I know that there are a lot of sport horses here, but any one own a mustang? Can you tell me about your horses? How did you get them? What do you love about them? What is different about them than other horses you have worked with?
I adopted mine from the BLM. He was the hardest project I have ever taken on, hands down, bar none, x10. It was all in, multiple times/day, 7 days/week, for at least 6 months before I thought he was even remotely reliable being treated like a regular domestic. He was special as far as even mustangs go, he was a bolter, terrified at even the sight of a human being, or anything other then the natural world. Training that horse was a watershed life moment for me, I can’t even explain. I am a better person for it, definitely a better horse trainer. I still have him, love him, and will never sell him. You would never ever know how far he has come to see him today. He’s broke as a joke and handles like a rally dog but, he is definitely different from domestics. It’s difficult to explain, he’s just exactly what you would expect a captured wild horse to be, as broke and reliable and experienced as he is now, there’s still a wild horse in there. I do not know how much of this is true for captured BLMs or just true for him.
I love him but I don’t think I would get another. It is a full time job and you basically give birth to them. I think he would be lost without me so I’m stuck with him for life. The bond you make with a horse like this is something else.
Ps. He is also extremely aggressive towards dogs.
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Our riding school received two truckloads of feral horses, around 15, every June, directly caught in the mountains a few days before, most males and still stallions, from around 4 to 8-9 years old.
We had most riding and being good school horses in September, when most were sold to other riding schools.
They made very nice, quiet horses, just as their domestic background tells us they should be.
We had the odd horse that was bronky and would not get over it, one that did turn around by September, another we could not quite get over being so watchy and overreacting to everything.
Our riding instructor used to say that some experience as a wild horse may have fried his brain and scared him so bad the whole world was never to be trusted.
We tried with him for 2 1/2 years, could handle him carefully and ride him, but he just was not going to make a dependable riding horse.
We finally tried him as a driving horse and he was a star, somehow in traces with a cart behind him, the world was his oyster and he would happily trot around busses and big trucks and into the fields to bring fresh alfalfa back to our riding center every morning.
From over 40+ horses I was involved with, all others made fine horses, but they were handled like any other horse and by professionals until they got there, not in a backyard type situation.
They learned to be a domestic horse partly because they were in that environment right along with many other horses.
I can see where one of those horses, isolated and handled little in someone’s small barn, may take longer to get over the natural defensiveness such a hughe change in their world brings.
Our feral ranch horse, caught in Nevada at 5, was fine with any and all we did, but would have reverted to suspicious quicker than a very gentle minded domesticated horse raised in someone’s barn.
Then, some very nicely raised domestic horses are not the gentlest by nature either.
I will always say, want a horse raised and started properly?
Leave that to someone that does that for a living and is very good at it do it, your horses will thank you.
Want a feral horse?
Find someone that works with young horses to get it going for you.
That may not be the place and time for DIY, your horse will thank you.
Want to learn to do that?
Work along someone that knows what they are doing, your horses will thank you.
I think we have to say, it depends on the individual horse, each one can be different.
Want a feral horse?
Start with one that seems to have the right mind to be sensible as a domestic horse, as they really are, after all.
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I got a 17 yo BLM mustang from a private seller. She had heaves and was being bounced around since most people don’t want to put a lot of money into a 13.2hh basic walk/trot trail horse. Those people don’t know what they were missing! Bella is a rock star. She is my first, so I don’t have a lot to compare other than leased and lesson horses. And I got her as an adult, 15 years after being captured, so I didn’t break her my any means. But she is definitely different than the domestic breeds I have interacted with. I always say she is like a cat and domestic horses are like dogs. Even after now 16 years in captivity, she is more alert and cautious than any other horse I have interacted with. Owning her has been an amazing experience, and my interactions with all horses have improved because of her. I can only imagine the amazing lessons to be gleaned from training a BLM mustang 
My favorite thing about her is she is SO easy to teach. She’s smart and willing, and really takes care of her rider. She LOVES obstacles. Anything she can think about is fun for her. The possibilities with a young, healthy BLM would be endless if they have her temperament
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I got a mustang pony about exactly one year ago. Her history is unknown. She was a BLM mustang, picked up 6 years ago as a 2 year old, but is no longer sold through BLM requirements. I got her from a private “seller,” for free. She was listed as 14.1hh and free, so I was like heyyy why not. Pony arrived - definitely more like 13.1hh. Disappointing, since that’s a bit smaller than I’m comfortable riding regularly, but she’s cuter than all get-out.
Anyway, she arrived to me not halter broke. Yeah, five years after she got picked up by BLM and she was still not halter broke. She’s passed hands multiple times from what I can tell. She was very very scared, perhaps seemed like too much trouble to many TIP trainers (I know she was with at least one TIP trainer for a time). She is still a bit flighty but doing reeeally well, especially considering I only have time to work with her 2-3 times a week. She now bathes, fly sprays, all the normal domestic daily care stuff, lunges, with tack, and I’ve sat on her once. Still pulls back a bit for the farrier but is getting better every time. She now shows attitude on occasion where it used to just be pure fear. The most difficult thing has been getting her used to having her muzzle touched, which is interesting.
She is seriously adorable, and a really cute mover; she would make a SUUUPER cute hunter pony once I get the time to really break her.
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You do realize that none of this is valid without pictures…
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Bella hates having her muzzle touched too! I swear I put ointment in her eye easier than giving her oral meds. I taught her “open” for meds and “kiss” for when I want her to touch something with her nose. That helped, but it wasn’t until she lost her right eye that she started actually nuzzling me and seeking out my hand. I wonder if it is from not having human interaction for the first couple of years?
And she was sold as 14+ too! She is maybe 13.2 before a trim 
But I’m 5’4 on a good day, with short legs, so we work fine together.
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She is CUTE! I would not have guessed her height until I saw the last pic with her and the other horse
Thanks! Yeah she’s a smol girl :tickled_pink:
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I went to a Mustang Heritage Foundation event in 2016 and it was life changing. I went from being utterly indifferent towards mustangs to becoming an advocate. When things settle down in my life, it’s on my bucket list to adopt one. Elisa Wallace’s videos shared by @HappyTalk are pretty inspirational-- I think a lot of “sport” people (like myself) dismiss mustangs because advocates tend to be into trail, western, gaming, trick riding, etc. But with Elisa Wallace, you have a bonafide 4* eventer showing off her mustangs.
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I have had two.
First (Loki, first mistake, don’t ever name an animal after a god of mischief) was a couple-three decades ago, adopted from a now-defunct prison gentling program in New Mexico (there are still prison program out there, but the NM one has closed). He was halter trained by the program in the sense you could walk up to him and put a halter on him if he felt like being caught, and would walk with you if he had nothing else better to do with his time and kinda wanted to go in that direction anyway. He liked people well enough and thought the food part of domesticity was dandy, but the being told what to do part, not so much. He was extremely smart and always testing, testing, testing to see what sort of evasion might be successful. Once he felt like he’d tried all possible options and done the mental math to figure out that obedience was a better option than evasion, he’d be fine and he wouldn’t test again on that one topic. I did eventually refine his ground manners and get him under saddle, with only one hospital trip (broken finger from a kick during a lunging session). Then he decided to start trying to bolt as an evasion (under saddle) and I just couldn’t handle it. Several attempts at pro training (a saga in and of itself), wound up selling him to a rodeo school as a bareback bronc. I visited him a few times at the school and he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself. Once when they were bringing the herd up, he decided to fart around the arena and kick his heels up a bit longer instead of going in to the holding pen before the chutes with the rest of the horses. After he got his ya-ya’s out, one of the cowgirls just walked up to him and looped a lead rope (not a lasso or anything) around his neck loosely and led him in. No evasion, no resistance, no flinchiness. After working with that horse for almost two years I know that he would NEVER have been that compliant with the process if he found the holding pens and going through the chutes aversive in any meaningful way.
Second (Toblerone, barn name Tobler), I got in September last year from the Extreme Mustang Makeover (he showed under the name “Cinch”). I’d started following his trainer, Stacy Guntheinz with Freeze Brand Ranch, through the Trainer Incentive Program Facebook group, since I’d been toying with the idea of getting another Mustang some day and that seemed like an interesting option. I had planned on attending the 2107 EMM, but hadn’t planned on bidding until Stacy started posting the updates on her progress with him for the competition. Tobler had/has all of the good things Loki had (smart, attentive, responsive without being overly reactive), and none of the bad. His default action is to actively look for things that please and satisfy, rather than things to avoid and evade. If given a correction, he alters his actions to see if something else is more acceptable, rather than escalating the behavior that earned the correction to see if a hard enough push back will get him his way. He’s the same way with anybody, too. I was a bit worried that he just did so well in the videos with Stacy because he was bonded with her and she’s been working with mustangs an awfully long time. Nope, he’s been great with me, great with all the barn staff, great with the trainers/exercise riders I’ve had working with him, even great with my ten year old very novice kidlet. I have had more fun with him, and have more confidence on and around him, than with 90% of the domestic horses I have worked with. Before I got him I was leasing a horse that I didn’t feel comfortable cantering sometimes, because sometimes he’d pick a fight about it and crow hop and such, and there’s only so much of that I can take anymore. I hope to do low (very low, I’m old and cowardly) level eventing with Tobler.
There’s a Mustang Sport Horses and Ponies page/group on Facebook. Follow them and you’ll learn about a lot of different sport horse-successful Mustangs, like Hwin (eventing), Padre (dressage), Cobra (dressage), and Mr. Popper (hunter pony).
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LOL … Thanks everyone. Yes of course  found a super cute 6 yr. old 15 hand chestnut with chrome - for a few bucks. He basically knew nothing and was not fearful (but confused) and seemed to trust her right away. After her initial ride on him – she said that he learned more in 40 minutes of her riding him than any other horse after many rides / months etc. From day one he learned leaps and bounds. She said and still says he is so moldable. Meaning, whatever she’s teaching him he gets and then does. He’s pretty awesome. He’s very kind to everyone. Horses, dogs, grandkids. Super friendly and the first to greet you at the fence. He is 10 now. We lent him to our next door neighbor kid for a while when daughter moved out of the country – next door kid used him for Pony Club and had a blast. He came out of Salt Wells Creek HMA in WY. You can see the Saddlebred influence.
My Mustang. I wasn’t looking for another horse. I’m still supporting two retirees (OTTB and Warmblood) and needed another mouth to feed like another hole in my head, lol. BUT, went with same daughter to look at him for maybe a re-home project. As you can tell by now we both have a deep affection for Mustangs. We immediately clicked and he was mine. I’ve only had him a little over a year. He’s 14 yr. old, 14.2 hand Buckskin. Very well put together. He knew very little and was fearful of anything new. Highly intelligent and fast becoming my best horse. He’s like riding an off road sports car. SUPER fun. I don’t think he’s ever had a “person” before and now gets that he has a “person” and liking it. Pretty awesome to watch the transformation of not just what he’s learning but his personality is coming out more and more. He also came out of WY from Adobe Town HMA.
We can all agree a horse is a horse but I do have to say Mustangs are different. The bond is different. I have a hard time articulating exactly what is different but there is a difference. I’ve had (and still have) other breeds and have owned many horses in my life. A good Mustang is like GOLD. Have fun OP! Happy for you and for him!
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I have a Navajo mustang who as a stallion just over a year ago wandered off the rez with his band of mares and offspring. He is coming 7 now. I purchased him, rode him, gelded him and am still so grateful that I bought him. He has turned out to be the best darn trail horse I could have imagined. He is the bomb. Like many, he bonds and trusts his people, not necessarily everybody. There is no question who are his people. I have no regrets and hope he’s a part of the family until the end of his days. Mine is 15 hands and is built like a brick sh!t house. I suspect some draft blood got introduced not too many generations back.
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“I don’t know what it was about his big jug head that I feel in love with but I guess that is what they mean by love at first sight.”
I have never regretted getting an animal that really, truly, “called” to me, even if I wasn’t actively looking to get an animal at the time the call came. I know now I need to be careful with myself, though, there have been times that I WAS actively looking for an animal, and came across an animal that was “close enough,” and I took that animal in, but never really felt quite the connection as I have had with my true loves. My first mustang was a great example. I was freshly independent and in a setting with really cheap board available (75 bucks a month, including feed!), and I was bound and determined to get a horse, that pony I never got for Chirstmas. Went to the prison holding pens, and honestly none of the hundreds of horses there at that moment really, truly “called” to me, but Loki had nice enough conformation compared to some of the others and I picked him out. I count myself lucky things worked out as well as they did–I was never so badly injured to require, say, surgery or hospitlization, and he wound up in a reasonable care setting rather than passing from person to person and maybe eventually winding up in a Mexican slaughterhouse.
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I love all of these stories, thanks for sharing.
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Pic #1 - Her Eyes! What is she looking at?
A tree? The fence? That was the day she arrived non-halter-broke :lol:
