A Cinderella Story

Three mares stand in an arena. Right now they are Oakley, Jubilee, and Kat, but just two short months ago they were identified only by the series of letters and numbers freeze branded on the left sides of their necks. Some time before that, they had no names and no numbers; they were just horses running free. Three mustangs, spirits of the West, America’s last wild horses, discover their lives are much different than a short time ago.

Now, they each have their own person. Jessie Wyllerd, Amanda Lane, and Jessica Davis have become central characters in the evolving story of these mustangs. Each mustang has a story, and each mustang is part of a greater story -- the shared history of our land. It is the chance to be a part of this story, says Jennifer Hancock, marketing director of the Mustang Heritage Foundation, that draws people to the mustangs.

Unfortunately for our mustangs, there’s not enough land to go around, so many must leave the ranges and find new homes. However, it’s not so simple. The thousands of horses that are rounded up each year must compete for homes against their more domesticated brethren. So, how many people could safely adopt a wild horse that has had limited human contact?

Probably not many, or at least not as many as might adopt if the horses were trained and gentled. That’s the idea behind the Extreme Mustang Makeover Challenge. Trainers apply, get randomly assigned a mustang, and then have about 80 days to put as much training into their horses as they can. They then compete, showing off what their mustangs have learned, and in the end the horses are auctioned off to approved adoptive homes.

So, how many people could safely adopt a wild horse that has had limited human contact? Probably not many...

This is why Wyllerd, Lane, and Davis met this past Saturday, just a hop, skip, and a jump from here in Slinger. They met because they wanted to practice the obstacles they will likely encounter in competition. So, Oakley, Jubilee, and Kat wove in and out of cones, walked over tarps, trotted through suspended streamers and pool noodles and clip-clopped loudly over mini bridges. 

Each one had some obstacles she struggled with and each one easily surmounted others, so easily that I almost forgot that that these horses were relatively untouched by human hands only two months ago.

Each mare was beautiful and impressive in her own way. Jubilee was calm and steady, doing lateral work around a square before finally giving a pony ride to an adorable little girl. Oakley, dark and petite, brought the spunk and flash that you’d expect of a mustang named after the petite and definitely spunky Annie Oakley. Kat, with her arched neck and dressage movement, had watchers wondering if she was really a warmblood who had been switched at birth with a mustang. 

The horses and their trainers have all come so far since that cold January morning when the horses were picked up in Mequon. They have gone from never having been groomed at all to tolerating being body clipped, from never having felt anything on their backs but the sun to carrying a saddle and a rider, from never having seen a human before to trusting one to keep them safe. The best part is that these mustangs aren’t done yet and their trainers still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Wyllerd, Lane, Davis and others will be competing at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, April 20-22, hoping to snag the prize money and to see their mustangs begin the next chapter in their stories and that their stories end with “and they all lived happily ever after.”

Stay tuned for more coverage of the Midwest Horse Fair as well as more mustang content in the coming month!