Sponsorship by Purina

Three Mustangs competing in the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Extreme Mustang Makeover have been chosen to take part in the Purina Mustang Challenge to show how the proper nutrition in Purina feeds can transform a horse in three months. Two of them are Cohn Livingston and my sister Rachel.

They'll be be given free feed up till the competition in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Extreme Mustang Makeover on October 21-23 at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

"Purina has a long history of providing superior nutrition to equine athletes," said Patti Colbert, Mustang Heritage Foundation's executive director. "Many of America's Mustangs are removed from the wild each year due to lack of food and water sources so their body conditions sometimes reflect this. We appreciate Purina sponsoring this challenge to show how proper nutrition can improve the health and well-being of Mustangs."



About Land O'Lakes Purina Feed LLCLand O'Lakes Purina Feed LLC (www.landolakesinc.com) is a national organization serving producers and their families through 4,700 local cooperatives and independent dealerships throughout the United States. The company, in combination with its wholly owned subsidiary Purina Mills, LLC, is North America's leading feed company, providing producers, cooperatives and dealers with an extensive line of animal feed, ingredients and services designed www.horse.purinamills.com/ . For more information on Purina horse feeds, log on to www.horse.purinamills.com or www.purinadifference.com.



Here's where I got some of the info for this post if you want to go and read the full article by Jennifer K. Hancock:

http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/press-release/archive/2011/08/10/mustangs-begin-competition-on-purina-feed-plan.aspx

Jasmine

Rachel has decided to name her yearling Jasmine. Jasmine is a filly from Wyoming and was born in the wild (as opposed to being in a facility). Here are some pictures of Jasmine and Rachel during their first week together.

First touch. :)

 

Mustang Pickup

It's time again for the Extreme Mustange Makeover (http://www.extrememustangmakeover.com/emmtennessee.php)! We picked up the mustangs yesterday, but I'm only just now getting around to writing about it. It always seems the first day has enough stuff happening to supply at least several posts, so I'll continue with this later.

Pictures from the pickup at Piney Woods:

My sister, Christine, petting one of the yearlings. Looks like they're friendly again this year!

Loading the mustangs in the trailers is done by running them into a small chute where they can be safely haltered and then running them into the trailer.

Pictures of Fonz and Mimzee

Here are some pictures of Mrs. Livingston's mustangs! I think they pretty much speak for themselves...

Fonz and Mimzee:

SEMM

Mrs. Brandee is going to be competing in the SEMM (Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover) with two mustang this year! Here's the lowdown on what the SEMM is:



"Building on the success of the 2010 Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover, 200 Mustangs will be available for adoption April 16 and will be eligible for more than $200,000 in cash and prizes at the 2011 Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover to be held September 15-17 at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to the $100,000 Legends division, two new divisions will be added - the $50,000 Idols division and the $20,000 Stars division. Mustangs competing in the Legends and Idols division will participate in three classes - trail, pattern and a trainer's choice. Mustangs competing in the Star division will be shown in-hand and will not be ridden in the competition. "

The star's is the class she'll be in.

The official poster:

More info:

https://www.extrememustangmakeover.com/supremeextreme.php

Rachel Ward's and Big Mac's videos from Fortworth Mustang Magic

More on Mustang Magic!

Here's a video of some of the highlights from the Mustang magic! I'll have the full video of their routines posted later!

Some pictures of Rachel:

She's standing on the horse here.

The competitors

‎2011 Mustang Magic results:

1) Teryn Muench & Macerick; 2) Miranda Holaday-Lyon & Tensil's Last Nic; 3) Jerry Jones & Short Stack; 4) Bill Lopez & RDH Cowboy's Dream; 5) Logan Leach & Eastwood; 6) J-Dub Weisiger & Funky Gold Medina; 7) Chase Dodd & Peyton Manning; 8) Joe Misner & Latigo; 9) Marc Chancy & Flirty; 10) Ma...rk Lyon and Pepto's Night Out. Congratulations to all of the Mustang Magic trainers!

Rachel and Marc Chancy

Mustang Magic

Pictures from Friday night's mustang Magic Competition:

Rachel and Big Mac practicing before the show. Big Mac has definitely progressed since the yearling challenge !

During the routine.

Personally I love the hair.

Some pictures of one of the adult competitors, J Dubb and his horse Funky Gold Medina

Fort Worth Stock Show Welcomes Mustang Magic - Lucky 13 Mustangs to be trained for January competition


The world-renowned Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo will open its arenas to one of the most unconventional competitions in its more than 113-year history as it welcomes Mustang Magic January 23 and 24.

Mustang Magic, developed from the highly successful Extreme Mustang Makeover competitions, will debut at the Stock Show and feature 13 trainers from across the country that have already shown their mettle as mustang trainers. The trainers are as unique as the horses they are training with stories ranging from an Arizona beauty queen to a former inmate who changed his life in the course of training mustangs.

Produced by the Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF) in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Mustang Magic will feature Chase Dodd of Soddy Daisy, Tenn., Jonathan "J-Dub" Weisiger of Fort Worth, Cindy Branham of Auburn, Kan., Bill Lopez of Norman, Okla., Weldon Hawley of Vernon, Tex., Suzanne Myers, PhD, of Port Matilda, Penn., Wylene Wilson of Queen Creek, Ariz., Dave Schaffner of Lampasas, Tex., Roeliff Annon, La Villita, NM, Ken Schwab of Hutto, Tex., Joe Misner of Johnson Valley, Calif., Chad Kelley of Monett, MO., and Lonnie Aragon, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Trainers drew for their horses during the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover September 19 when the wild horse band was released during the Mission 007: Yearling Edition evening finals. Trainers will train the mustangs until the competition January 23.

"It was incredible to see these horses enter the arena and see how great they looked.," said MHF Executive Director Patti Colbert, "There was such a great variety of color, but otherwise, they were pretty uniform in size and type. The trainers were really looking at the way the animal noticed its surroundings, how it responded to the crowd and how it moved."

Mustangs will be judged on body conditioning and handling, with trainers executing a freestyle routine, oftentimes including shooting, roping, jumping and other feats.

All horses in Mustang Magic competition will be available for adoption January 24.


About the Mustang Heritage Foundation

The mission of the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the goal of the Extreme Mustang Makeover are to increase the adoption of mustangs across the country. The Mustang Heritage Foundation created the Extreme Mustang Makeover event to showcase the recognized value of mustangs through a national training competition. For more information go to mustangheritagefoundation.org.


About the Fort Worth Stock Show

From a one-day affair with a few head of cattle tethered under ice-laden shade trees, the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show has grown into a three-week extravaganza with international appeal for exhibitors and visitors alike. More than 899,000 visitors packed into the Will Rogers Complex in 2008 for the 112th Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show. The legendary 24-day event will return in 2009 running from January 16 through February 8. For more information go to fwssr.com.



About the Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for managing 258 million acres of public lands, located mostly in the West. Wild horses and burros roaming public rangelands are managed in a manner consistent with BLM's overall multiple-use mission, as set forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. For more information, visit wildhorseandburro.blm.gov or call 866-4MUSTANGS.

Mustang Furturity long line: Diane Ward and Doc's Golden Allegro

The first futurity for 2 yr old mustangs was held Friday, 22 for the yearlings who competed in the 2009 yearling Extreme Mustang Makeover. I believe there were 7 entries who signed for the class out of the 30 who were eligible. The mustangs really filled out as 2 yr olds, although it was obvious, for most, that unlike many domestic horses they would likely continuing to significantly grow until they are about 6 yrs old.



Allegro and I had a blast at the show! It was great to see all the horses and trainers again! I always feel really inspired after these events and seeing the amazing things that everyone else is doing. It really gives me something to look forward to keep working towards. I also met a lot of new people who were utterly wonderful.

Video of me competing in the class:

There's a saying in performing that say " you'll have half of what you have in practice in the usual performance". So far this has not really been true for me until the lunge line event. Allegro was off the wall crazy going in to this because I didn't have the time I needed to burn off the crazy energy before hand. He goes a lot slower in practice, and the lope to walk transition was supposed to have a small sliding stop in between. But oh well! It still went great! I'll have to post a video of us practicing some time so you can see what I mean. (also I know nutcase tried to poop. -_-)

Some pictures of practicing the day before at the arena:

Allegro lunging in the warm up arena outside.

I just got done rinsing him off so he's wet here. You can see why he's called Golden Allegro.

Pictures from the actual show:

I think I forgot to mention we won. It seems to me the horse should wear the ribbon. After all it is a horse show.

 I am still extremely lucky to have a horse like Allegro. It kills me I got him for free! Not to mention he's now registered as a palomino. I think he was the only registered mustang up there. I keep hearing that some horses teach you things and not the other way around. He's definitely one of these horses. Because of his athleticism, intelligence, and willingness it allows me to train easily without complications so that I get the end result so much quicker than I do with most horses. It lets me know if what I'm doing is effective or flawed before I try it with a subject that I may have more difficulty with.

The entire longe line class.

Hopefully the other contestants won't feel the need to kill me if I put all of them up... -_O

I have to say the horse closest was pretty good looking. Very well developed muscles, good movement. Honestly I didn't get to see the others... I only saw slap jack and his owner Helena because they happened to be in the warm up pen with me.


I really hope they continue doing the Futurities. They allow a preparation to teach the two year old how to move correctly so that when they're under saddle they already are "good movers" also it's a chance for the adopters to get involved, and allow the people who weren't able to haul up for the actual yearling challenge a second chance to show their horse. Also I fear that sometimes the horse's don't continue their training after the challenges because their is no incentive. This is incentive! I know they're planning on for 2011!


Thank you to everyone tht helped me get to this point most literally the Livingstons who did the literal getting there since they hauled Allegro! (I am so funny-_-). My parents my, mom for pulling the car into he horse pasture because I wanted to work Allegro when it was dark and there was no other lights. Christine nd Rachel (my sisters) for being very supportive and helping me figue out what was wrong with my own technque.

The Livinstons again for letting me use their show halter! XD


And everyone else who gave me advice or helped in some way!

Mustang digital drawing

A horse is a thing of beauty; none will tire of looking at him as long as he displays himself in his splendor.


-Xenophon

A picture drawn on Photoshop CS3.

I was inspired to try and draw a mustang as digital art.

 Horses are a wonderful art subject! Whenever you go to a sales room, maybe with a horse show or rodeo or some other horse event, there's almost always a few vendors set up selling artwork or prints of horses. I've always been blown away by some of that art. It can be simply breathtaking!

The picture turned out rather well, although I think I may go back and add in a stronger outline.

Notes on this picture:

I used the heavy brushes mostly and then either blurred or smudged them for the body part and coloring. The mane I first drew in entirely black and the used the smudge tool to reconstruct how I wanted it. I used another layer for the pastel colors over the picture with a low opacity. I used a "underpaint" filter on the entire picture except the mane and the outline.

Just if anyone is curious...

30 days

This competition is about 100 days long and we're at (roughly) day 30.

Rachel has been trying to make the best of time so far, which requires a lot of work and dedication on her part. She's doing a fine job. And it's really neat for me to see her use what she's learned in the past on this horse and to see her growth as a trainer and horseman. I'm certain she will learn a lot from this too. The intensity that she puts into is such that she wants to spend hours working her horse everyday. Teaching a horse from the ground up when it has no knowledge of what we consider training is a great process, and different than working with a domestic horse. With that kind of focus on your skills it's really difficult not to learn something.

Although we have noticed some problems that will need to be fixed most of it is coming smoothly. Rachel is really enjoying the experience but it definitely is challenging, and at some times very stressful.

Rachel and Big Mak explore the possibilities of a feed trough.

Information on Mustangs

Part of my job as a youth representative is to do research on the Mustangs, and write papers about them. Anyways I thought I'd post some of what I've been writing about on here, as well as sites for more information.


What is often referred to as “American’s horse” did not actually originate in America. The American mustang is a descendant of domestic horses brought over by European explorers in in the late 15th and 16th century, so although they did adapt successfully they cannot be considered native. These horse herds have been added to since then by western explorers, and as recently as the mid-century, horses have continued to be released to the mustang herds. The mustang can be linked back to the Iberian horses, which were horses native to the Iberian peninsula. Modern Iberian breeds include the Andalusian and Garrano. The original Spanish horses also included Arabians and barbs ancestry. Because of the varied breeds the mustang is combined from, mustangs have a wide array of colors and differing physical assets depending on the herd and region they’re chosen from.

Based on the latest data available, February 28, 2010, the Bureau of Land Management estimates that approximately 38,400 wild horses (about 33,700 horses and 4,700 burros) are roaming on BLM-managed land in 10 western states. Since wild horses have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years, the BLM must regulate herd size. If the herd size was not regulated, the herds would consume the natural resources and eventually cause a “crash“ in herd numbers. The ecosystems of public rangelands are not able to withstand the impacts from overpopulated herds, which include soil erosion, sedimentation of streams, and damage to wildlife habitat.

As for the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, Section 1333 of that law mandates that once the Interior Secretary "determines...on the basis of all information currently available to him, that an overpopulation exists on a given area of the public lands and that action is necessary to remove excess animals, he shall immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels.” The BLM removes thousands of animals from the range each year seeking to achieve the appropriate management level of 26,600 wild horses and burros on Western public rangelands. That is 12,000 fewer than in the 1800’s. To help ensure that herd sizes are in balance with other public rangeland resources, the BLM removed 6,413 wild horses and burros from the range in Fiscal Year 2009. The Bureau placed 3,474 removed animals into private care through adoption in FY 2009 -- down from 5,701 in FY 2005. Since 1971, the BLM has adopted out more than 225,000 horses and burros.

The BLM has over 30 years of experience and employees and contractors use state-of-the-art techniques to gather horses ensuring the most humane treatment of the animals. The entire practice of gathering is very humane and the mortality rate resulting from helicopter-driven gathers is usually less than one percent. In 2009, the number of direct fatalities (out of more than 7,500 horses gathered) was 0.53 percent. When some indirect mortality does occur it’s usually associated with older horses in poor to very poor condition. These already weakened horses would likely die on the range if not gathered and are examined by staff professionals and veterinarians. They are euthanized if they are unlikely to improve or do not respond to treatment.

The BLM Director, Bob Abbey states the purpose, and one of the priorities of the BLM clearly: “The Bureau of Land Management’s top priority is to ensure the health of the public lands so that the species depending on them – including the nation’s wild horses and burros – can thrive…”

References:

www.mustangheritagefoundation.org

www.extrememustangmakeover.org

www.nationalwildhorseadoptionday.org

www.blm.gov