My Mustang Tara
NOTE: See 2024 update at the end of this post.
Training a mustang was a test of my horsemanship skills. I wanted to find out what I knew, and what I didn't.
Tara, a 6 year old buckskin mare, had been captured in Wyoming and was living in a government holding facility in Canon City, Colorado. She had been one of 50,000 wild mustangs in government holding facilities in need of a home. Previously untouched, she was everything you'd expect a wild horse to be: very cautious of people, alert, but surprisingly calm and confident at the same time. For me, she was intimidating and exciting just to see. But I needed to do more than look at her. I had to touch her, get a halter on her, get her to trust me, and then train her under saddle so that she could be adopted into a good home where she could live out the rest of her days. And I had only 100 days to do it.
It took me the whole of the first day to touch her. It took me the whole of the second day to remove the holding tag from around her neck. I still have it. It was the first time she stood still and let me handle her. I could see the hesitancy in her eyes, but at the same time she was curious and I had shown her, through compassion and several releases of pressure, that I was going to be fair with her. I could see her beginning to understand.
A wild horse has an energy that is unique to anything I had experienced previously. Her cautious nature combined with a subtle curiosity made her ready to soak up what life handed her. And ready to react with lighting speed. I found myself getting drawn into her energy while working with her. I began operating with a level of hypersensitivity I had never experienced.
Tara challenged me, scared the hell out of me, and amazed me - often all in the same hour. But most of all she trusted me. I could feel it. She learned she was safe with me, and we became partners. I watched her stoic stare turn into an expression-filled light in her eyes. I really felt for her. How must it be to be taken from your home - twice? But she needed a forever home, and I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure she found it. It was both a heart wrenching and beautiful experience, from beginning to end.
Working with Tara made me realize the amazing purity of an untouched horse. Their spirits are mighty, and their sensitivity is unparalleled. This is why these equines make such amazing teachers for humans. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the removal of wild horses from their land, the fact is that tens of thousands of mustangs are already in crowded holding facilities. No human interaction, yet not free either. We, as a society, put them there, and it is now up to us to find ways to give these horses a better life. With all they are so willing to teach us - it comes effortlessly for them - we owe it to these horses to help them too. People helping horses, helping people (For more information on American Mustang adoption opportunities, please visit the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Program).
So after three short, but unforgettable, months, Tara was trained. She learned her groundwork, learned to accept a saddle and a rider, and eventually could walk, trot, canter and side pass under saddle. Every step was a challenge, and every step was a victory. I showed her in the Mustang Makeover and she was adopted to a ranch in Texas, where she now has a happy life, and has been renamed "Mustang Sally". No matter how I tried to prepare myself, saying goodbye was the biggest challenge of all. But that, too, was part of the process. Today, I know she is doing well and is in good hands.
I still feel a bond with her. I trained her, I taught her about life with humans… but what she taught me was tenfold.
2024 UPDATE: After two years of working cattle, the general manager of the ranch in south Texas that Tara was adopted to retired and moved back to Amarillo. The ranch was not too far from the Mexican boarder, where horse slaughter is legal, and so when I saw this opportunity (I kept in touch with the new owner via social media), I purchased my mustang mare back from her adopter. Tara is now part of my herd again in Missouri, where I’m blessed to see her every day. Life has a way of coming back around and blessing us when we least expect it.