First picture of Jasmine

We were looking back through the pictures I took of the Mustangs while they were in the holding pens during the pickup for the Extreme Mustang Makeover in TN and I found some I had taken of Jasmine before we even knew Rachel had drawn her. Jasmine has put on a lot of weight since then. No more ribs showing! And her mane is in much better shape. Obviously we thought she was pretty cute then too, though!

SEMM Stars Champion Freestyle Performance

Our Brandee Livingston and The Fonz won the Stars division. Fonz was bought at the auction for a mere two-hundred dollars and he won seven-thousand dollars at the event!

Flooding at the barn

About 3-8 ft of water flooded the barn. We lost everything in pastures, props for Texas, hay. The arena was 2.5 ft under water. The water was only seven inches away from getting in the actual barn.

Fonz got a kick out of the water though.

Teddy Riding Bridleless

Docs Teddy Bear TN EMM Mustang 6 weeks of training Purina Challenge Mustang:

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

Population Management in Mustang Herds

Population Management in Mustang Herds

By Diane Ward

An estimated two to five million mustangs spanned the states up to the 1900’s. However their population declined drastically as domestic livestock competed with them for resources. The public and government viewed the mustangs as excess to be slaughtered, and captured for military and personal use. The abuse included hunting from airplanes and poisoning. The mustangs were too large to occupy the continually shrinking land and in response in 1934 to 1963, the Grazing Service paid private contractors to kill the herds and allowed carcasses to be used for pet food. Ranchers were often permitted to round up any horses they wanted, and the Forest Service shot any remaining animals.

            It was not till the first federal wild free-roaming horse protection law in 1959, or Public Law 86-234, that it was prohibited to use motor vehicles for hunting wild horses. This became known as the Wild Horse Annie act after Velma Bronn Johnston who campaigned against the cruel treatment of the mustangs. Humane treatment and protection of the mustangs was increased further by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

            Mustangs are now recognized by the United States Congress as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, which continue to contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” However overpopulation and herd management is a continuing concern. Currently the Bureau of Land Management is in charge of monitoring and controlling the mustang herds. It was stated in the Salazar Wild Horse Initiative that the BLM “seeks nothing less than ensuring healthy herds of wild horses and burros thriving on healthy public rangelands, both now and for generations to come.”

            More than 38,000 wild horses and burros were estimated in 201 by the BLM to be roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in up to10 Western states. Most mustang herds have no natural predators to keep their numbers regulated which can allow herd sizes to double about every four years.  Because of this the BLM must remove thousands of animals each year to control population. The guidelines and techniques used to round up mustangs are strict and humane. For instance one method uses a “Judas horse” which is a trained horse which has been trained to lead wild horses into pen to be easily removed. Then the mustangs are given homes through adoption and are still protected under the act until the first year of ownership.

            Since 2010 nearly 225,000 Mustangs have been adopted. Several programs that support mustangs have missions to further mustang adoptions, including the Extreme Mustang Makeover which is considered “Ultimate 90-Day Wild Mustang Training Competition,” and provides hundreds of trained mustangs to the public every year. The Mustang Heritage Foundation is a “public, charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating successful adoptions for America’s excess mustangs and burros.” Since 2007, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has placed more than 2,000 Mustangs in adoptive homes.

Bibliography:

Mustang Heritage Foundation: http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org/

Extreme Mustang Makeover: http://extrememustangmakeover.com/

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management: 

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram.html

Billings Gazette:    http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_aaad6ae6-98e2-11de-9717-001cc4c002e0.html

Blooper reel

Not everything goes the way we planned while training the mustangs. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Rachel's mustang running away from her.

   

 This picture was taken by Kelly Pippen. Mimzee doesn't like the saddle.

Rachel getting dragged by her yearling mustang.