Today was the adoption and Gus (BLM) asked if we would ride our horses and talk a little about them when they were getting ready to start the adoption. There were several people that specifically came to the adoption to visit Hercules so he definitely received lots of attention and more than a few people that wanted to adopt him right on the spot. Nope, sorry, he is participating in the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition and then he will be coming home with me for good, (hopefully anyway).
Janet talked about Ladybug and all she has done with her first and then handed the microphone over to me. I was able to take the microphone from Janet and speak about Hercules without even and ear flick from him while I was sitting on his back. What a cool feeling.
We hung around the adoption and spoke with potential adopters for the rest of the afternoon and then started getting ready for the parade around 4:30. The parade had a start time of 6:00 and we would be riding from the end of the parade to the beginning. That way it would give the horses time to settle in prior to being in front of a crowd.
When we arrived at the check in we had to ride past a large grain trailer being pulled by a semi. There were several people on top of the trailer hanging banners off the side and we had to ride between the trailer on one side of the road and a jeep with a large bouquet of balloon on the other side of the road. Herc didn’t have a problem with it at all. Next we had to ride past the American Legion jeep with all the flags. That wasn’t an issue either.
When the parade finally began we were placed behind a snow cat on a trailer and in front of a large procession of antique cars, and behind the cars was the entry for the Manti ambulance and fire department so we got to listen to their sirens for the entire parade as well.
Herc took it all in and did the whole parade like the true champion that we have all know he is. He strutted his stuff for all the parade attendees to see and you would never have known that this was his first parade.
At the end of the parade we stopped and posed with the drill team. As you can see when Herc comes back home and joins the drill team for good he will be one of the biggest horses on the team. He is quite stunning when he really shows his stuff.

Today we loaded up and headed down to Manti for the BLM adoption at the Sanpete County Fair. Herc loaded up like a champ and rode beautifully for the 2½ hour drive. Once we arrived and got settled in Dona Bastian (BLM) told us that Aces Wild (our all wild horse & burro drill team) had been asked to ride in the Grand Entry of the rodeo. We were not expecting this and so the rest of our drill team would not be arriving until Saturday afternoon for the parade. I guess Hercules would get his introduction to the “public scene” a little early.
I thought it would be best to lead Herc out through the arena before the rodeo so he could see where we were going to be and at least be a little familiar with his surroundings without all the excitement. So off we went. His only concern was where Ladybug was at. So we went back to adoption to hang out until it was time to ride.
The grand entry was set for 7:45 so we started getting everyone ready about 7:00. When we arrived we were told we had to go through an alley way by the “rough-stock” to the other end of the arena and we would be behind the various royalties. Herc handled it all like a champ his only concern was when we entered the arena and he saw the royalty loping past him with the flags he wanted to go too. Once I got him settled from that he rode around with the drill team like it was no big deal. Even the clapping and waving didn’t bother him. He is definitely ready to ride with Aces Wild in the Sanpete County parade tomorrow.

Hercules was a true gentleman today for his first “public” appearance. He was very well mannered and a pleasure to be around. We arrived early and spent some time getting Hercules groomed. We wanted him to look his best. Hercules would be the only mustang to compete here today and was a great ambassador for the breed.

The online course was the first “test” of the day. There were over 20 competitors. There were two courses going on at the same time and we were #4 on the far course. We had a series of 4 tasks to do within a 5 minute time limit and we were awarded points for doing each task. We could do the tasks in any order. The tasks were to have me sit on a hay bail and pick up all 4 feet and clean them (without moving off of the hay bail), standing in a 8 foot circle and fly spraying both sides of the horse without the horse stepping out of the circle, slalom the horse through a line of 6 cones from a line that was 9 feet away, and last was to “squeeze” the horse over 3-35 gallon drums laid on their side from a hoola hoop that was 6 feet away. The fly spray task was the only one we knew we could do but we gave all the rest of them a try. I was able to get 3 of Hercules 4 hooves up and cleaned while sitting on the hay and Hercules “snacking”. Then we went to the fly spray and aced that one. Next we tried the slalom. And though we had been practicing this at home we had not been practicing from that distance and we didn’t do so well. Hercules got confused as to what I was asking him to do so we ended up just passing on the task. Then we went to the barrels. We haven’t practiced him jumping anything so I settled for him going up and touching the barrels. I knew that later in the day I would have to ride him over the barrels so we would come back later and practice that.

After the lunch break I went back to the trailer and saddled up Herc so that we could practice before our test. I also discovered the Herc likes to drink out of water bottles. We were to go #3 on the course. Janet worked with Herc on the ground and getting him over the drums so he understood what I was going to ask him to do. Once I was in the saddle he was all business and did everything he was asked to do. The basket had not been put in place yet so I practiced picking up a helmet from the drum and moving it to the other drum.

Our tasks that we would have to complete in the “Freestyle” class (under saddle) would be. Picking up a basket full of stinky lama hair from a 55 gallon drum and packing over 20 feet and setting it down on another drum, cross the 3-35 gallon drums 4 times (twice each way), trot or canter each direction 4 times around a 90’ diameter circle and then stand in the middle with the horses head over the drum for 7 seconds on a loose rein, and then to go inside a 20’ diameter circle and place the horses front hooves in a hoola-hoop and do a circle on the forehand and then place the horses back hooves in the hoola-hoop and do a circle on the haunches.

When it was time to start the course we got our first glimpse of the basket. It was a huge stuffed Easter bunny basket. Then the kicker is when you picked it up it made a noise like a bouncing spring. Herc did great until I went to set the basket down and then he got a little worried and backed away from the drum. After a little bit of encouragement however he did move back to the drum so that I could set the basket down. Then we went on to the drums and passed over those with ease. Hercules chose not to jump them (why exert energy to jump when I can just walk over them) and calmly walked over them 4 times. He was kind of sluggish on his trot and I lost count of how many times we had gone around the circle so looked kind of funny but did finally get our 4 circles done and then Hercules decided it would be more fun to knock over the drum instead of stand with his head over it. By this time we were out of time. I was so thrilled with how well he did and how well he took everything in.

Today Hercules and I practiced the obstacles that we may encounter this weekend while under saddle. And then went for a ride down the street and back on our own. I also took him over to the arena and rode some more over there and also let Janet ride him for the first time. We didn’t get any pictures of Janet riding since she didn’t bring the camera over with her.

Hercules and I will be participating in the Natural Horse Showdown this weekend in Midway, UT. It is a fundraiser for the Utah Animal Adoption Center and I think the perfect opportunity to get Hercules out in a crowd of “strange” horses and see how he will behave. So tonight we spend practicing obstacles on the ground that they used last year. We worked with a tarp and doing a slalom course with cones. Then just for fun we threw in some obstacles that we may encounter in Texas worked on crossing a bridge and some more with the ground poles and also with pulling a slicker out of a mailbox and wearing it. Hercules just thrives on new tasks. We are having so much fun.

I also wanted to expose Herc to the electric clippers since his brand will have to be clipped in Texas. He actually seemed to enjoy the vibration. I asked Janet to give him a bridle path and while she was at it she clipped his whiskers. He actually pushed into the blades to feel the vibrations. It was quite comical.

Since it has been so hot and Hercules has been doing so good I took him over to the sprinkler and let him stand in it to cool off. Then he thought he would return the favor with the other sprinkler. This horse really does have quite the sense of humor.