Mustangs

Rick and Kitty Lauman have a special affection and respect for the mustang, which roams wild on rangeland throughout the West and is available to the public through the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Adopt-A-Horse program. Once gentled and trained, these hardy, intelligent horses have proven to be some of the most trustworthy saddle mounts they've ever encountered.

 

In 2007 Kitty participated in the first Mustang Makeover competition. Kitty competed with 99 other trainers. and had a little over 100 days to train the completely wild horse. Kitty then took "Ranger" cross country to Fort Worth, Texas for the competition in which the horses were judged on conditioning, groundwork and a "Horse Course" similar to a trail riding class.  After winning the award for Best Conditioned Kitty and Ranger managed to secure a spot in the top ten, allowing her to compete for the grand prize of $25,000.  Kitty and Ranger's performance the next day won them a standing ovation and second place in the competition. Kitty and Ranger now compete in Mounted Shooting and are quickly progressing up the ladder in that sport.

 

Kitty's love affair with mustangs has been an ongoing thing since she grew up watching her grandfather work with them.  That love was further cemented in the summer of 1999, when the BLM selected her facility to take part in a pilot program to gentle and halter-train "un-adoptable" older mustang geldings, between the ages of 6 and 14. This experience, during which the laumans worked with nearly 40 horses, taught them a great deal about the mustang and helped them refine their techniques for training these formerly wild animals.

 

Mustangs from the Lauman Training program have won top honors in the show ring, often beating domestic breeds trained specifically for that discipline. They've also turned into bombproof trail, pack, and family horses.

 

Ask us about our special program that offers you an opportunity to own one of America's living legends, trained to suit your favorite riding discipline! We'll help you select your dream horse from the BLM corrals and train it for you, start to finish.