Did any of you watch the Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth this weekend?!

If you did, please tell me about it!!

For those of you who are not familiar, The Mustang Makeovers are events where trainers are given 100 days to take a completely wild mustang

…let me say that again…

The Mustang Makeovers are events where trainers are given 100 days to take a completely wild mustang from the BLM

–that they cannot chose for themselves –

and turn him/her into a highly adoptable horse.

All of these horses were TOTALLY WILD 100 DAYS AGO!

Wow!  (Below is a highlight reel of the top 10 trainers…)

TIME, DEDICATION, TENACITY AND FEEL…

Having adopted a totally wild mustang (Rojo) who had just 100 days of intense training before he was shown and auctioned, I am continually amazed and in awe of the people who have the time, tenacity, love and knack to do this work.

(And what a horse I got!)

it is amazing what can be done together – Horse and Man.

FROM THE PENS INTO THE HANDS OF STRANGE HUMANS

Now, I’m not a huge fan of the way the BLM is run.  And, I’m not at all a fan of having mustangs in sad holding pens, languishing away their beauty and vigor… So I’m not promoting the BLM’s treatment of the mustangs –

But, knowing that these mustangs will never be free again (sad), why not let some of them be trained so they don’t have to shuffle around a pen with thousands of other sad and sorry formerly-free mustangs…

Anyway, one good thing the BLM has promoted (IMHO) are these Mustang Makeovers where they donate 100 mustangs to trainers – sight unseen – and hope for the best.  (The trainers must qualify.)

These Mustang Makeover events are really helping get the word out.

AND ONE OF THE BEST PARTS (BITTERSWEET, REALLY…)

All of the Mustangs in the Extreme Makeover are adoptable after the event!  The idea being that the adoption money goes back into the program.

If I wanted a hearty, smart, surefooted, loyal, trail or all-around horse, I would definitely go to one of these events, or similar adoption events, and adopt a mustang.

Oh, wait a minute… I DID DO THAT!   (big smile)

 

MUSTANG MAKEOVER STATEMENT

Here is what the Extreme Mustang Makeover website says:

The Mustang Heritage Foundation, in cooperation with the BLM, created the Extreme Mustang Makeover event in order to recognize and highlight the value of Mustangs through a national training competition. This event gives the public a unique opportunity to see the results of wild horses becoming trained mounts. The purpose of the Extreme Mustang Makeover is to showcase the beauty, versatility and trainability of the rugged horses that roam freely on public lands throughout the West, where they are protected by the BLM under Federal law.

At the conclusion of the Extreme Mustang Makeover the participating Mustangs are available for adoption by competitive bid. Through these events the foundation offers the public a special opportunity to adopt a true Living Legend.

REMEMBER THE MOVIE I LOVED AND WROTE ABOUT, “WILD HORSE, WILD RIDE”?

Yup, the movie, Wild Horse Wild Ride, followed several trainers as along their paths of training their mustangs for an Extreme Mustang Makeover.

The movie was great and I think everyone should own it.  (no affiliation)

AND THE WINNER IS…

CLICK HERE to watch the highlight video of the top 10 trainers.

CLICK HERE to go to the FB page featuring behind the scenes of the event!

Betsy and “10” are the winners! – they were the very tight, technical MARE pair.  ;)

THIS IS A VERY POLISHED LOOK AT THE PRE-LIMS OF THIS EVENT!

I found this professional video of some of the preliminary rounds.. worth watching!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

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