When Taina lost her foal our farm was heartbroken, we hoped we could find a young horse to be her friend. Our friends at Mustang Camp in New Mexico had just taken in a huge herd of over 75 mustang stallions from a pueblo that was forced to round up their mustangs. We had recently visited and watched a foal be born while there, we thought this might be a great option, if we adopted a young friend for Taina. At the time a student of mine was very excited at the prospect of training a baby mustang with all R+, so she asked which of the babies was the naughtiest, freshest baby boy they had! That’s who they sent us!! Unfortunately that student moved on with her life and we were left with the little trouble maker. Even more unfortunately, Taina HATED him!! See, at Mustang Camp he had been moved in with the stallions, while he was gelded, he still carried himself as a young stud, and Taina was NOT impressed.
Oro settled in well and started his training fabulously with R+. We had him turned out with our ponies and they were a happy little herd. But as Oro got bigger he started to get too rough for our little ponies, soon they needed to be split up. At the same time my student trainer left and Oro didn’t get the attention he needed. Oro was moved in with the draft mares, while they made good aunties for him, they didn’t put up with any of his baby stuff and were very frustrating for him. He wanted to play and they wanted to stand and munch. This was a very frustrating time for Oro, no one wanted to play, his body was changing, his teeth were growing in, and the things he used to know weren’t working anymore. Luckily it wasn’t long until a new young student came in, looked at the crazy baby mustang trying to bite everyone, and decided that she would love to take on the challenge!
At 12 years old Ruby has spent the last year helping Oro overcome his emotional struggles and progress on his behavioral goals. It wasn’t long before the two of them started rocking the agility ring, they’ve even had their first “sit” (she sat on him and fed him). He’s almost 4 now, he’s made a new best human friend and a new best horse friend with Zephyr. He’s bloomed into an adorable, friendly, naughty-in-a-cute-way, wonderful little mustang! All while fulfilling the wildest dreams of a special young girl.
