Quarter Horse Training

Bryan woman wins in mustang event

A Bryan woman finished first in her division in a competition that involved taming and training a wild mustang.

Careen Hammock traveled to Fort Worth last weekend to compete in Extreme Mustang Makeover, a competition designed to promote the Bureau of Land Management's mustang adoption program.

The horse Hammock trained placed third in the in-hand class and body conditioning competition Sept. 18, first in the horse course and freestyle competition Sept. 19 and first in the finals performance Saturday.

The gelding sold for $1,400 on Sunday to Steven and Priscilla Koehler of Seguin.

Hammock received $5,000 in prize money, a $280 commission from the horse's sale and a $500 reimbursement for her expenses. She plans to donate some of the money to the Mustang Heritage Foundation.

Hammock plans to donate her time to the Bureau of Land Management and Mustang Heritage Foundation to promote the adoption of mustangs, and she hopes to participate in the competition again next year.

Taz and I were in the Top 10 from day 1 and we finished 1^st in the Idols Division Finals on Saturday. What an amazing journey those 100 days were and what an experience this has been. Taz is now living in Sequin, Texas with the Koehler Family. Kirsten is his new trainer and is going to do wonderful things with him. Kirsten also showed 3 mustang yearlings in the Extreme Mustang Makeover Yearling Edition. I went out to Sequin to see them a week after he had arrived in his new home to help Kirsten get to know Taz a little better and give her some of his cues. I only spent a few hours with them but Kirsten is out riding him around in a halter, sending him through his paces and they are one heck of a team. I could not be prouder of the home he has and the future he is going to have with Kirsten and her family. I hear that Kirsten in riding him in a parade this weekend!

Awesome! 

Bryan woman tames, trains wild horse in just three months

By KAYLA SLIMP
kayla.slimp@theeagle.com

Three months ago, Bryan residents Careen Hammock and Becky Buck hitched up Buck's horse trailer and drove 300 miles to Pauls Valley, Okla., to pick up a wild mustang from a Bureau of Land Management holding facility.

The 3-year-old mustang feared the humans who sedated him and made him a gelding after capturing him from a public range in Nevada. He wouldn't let Hammock touch him for four days.

Now, after 100 days of training, Taz is a lovable horse.

"He's awesome. You can do just about anything on him," Hammock said. "I consider him just about completely broke."

That assessment will be tested next weekend, when Taz and Hammock compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition in Fort Worth. Patti Colbert, the executive director of the Mustang Heritage Foundation, said it takes about 90 days to train a domestic horse once it reaches an appropriate age, but since the competition begins with wild horses, the training takes a little longer.

"The horse has a great fear because it's never been around humans, so they have to overcome that. It takes a little more time to create that bond," Colbert said.

The event was created by the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the BLM in 2007 to promote adoption of mustangs and showcase their beauty, versatility and ability to learn.

"In the horse industry, it's a lot easier to show people than it is to tell them, so what we're trying to show them is the trainability and value of the mustangs," Colbert said.

To ensure the health of the wild mustang herd and protect resources, the BLM periodically captures mustangs from the estimated 29,000 roaming free on BLM-managed lands in 10 Western states and puts them up for adoption.

Extreme Mustang Makeover officials chose 200 trainers out of 230 applicants to domesticate the rugged animals. At the end of the event, all of the animals will be available for adoption through a public auction.

"[The trainers] are the connection that allows horses to be gentled and trained and then placed in the hands of the general public," Colbert said. "These trainers are the launch pads that help place horses with not-as-experienced horse enthusiasts."

Proceeds from the auction go to the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the BLM. Trainers whose horses sell for more than $200 earn a 20 percent commission. Last year, the horses sold for an average of $2,000 each, according to Colbert. At the end of the competition, $70,000 in prize money will be distributed among the top finishers in each level.

Hammock applied for the competition in April for the enjoyment of shaping a young horse and because of her love for mustangs, she said, but also because it's a good cause.

"It sounded like a lot of fun. I've adopted other mustangs before from the Bureau of Land Management, and some of them have been really good horses," she said. She used one of the mustangs to give therapeutic riding lessons to children.

Hammock has been training horses part time for more than 15 years and shows them through National Cutting Horse Association and Stock Horses of Texas. The 29-year-old grew up in Alice, where she ran cattle on her grandfather's ranch. She showed miniature horses while in elementary school, competed in barrel racing and team roping during high school and showed cutting horses in college. She owns two quarter horses.

Being chosen for the competition, Hammock said, is an honor. Hammock trained Taz for up to five hours every night after she got off work as an insurance sales representative for State Farm. She used Buck's 35 acres and training facility in Wheelock. On the weekends, she'd spend nearly all day training. She spent the first 45 days in the round pen setting a foundation with Taz. As the competition nears, she spends about 2 hours a day working with him.

"It takes a lot of patience and time. I wish I could have had more time besides just nights and weekends," Hammock said.

Hammock also took Taz to Stock Horse of Texas competitions in Belton and Conroe, along with a rodeo in Beeville in August and a quarter horse show in Seguin. In Belton, Hammock met Colbert.

"She's made a tremendous effort to not only train but socialize that horse, and I think it's gonna pay off for her," Colbert said of Hammock.

Taz has gained muscle tone and 150 pounds. His coat is darker and shinier, and his mane grew two inches. Over the 100 days, Hammock kept a daily journal of their progress.

"It's cool reading over my journal and seeing what we've done and where we've been," she said.

Taz will compete in the middle division with 52 other trainers.

"The top class is pro horse trainers. I knew they would have so much more time to spend with their horses," she said.

 On Thursday, the horses will be judged on their conditioning and go through an in-hand obstacle course with basic commands such as backing up and picking up feet. Friday, they will go through a course where the trainers must demonstrate that they have complete body control of the horse.

The top 10 trainers in each level will advance to the finals, which consists of a freestyle routine to music. Hammock chose the song Time of My Life by David Cook for her finals performance.

"It's not really a country song. I was trying to do something different," she said.

Taz had made such progress in the training, Hammock said, that she has recently been able to shift her focus.

"We're kind of down to conditioning and working on the final performance," Hammock said recently.

The best part of the experience with Taz, Hammock said, was when they finally bonded and began to trust each other. But that bond will also be the hardest part of letting him go.

"I'm not gonna adopt any horses this time," she said. "Part of the deal with the training facility I'm using is that I didn't keep him, although it's getting really hard because I've gotten attached to him in the last 100 days."

Though she's competed in many events over the past two decades, Hammocks said the mustang competition has one major difference. "This is not so much about winning as it is supporting a good cause and getting these horses good homes," she said.

Because of her experience with Taz, Hammock hopes to participate in next year's event.

"I feel so blessed to have such a good horse this year, so I'm nervous about next year, because you never know what you're gonna get," she said.  

Bryan woman wins in mustang event

A Bryan woman finished first in her division in a competition that involved taming and training a wild mustang.

Careen Hammock traveled to Fort Worth last weekend to compete in Extreme Mustang Makeover, a competition designed to promote the Bureau of Land Management's mustang adoption program.

The horse Hammock trained placed third in the in-hand class and body conditioning competition Sept. 18, first in the horse course and freestyle competition Sept. 19 and first in the finals performance Saturday.

The gelding sold for $1,400 on Sunday to Steven and Priscilla Koehler of Seguin.

Hammock received $5,000 in prize money, a $280 commission from the horse's sale and a $500 reimbursement for her expenses. She plans to donate some of the money to the Mustang Heritage Foundation.

Hammock plans to donate her time to the Bureau of Land Management and Mustang Heritage Foundation to promote the adoption of mustangs, and she hopes to participate in the competition again next year.