Auguat 18 2010 — After two days of tough competition at the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth, the dust settled and Teryn Muench II of Marfa, Texas, and his adopted American Mustang Cheat Grass emerged the winners with a combined score of 162 from the six judges. Muench and Cheat Grass displayed amazing teamwork in their four and a half minute freestyle performance on August 14. Muench and Cheat Grass received a $50,000 check for their efforts.
Only two points separated Muench and Cheat Grass from Guapo, who was ridden by Bryon Hogan of Canyon, Texas, and Smarty, who was ridden by Tom Hagwood of Grand View, Idaho. Judge B.F. Yeates was designated as the tie-break judge and his scores settled the tie. Hogan and Guapo were named reserve champions, and their performance earned them a check for $15,000. In the August 14 final, 20 horses and riders qualified to compete for their share of the $100,000 purse after participating in preliminary classes of trail, basic riding, Mustang maneuvers and cow work. More than 80 entries were received from 23 states to take part in the competition.
The Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover is the richest wild horse competition in history and is modeled after the highly successful Extreme Mustang Makeover events that began in 2007. However, unlike the Extreme Mustang Makeover where trained horses are made available to the public for adoption after the event, adoption of the competition horses was required prior to the event. Mustangs competing in the Supreme event are 6-years-old, which is older than those 3- and 4-year-olds typically competing in other Extreme Mustang Makeover events.
“With $100,000 up for grabs, we knew this event was going to be a game changer for our organization and the American Mustang,” said Mustang Heritage Foundation Executive Director Patti Colbert. “The Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover was designed to showcase the heart and ability of American Mustangs and prove that older Mustangs are very trainable and adoptable and thanks to the talented trainers we accomplished that goal.”
At the time of the August competition, trainers had only been working with their Mustangs for approximately 98 days to get their horses ready for the competition. Complete results, including placings for the trail, basic riding, Mustang maneuvers and cow work, are available at www.extrememustangmakeover.com/supremeextreme.php.
The BLM estimates that more than 38,000 wild horses and burros are roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states. Wild horse herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control population. Since 2007, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has placed more than 2,000 wild horses for adoption. For more information on the Mustang Heritage Foundation or the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover, visit www.mustangheritagefoundation.org.
Extreme Mustang Makeovers will be making two more stops in 2010. Don’t miss the action or your opportunity to adopt a living American legend September 24-26 in Lincoln, Neb., or October 22-24 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
