A few months back, I started volunteering at a really wonderful nonprofit ranch in Scottsdale called Reigning Grace Ranch. The ranch is full of amazing volunteers, lots of critters, and about 70 horses, including a brand new to the ranch horse named Drogo.
Drogo is a 3 year old Arabian that was donated to the ranch just a couple of weeks ago. He has a background of being shown in halter classes, but he hasn't been started under saddle.
After hearing about Drogo, and the Ranch's plans for him, I was really excited to see how he was going to do with some training. Little did I know, I was going to be the one lucky enough to start him!
Eager to get started, a friend and I went to pick him up a couple of weekends ago, along with a super cute 36 year old mini, and bring them back to Reigning Grace Ranch. The trailer ride was a little interesting for Drogo, who loaded like a pro, but didn't like the sound or the movement of the floor and got pretty worked up, but we made it and got him settled in his stall.
After letting him settle in for a couple days, and also letting the rain and snowy weather settle, I was finally able to start Drogo by flagging him around a little bit on the Tuesday after we brought him back. At first, Drogo was worked up. He was jumpy and just wanted to run. Right off the bat, he didn't seem to take to training too well, however, after letting him work some of his energy off by turning him loose in the round pen, he became much more willing to think through the new things I was teaching him.
After a few brief flagging sessions, I tried throwing a saddle pad on him and he handled it like a champ! So far, Drogo has shown himself to be fairly reactive, but extremely smart. He is settling into his own and learning to trust and think. Based on what I've seen so far, I know Drogo is going to turn out to be a flashy and smart horse. I can't wait to get him started under saddle so I can get him out on trails and working cattle.
Drogo just got upgraded from his small stall to the cattle pens where he has more room to move around. If all goes well there, he'll get turned out with the herd early next week!
If you want to help support Reigning Grace Ranch and me through Drogo's training process, you can donate at azrgr.org/donate/. Be sure to subscribe to TheWanderingHomesteader.com and follow along on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on Drogo's progress.
xo,
Sara
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