Mikko's name is of Spanish origin and means A Gift from God. This wildie colt had quite a remarkable beginning.
His lineage is that of a wild stallion from west of Sundre and one accommodating domestic mare.
The unlikely Mutt and Jeff pair met and procreated when a group of us dedicated and experienced volunteers were out west of Sundre in the spring of 2010.
Our mission was to relocate the wild stud off of leased land.
The leaseholder quite enjoyed seeing wildies out there, but needed the land strictly for his cattle.
On previous occasions we had relocated or rescued wild horses, old and young, orphaned or injured.
This young stallion, however, was a bit of a challenge, undeterred by previous attempts by humans to make him vacate the premises.
His buddy had already left, but this stud, whom I later dubbed Romeo, had decided he liked his current residence.
Romeo was free from harassment from bands of other wild horses or humans; he had had enough of the nomadic lifestyle and decided to take up tenancy there.
Hence this hearty little group of four humans took on the task to convince the young stud to vamoose.
We had no sooner pulled up and unloaded our mounts when this cocky little horse came running, and snorted at us, the interlopers onto his turf.
Two of the mounts were mares of mine, a mother and daughter duo.
The younger of the two mares was being ridden by another volunteer, and much to my friend's chagrin, she took an immediate shine to the young, brazen stud.
This particular mare is notorious for not showing signs of being in cycle, but is instantly aroused at the sight of a male of her species.
Needless to say the stud needed very little encouragement to leave with us, as he was suddenly oblivious to his new digs.
The rider of this mare was a very experienced horseman and knowledgeable in the ways of the wild horse.
Consequently he was able to keep things in check, for a while that is. After successfully luring the stud off of the property we led him back onto public land and we soon met up with a band stallion and his harem.
This stallion knew our boy as a rival and wanted a piece of him.
After a time we rode up a hill into a thick grove of trees and relaxed while one of the guys went back for the truck and trailer to pick us up, and our mounts. While he was gone all hell broke loose when the band stallion returned and started fighting with our enamoured little man horse. Instinctively I grabbed a small dead branch and charged the scrapping, testosterone-fuelled pair and yelled at them to stop it.
They both looked at me astonished, and the band stallion triumphantly swaggered back down the hill nonchalantly.
I was more astounded than they were when I realized I just went after a duelling pair of stallions and bluffed them with a hollowed-out dead branch. Please don't try this at home!
However, I was glad they respected this human enough to stop. Romeo was glad he no longer had any competition for the mares that he hoped to steal and hung around waiting for the opportunity to knock.
That opportunity came in the form of the sound of the diesel truck and trailer bouncing up the dirt road.
We proceeded down the hill on foot, leading the mares behind us.
My mare Shizonne, however, must have been conspiring with the stud in equus callubus language, as she suddenly stopped and readied herself for the stud.
Romeo, being much shorter than my big mare, was able to mate her easily and quickly as she was on the downside of the hill.
I was shocked to say the least, but didn't try to stop the amorous pair. I didn't feel like dying that day. Getting in between a stallion, wild or otherwise, and his willing mate is a really bad idea.
Eleven months later a feisty colt was born. I imprinted him at birth but then left him alone for mom to do her job of raising him.
Mikko was quite possessive of his dam and when only two weeks old he gave me a kick while running past. I was brushing her at the time.
He also gave the farrier a hard time later when he worked on the mare's hooves.
Mikko would try to charge at the farrier, but I kept a lead handy to shoo him away.
Those little hooves can pack a pretty good punch. Mikko was weaned at five months and separated from his dam and grand dam and immediately halter trained by Keith Pettyjohn of Bowden, then spent the next year with a group of other young horses.
Mikko just turned two at the end of March and has started his training as a saddle horse.
He has been introduced to the saddle after extensive groundwork and has had a rider on his back.
His trainer, Andrew Madden of Bowden, has worked with Mikko for the past year.
Andrew uses natural horsemanship methods and has studied videos of famous horse trainers such as Doug Mills, Pat Parelli, and Jonathan Field.
They use a peaceful approach to get a horse's cooperation as an equine partner, rather than breaking a horse, (breaking their spirit), which makes a world of difference.
Mikko has been treated with kindness in his first two years of life, but Andrew is not a pushover. When the colt would try to kick or bite, he was shown in no uncertain terms those behaviours were unacceptable.
Mikko is the perfect combination of the mustang and domestic horse. I have the best of both worlds in him. He has strong physical traits of each parent as well as their different temperaments.
He has his sire Romeo's intelligence, thick strong legs and broad hooves, and his dam's tank-like build, and gentler disposition.
His wildie smarts make him very easy to train, but he still has a wee bit of an edge to him to keep you on your toes.
