about balance, strides, depth perception...gaining trust, confidence and courage - while literally laughing with one another.
As X came up towards a tire jump, about 15 horses had gathered in the neighboring pasture to see what this was all about. The outline of a young colt was familiar to them as their heads were hanging over the fence-line. You could see X's ego build as he began to posture himself and then he performed a graceful leap over the tires as if he had done it a million times before.
Imagine the surprise of his audience, none of them had thought this horse would change shape and promptly took off in the opposite direction, tails and heads high in the air. After running a short distance they classically stopped in their stride, turned and returned to their original place - right back into pressure! X was so delighted with the attention he that he circled the jump and repeated his majestic leap just to watch the horses run away again. But this time they no longer returned they decided the view was better (and safer) from a distance.
The most incredible part of the story though is that this young colt took all of these jumps blind - in other words with blind faith. You may not realize it, but the positioning of a horse's eyes means that his vision is restricted up to 6 feet in front of him. So when a horse jumps it is actually jumping from memory. Here we were for the first time together exploring new territory and X never questioned my actions, he trusted me to take care of him. This is a true lesson in love, a lesson in faith, and a lesson he gave naturally and without even trying. Our animals have so much to teach us and if we are open to listening, the messages are right in front of us!
by Anna Twinney