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The Challenge | The Trainers and Students | Event Information
Sunday, August 1 Rio had about 10 days off for her mouth to heal, and she has come back doing well. Hope she will be ready for the competition. She still has flashbacks, however. Recently she had a horsefly bother her while TJ was riding her... she reared and struck at it as she spun in a circle. She was not trying to dump TJ, but wanted to kill the fly. We still have to find volunteers to pick up her feet. She is also trotting in hand much better, she was better trotting behind the bicycle than TJ. We have a you tube link on her riding thru the obstacle course which you can view here. Monday, June 28 Well, Rio can still buck...but lately it isn't every ride!
Riding-wise: She is doing great with the obstacles and has now been ridden in the round pens, indoor arena, outdoor arena, pasture, in the pond, down the driveway and thru the woods. She is walking, trotting and cantering on both leads and does a simple lead change at the trot. Her stop is really developing nicely and she has a very light supple back up. Saturday, June 26 Some quick (YouTube) videos for everyone's viewing pleasure! Simple Changes Sunday, June 20 Outside: Rio is still being ridden in the round pen and still bucks at the beginning of the ride, not every time, but still often. We are still working on her going forward and she is improving, we also are still working on getting her soft in the bridle under saddle as well as getting her shoulders soft. She is doing well but still needs work. Unfortunately we can do the work on the ground, but she begins to buck immediately after mounting which means the window isn’t enough time to work on getting her soft! When she bucks she certainly isn’t lazy, so we know she can go…but it appears that she has learned well in the past how to conserve her energy for the moments that matter! She did graduate to riding in the indoor arena WITHOUT a round pen…only because we got so much rain and were not able to work her in the outdoor round pens. TJ has ridden her thru most all of the obstacles forward as well as backward. Cross your fingers she hasn’t bucked there…yet. You can see her trot and plop over the jump. Now, we KNOW from experience that Rio CAN jump…and jump pretty HIGH! Hmm…. (YouTube video) Tracy also went back and worked with Rio stepping all four feet on the pedestal. Before she would walk across it and stop with her fronts or rear legs on it, but had trouble coordinating all fours up. She was not bad about the work but rather she could not figure out how to step up with her back without moving her fronts…and then when she did get that…how to fit her long body on a slightly shorter area! (YouTube video) We continue to struggle with motivation and will persevere! Monday, June 7 Well it's time for my update on the little mare Rio! We are moving along really good; we are now in a 60 ft pen and doing walk-trot-lope without bucking. We've had a great week of doing this! Today we even had a small group of people watching and they even claped and she stayed calm. I can get her moving pretty good over several obstacles and she even made it over a small jump. I am so proud of her! She still a little scared at times, but with trust from me she seems to handle most things. With trust everything is possible! If there is anybody out there who would like to sponser this little mare, please feel free to contact me. Sunday, June 6 (From Tracy Porter) Well, a lot of days have passed and not much progress with Rio. We figure that the hump has got to be in the eminent future! We train horses for a living and Rio has to be worked in to the program with paying clients. The problem is that she requires about 2 hours of work a day to get to where she is now. Of that time a lot has been spent repeating previous lessons. You might be wondering…when do you stop repeating the lessons? Well that is simply when she is past them, it sure would be nice to do something once and move along…but that isn’t in Rio’s training plan.
TJ had the brilliant idea of riding Rio in her paddock just off her stall. It may have not been so brilliant and could’ve been a Darwin Award idea if she had bucked under the roof over hang. But she didn’t so it worked well for about a week. Here TJ was able to mount and ride Rio initially with the help of Tracy on the ground and later by themselves without any assistance. Prior to each ride was a good amount of bridle work which not only encouraged Rio to be light in the bridle, but to start and stop collected, yield her hips, shoulders and float her hips at the walk and trot. On Wednesday June 2nd, we laid Rio down (YouTube video) on the ground and rubbed her all over. It took 5 time before she laid flat out. She went down very easy each time. 2 days prior she was eased down onto her knee to get her comfortable and being asked to sink down to the ground. We felt this was a HUGE break thru for Rio. Then on Thursday June 3rd, Rio and TJ ventured to the outdoor round pen and with Jack Gibbons holding the line, TJ instructed him to pull her feet out from her if she began to buck. Sure enough she did. You can see this short clip on the YouTube video. After Jack untied TJ and he again moved her around the round pen in this YouTube video. This continued a few days, each day Rio also gets a bath and fly sprayed. She also gets turned out to graze. On Saturday (June 5th) TJ rode Rio Solo in the outdoor round pen (YouTube video). No one knows how much of an accomplishment this is unless they have been around and seen Rio since she arrived. This was a ride worth celebrating and we are VERY proud of her. On June 6th, TJ and Rio ride again in the outdoor round pen at the walk, trot and canter, but also across obstacles as well as standing still while TJ cracked a bull whip! (YouTube video) We are hoping that Rio is over the hump, but if she isn’t…we are not giving up on her. Still she probably will not be the most finished horse by the end of the competition, but we feel that she is a survivor and will have encountered and overcome by far the hardest and endured the most challenging of all obstacles…accepting captivity and becoming comfortable being a “domestic” horse and we hope…adopted to a wonderful new home. Presently TJ has no sponsors and would very much appreciate any help anyone would offer. If you would like to do so, please contact him at TJBrumby@yahoo.com or write him at TJ Clibborn, 9736 Serns Road, Milton, WI 53563. Friday, June 4 In addition to photos, we have some videos too! May 30th (part 1)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTdl15dnkGg
Wednesday, June 2 Photo time!
Monday, May 31
Rio, a 10 year old mare, was delivered to Tracy Porter 10 days after her foal was weaned in Mid March. Although she progressed nicely, it was a very slow pace and it was apparent to Tracy that Rio could and would hurt someone who wasn’t prepared but in the right hands, she could have the opportunity to become a steady companion and trail horse. At one point, Tracy took her on the road to a facility she knew well where she was doing a clinic. She used this situation to see how Rio was going to adapt when moved to a new trainer. Many of the obstacles that Tracy used in training that Rio was comfortable with were completely foreign at first. Rio went into strike, kick and bolt mode. It didn’t take long, and Rio was doing well, but there was still the explosive element to her. Her response to the new facility with a familiar trainer gave a hint that she might experience more distress with a new facility and trainer. TJ was down in Florida for the winter and arrived back the day of the trainer challenge deadline. He agreed to do the challenge and was assigned Rio. Now Rio had to get accustomed to a new TJ. That was quite a challenge for Rio, but having Tracy there seemed to help her.
Thursday, May 27 G'day mates - I'm TJ and I'm training the ten year-old wild mustang mare Rio and it is not going as good as everyone else as this is one tough little mare. She's bucked every ride so far and is not ready to quit yet so I don't know how this will go but she deserves every chance, so i am going to give it my best . There are some videos on you tube under Tracy Porter and you can also see pictures on my Facebook page. For more information about me or to follow my work with Rio, please visit www.savethemustangs.com. I'm a much better trainer than I am a typist, so I'll do my best to provide updates! > Back to the Trainers and Students
About T.J. Clibborn: TJ was born in Glenn Innes, New South Wales, Australia. At eight years old his grandfather, Sid Kirkwood, took him to a clinic held by Australian Horseman Kel Jefferies, one of the first natural horseman who used sticks and flags to train a horse instead of the sometimes violent methods which were commonly accepted and widely used at that time. TJ instantly knew the path he would take on his journey to becoming a horseman and by the age of twelve, he knew he wanted to spend his life working with horses. Participating as a young rodeo cowboy in the Australian rodeo circuit in bull riding, bareback and saddle bronc riding, calf roping and steer wrestling. At the same time he was also riding show jumpers, and finding success on the Australian Bushmans Horse Racing Circuit where his eight year career as a jockey took him from the Australian tracks to Japan and later to the United States. Deciding to expand his knowledge in the show arena, he moved to Europe where he learned to train Grand Prix Show Jumpers. Read more at TJ's website!
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Health-wise: Rio had her tail brushed out and also spent an afternoon grazing in a real pasture with real horses. She wore a halter so catching her was not hard...we wanted it to be successful. She still prefers to be approached from the right side. 
She had been ridden in the indoor round pen successfully (which means no blow up or bucking) only twice. When she began bucking once it was due to being startled by something really small outside the round pen…someone quietly sitting was bit by a bug and whiped his pant leg. Another bucking fit was when she caught the bit out of the corner of her eye and began rearing and striking at it. To segue her to riding in all gaits and trying to avoid the bucks, TJ rode Rio while Tracy ponied him with her horse Caz. This seemed to work well as Caz and Rio have a similar stride and rhythm that worked well together. After saddling, each time Rio was loaded with all sorts of sacking out items and ponied. The junk was then discarded and TJ mounted up. Again, Tracy ponied TJ with Jack in the middle to help keep Rio moving along with Caz. Then TJ took over when the lead rope was disconnected but Tracy and Caz remained riding along. The goal was to have Rio continue to move along with Caz and then Tracy and Caz gently faded into the middle so TJ and Rio were riding together without help. This worked well for a few rides, then it was time for Rio and TJ to ride without the crutch of another horse. 
Some background: Tracy Porter was contacted by Drew Fitzpatrick to be a trainer or a judge. Drew also had a mustang to get a halter on and teach to lead for the competition. Tracy agreed to train the horse, Rio, and judge the event. 
Currently Rio is being ridden in a very small pen. Actually it is her stall paddock and measures 24’x24’. In it TJ rides her at a walk and trot alone without another horse. In the 60’round pen, she did well at the walk, trot and canter when ponied by Tracy and her horse Caz with Rio and TJ aboard. We eventually detached Rio and Tracy, but kept Caz by her and slowly faded away, allowing Rio and TJ to ride by themselves. Prior, when Rio was alone on 2 occasions of 3, she panicked when she saw either TJ’s feet or the bit in her mouth and began striking and bucking. Although TJ was able to shock her out of this explosion by raising his voice and yelling…it isn’t something he cares to do on a regular basis. On both occasions she was moving along nicely and relaxed when suddenly startled and flew into flight mode. This is why he made the segue to riding her alone with no horse in the round pen and chose the small paddock, very familiar to Rio.