EclypseSporthorses
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Go The Distance
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Thought I would post this here, as I know that many of you are located along the route that this young man will be
traveling.- Las Vegas to Fort Worth. I don't know if many of you are aware of the Mustang Challenge, though the trainers are picked to work with a fresh off the range Mustang for 100 days, and then they have a competition (like the one in April at Midwest Horse Fair) to see who has come the farthest in training on their Mustang. The day after the competition, the very well trained Mustangs are aucitoned off to the highest bidder, and some of them have fetched 5 figures in the auction. $$,$$$ - This has been a great promotional idea for the Mustangs and has ensured that many of the horses picked end up well trained and in much better homes than if adopted straight off the range by a non-trainer. Hope someone lives along that route, or can help this young man out! ~
Blessings to you all,
Christina~
"(reposted from RC with permission from Dawn)
I am writing this on behalf of a friend of mine, his Lucky 13 Ranch is
the one that Amigo was at this summer. Matt took 6th place in the
Sacto Horse Expo's Mustang Challenge this summer. He's an excellent
trainer, Amigo is better because of him.  He is entered in the
Sept Mustang Makeover in TX. He's had the BLM gelding he's been
assigned for about 6 weeks now. He's broke to ride, desensitized to
traffic, night lights, etc, he's come a long way.
Matt's protocol is the spend a lot of time and gain their trust and
represent a leadership role, then the horse responds quickly after
that. His mare in Sacto was the only one fully "in the bridle" and
she was doing lead departures, flying lead changes, he was riding one
handed at a gallop, she walked up steps, I think she'd walk through
fire if he asked.
So, to raise money for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and John
Wayne's Center for Breast Cancer, he is now riding this new gelding
the rest of summer from Las Vegas area to Ft. Worth TX, arriving there
for the Makeover September 20. This gelding is a young horse, was
wild only 6 weeks ago, so Matt is taking it very slowly with his
father following along in a chase vehicle for safety. I am assuming
he is riding trail sections, road shoulders, bypassing congested
areas, similar to the Great American Horse Race in 1974. He is
basically "finishing" this horse on the trail, the way cowboys did it
back in the day. I told him about the time that Wendell Robie had to
ride 100 miles to get medicine to a child when a road was out and the
horse wasn't broke. He said, "He'll be broke when I get back."
Matt is very interested in endurance and would love to chat to you all
more about it. He would like to take his mustang mare (which he
bought in the auction at Sacramento) on Tevis someday.
Along the way he is asking for donations and publicity to promote wild
horse adoption. He is encouraging people to publicize and come see
his mustang, and RIDE WITH HIM if you can! He also needs help with
overnight stops and advice on his route. You can email him on the
trail, he just left the other day and is in AZ now. He's quite a
character, great all round guy, excellent horseman. He's asked me to
ask you all for help along the way.
You can email him at lucky13kowboy at aol dot com"
His blog, route and daily update is at:
www.mattreplogle.com
***a personal note***
I'm not sure how I feel about this whole trip, though I know that if someone where on the path that this horse will be on, it would be great if they helped them out in someway. Personally, I don't agree with taking a horse that is only 6 weeks undersaddle on such an epic journey, I can't convince myself that it is for the better of that horse. So, I hope someone along the way could meet them and see if they need food/water/shelter, for the horse's sake. I did see on his blog that he is having the horse hauled part way over the mountains.
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« Last Edit: August 08, 2008, 05:17:43 PM by EclypseSporthorses »
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"Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4
~*Ride-Far-Ride-Well*~
*^The Sky's the Limit^*~
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