Steamboat native Cosette McLaughlin hands off wild mustang Finnegan to its new owner Madison Ostrowski during the auction for the Meeker Mustang Makeover. (File Photo)
One of the best mustang and wild horse trainers in the region, Steve Mantle of Mantle Ranch in Wheatland, Wyoming, will hold two clinics for the Meeker Mustang Makeover trainers on May 1 at the Rio Blanco Fairgrounds in Meeker, and the public is invited to attend.
Starting at 9:30 a.m., Mantle will hold his “Starting a Yearling” clinic, which is a two-hour clinic using a yearling mustang. The clinic will include watching Mantle gain the mustang’s trust and taking it through its first steps for the 10 trainers who will be picking up their yearling mustangs. Then starting at 1:30 p.m., Mantle will hold his “Starting a Three Year Old” Clinic, where he will start a 3-year-old mustang and work through the early first steps to get the horse ready for saddle breaking.
The third annual event that showcases and auctions wild horses is on Aug. 28.
Applications to be a trainer for the Meeker Mustang Makeover are open until April 1. Trainers will look after 3-year-old wild horses or yearlings (1-year-old horses) and get them ready for the competition and auction.
âItâs not easy,â said Deirdre Macnab, a rancher who is also a spokesperson for the event. âA lot of these horses are untouched by human hands.â
Event organizers, all of whom are volunteers, are looking for trainers for 20 wild horses from the region. They will be given 120 days to coach the horses.
Organizers of the 3rd annual Meeker Mustang Makeover are seeking applications for horse trainers.
The makeover will give 20 horse trainers 120 days to break one-year-old and three-year-old horses in order to get them to go through an obstacle course. All of the trainers are kids from age 10 and up.
The 3rd Annual Mustang Makeover celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Wild Horse Act. The makeover will take place on Aug. 28 at the Meeker Fairgrounds.
Deadline for applications to participate is April 1.
The event will also include an event for people over 60 years old who have yearlings that are in halters. Both the younger kids and the older kids will have to make their horses perform a “creative freestyle performance that they devise.”