Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Never give up
I went to a roping competition today and I was talking to people I rope with and they said something I hear all the time, “you and Alaska always do good!” As sweet as that is and how much I’d like for that to be the case, it’s not 100% true. We’re both living and breathing and make mistakes. I feel in the horse community we only talk about and share our ups, but I feel it’s important to talk about your downs as well. Sometimes your “failures” make you stronger. Not only as a horseman, but as a person in general. I’d like to talk about an incident that happened that made me stronger and hopefully let other people who are struggling with a certain thing with your horse know, it happens! We all have bad runs or placings! You’ll push through and before you know it, you’ll be better than ever.
Here’s one of my training struggles: almost 3 years ago, I had a really bad roping accident. I was on a high school equestrian team at the time and I was competing at the first meet of the season. I walked in the box all confident and ready, getting those nervous/excited jitters. We were settling in the box and Alaska was getting pretty excited and was just moving around. I didn’t think much of it. A few seconds later she reared up a little and I didn’t drop my reins and she flipped over backwards on top of me. Honestly it happened so quick, I don’t know what was going through my head. It was not her fault, as a handler I should have dropped my reins and reacted better than I had. We both ended up with minor bruises and cuts, but so lucky because it could have been A LOT worse.
After this incident, we had a really hard time getting back in the box. She was terrified. She wouldn’t even go near it. I thought our roping days were done. I put hours and hours into training to try to be able to do it again. I cried multiple times thinking I wasn’t a good enough trainer or that it was all my fault. After months of hard work, we were back at it. And then fast forward less than a year after, we were silver medalists in breakaway roping which qualified us for state!
Now, 3 years later she walks in and out of the box so easily and is such a rockstar at breakaway. The main reason I’m sharing this story is to let you know to never give up. You’ve got this and before you know it, you’ll look back and smile because those “setbacks” were just minor obstacles on your way to success. Believe in you and your horse. Always. ❤
Day 1
The first time I ever saw Alaska I knew that my life would change forever.
It was mid summer of 2014 and I was helping my mom with a mustang she had rescued a couple weeks prior named Ellie. With my parents having no luck yet with getting a halter on her, I was fascinated and eagerly wanting to learn everything I could about how to train and understand her. My mom got a call a few weeks later from the girl we got Ellie from asking us to take the rest of the herd that were wild on her property. She had rescued the herd from a feed lot and couldn’t train them due to surgery. My family of course said yes and I begged and begged my parents to let me have my very own horse to train. I saw Alaska and I knew she was special. The deal was if I could get a halter on her, she was mine.
After hauling back and forth to rescue 2 other mustangs and Alaska refusing to get in the trailer, I finally was able to take her home. I was so excited to get started, but I knew I had to let her settle in. After a few days, I would sit out in the barn and read books so she would get used to me being around. I would stay up late reading books about training and watching different training methods online on how to build trust. Months go by and I still didn’t have a halter on her. I felt completely discouraged and I felt like I wasn’t good enough. I had never wanted anything so bad in my life. After hours and hours of patience and determination, I got that halter on her. That’s just the beginning of our story. Looking back 5 years later, I can’t believe everything we’ve been through. I can’t wait to share Alaska’s journey with you all.
A little about me..
I’m 19 years old and I work at an animal shelter in Washington. Animal rescue has always been my passion and I want to help as many animals as possible. I own a horse named Alaska, a dog named Smalls, and two tortoises named Zona and Zahmea.
I want to be more public about my story with Alaska and how I gentled her. Training a mustang at 14 was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to me. My goal is to get our story out there more and educate and teach people more about mustangs.
On this page I’ll be posting our results from shows, adventures we go on, training methods I’ve used, and much more. Subscribe to keep up with Alaska and I!
Alaska's Journey 