High Sierra Rider

Janet's Equine Connection

2013-04-22T18:07:00.004-07:00

Janet has been working with CoffeeBean for two months at the time of the attached video. She's been leaving early in the morning each day and getting home well after dark each night. When she walks in she is still giddy from the joyous time she spends with her mustang. The happiness and excitement she shows is testimony to how special their relationship has already become. Janet describes in detail how everything is new to CoffeeBean. How every day is a new experience. A stroll through the barn with all its stalls and tools and people walking around. There's a strange object lying against the fence by the stall that needs a little exploration. And here comes the shoer with his dogs and his gear and his truck. He's working on some other horses at the ranch but it's a perfect opportunity to expose CoffeeBean to another new experience. They walk over and Janet introduces them. Janet has already prepared CoffeeBean for this moment. She's been working her hands up and down the mustangs’ legs and picking up her feet during many of her groundwork sessions. Like so many other little details that need attention this is just one of the ways in which Janet teaches her horse about the world of humans. They are standing in the middle of what some horses may perceive as complete mayhem. Dogs are running around and barking. The shoer is clanking and banging his equipment around and other people are walking up and asking questions and laughing. But CoffeeBean doesn't care. She is relaxed because Janet, her leader and friend, brought her here and they trust each other and there is no question of judgment. They have a relationship built on trust that started the day they met. Janet asks the shoer to pick up CoffeeBeans' feet. One at a time he takes her hooves in his hands and has a good look at the bottom of each. He even finds a little problem on one foot and easily adjusts with a slight trim. I have seen plenty of domestic raised horses that have trouble with this. By embracing the challenges that they come across, like in the episode with the shoer, Janet and CoffeeBean appreciate these moments for what they are with curiosity and a playful enthusiasm and together they continue to grow stronger and more confident and look forward to what's next. It's just like the relationship I have with Janet, completely committed to each other. It's pretty cool!

Dave Titus

First steps to Driving and preparing for a rider.

2013-03-04T08:41:00.003-08:00

Coffee Bean shows off her "Wild Side" Under Saddle!

2013-02-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

Pressure and Release - Introducing Obstacles

2013-02-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Communicating Through Body Language

2013-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

In this video I'm talking with Coffee Bean through body language. Once she understands my body language she will start to understand that I'm asking questions and she needs to figure out the anwers. I will only give her the release of pressure when she gets the right answer. It's that simple. Black and white. No grey. For example, I wanted her to step up onto a log. Her response was to try and step left, then she tried to step right. I blocked both moves. Then she tried to step backwards thinking maybe that was what I wanted. I put a feel on the rope to say 'wrong again'. Now, the only thing she hadn't tried was to come forward and step onto the log. Yahoo! She got it right. She stepped up on to the log. Big praise! Good girl. Lots of love. She knows when I'm happy with her.

When I'm sending her around the pen I'm communicating through my body language. I'm putting pressure on and taking pressure off. She lives for that release. Once she understands that this is a game then she will always try to figure out the solution to the puzzle. The more she understands the better we communicate and soon it becomes the most amazing relationship one could ever dream of.

Building Confidence and Trust

2013-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

The sweet girl, Coffee Bean

Her name is Coffee Bean and her show name is going to be "Starbucks." She has a perfect little star on her forehead and she has a little buck in her, so I think it's quite appropriate. We picked her up in Ridgecrest, California on January 25. She comes from the Calico herd in Nevada. She's four years old. She came from the same mountain range as my last mustang from, and he's my favorite horse of all time, so I'm hoping she's going to have some of those wonderful qaulities. When BLM loaded her into the trailer I knew she engaged the thinking side of her brain. She looked into the trailer and rather than leaping in, she put her nose down, took a good look and carefully stepped in. Wow! Much different already than the other three mustangs that I had trained for the other challenges. They were geldings and this is a mare. She is really sweet. She hasn't tried to kick, bite or strike at me. She is smart too. I'm trying to teach her two new things everyday. It could be as simple as walking from left side to right side or running my hand down her leg or brushing her. These are new things to her so I want to build confidence without fear. She now knows that everyday its something new, and looks forward to the challenge. I also like to give her a new toy everday. I'm not saying like a stuffed animal or anything. I'm talking about something that humans have around. It could be a cone, or brush, or my ropes that I use, or the plastic water bottle that I drank out of that day. She looks forward to the new item that she can explore and play with that night. Keeping her curiosity is very important to me. She's already trusting me and I look forward to sharing each new day with her.

Here We Go Again!

2013-01-29T09:48:00.002-08:00

And so it begins. I'm competing again in another Mustang Makeover. The Extreme Mustang Makeover in Norco, CA on May 3rd and 4th, 2013. This year it's a field consisting of nothing but mares and I picked mine up on January 25th. She doesn't have a name yet but here's a little video of my first day with her in the round pen.

2011-11-09T14:32:00.001-08:00

‎Annabelle Candy sponsors the mustang, Abba-Zaba, trained by Janet Emidy Titus for the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover. See the pictures of Abba-Zaba on thier page: See the pictures on Facebook

We're in Texas!

2011-09-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

The competition is starting tomorrow. Follow me onfacebook for updates. Janet Emidy Titus

Sierra Star Foundation Fundraiser success! Courtesy of Robin Stater

2011-08-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

All I can say is what an amazing night! Robin hosted an incredible party to help us get Abba Zaba to Texas for the competition. There must have been about 80 friends and family who showed up.

She is a fellow Breast Cancer survivor and has her horses in training with me at Millpond Equestrian Center. Robin and I have a special connection on many levels. Robin started the Sierra Star Foundation to "...support animals and the people who supoort them." Robin wanted to give extra support to me and the Mustang Hertiage Foundation with our efforts to help wild mustangs.

Robin really brought the community together with this event. It shows how much people really care about the well-being of animals. Great live music by Fiddlin' Pete, excellent dinner and desert by Classy Cowgirl Catrering, a succesful silent auction and lots of great conversation was enjoyed by everyone at Robins beautiful home in downtown Bishop, The Serventi Villa.

I juist want to say thanks to everyone for supporting me, Abba Zaba and escpecially the Sierra Star Foundation. Robin has truly started something special. My husband Dave and I feel blessed to have the support and well wishes of not only the foundation but all the people who came out and particpated.

Thanks Robin! and thanks to everyone who came out. Here are just a few pictures of Robins place.

If you want to talk with Robin or learn more about The Sierra Star Foundation you can email her at 1sierrastar@gmail.com

Abba Zaba ---a sweet ride!

2011-08-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Working with Cows in Round Valley

2011-08-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Abba Zaba see

med to be quite confident around the little doggies

Sierra Star Foundation Fundraiser

2011-08-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Robin Stater is hosting this fundraiser to help get us to Texas.
It's Tuesday night, August 23rd at 6pm in Bishop. Get details from the flyer.
Hope to see you there!

So You Think You Want a Mustang! REVISITED!

2011-08-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

What happens when a horse falls on you.

I have to say that training wild mustangs is not at all straight forward. I have been bitten in the leg by Abba Zaba. I was rinsing him down with water and he decided he had enough and reached down and bit me in the thigh. Not just a little love bite but a big stallion bite. Ouch!!! Then I was riding him in the arena and I was making my circles a little bit smaller and he got tangled up in his feet and went down with me on his back while we were cantering. That was one of my more serious injuries. It felt like my leg was busted in half. He is not a small mustang, I'm thinking maybe 1200 pounds, so I had to take about 5 days off from training and try to let it heel. It's still is not completely better and it's been about three weeks. So the picture that you are looking at is the back of my leg. I wear a tight stocking to help with the swelling. When I got back to riding it made me realize that if you don't have a strong calf then you are going to have a hard time keeping your horse between your legs and reins. So while I was hobbling along an one leg my horse reared up at another horse. I pulled him off the other horse and he came down right on my foot, ouch again. Another trainer at the barn got a little bit too close and was kicked in the thigh, but we are doing fine now and I'll put some riding videos up soon. So if you think you want a mustang you might want to check that your health insurance is up to date. Don't get me wrong, there isn't anything more fun to me than training a mustang, but you have to be crazy, stupid or have a wild streak in you. I have a little bit of all three.

ABBA ZABA PHOTOGENIC

2011-07-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd see how it would be to load my horse into our two horse trailer. He acted like he'd done it all his life. I can't believe how willing this horse is. He went right in. I have such a bond with this horse. I think I'll start to go to different ranches now and do some High Sierra Mountain riding. The picture of him laying down was taken in the morning. He was very relaxed to go and have me sit by him. I just want to thank Sara for helping with all the great pictures and video she takes. And a really big thank you to my darling husband for getting all the stuff up on the damn computer. I couldn't do this without you guys.

Groundwork, Hobbling, Saddle and Rider Prep

2011-06-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my god I'm loving this horse, I'm so glad he's mine and I won't have to give him up after the competition. I will get to bring him home. I've been lucky with the other two challenges that I've done because I had friends from my home town adopt them so I have been able to continue with their training. But this one is mine mine mine and I'm keeping him until he dies. I have never met a horse like him. He is really special. At first I thought there was something that was going to come out when I pushed his buttons but there's not. What you see with him is what you get. He's smooth, balanced, smart and he even has a sense of humor. I'm one month into my training with him and he and I have such a great connection. I think he will do anything I ask of him, which is great because I will be asking a lot. I have been climbing up on the fence and leaning on him to prepare him for that first ride for the last week. I think he's ready and it's going to be time for his first ride yikes!!!! I've packed him and sacked him out, hobbled him and long lined him. I've done everything to prepare him and now it's time.

Next video I hope to be riding.

Getting him to move his feet

2011-06-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

This mustang is a little different than the other mustangs that I've started. Way more lackadaisical. Hard to get those feet moving. I'm having fun because he is so different. He is challenging me in different ways. I know that to get any good work done he has to move those feet. So on my next video we'll see if I can get him moving. I think he must have some draft in him.

I named him Abba Zabba because he's the color of an Abba Zabba bar, my favorite candy bar as a kid, and I know there is something special inside him, just like the candy.

My Story on the TETWP Breast Cancer Awareness Blog

2011-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

You never know how you effect the people around you. The Tough Enough To Wear Pink people thought my story was important enough to add to their homepage. Click below to see the story.

The Full Story

Picking up my New Mustang - Roadtrip with Michelle

2011-05-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the time is already here to go and pick up my new mustang. I think I'm ready. The round pen has been set up. I'm not taking any more horses into training so I can fully concentrate on this big project. My good friend Michelle has offered to drive with me to pick him up in Palomino Valley just north of Reno, about a four hour drive from Bishop. We decide to go up the day before so we won't have such a long day. We stay at one of the casinos. Dave got us a free room, you know one of those promotional ways to try and get you to spend money gambling. Ha Ha, didn't work. Michelle thought we should go try our luck at the Mustang bar at the video games. I put in 10 dollars and yippee, I won two hundred bucks, paid for the gas and dinner. The next morning we head off to pick up the new guy. I'm so excited and nervous I can hardly stand it. My good friend Georgia and Janis also drive up that morning to watch the pickup. It is quite exciting. I hand the wrangler, cowboy guy my halter and lead and have it put on him while he's in the stock chute. This will be the first halter he's ever had on. It will save some valuable training time but it's always a little worrisome to think he could get himself caught up in the damn rope. The drive home is quiet. I was even able to reach my hand in the trailer and give him a little scratch, his first loving touch from any human. We arrive at the ranch in a full-on thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder cracking all around. Wind blowing, pouring rain. There was so much electricity at the ranch with the new mustang, it a was almost more than I could take. We unload him without a hitch. I think I should name him "Thunder cloud", but I need to get to know his personality before I settle on a solid name.

I got the one I wanted!

2011-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

I got the one I wanted, a cremello with blue eyes. There was two hundred to choose from, two hundred ten to be exact. All shapes and colors, ranging from 14 hands to 16 hands, wild and never been worked with by anyone. I looked at the horses over and over again trying to shake the cremello from my mind. Everyone that looked at him said not to get him. Long pasterns crazy eyes, the herd that he came from was not good stock, he was going to go blind, get cancer due to his pink skin under his white coat, but my heart wouldnt let it go I had to have him. I paid 700 for him, it was an auction and the range was from two hundred all the way up 5 thousand I felt good about the price I paid. Not the bottom of the barrel but not top dollar either. I rode a cremello when I was a young girl. He taught me a lot. His name was cloud nine. I will be picking him up on may 13. I can't wait to meet him. I'll have a little over 100 days to get him ready for the supreme extreme musting challage in Texas.

Janet Titus enters 2011 competition!

2011-04-25T09:06:00.001-07:00

2011 Supreme Extreme Mustang Challenge. September 15 - 17 in Fort Worth Texas. see more info here.

My Breast Cancer survivor story selected by J. Lohr Winery

2010-10-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law, Lisa Boissier, submitted my story to the J. Lohr "Touching 500 Lives" program for breast cancer awareness and my story was selected as one of this years J. Lohr five. I'm truly honored to that my story might help people become more aware of the risks of breast cancer. See the story here:

http://www.jlohr.com/freshdirt/InspiringHope/Janet

Thanks Lisa for all your support and love.

Janet Titus and Poster Boy take 4th Place in the Norco Challenge!

2010-08-02T11:44:00.001-07:00

I'll post some finals video soon, but after a little break I'm proud to say Poster Boy and I took 4th place in the Challenge.

We've Arrived and Checked In

2010-05-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

5-13-2010

We're now safe and sound in our stall at the competition warming up and practicing on site for tomorrow's first round of events. Here's my last video showing some of the training before we compete:

Why I LUV Horses

2010-05-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

If someone told me years ago that I would someday be competing in the Extreme Mustang Makeover I would have said they were crazy, no way, not a chance, not ever. But now I know that Mustangs are the epitome of my love for horses and they’ve helped give me the strength to do things I never thought possible.

I can’t remember a time when horses weren’t in my life. I think all of us who love horses were born with this “obsession.” I tried to pass this passion for horses on to my two boys. I rode while I was pregnant. I put them on the horse when they were born. I tried to bribe them by saying “let’s ride down to the store for some candy.” That worked for a little while but they never really got it. They chose to do baseball, skiing, skate boarding and golf. Yuck!

Yeah, I’m obsessed but these big beautiful animals helped me get through three really big, hard challenges in my lifetime.

The first was when my mom committed suicide when I was nine. My dad bought me my first horse to help with my pain. It didn’t take it all away but it sure did help. My horses name was Tramp. He was a big horse about sixteen hands tall. I never had a saddle so to get on him I would put some grain down and climb on his neck and he would lift me up and off we’d go. Tramp and I would sneak out at night when there was a full moon, ride up to the reservoir with my girlfriends and go skinny dipping. I had a paper route to help pay for my horse. I would throw the bags over my Tramp and ride through the neighborhood yelling “ here comes the Pony Express,” throwing the papers at the houses as I galloped by. I could get my route done in fifteen minutes. I rode and rode and rode and then rode some more. I still like to gallop down a dirt road as fast as I can. I get that same exciting feeling of pure joy and exuberance as I did when I was ten.

The second challenge was when I caught my first husband cheating on me while I was eight months pregnant. I went straight out to the horse corrals and wrapped my arms around my horse Nevada’s’ neck and cried. Needless to say I divorced the husband and kept the horse. I was now a single mom with a new baby. I was able to ride occasionally with my girlfriends, my support group. But I couldn’t ride often and Nevada just waited for me until I had the chance to ride him more. During that time I cried and cried and cried until there were no more tears left. It was during those rides with Nevada and my girlfriends when all the troubles in the world seemed to be gone.

The third challenge and hardest is why I am here today. I was told in 2006 that I had stage-three breast cancer and it showed up in my lymph nodes. I had a mastectomy and started six months of hard-core chemotherapy. Every speck of hair fell out and I felt very sick. I was a full time waitress but I couldn’t work at the restaurant. So I spent my days at the ranch working with some of the problem horses. Working with the horses helped me keep at least some of my dignity and helped me stay somewhat strong. I was able focus away from how lousy I felt.

At one point some of the women from the church came to my house to pray for me. The Pastor’s wife told me there would be a sign especially for me, maybe an eagle flying by or something like that. I was on my way home from my surgery and stopped by the ranch. The horses were eating; five mares. One was my mustang, Cheddar, and there was another pretty wild mustang, Flicka, who I had worked with quite a bit but she was stand-offish. I walked into the corral and the mares stopped eating. They all walked over and circled me and I wrapped my arms around each one of them and cried. As I walked out of the corral both Cheddar and Flicka followed me to the gate. Only then did all the horses go back to eating. If that wasn’t a sign I don’t know what would be.

I had never really had the nerves to do horse shows or be out in the limelight but I didn’t want life to pass me by without giving some of the things I loved a try. When I finished chemo and radiation therapy and started feeling better I entered my first ever event, Craig Cameron’s Extreme Cowboy Race at the Pomona Expo. My mustang Cheddar and I competed in front of about a thousand people. I had a blast and felt totally alive. I took on the Western States Mustang Challenge next. Wow! What a thrill to ride in front of ten thousand people on Chato, this wild mustang who I had trained for just ninety days. That was one of the most exciting things I have ever done on a horse and I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t gotten cancer.

Being told you have breast cancer can do strange things to you. You can either sit on your couch and be depressed or you can live your life to the fullest. I chose the fullest. I was going to fight, fight, fight the beast that was trying to take hold of my body.

I’m not saying cancer is a good thing but you can take something really negative and turn it into a positive. I am now full-time professional trainer and develop relationships between people and horses through my own business, Equine Connections. I’m doing what I love to do all day long. My husband Dave, my knight in shining armor, my king, my warrior has helped me find my self worth in doing what I was born to do. He has supported me in everything I do.

I am the girl that was very shy, not even confident enough to compete in our local horse show, but these horses have given me the confidence and empowerment to do anything I want. They have guided me to the ultimate happiness. Now when I meet people who love horses like I do I think “dear God, they have that horsey obsession too!”

I want to say just one last thing about Breast Cancer. If you feel a lump or something that doesn’t feel right get a biopsy. I felt a lump on my breast and told my oncologist about it. She said it didn’t really feel like anything but we would do an ultrasound. Nothing was seen so she said keep doing your mammograms. I did my mammograms faithfully for the next two years and nothing was seen on those tests either. I kept asking my husband, “does this feel bigger?” but he couldn’t tell. So I went to our little local doctor and he did a biopsy. I was rushed to Los Angeles for surgery. The oncologist called my tumor “a sneaky one.” If there are “sneaky ones” then biopsies should be the norm. Your probably wondering why I was already seeing an oncologist. I had a malignant melanoma in 2000. I would drive to L.A. for all my blood work every six months.

If you feel something that doesn’t seem right get a biopsy. It’s the best way to tell for sure. You have to be your own best advocate for your own body. If I can help one person avoid what I went through, I did my job.

GIDDYUP AND YEEHAW!

Janet