Horse Husband: Aaron Manes

For this short bonus episode, I interviewed my "Horse Husband" Aaron Manes in order to test out my new podcasting equipment. It turned into a fun short episode, although Aaron does not own a Mustang horse, he does own an Off The Track Thoroughbred gelding. 

If you would like to reach out to me with questions or if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, you may contact me at:

 jmanes.equine@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hi, honey.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi, honey. How are you? What a wonderful day here at the park.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Well, welcome to the Michigan Mustang Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Oh, thanks for having me today.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Thanks for being on.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

So, what do you know about Mustangs?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Uh, I'm learning as I go. As you know, before you, I thought Mustang was a breed of horse, along with a car. Uh I didn't know it was more of where the horse came from. So I've been learning a lot as I go here.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

It's kind of a breed.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Okay, thank you. I I didn't know that they were Mustang was a term for a wild horse, pretty much, and I I thought it was a a breed of horse specifically.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Gotcha. Do you own a Mustang?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

I do not.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Do you own half of a Mustang?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

No. My my lovely wife here does. She's not gonna give me half of her Mustang.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Yeah, but we're married. And he was bought after we were married, so everything is half.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

I only get half when I leave.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Yes, dear. Do you remember ever hearing about Mustangs prior to being married and having a wife that bought a Mustang?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Honestly, no, not really. Not really. I this is this is new to me. I I thought I'm I'm a car guy, so Mustangs were a brand. I thought it was a fast racehorse, and I was completely wrong about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

He might be a fast racehorse someday.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

The horse we are talking about is my whiskey. He is a yearling from Murderers Creek, Oregon. And we got him the last day of February, 2026. What horse experience did you have prior to having a Mustang?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Pretty minimal, completely informal at best. I knew how to get on a horse and figure it out and ride it, start it, stop it, make it steer. And I thought that was all there was to it, other than formal like showing and dressage and all that. I still don't completely know what that means, but uh my wife here is teaching me the rights and wrongs of everything that I've been doing. More more wrongs than right.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Uh but Well, since I happen to know that you have a horse, why don't you tell us about your horse? Even though he's not a Mustang.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

No, he's not a Mustang. There was a day he was as fast as one though. Uh my horse is big red. He's a retired racehorse. He's thoroughbred. I believe he's 22. He's 22 years old now. Uh starting to show some age. Having a hard time keeping weight on him this year. But he's he's still a big lover, still doing okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Uh he likes to ride on the beach though, huh?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Not at first, but we got him there. We we took both of our horses last year to the shoreline ride. That was a great experience. Uh he was a champ, he did good. No complaints. We galloped him, cantered him, got him in the water. Uh it was a good time.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Got lots of professional photos too.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yes, we did. Good horse. Anymore, he's no racer, he's good trail rider. That's that's about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Do you see yourself getting a Mustang if your wife were to bring one home big enough for you to ride?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

I feel like if my wife would bring one home big enough for me to ride, I would already have it. Uh we'll see. I I didn't know I was gonna get another horse, and here we are. And you know his time's gonna come to an end, and I'm probably gonna have to re-up and get another one because I don't want to get out of the game. I want to be able to keep going on trail rides.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

What do you mean by get another horse? You had one prior to Big Red?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yes, I did. Good old Goldie. Uh, I went funny story. Went half and half with my ex-mother-in-law with on a $500 horse up in Gaylord, Michigan. And he was completely blind. And we went up there and and got him anyways. We didn't even test him out. When we got there, the lady's daughter was riding him around bareback in a pasture and without reins. So we figured that's good enough for me. You know, we we can ride him. And we we brought him back, and he was great.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

How long did you have him for?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Uh I had him, I was personally using him and riding him for probably two or three years before I moved out of there. Uh but he was good. We took him on a few loveway rides over the years. Uh he was a lot of fun. He he it was uh a bond there. There was a a trust building because when he had a rider, he had eyes and he knew it. So, you know, he trusted everything that you told him to do. You didn't have to be heavy on the reins. You you gave him a light tap and he'd be ready to go. He wanted to always go fast.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Well, that sounds pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

It was. You always had to ride the brakes on the the bigger love way rides when you got a long pack of horses, and especially if you're going down asphalt and he could hear other hoofs on the cement, he he knew he was surrounded by other horses and it was a safe spot to open up and go faster. So of course he would.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Well, we had a bunch of fun trail riding a couple weeks ago now over at the bluffs. So is that something that you is it more fun than like having a dirt bike?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

No, that's not fair. Dirt bikes don't have bad days.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Oh, they they do, they do. Uh no, they're completely different animals, and I haven't had a dirt bike in a long time. Uh I'd really enjoyed having Red up there at the bluffs. That was a wonderful experience. Great place to go, by the way, but I'm not telling you where it's at. Uh it was a good place. We we got the whole place to ourselves. Uh, Red really surprised me. He he went up and down a lot of hills, obstacles, rocks, uh water hazards, you you name it, he was a champ.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

And then both horses tied really nice at to a high line.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

They did.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

We sat down and hung out for a while, and the horses got a break. We had a good day.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

It was a great day. And we didn't get rain down.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Nope. We thought we were. Do you have any advice for somebody that would be getting their first Mustang?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Do your homework. Do your homework. The internet's out there, everybody has it. There's no excuse for for not doing your homework. And there's a lot of people out there to consult and listen from, to ask questions, uh, stuff like this very podcast. Uh do your homework and prepare yourself for it. Uh have a good location around pen, and then be prepared for everything you can't be prepared for that makes it fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Well, that is the goal of this podcast is to help people get prepared for their first mustang.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah, absolutely. Because we thought we were, and there was little things we could have done better, too, probably, but we we pulled it off. And like I said, it was half the fun was not being completely prepared for it and figuring it out as we go.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Do you have a horse-related bucket list item?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Horse-related bucket list item. Uh probably be to get a younger horse, not necessarily a foal, but to to get a horse and build the bond with it and have it young and train it somewhat and ride it and and have it for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Kind of like our whiskey baby.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yes, dear. Not we'll see about a baby baby, but definitely a younger horse that I can get more usable years out of. The last couple horses I've had have been late teens, early twenties when I got 'em, and you know their usable life is short at that time.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

So do you have a favorite color of horse?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Right now I gotta not really. I kind of like the solid colors rather than the paints. There's there's some pretty paints out there that I like, but uh more of a solid color.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

So any solid color.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Have you noticed a difference between your wild horse and your domesticated horses? Even though we only have one wild horse.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Uh not so much anymore. He's he's literally joining the herd and he's picking up habits really quick. Uh Day one was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

He's about as domesticated as they come.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yes, he is. And only in a few months' time. Uh he's he's really been incredible. Uh Day one was nuts. He he he kicked the crap out of me like a jackrabbit. I don't know how else to describe it. To kick that fast and not go anywhere. Uh, but it was good times. He he came around and he's he's figured out that the domesticated life is is okay. And uh we're just there to love on him and feed him and pet him and take care of him, and he's okay with that now.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Alright, my last question for you. Do you have a preference of mares versus geldings?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Hmm. I'd probably say geldings, because that's the experience that I'd have had so far. Both of my horses have been geldings, and it's been good experiences there. Uh I've rode mares before, but never owned any and had consistence with riding them. But haven't had any that I didn't have bad chemistry with either. So I'd if I have to pick one, it'd probably be a gelding.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Okay. I mean, we have all geldings.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

All right. Well, thank you for being episode zero on the Michigan Mustang podcast.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.