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Nothing spells "fiction novel" like the heartwarming story of a woman and a wild horse. Except this time it isn't a novel and it isn't fiction. Southeast Horse Lovers forum member Amber Matthewson (Whispering Rain Farms - Henagar, AL) was chosen to compete in the 2009 Extreme Mustang Makeover - Eastern Stampede in Murfreesboro, TN. The rules are fairly simple: pick up a wild mustang, work with it for 100 days, compete in the Mustang Makeover for top prize, auction the Mustang off to the high bidder. That's right, the trainers have 100 days to take a completely wild animal and turn it into a performance horse and then sell it.  Amber with Trouper his first day at Whispering Rain Farm Amber was assigned horse number 2287. She got the number and a description and headed up to Cross Plains, Tennessee to pick up the mustang: a plain bay gelding with no white on his forehead but two white hind pasterns. Amy Bailey (Blue Star Equine) helped Amber find the plain bay mustang amongst the others..also plain bay geldings. There was one horse that stood out from the rest, literally. He was a solid 15h+ compared to the other 13.3h smallish ponies. Surely that couldn't be the horse they were looking for. After moving the herd around they confirmed the "big draft" was number 2287. Amber took "Trouper" (named after her Cardiologist) home and the work began. 100 days later they are in a large coliseum competing for a share of the $25,000 in prize money. There were 3 categories, Youth, Idols, and Legends. The youth would show yearlings. The Idols and Legends were divided by experience and progress with the mustangs. Adult competitors could choose if they wanted to show in Idols or Legends.  Competing in the riding competition October 23rd, 2009
October 23rd, 2009 - Amber tied for 1st place in Conditioning, 5th place in the In-Hand Competition, and 17th in the riding competition. The ended up 12th overall in the "Idols" category out of 34. competitors, just shy of the top 10 placing required to compete in the Freestyle Finals on October 24th.
The hardest part was yet to come. Sunday, October 25th, 2009 - the final day of the Extreme Mustang Makeover is the day that the trainers must say goodbye to their trusting horses and auction them off to the highest approved adopter. Amber had already made up her mind that Trouper was coming home with her so she left her husband, Jamie, in the stands to bid on her behalf. Trouper is heads and shoulders above the other mustangs. His movement and presence is much bigger and he holds promise as a competitive dressage horse or eventer. Others must have seen the potential in Trouper because he sold for more than many of the top 10 horses! When the bid sealed at $1000, Amber looked to the crowd and saw Jamie smiling. Trouper was going back home with Amber and her family.  Shortly after Jamie sealed the winning bid on Trouper. Please offer your support to the Extreme Mustang Makeover, their sponsors and the Mustang Heritage Foundation for putting on such an excellent and awareness raising event. Being there personally, I can attest to the amazing work ethic of these mustangs despite being unhandled wild animals less than 4 months previous. The trainers all put on an amazing show and gave these horses a new future. Visit Amber's blog on her website. The Extreme Mustang Makeover logo belongs to http://www.extrememustangmakeover.com/ and the Mustang Heritage Foundation - http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org |
