EN Today: Elisa Wallace wins Extreme Mustang Makeover
Eventer Elisa Wallace and her adopted Mustang Fledge have covered a LOT of ground over the past four months, and their hard work paid off at Finals. Kate Samuels has got the story.
Top photo: Elisa and Fledge competing in the freestyle portion of the Extreme Mustang Makeover (photo by Aly Rattazzi of Rather Be Riding Photography)
From Kate Samuels:
We’ve all heard of Team Wallace, after their infamous video of Jon Holling streaking Bromont, and now from EN’s Got Talent with Elisa’s fabulous young jumper Corteo, but did you know about their involvement with the Extreme Mustang Makeover? We’ve mentioned it briefly in a few News & Notes posts, but it’s worth a second look.
In short, the Extreme Mustang Makeover is a program designed to promote and facilitate adoptions of Mustangs and work in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management to continue to raise awareness of adoption of American Mustangs. It is a challenge to train a Mustang “from wild to mild.” After being selected, a trainer picks up an American Mustang that has been virtually untouched by humans. With only four months of training, they have to compete at one of the Extreme Mustang Makeover events across the US where the horses will be put up for adoption in a competitive bid. The Mustang breed is a hardy and intelligent one, but often discounted in favor of the “brand name” breeds, or horses with actual pedigrees. I had a little wild pony when I was younger, and she was just about the best thing since sliced bread, so I was really excited to hear about Elisa and her partner Fledge.
A hug for Fledge after Elisa found out she won
Elisa was the first Event rider to compete in the Mustang Makeover, and has gained national attention for her efforts with Fledge. Not only that, but she was the only competitor to ride with a helmet in a western dominated arena, and for that she received special attention from Riders 4 Helmets. After the competition, all of the horses had to go to auction, but Elisa’s bond with this little 13.3 hand, 3 year old gelding was too big and she bought him.
Elisa and Fledge will now be touring the South East doing demonstrations and promoting the use of helmets. Elisa has been invited to participate in the Million Dollar Mustang Makeover, which is a separate competition in which she will have to adopt another wild Mustang and train it in four months for the competition. As indicated in it’s title, you get to compete for awesome prizes and lots of money!
Elisa has been recording her progress with her Mustang “Fledge” and posting the videos to the Team Wallace Blog. It’s really fascinating to see the journey from day one; to watch a completely un-handled horse begin to build trust and learn new things so quickly. I was truly amazed at the progress that Fledge made in such a short period of time, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
From Day One….
To the winning performance…
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