Rachael & Dayton

photo credit: Teens & Oregon Mustangs

Trainer & Mustang Data

Mustang Name: Dayton

Trainer Name: Rachael

Age: 4

Sex: Gelding

Color: blue roan pinto

HMA: South Steens

Facebook Page:

Trainer Bio:

Hello my name is Rachael and this is Dayton! (A.K.A. Wild West) He is a 15 hand, blue roan pinto, four year old from South Steens Herd. My goal with Dayton is to gain his complete trust under saddle and teach him to face new things with confidence. I also hope to showcase him to the best of his ability and help him find his own loving home. He has already learned so much and I can’t wait to see what he teaches me in return.
Here is my facebook https://www.facebook.com/macsmustangs/ 


3 Trainer Updates

  1. Rachael says:

    Dayton is doing really well! He has seven rides, most of them in a big arena. He’s grown up a lot lately and been surprising me left and right with his willingness! I realized I didn’t say this in my description, but Dayton is a 15 hand, four year old! He has started in showmanship also and is doing amazing. He loves haunch turns! He’s is quite smart and only needs to be taught something once, maybe twice and he will remember it forever. He has a natural low head carriage and is very smooth through all his gaits. I love this horse so much, it will be really hard parting with him in March!

  2. Rachael says:

    Dayton keeps improving! I have about ten rides on him and he is getting better each time. He is starting to figure out roll backs, haunch turns, moving off my leg in a circle and while standing. Last couple rides we have really focused on picking up our shoulders or moving our hips individually. Then after, he got his first bath and stood extremely well the whole time. He is very athletic and smart, and with his natural low head carriage I could see him as a prospect reining/ ranch riding show horse! (You can get his pinto paper and show him in pinto!)
    His showmanship continue to get better and, in general, his ground manners. He can pick up all his feet and is just about ready to meet the farrier! He trailers calmly, can be clipped, and ties nicely. Lately I also been having other people work with him to get him desensitized to everyone. He is beginning to trust others and really trusts me. The other day, I was cleaning his stall and he just let me go under him, behind him, and around him without batting an eye.
    Another funny story is when we were at our lesson yesterday, while he was loping on the lounge line, somehow the lounge line became unhooked and dropped to the ground. It took me a couple second to realize my horse was just loping without any way of me to control him, so I said woah and feared the worst. He just immediately plants his butt into the ground and stand quietly for me to go grab him. He’s becoming a great horse!
    At home, we also have to walk down a busier road to get to the arena where we ride. Traffic going 40 mph doesn’t scare him at all and the other day at street sweeper was going down the road. With the load noise and all the moving parts, I held tight to his lead rope and waited for a reaction. He barely even looked at it! With this, I also think he’d make an amazing, relaxed trail horse.
    We might go to a show this weekend depending on the weather. I also hoped to take him to another, different arena too. More updates to come!

  3. Rachael says:

    In advance sorry for the long update, it’s been awhile since I posted and we have been busy!
    We have been riding in at least two different arenas a week. This helps get him used to new places and he’s really starting to be relaxed when raced with new places. He’s been progressing really well in riding. He’s now able to control his hip and shoulders separate and put them together for a side-pass. He also is figuring out two tracking and slowing down his gates. He naturally has a low head set and now can also collect and round his back. His gates are becoming very cadenced and smooth. Also, he knows his leads very well. Still his favorite thing is stops. At the lope, reins dropped to his neck, say the word and he plant his butt into the ground and tries his hardest every time.
    We also have gone on some riding adventures! I walk him down my road to go ride and now we will just ride there and back. He’s super good with the traffic and people. We also went on our first “real” trail ride last week alone, and he was great! We also have done a couple rides bareback and it didn’t faze him! I haven’t ridden bareback in a while, so I must have been squeezing him pretty good at the lope, but I just held on with my outside hand and let him do his thing. He was absolutely great!
    We have gone to three shows now. The first was a mountain trail course in Eugene. I took him the night before to introduce him to obstacles because I thought he would shy at some, but he tried all of them first time. There was a teeter totter bridge, balance beam, water box, and much more! Then next morning he showed great! I was only going to do in-hand, but he was so good we did one riding class. He did it all, even dragged a log! Second show I went to was a 4-H show that actually was pretty busy! We did showmanship, halter, and some walk trot classes. There was about 10-13 in each class and he placed top five in all classes! Even won showmanship and placed second in both his riding classes! The last weekend we went to a full weekend show in Eugene. He spent all weekend there and did great! We showed in showmanship, in-hand trail, trail, ranch riding, and some walk trot pleasure and equitation classes. He did so good and again placing in all his classes. We even won 19-38 Ranch Riding!
    He’s been such a great horse. I had someone else ride him for the first time this weekend and he didn’t even care. He also met some potential bidders and was such a doll. He really has given me his heart and will do anything I ask of him. When I go into his stall he just wants to be close to me and loved. And it’s not just me anymore, he really is starting to love everyone and become comfortable around a lot of people. He is the kind of horse that look for reassurance in you and then do whatever you ask of him. Please message me if you would like to come see this amazing guy!

Leave a Reply to Rachael

Enter value to prove you\'re human * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.