WHF is welcoming the first intern.

We are very pleased to announce, the arrival of our first youth intern; "Misha" from Newport  Beach, Ca. The last place one hopes to find a gifted young horseman. However  often people just get "misplaced" in life. This is exactly what happened with Misha. Always a country boy at heart, he somehow ended up at Newport Beach, and growing up was not easy as he always had a hard time fitting in, and was the happiest at their family ranch in Utah. It was obvious that both boys, (...Misha has a twin brother) had a very deep connection to animals. Misha was not older then about 14yrs. when his father gave him a 2 yrs old red mule to train, nicknamed the "Red Bitch"......for obvious reasons. Much to everyone 's surprise Misha did train the mule all by himself. his very favorite thing was to pack some lunch and head off into the surrounding mountains in Utah. Misha spotted our website and contacted me, expressing interest in an internship at WHF. I told him there was a 2wks-1mos trial, he agreed to it. It became obvious after only 2wks that he was going to be accepted. Besides being an excellent rider and very patient with the more timid horses, Misha proved to be a hard worker with a great attitude. His ambition is to enroll in an equine program at the some nearby college and who knows if all goes as planned....the young man might just have a job at WHF after Graduation!

The First Halter & Fly Mask

Summer has arrived after a long and wet winter, and we had to play a whole lot of "catch up". I don't even remember when the big day came and Ranger accepted his "first haltering". I have was always just kinda playing with him and see how far we get. One lazy warm Sunday afternoon, I walked into his paddock and asked him; hey Range, will this be the big day? And guess what he said; "why not" I had some carrots in my hand and while he was crunching on it, I just slipped the nice red halter on him and buckled it up. Range just stood there like nothing ever happened, and he always had a halter on, I proceeded to finish grooming him, cleaned his paddock then removed the halter after about half an hour. In my experience, once my colts accepted the halter they did not need to live in it. Each day after this I would halter him, and he did not even need carrots, he knew what the routine was. The fly Mask was just as easy. It appears after the haltering and Fly Mask he was just progressing in fast forward. We are leading in the paddock and he allows me to pick up the front feet. Not quite ready for a trim, but nearly. Now Range is rapidly developing into a rowdy teenager, making noise, pretending to be caught in the pipe with his front feet, and he welcomes every opportunity to do his "race horse" act. that is racing around in his paddock with his tail like a flag and running in and out of his house kicking up his heels and grunting, squealing in delight. Of course he looks to see if we are all watching. Some times I clap my hands and he just runs faster. he also must have started teething too, because he has a complete "oral fixation" he is chewing on everything. I had to put bitter apple on the wall of his house, and must protect my butt.....since he snuck up on me once.LOL He is growing leaps and bounds and can almost see out his stall window. When he first arrived I could barely see the tips of those short little "coyote" ears, Spanish Mustangs are well known for. He also has a dorsal stripe and some black zebra stripes on his front legs....interesting, I thought he was a bay. At first he was kind of standoffish with people he didn't know, but now he is walking up to people more readily. Needless to say Range is a "Lady's man" perhaps because he was "man handled" by males predominantly. he still gets a bit weary when there are two people in his paddock....wondering if we are going to "jump on him"? All in all I just marvel at his forgiving temperament, or perhaps this is the way he survived.....just sizing up the situation and choosing his fights? When he knew he was over powered he didn't fight? Who knows, he is a very special little pony full of love and games, and it just does a body good to see him blossom and develop into a handsome little "Boy Horse", all shinny and sleek.