Trainer Highlight- Carson, GEMS Jr. Trainer

Carson, at just 14 years old, has already successfully started 3 horses under saddle and has refined a few more….all earning him his new title of GEMS Jr. Trainer. He has had many mentors over the years who have all given him techniques and tools to use and is continuing his learning with every horse he trains. This is a story of the first mustang he trained from untouched to cantering through open pastures…a relationship built on trust.

Drifters Cleopatra is a Spanish Mustang that came to GEMS from Caballos de Destino. She was completely untouched and wild when we got her in 2012 at 2 years old. She was adopted by a family last year, for their 8 year old daughter and employed Carson to gentle her. All of our expectations were exceeded when he took it beyond gentling, he saddled trained her and began refining her for his clients.

Carson’s process began on our large 800 acre pasture where he would work with her with a small horseman’s rope. She was then brought into our large corral, where he worked on haltering and leading. Within minutes, he was working on desensitizing her in a smaller run. She then went to his home ranch facility where he continued working with her afterschool and on weekends, with many hours spent on groundwork before the first ride.

After months of training, Carson had Cleo going incredibly, dragging logs, exploring new adventures, jumping ditches. Her owner ultimately wanted her to become a hunter/jumper horse, so Cleo went on to another trainer to further her in this discipline.

GEMS is extremely proud of Carson and the incredible work that he did with Cleo, the following photographs document his journey. He is now taking on more mustangs to train for adoptions, this time working with American Mustangs. Keep an eye out for the horses Carson trains, they will be available for adoption through GEMS.