Mustangs of Hawkeye Hill Racing School

While working at Hawkeye Hill Racing School in Indiana, during the summer of 1992, I met my first real Mustangs.   The lady that owned the place had adopted four of them from Nevada, she said they had come from the desert, and from their looks, they had definitely lacked in nutrition, in their younger years, as all were pony sized, so not sure if they came from the desert or not, but they had definitely come from an area of limited resources.   All four were geldings, their names were Moon Shadow, Desparado, Nips, and Nevada.

Moon Shadow and Desparado were kept in a small pasture infront of the main training barn, because if they were let out into the huge 20 plus acre field, they sometimes would not come back, still having some of their wild tendencies very strong in them.   Previous students or workers on the farm had worked with these two the most, so they were the furthest along in their training, but still very green.

Nevada was kept in a small dry lot, behind one of the barns, as he was still the most wild of the group, having the least handling.   I never worked with him, as another girl fell in love with him and promised she'd work with him, but she never got very far, at least that I saw.

Nips was allowed out into the main field, with the rest of the retired racehorses and other riding horses, but he always wore his halter, so that he could be caught more easily.  He was very afraid of things and would spook easily.   If anyone tried to put a lead on his halter, he would get very upset, but if you let him with just your hand on his halter, he was more likely to go with you.   It was only because of this, he was allowed out in the field, that he'd come up with the main herd and he was mostly okay to lead, if you led him his way.

There was something about the little chestnut gelding, Nips, that drew me to him, so I asked for permission to work with him, in my spare time, and it was granted.

First, I spent time in his stall, with him, to get him used to my presence and my smell.   I just put my hands on him, touching him where he would let me, at first, and then slowly pushing my way to touching other areas of him, slowly, as not to scare him, I just gently touched him all over his body, each day increasing where I would touch.   Then I added the grooming tools, the soft brush, first, then the others, like the curry, stiff brush, and main and tail comb, eventually I was even able to pick up his feet and clean them out with the hoof pick.   As his confidence grew in allowing me to do all of this, I would put the lead rope on him, for a few minutes each day, so he'd get used to it just being there, attached to his halter, then I started just leading him, the way he liked, but with the lead still attached, so he got used to it moving as he walked, because I think that is what might have been scaring him.   I slowly just led him around his stall and slowly was able to remove my hand from the halter and move it to the lead rope, so eventually I was not having to lead him with my hand on his halter and he was leading like a regular horse. 

At that point, it was time to try leading him outside of the stall, so I undid the stall chains and ropes, that were what was used for his stall door, and I slowly encouraged him to come with me, out into the barn aisle, and then outside of the barn.   At this point, the owner came over and saw how much progress I had made and was apparently impressed, because she then asked me to start working with Desparado and Moon Shadow, as well, as no one was currently doing anything with them and they needed their training continued.

I agreed that I'd start working with them, along with working with Nips.

Nips's training continued, with me putting the tack in the stall with us, as I groomed him, so he could get used to seeing it, smelling it, etc.  I let him check all of it out, as i groomed him, each day.  When it was time to try putting it on him, I took the saddle blanket, folded it up very small, into the size of a wash cloth.  I then rubbed it all over his back and sides, getting him used to the feel of it.

I then placed the folded up saddle blanket on his back and slowly started to unfold it.   Nips turned his head to see what I was doing, but stood still, like a good boy.   The next day, I did the same thing and then was able to add the saddle pad.   Each day, I added a new piece of tack, the saddle, then the girth, the girth cover, and eventually the bridle.

Then it was time to lead him out of the stall, all tacked up.   When he was able to walk around the farm, being led, with all the tack on, and not spooking, it was time to teach him to steer and do some more of his ground work, to get him ready to accept a rider.

Meanwhile, my work started with Desparado and Moon Shadow.   As it had been a very long time since anyone had worked with them, we put them in the roundpen and started by lungeing them, getting them used to the tack, ground driving them, so they would remember how to steer, etc.

Even though I am tall, I didn't weigh very much, back then, around 118 pounds, so despite their small sizes, I was not considered too heavy for them, so when it was time for them to be ridden,  again, I was the first one to get on them, as they were used to me, the most.

Both made a lot of progress at first, both being able to be ridden outside of the roundpen and eventually one of the other riders would ride Moon Shadow, while I rode Desparado around one of the 3 acre pastures, located on the infield of the training track. 

I was soon able to take Desparado onto the small 1/8 mile all weather training track with the other horses, to exercise him and get him used to horses being ridden around him.

It was so funny riding him, as others rode by us, because he was only about 13 hands or so and the other horses were almost all over 15 hands, some being over 16 hands.   He was doing so well, that one morning when we were given our riding assignments, the owner decided to let someone else ride Desparado.

I happened to be on another horse, at the same time as the other person was on Desparado and I watched as Desparado took the guy off the small all weather training track, into the center, where we had some jumps set up, for when prospective buyers came to look at the retired racehorses, they could have a jump or two to try them over.   Well, Desparado just took this guy into that area and just started spinning in circles.  I don't recall him bucking and trying to get the guy off of him in a mean way, he just was showing his major displeasure with this new rider by not cooperating one bit.   So, the next day, I was put back on Desparado to continue working with him, as obviously he did a lot better for me and I was getting through to him in his training.

I don't remember if it was that day or a few days later, but I was riding him on the 1/8 mile track along with about 6 other horses and riders.   This girl on a big grey horse went galloping by us and suddenly the grey went into a bucking fit and threw the girl off, almost right infront of us.   Desparado calmly trotted around her and kept on going, while some of the other horses got upset, he stayed calm and kept his mind on his business.  I was so proud of him. 

Eventually, others were able to ride him and he would listen to them, so my training and patience had worked with him.

Moon Shadow, meanwhile, had relapsed and had gotten very nervous about being ridden outside of the roundpen, so I had to take him back into that small riding area and start working him in there, slowly, to regain his confidence.  Unlike, Desparado and Nips, I also think Moon Shadow had a bit more of a mean side to him, as well.

As I would ride Moon Shadow around in the roundpen, he would try to get me off by slamming my leg into the fencing, and after a few days, when he realized that tactic wasn't working, he started getting hard to mount.   I'd go to get on him, and as I was swinging my right leg up and over his back, he'd jump sideways, to the right, leaving me hanging in mid air and having to quickly land on my feet.

Eventually, he got so bad about me mounting him, that we had to put blinkers on him, so he could not see me trying to mount him.  We also would have one person holding him and one person trying to help me get on him.   It would usually take a few attempts, even after all of that, but I never gave up and never let him win, and I'd always get on him.

I have no clue why he started doing all this, except that it started when the other rider was riding him, so something must have happened, I don't know what, to make him not happy about being ridden, because he had been at the same level of training as Desparado had been.   Who knows what makes horses change, it can be different things for each horse, that sets them off down the path of misbehavior and then you have to figure out a way to get back to them that it is okay to be ridden or handled and not to be afraid.

Before I left the farm, I did have him back to being mounted more quietly and riding better in the roundpen, but I had not started taking him back out of the roundpen, before I left.  I just know it was persistance, just working with him everyday and never getting mad at him, being patient, and he was slowly coming back around.

Before I left, Nips was starting to be ridden, but as he was the smallest of the bunch, the owner decided that even my light weight was too much for him, so had another girl get on him, because she only weighed 105 pounds, though, to this day, I really don't know if 13 pounds really would make that big of a difference. 

The owner was strange, at times, she'd be super happy with you one minute and mad at you the next.   She told you she wanted to know if you noticed any problems with a horse, but if you did approach her with an issue, it would suddenly turn into something that you did to cause the problem, riding wise, health wise, or whatever, so you started to learn to just keep your mouth shut and just ask amongst yourselves, but then you'd learn that some of the others would go and tell the owner something about one of the horses in your care, behind your back and you'd get fussed at anyways, you just couldn't win.  We were there to learn about racing, but when you are met with such hostility, at times, it doesn't make for a very good learning environment.

A lot of what we learned was from watching others, who had learned it from watching other previous students and workers, and what we learned at the track, when we took horses to breeze in the morning or race in the afternoons.

When a new group of student workers would come in, at the beginning of each month, she would start out teaching us, for about a week, and slowly the lessons got less and less, until non-existant, by the second week, and then not much learning, from her, until the next group came in.  It left a lot of students very frustrated, some even leaving, despite the non-refundable fees we paid her to learn from her.   They just got fed up with the lack of teaching and the conditions on the farm and how we were living, but some of us who were really serious, stuck around, and as we all learned later, I'm sure, because I did, most racing farms you work for had similar living conditions, if not worse, the pay sucked, treatment by trainers sucked, but you still did it, because you loved the horses, it was all for the horses and you learned to put up with a bunch of crap, until you just had it, and then you'd move on to the next farm.   I met a lot of people who just went from farm to farm, dealing with each trainer or owner, for as long as they could handle them, and then they'd move on, in fact, several of them had a circuit that they'd make, of about 3 or 4 farms, and the trainers knew these riders and workers would always come back in a year or so and stay for 6 months or so, before moving to their next farm.   So, they never learned to treat the employees any better, because they always knew they'd come back and there were young girls, like myself, to take their place, when they did leave.   It was a viscious cycle and I'm sure it still goes on, on a lot of farms, today.

I started at Hawkeye Hill on July 1st and I left in the middle of September of 1992, so I was there for only 2 1/2 months.  I had planned to return, after a short visit back home, but found the job working for Longwood Farm in Maryland, which my parents pushed me to take, as it was a lot closer to home than Indiana, plus it was a paying job, instead of one where I was working for free, in Indiana, for being taught, when I really wasn't being taught anything, anymore, from the owner.

From what I understand, Hawkeye Hill, had once been a very good place to go and learn, but by the time I got there, it was in a spiral downward and losing it's reputation as a good place to go and learn about the racing industry.   Since that was the time before the internet really took off, there was no way to truly research whether it was a good place or not.

I learned a lot from the horses of Hawkeye Hill, especially the three Mustangs that I worked with.    The racehorses and retired racehorses, also taught me a lot about how to exercise ride, deal with a variety of leg issues and other ailments, and just how to do the day to day care of a horse, things you just don't learn taking weekly lessons.   So, despite not meeting expectations and not learning nearly as much as I had hoped to learn, I did learn a lot, especially from those wonderful little Mustangs.