Rojo is my mustang that I purchased from the Carson City Prisoner Trained Mustang Adoption program. (You can read that story here.)
Anyway, Rojo is King. KING. KINGIDY KING KING. THE MAN.
Rojo is the smallest horse here, yet he rules the roost.
In a way, he reminds me of Mama Tess. All he has to do is flick and ear and they all go RUNNING!
Rojo is the BadBoy Mustang, Born in the Wild, King of all horses – ever.
…except…
SEPARATING ROJO.
Rojo came home a few months before I was diagnosed with LYME. I worked with him daily until my strength all went away. The next few years were a battle and I wasn’t up to working my new mustang. So, he reverted.
It isn’t as if he is bad or mean, he will still do what I ask and come up for treats. But, he doesn’t want to be caught anymore. Nope. Nada. Not the KING.
Because of this (and because I’m feeling better enough to put riding/futzing/training back on my schedule), I decided to put Rojo into one of the smaller paddocks – alone.
Luckily, he fell for my trap – a nice flake of hay. CLINK! I shut the gate and he was MINE – locked into the smallest paddock!
And,so far, so good… he has let me pet him and love on him – which was always his undoing, he is a sucker for love.
Right next door to him are the three new, previously wild horses that I exchanged for Sam so that she could run free on 1000 acres. I have Missy Miss, Satchmo (the donk) and baby Ron Howard (Opie).
ROJO IN WITH THE NEW MUSTANGS?…
I decided to open the gate between Rojo and the new horses. I figured this would be a good little herd for him to manage. And, I could easily recatch him in this configuration. At night, I can open the big gate to the 5 acre pasture and this little band could have a good time…as long as everyone behaved according to Rojo.
So, I put them all together.
What I saw astounded me…
Uncle Rojo.
Who knew?!
UNCLE ROJO.
Here is Baby Opie begging me for a flake over where he is so he doesn’t have to go near Rojo (with head in feeder).
Rojo had knocked a bit of hay out and I showed it to Baby – he went for it.
Baby takes a tentative look at the KIng.
Being a smart Mustang baby, when the King raises his head, baby looks away.
Baby looks longingly at Rojo’s dinner.
This is when it starts getting amazing… Rojo knows Baby is there and wanting food. So, the King looks away intentionally, so that Baby can grab a bite!
Baby hesitates and Rojo takes note, but stays with his head turned away.
Baby goes for it, and Rojo doesn’t move a muscle. I was shocked!
Uncle Rojo lets Baby eat.
Here Rojo is pushing off Missy Miss who wanted to join the party.
All the while, the King is signaling to the Baby that eating out of the Royal Bin was A-OK.
Rojo comes back in for another bite and Baby becomes a bit tentative.
But, Uncle Rojo sees a bit of his young self in this little boy… or something… because he didn’t show a bit of aggression. He let the little one eat with him the entire meal. I was very proud of his mentoring nature. Baby needs a solid male adult figure to learn the Mustang way.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO DONATE to help Jackie, Sugar and the other 28 flood horses in Dr. Lee’s care, please click this link. Although we have surpassed our goal, the costs of caring for these horses is way more than we asked to receive. So, please send prayers and donate if you feel moved.
