Local woman competes in Extreme Mustang Makeover
Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, July 25, 2007
- <I>Dun The Barney Way Horses</I><BR>In the short time that she has had BLM mustang Chance, Barney has taken a wild three-year-old who could barely stand contact with a human without shaking in fear to a horse that trusts her to saddle and bridle him, clip his mane, and bathe him. The pair is shown above.
Local horse trainer Vixen Barney has been chosen out of 220 horse trainers around the nation to participate in the Extreme Mustang Makeover, a competition hosted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The original competitor field of 220 was narrowed down to 100 trainers, who were picked based on experience, appropriate facilities and recommendations. Six, including Barney, are from the Pacific Northwest.
Barney picked up her mustang, which she named “Chance”, on June 9 at the BLM’s Palomino Valley Facility near Sparks, Nev.
Along with 99 other trainers throughout the nation, Barney has 100 days to prepare her wild horse to perform in front of her peers and the BLM representatives in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 22.
The prize is $25,000 – donated by Fort Dodge, an animal health care company – and the 100 mustangs will be judged on conditioning, groundwork, and a course that requires maneuvers and includes obstacles found in trail and recreational riding situations.
On Sept. 23, the mustangs will be available to the public for adoption through an oral bidding adoption at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
The purpose of the competition is to showcase the beauty, versatility, and trainability of the American mustang.
Chance has come a long way and still has more education to come.
His progress is detailed on Barney’s website at (www.dunthebarneyway.com/blog).
