Saying Goodbye to Maverick

 Today has been very hard. Actually, the first part of the day was pretty fun. We got to go ride horses at Scott's Ranch. But the purpose of the trip was to tell Anna that we can't keep Maverick. Scott has been training him for almost a year and he is just plain dangerous. He will be riding great, even working cows, and out of nowhere he explodes. Not only has he bucked Scott off, but he's also gone after Scott after he bucked him off. He's just completely unpredictable, which makes him even more dangerous. It was even harder to tell her because a few months ago, he was doing so good that we really thought he was going to work out. I've posted before about Maverick and her connection with him. Ugh. Just so hard. Of all the Mustangs Scott has trained...this has to be one that doesn't take the training. Just. So. Hard.

 The last time we were here, Anna was able to basically walk up to Maverick and he let her pet him. This time was totally different. In a way, I'm glad he was so wild. I think it helped her realize how much Maverick has changed. Scott had a very hard time catching him. He had to rope him, and even then it was a struggle.

 Beautiful, yet the potential to be deadly. Maverick is a wild horse and we've spent a lot of time talking about how Maverick is not a bad horse, he's just wild. And some horses just cannot be trained...the wild can't be taken out of them. The movie Spirit has actually been quite helpful in understanding this.

 This horse has captured my daughter's heart. As she told me tonight:

"Mommy, you know what's deep in my heart? Maverick. He'll always be there, deep in my heart. In a little corral."

 I am still so amazed at Anna's innate sense with a horse. She has an unending supply of patience and calmness. After witnessing how wild (and frankly a bit scary!) Maverick was as Scott caught him, she still had no qualms with walking up to Maverick in a calm, quiet way. I have no doubt that Scott's presence has a lot to do with it. But she also just has a "sixth sense" when it comes to horses.

She slowly worked her way to his nose until he let her touch him. And when he raised his head away from her, she gently pulled down on the lead rope.

The whole time she was petting Maverick, Scott was explaining to Anna how dangerous he is. He didn't flat out say that we can't keep Maverick. I kind of think Anna knew it, but since it wasn't plainly said she could deny it. 

 After petting Maverick for a bit, Scott asked if she wanted to ride. Duh! ;) He saddled up Tigger for her. He's an old horse (too old according to Anna...not fast enough!). She got some more lessons in riding. She catches on pretty quickly and is doing good. We're hoping to be able to take her over there every week this summer for a horsemanship class!

 Scott talked to her some more while he was saddling Tigger. By her expression in this picture, I think you can tell she was getting the picture.

Just before supper, we went to help Scott feed some horses he has in a pasture. On the way, Scott told Anna, "Your mom & dad need to get you a horse." She told him she already had a horse. I knew then that I would just have to flat-out say "We can't keep Maverick." She clammed up and wouldn't say anything. As we were standing in the pasture, I asked Anna if she understood that we can't keep Maverick. She started crying a little bit and asked, "Do we have to sell Maverick??" I tried my best to explain again why we can't keep him. And I shared something Scott told me. Several months ago, Scott was using Maverick at Cowboy Church almost every week. One week, he showed them how he could get Maverick to lay down flat (a huge feat that shows how much a horse trusts you) and compared it to submitting to Christ. He said he still has people come up to him and tell him how much that meant to them, how it touched them. I told Anna that even if that is the only "purpose" Maverick can serve for us, that's pretty awesome...for her horse to be used to teach others about Christ! I'm not sure how much she understood. She cried just a tiny bit, but being surrounded by horses, she couldn't stay sad for very long. She seemed to be handling it pretty well...much better than I thought she would. But then we got home and it was bedtime. We talked a little bit and then she asked if she could say her bedtime prayers. She prayed silently and when she finished, I could tell that she was pretty upset but trying not to let it out. I told her it was okay to be sad and to cry. That was all she needed to hear. We talked and cried and talked and cried for over 2 1/2 hours. I could tell that as long as she talked about something, even if it was horses, she could keep herself distracted from Maverick. But as soon as she stopped talking, she would just break down again. Absolutely broke this Mama's heart. I feel just awful. Maybe we shouldn't have done the whole horse thing this way...maybe we shouldn't have told her Maverick could be her horse and just waited til we knew for sure...maybe, maybe, maybe. But as I told Anna, God has a purpose in this. Put all our sorrows and hurts in His hands and let Him heal our hearts and lean on Him even more. That's what I told Anna...I think it's a good lesson for more than just Anna. I would appreciate your prayers for Anna's tender heart in the days to come. I know it's going to be very hard for her.

Best Saturday Ever (according to Anna)

 We finally made it back over to Scott's place. After the competition in Texas, Scott put Maverick out in the pasture to give him a break from training. Then he took him to a feedlot, hoping he would get more used to being around cattle. Except Maverick got really wild again! Scott couldn't even catch him. It wasn't looking very promising for keeping him as Anna's horse. Scott said he would just put Maverick in with his therapy horses so he would be around people constantly and see how he did. If you tried to go up to him, he would run away. But as soon as you turned your back, he would come right up to you. So we were curious what he would do with Anna.

 He didn't even back away from her! And he followed her everywhere she went in the pen. Scott said with the progress he's made so far, she'll be riding him by summer! She flipped her lid and was doing somersaults (literally)!! She would have stayed there all day petting him, content as could be.

She asked Scott if she could ride a horse, so he got out an old bag of bones horse Buster for her to ride :) He's not exceptionally old, but he is very lazy!! So Anna got a good lesson in "show him who's boss" :)

 Scott gave her some great riding lessons and she caught on pretty quickly.

 Learning how to make him mind and follow her leads.

She even got to trot! She was bouncing around so much it was comical. He worked on teaching her to use her legs and bounce with the horse. She had so much fun!! And the horse Scott is on? A green one he's breaking! That's how laid-back Buster is...didn't phase him a bit when Scott's horse got a little antsy. 

We're hoping to be able to make it over there every other Saturday so Anna can continue working on her riding skills so she'll be ready for Maverick in the summer! :)

Maverick's Supreme Extreme Makeover

Oh boy...it's a little crazy taking a vacation with so many little ones!! But it's been so much fun! We're still trying to catch up on sleep...we all took a several-hours' long nap today.
Maverick struggled to perform. He was nervous and just kind of distracted by everything around him. He placed fairly low in both rounds yesterday and didn't do great on the cow horse round today. We won't find out for sure until morning what his score is for this round, but we're fairly certain he's not in the top 20, therefore won't be in the finals tomorrow night. Which is kind of a bummer because we wanted to see Scott's final show with the Top Gun theme!! :)
Anna has, not surprisingly, been having the time of her life. She thinks Maverick has done GREAT! "I'm so proud of Maverick!" she says. We're so proud of Maverick and Scott!!!

Watching Scott and Maverick practice.

Working Maverick between rounds.

Aaron made the comment that he was probably the only person in attendance wearing Birkenstocks. Amy pointed out that she was wearing sandals, too. :)

Checking out the vendors at the arena.

I finally retired Anna's green boots. They were SO HARD to get on! But, these are still CUTE with pink this time. :)

Jacob was wearing his jeans and boots, but after naps he said he was too hot with jeans on (it was all of 75*!).

This cutie pie has done really good. He loves the sling and I always chuckle to myself at the looks I get when he's in it.

She would have sat out there all day watching the horses.

Of course I couldn't get her to pose normally! Silly goose.

No one is surprised that this one wouldn't pose normally!!

Playing hide-n-seek with Uncle Alan.

Maverick and Anna already have a special bond (have since practically day one). He's never turned away from her and you can just tell that he really loves her already.

Cousins, cousins everywhere! It's been fun seeing all the little cousins (2nd cousins) play together. Lots of little ones!! This is sweet, sweet Addison.

Unbeknownst to Scott, Anna had a dream just a couple nights ago that she got to ride Maverick bare-back with no bridle!! Scott has definitely secured his top spot in Anna's heart!

Jacob now thinks he needs his own horse. He asked Scott, "Tan I have one of yuh howses??"

Oh goodness...Little Miss Priss! Leah showing off her birthday bling! :)

I think Addison decided it was either laugh or cry...she wasn't too sure about being up on Maverick!

It's been such a fun vacation so far! Can't wait for the rest of the adventures! Win or lose, we don't care...we've given God the glory and are having a great time with family, making memories!

Getting Close to Maverick

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I thought I was getting the clips in the right order, but they're not. I'm so proud of her for getting so close to him!!!

Meet Maverick

On Friday Anna, Isaac and I woke up WAY too early to go to Scott's house so we could ride with him to Elm Creek, Nebraska and pick up our mustang. We left our house just after 5am. For two people who are nowhere near "morning people"...that was a feat in and of itself! Anna was still sleeping. In fact, when I put her in the van, she snuggled up to her pillow and said, "Good night Mom." She slept for about 20 minutes, then realized that she was in the van and we were heading to get the horse. Then there was no more sleep for that little cowgirl!

For a little girl who hates mornings, she was awfully chipper for 6am!!! It was FREEZING that morning and since Anna was still asleep and wrapped in a blanket when we left home, I forgot to grab her jacket. In all honesty, we could have used our winter coats!! We got to Scott's and moved our stuff (car seats and bags) over to Scott's pickup. And then began the long trip to Nebraska. It's about 3 hours up there, I think. Scott & I both were running on too little sleep so it was an even longer trip! And Little Miss Cowgirl didn't sleep the entire trip!! She had trouble falling asleep the night before because she was so excited. She even cleaned her room instead of sleeping!! Couldn't be too mad at her for that! Anyway, we made it to the holding facility around 10am. It took about 15 minutes for Scott to get the paperwork together and then we backed up the trailer and waited for them to get #81 up the alley and into the loading chute. Anna and I stood up on the walkway to watch. They told us as soon as he got close, we needed to duck down so he wouldn't see us and run the other way. I could see him down the alley and he was prancing around, frantic and not wanting to come down the alley. He would run down a few yards and then turn back. Pretty soon he just took off. I couldn't see him anymore, but the guy down with him said he jumped the 7 FOOT FENCE!! It took them a while to get him back to the alley and he wasn't very happy! They got him into the loading chute and he gave them a hard time trying to get the halter on him.

I think Anna was a little overwhelmed by the whole deal. But she was incredibly excited! And freezing!

This is how she spent most of the trip home...watching her horse! He let us know just how unhappy he was to be in the trailer, too! He put a few more dents in Scott's trailer. But after Scott hit the brakes and jostled him around a bit, he quit doing that! Show him who's boss, right Dad? :)

This little guy did really good considering that he was in his car seat for 6+ hours!

This little girl is one happy cowgirl!

We had to make a stop at Orcheln's...so Anna picked out a new halter and lead rope for her horse! :)

She FINALLY crashed, head buried under her pillow. But only for about 30 minutes.

For a horse that was so crazy when we loaded him, he was so very calm when we unloaded him at Scott's. When we left, Scott was spraying down the pen so the dirt wouldn't blow so much. He called me before we got 5 miles and said "We picked the right horse. He's really smart." Scott said that this wild Mustang (who has only been in captivity for 9 months, gelded for 5 months) simply stood there, relaxed, eating hay while he sprayed. Scott has had 3 of these Mustangs and he said they usually take a couple days to start eating. Ours started eating right away. We're a little upset because he is much scrawnier than the video clip we saw to buy him. Almost as if they quit feeding him good feed/enough feed when he was bought! You can see his ribs through his winter coat!! Definitely wasn't the case in the video. But we can fatten him back up.

So today (Monday), Anna's class had a field trip to the Great Bend zoo. The boys and I loaded up and joined them! And of course, then we made a trip to The Ranch to see our horse (who was still unnamed!) Scott was doing some therapy when we arrived, so we went in the house and visited with Amy. His next session cancelled, so Anna & I got to go see the horse. I didn't expect to go into the pen with him. After all, he's a wild Mustang! We've only had him for 4 days! But Scott hollered, "Anna! Go on in there with him!" She was a bit nervous at first and stayed right by the gate. Scott came in and we went and stood in the middle. The horse ran around while Scott tried to pick up the lead rope. He finally got it. He gave us a little training in horse training. :) He had Anna hold the lead rope as well and started walking toward the horse's hind end. Scott told us that as soon as the horse takes a step toward you, slack the rope. But keep the rope tight until he does that. That starts teaching the horse how to be lead. So we did that a few times, then Scott backed off and let Anna have the rope. She and I held our arms out and slowly walked toward the horse. We got a few steps and I asked Anna what we were going to name him. She had suggested Champ long ago. She wrote a note to Papa and Binga and asked them what they thought. They emailed and suggested several names, one of which was Maverick. She and Daddy liked that one. I wasn't so sure. But as we stood in that pen with him, it fit. So we named him Maverick! :)

I am SO PROUD of Anna! She was really nervous. Goodness gracious, who wouldn't be?! It's a wild horse and she's an itty bitty kid! But Scott is 100% right...there's something about little kids that horses trust pretty quickly. I've never seen anything like it. Maverick was completely relaxed as Anna inched her way closer. He never once laid his ears back, showed aggression, or really move away from her. She got within a few yards of him and didn't want to go any closer. I moved a little closer behind her and Scott handed her some hay and then she started going closer on her own. She got within TWELVE INCHES of him!!! He was so close to eating that hay from her hand! So close!!!!! And Anna would have stayed even longer, trying, but her arm got tired. We were out there for probably 20 minutes. I am just floored that happened. When we got into the house, my hands were shaking! Adrenaline! It was so amazing. Scott and I both feel like Maverick is definitely a horse we will be able to keep for Anna (and Jacob and me :)). I am really excited about this whole experience and what it will teach Anna. After we got done with Maverick, she sat and watched Scott train another horse for another 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure she would live there if I let her!! I can't describe what it means to me, seeing my daughter around horses and the natural love and ease she has with horses.