Corinne Elser, of Burns, Oregon, and her mustang "Dolly" took the top prize at the Western States Mustang Challenge competition. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF) successfully concluded the first Mustang Challenge held at the Western States Horse Expo over the weekend of June 6-8, 2008 in Sacramento, California. There are several other forums that the two organizations have planned where trained mustangs will be offered to the public for adoption.

Elser, a 22 year old trainer, successfully bid to adopt Dolly by using her prize money and a little bit more. The BLM offers mustangs and wild burros for adoption through the Adopt a Wild Horse or Burro Program. A competitive bidding process is used to adopt our Nation's Living Legends.

Thirty top horse trainers received 30 wild mustangs in March, 2008 to train and present for adoption at the Western States Horse Expo. The trainers had 90 days to gentle and train the mustangs. Horses and trainers competed for $7,500 in prize money. During competition, trainers were evaluated on the body condition of their American Mustangs, as well as their ability to handle the horse "in hand" through a series of maneuvers including picking up the horse’s feet, maneuvering through obstacles and loading into a trailer. Following the "in hand" course, trainers mounted their mustangs and completed a "horse course" that included a series of obstacles and required the trainer to demonstrate the level of competency the horse accomplished. The finalists competed in a freestyle event. The top ten finalists were announced Saturday afternoon, June 7. The final free-style competition was held that evening. 

Immediately after the final exhibition on Saturday night, the mustangs were available to the public for adoption. All wild horses were successfully adopted at the well-attended event. The highest bid was $10,000 for "Handy Hank", trained by Madelyn Wagner of Valley Center, CA.

Additional Photos of the Mustang Challenge Finalists 

Below are the top 10 trainers, their mustangs and the winning adoption bid.

Name	Hometown	Mustang	Winning bid
1.  Corinne Elser	Burns, OR	Dolly	$5,500
2.  Joe Misner	Johnson Valley, CA	Loredo	$3,400
3.  Matt Sheridan	Tehachapi, CA	Luna	$4,400
4.  Madelyn Wagner	Valley Center, CA	Handy Hank	$10,000
5.  Matt Eric Zimmerman	Adrian, OR	High Rock Ali	$3,000
6.  Matt Replogle	Las Vegas, NV	Jennifer	$5,800
7.  Beverly Vreeland	Livermore, CA	Diamond	$5,000
8.  Janet Titus	Mammoth Lakes, CA	Chato	$4,100
9.  Jenna Nelson	Loma Linda, CA	Domestic Aim	$2,000
10. Keith Danielson	Hooper, WA	Tina Turner	$1,400

About the Mustang Heritage Foundation

The mission of the MHF and the goal of the Mustang Makeovers are to increase the adoption of mustangs across the country. The Foundation created the Extreme Mustang Makeover events to showcase the recognized value of mustangs through a national training competition.

About the Bureau of Land Management

The BLM is responsible for managing 258 million acres of public lands, located mostly in the West. Wild horses and burros roaming public rangelands are managed in a manner consistent with BLM's overall multiple-use mission, as set forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Since 1973, the BLM has placed more than 218,000 wild horses and burros into private care through adoption. For more information, visit wildhorseandburro.blm.gov or call 866-4MUSTANGS. 

Mustang Heritage Foundation Patti Colbert P.O. Box 703 Bertram, Texas 78605 (512) 355-3225 (512) 355-2737 fax plcolbert@mustangheritagefoundation.org weslies@mustangheritagefoundation.org

Bureau of Land Management               Tom Gorey          (202) 452-5137           Tom_Gorey@blm.gov

2008 Mustang Makeovers

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