Celebrating America's Mustang- Mustang Magic 2017

Approximately 67,000 wild horses roam free in wild open spaces of America. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently holds 47,000 mustangs in holding facilities across the nation. In the last 10 years, 7,500 of these animals have been adopted into loving homes through the Mustang Heritage Foundation.

This past weekend, equine and mustang enthusiasts gathered at the Southwestern Exposition Center in Ft. Worth Texas to exhibit and adopt 20 American mustangs.

These horses were born on the ranges of America, gathered into holding facilities by the BLM, then adopted by trainers across the country and trained them for 120 days before finally competing at the Mustang Magic competition, where they were later adopted into private homes.

Each year, the Mustang Heritage foundation hosts two of these events targeted to demonstrate the trainability and diversity of the American mustang, the Extreme Mustang Makeover, and Mustang Magic. Competitors have 120 days to train their horse, who has had no previous interaction with humans other than being gathered from ranges, branded, gelded, and given vaccinations. The trainers goal is to display the wonderful personalities, skills, and traits of the American mustang and promote the breed to potential adopters nation wide.

The competitors and their horses arrive in Ft. Worth the Wednesday or Thursday before the event. Thursday and Friday they compete in several classes, including handling & conditioning, a pattern class, combined riding and leading trail course, and compulsory maneuvers, before the top 10 finalists compete in the free style show on Saturday night.

At the freestyle show, trainers can perform any type of routine they would like, from a heartwarming skit to impressive cattle working demonstrations. Their scores are combined with the scores from the preliminary classes and awards are given to each trainer. Immediately following the awards presentation, the mustangs are sold in an auction-style adoption. Approximately half of the proceed from the adoption go back to the trainer, and the remainder goes to the Mustang Heritage Foundation to continue to promote the mustang breed.

However, the horses this year were different. Each of the mares adopted for the competition this year were considered 3-strike mares. This means that they had been offered to the public for adoption 3-times (at a mustang event, a local adoption, or even online) with no success. Had these mares not been adopted by the Mustang Magic trainers, they would have been sold to any person willing to buy them, usually meaning they end up as rodeo stock or in the slaughter house. The trainers and private adopters at this event most likely saved these horses lives, and gave them safe, loving homes were they can be cherished for years to come.

This year, Madison Shambaugh and her horse Amira took home the grand champion title after performing an enchanting routine based on Disney’s Cinderella and incorporating bareback riding and liberty exercises. Madison also managed to will the auction, adopting the horse she had trained, and took Amira home with her as well.

Multiple other trainers, (Wylene Davis (2nd place), Stan Smith (8th place), Mark Gibbons, and Sharla Wilson) also won their horses in the adoption auction.

The Mustang Magic event was a thrill from start to finish, but it was also a sobering reminder of how many of these beautiful animals remain in over-crowded holding pens waiting for their worth to be discovered.

Adopt a wild horse or burrow today.