Local woman competes for top mustang in the West
The brown of her boots matched with the coat of the horse.
Equipped with tough shoes, prepared to do tough work, Stacie
McGrady entered the arena. In there lies her toughest challenge. In
there lies the challenge to train not only a horse, but to train
herself as well.
Local woman competes for top mustang in the West
The brown of her boots matched with the coat of the horse. Equipped with tough shoes, prepared to do tough work, Stacie McGrady entered the arena. In there lies her toughest challenge. In there lies the challenge to train not only a horse, but to train herself as well.
Hollister resident and long-time horse enthusiast McGrady firmly held the rope, and gently guided the muscular animal towards her. She cautiously released her grip when she recognized the animal’s expression of obedience. She talked about what it takes to train a horse.
“It’s about pressure, release,” she said. “Pressure, release; It’s a part of the fundamentals of training. When I release the pressure, that is his reward.”
The 900-pound mustang ever so reluctantly submitted to her firm but patient grip, eventually giving in. As he inched toward her, she released the pressure. She was quick to reward and determined to accomplish the task of training the notoriously wild animal.
McGrady is just one of a hundred contestants from all over the country competing for a $25,000 cash prize and the opportunity to show their grit in the first ever “Extreme Mustang Makeover.” In just more than two months, the 100 trainers and their horses will arrive with trailers in tow at Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
“The event provides trainers an opportunity to showcase their ability to transform wild mustangs into suitable horses for ranch work or recreational riding,” according to a press release from the Mustang Heritage Foundation
McGrady is gearing up for the biggest challenge of her equestrian career. She was selected out of 220 applicants to be part of the first ever-Extreme mustang makeover – a competition where participants have 100 days to train and prepare a wild mustang for competition and auction.
“I was online one day and I came across information about the Extreme Mustang makeover and wondered if I should do it,” she said.
With only two weeks left to apply, she realized she wanted to participate.
“If I [didn’t] apply, I [would] be so mad at myself,” she said. “I would regret it. So I applied.”
The application was pretty thorough, McGrady said. The form requested information on past experience, references and Bureau of Land Management staff needed to know if she had the proper facility to hold the mustang.
Sometime later, a letter revealed the news that she was one of those selected.
In early June, McGrady and her husband drove to Reno, Nev., where they picked up a 3-year-old mustang. They named him (W)wit, which stands for, “What was I thinking?”, because at times she has wondered that through the competition.
Wit had spent all of his short life in closed quarters with little or no contact with human hands.
“Everything is so new to him,” McGrady said. “Horses are prey animals, large rabbits. The horse thinks that the sprinklers, cats, and my husband on a quad, are all designed to eat him.”
Everything he comes in contact with takes getting use to.
The training has been going on for a little more than a month now, which leaves McGrady with just more than two months left to completely train Wit. The process is tedious, and the results are not always promising. But McGrady spends a few hours every day, usually in 30-minute increments so as not to overwhelm the young mustang, working with the horse.
“When we first got him it was, ‘Please God, don’t let him run through the fence!'” McGrady said.
As time went on the questions changed to ‘Can he handle a rope?’ and ‘Can we touch his face?’ McGrady stressed the importance of patience, saying the horse will meet goals on his own time.
“It took just a couple of days to be able to touch him,” McGrady said.
Right now she is working on getting him comfortable with having a saddle on and being brushed. The end goal is to be able to ride him before the show in Texas.
Before entering the competition, McGrady worked with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Mounted Unit and had been an active participant and volunteer in the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show. In 2000, McGrady formed Monterey County Sheriff Search and Rescue and for the past 10 years has been a mounted volunteer for the California Salinas rodeo.
“It takes about six months of training to prepare a patrol horse,” McGrady said.
Unfortunately for her and the rest of the trainers in the mustang makeover, they are only given half that time to get the mustangs ready for show.
“With other horses, you have their whole life to train them,” she said. ” I’ve never had to work under a time constraint.”
She has a two-year-old palomino she has worked with since the horse was born.
“It would have been completely different,” McGrady said “It’s about paying attention. It is easy not to pay attention, not to be in the moment.”
When she enters the training ring with Wit all that matters is the relationship between her and the horse, she said. The training involves listening to and observing the horse.
“Turn off the cell phone and just spend twenty moments just with you and your horse,” is McGrady’s advice to other horse owners.
The competition takes place Saturday, Sept. 22, in Fort Worth, Texas. During the competition the horses will be judged on their conditioning, groundwork, and their ability to maneuver through an obstacle course. On Sept. 23 after the competition is complete, the 100 horses will be auctioned off to eligible bidders.
” The purpose of the competition is to showcase the beauty, versatility, and trainability of these rugged horses that roam freely on the public lands throughout the west,” according to the Bureau of Land Management.
The event will also be featured as a six-part series on the RFD Television’s Wide World of Horses later this year. For information about the event and the surrounding activities, visit at www.mustangheritagefoundation.org.
