Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine May 2018 Vol 3 Issue 2

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

from predators that seek to destroy them. Mustangs spend their lives just trying to survive, wandering from place to place, hoping to avoid the stresses life throws at them. If a mustang must try to survive on its own, the probability of survival is hopeless. Being lost from the herd and isolated from the safety of family usually means facing the fear of death every moment of every day. In 2007 I was in a horrible horse accident which drastically changed the direction that my life and my Horse training career was headed. I was feeling very lost, unwanted and alone. No longer was I physically able to continue down the path of a successful training career and at a loss on how I was going to survive and help provide for my family. I was introduced to the idea of a mustang, wild horse competition where Trainers would have 100 days to start a wild horse and then compete for money and fame. Even though I was very broken physically, this is the direction I felt lead by God to take. Even though I really didn’t want to work with a feral wild worthless horse, I thought that maybe over that 100 days I could get better physically and produce a well-trained horse that would accelerate my career back on track to being “successful”. When I first saw the little black mustang that was chosen randomly for me I was pleasantly surprised of his beauty. He was a diamond in

BY CINDY BRANHAM

D o you ever feel lost, unwanted or alone? Or do you know someone who struggles with finding their place in this world? If we truly look within ourselves, we can relate to one of those feelings. This life is a daily struggle of finding balance between striving to survive physically and emotionally. We worry about providing for our personal and our families physical and emotional needs,

the point that fear, and worry become the foundation to how we survive. The English word “Mustang’s” origin comes from the Spanish word mestengo "wild, stray, ownerless," literally "belonging to the mesta," The Mustang horse is an ancestor of the Spanish horses from our countries past generations. Settlers and rancher’s horses

From left to right: Alyssa H, Morgan S, Madision B

that escaped over the past 100 plus years that have survived on their own. Without the care of a human owner, feral and wild horses survived the harsh and rugged climate by clinging to a family group, depending on each other for safety in numbers. They work together as a unit to protect each other

often falling short to our own expectations. The choices we make for ourselves and our families can determine the outcome of ours and their future. And yet many of us, “mustang” through our lives wandering from place to place trying to find peace and a true home but isolate ourselves to

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