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WILD HEART MUSTANGS™
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Mary Miller Jordan (MMJ) is partnered with a herd of 7 Mustangs that she considers her 4 legged family and mentors. Together they created I AM HERD, a non-profit with the mission to help others 'hear their own heart'. MMJ and her mustangs won the title of America's Favorite Trail Horse as well as Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover Reserve Champion. One of her mustangs was immortalized as a Breyer(R) model Horse. She has written children's books featuring her Mustang partners and has been featured with her Mustangs on "National Geographic Wild".
MMJ currently teaches online workshops focusing on the horse human bond through what she terms "B ME" - Body Mind Energy relationship building. As you read her article and profiles of her mustangs, you'll understand just how deeply she connects with them. Photo credit - Parrish Photography |
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Meet MARY MILLER JORDAN & her equine family
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MMJ with Lindsay's Faith (photo on the left)
LINDSAY'S FAITH, aka Lindsay, aka Lenny in the children's book Be You Lenny by Mary Miller Jordan. If Lindsay's Faith were human she would be a wise, all knowing prophet. Lindsay's Faith is our first Mustang. A 9-year-old bay roan mare from White Mountain, WY. Adopted May of 2010. 100 days later we competed in the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover, finishing 17th in the finals. Exactly one year later we were featured on a reality TV show called America's Favorite Trail Horse. It was much like Amercan Idol for horses. We were voted the winner and later I wrote a children's book about our journey call Silver Mane - The Tale of a Wild Horse. Lindsay's Faith was also immortalized as a Breyer(R) model horse. 
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WHY ARE WE SO DRAWN TO MUSTANGS?
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Vivir el Sueño, aka Sueño (the horse on the left in the photo above)
If Sueño were human she would be a mentor or counselor. The type of person that you can tell all your problems to and she would always seem to have time for you and would always care. Sueño is a 7 yr old brown mare from Granite Range, NV. (on far left) She was our second Mustang, adopted May 2011 on the way home from filming AFTH {the TV show Lindsay was in} I trained her to compete in the 2011 Extreme Mustang Makeover. Three days before finals she tore a tendon as she continued to canter three-legged lame under me. I had to pull back on the reins to get her to stop cantering on three legs. That is how big her heart is. Photo credit - Amy Goodsell 
MAGIC CARPET RIDE, aka Magic (above)
If Magic were a human she would be that popular girl in school that everybody thinks they want to be like, but is a little too cocky for her own good and a wee bit insecure underneath all that perfect hair. Magic is a six-year-old buckskin pinto mare from South Steens, OR, adopted in September 2011. She is a result of the only time I did an Extreme Mustang Makeover (EMM) where the horses would be adopted out at the end. It was the 'invitational' Trainers only challenge called "Mustang Magic" and I was too honored to turn down the invite. She was selected for me at random....but it was not really random at all. Nothing is. The horse that was originally assigned to me was hurt (she would heal, but did not need to enter a 100 day training program) and the BLM employee held up three pieces of paper and asked me to pick one to select my wild horse. I immediately was drawn to the one on the left, but in attempt to be certain I picked the 'correct' one for me I spun around and just picked the one my hand landed on (I could only see blank white paper) It was the one on the left. Once I got her home, Magic she proved to be the most aggressive Mustang I had committed to working with. It was surely due to her insecurity, but I can honestly say she flipped me the birdie every day for the first 60 days solid. She slowly let me in and began to trust me, but it did not come fast - and she still can be cautious over people she does not know.
If he were human we would be working a job he could lay low and follow the crowd. He would especially enjoy his lunch break.
Brave Heart is a three-year-old buttermilk buckskin pinto from NV. He was very much a spur of the moment selection as I found he had landed in the 'pool' of no-sale horses at the Mustang Million auction in April 2013. I did not need him, and I knew he was not at all a candidate to compete in the Legends division with, but I knew I wanted him. So we adopted him. Some dear friends have exchanged some energy with him by spending some low key time near him and it has been beneficial for all. There is an aspect of a 'wild horse' that I always miss a little bit after they are fully domesticated. I think I am enjoying dragging out his somewhat still 'wild' state to be able to appreciate it a little longer. He is 'gentled' so to speak in the sense that he will greet you in the pasture and he can be led, but that's about it ... He is very insecure internally, but his heart is quiet and he wants to be low energy. I plan to use my relationship with him to exemplify relationship building to others as we still have much of a relationship to develop. I strongly feel that he will ultimately make a wonderful addition to the liberty team as he loves to move like a fish with the herd. He is only 3 yrs old and all legs; he will tower over the rest of the herd once he's done growing!
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FLYING COLORS, aka Colors (at the right)
If Colors were human...she would be me...(even though I feel like she is a much more perfect version of myself in her horse form :-) - MMJ Flying Colors is a four-year-old sooty buckskin mare from Warm Springs Canyon, NC. She is my soulmate in horse form. She is the first and only horse I have ever selected on 'energy' alone. Her confirmation is somewhat Spanish type and her soul is deep. I am certain that my childhood horse, Smash, shares her body at times to speak to me. She has a way of rolling her eye at me in a certain distinct way that simply IS my horse Smash. To call her 'special' is a blatant understatement. She has the most dramatic RUN to me 'draw' that I have ever experienced and she practically came with it as she was doing it at 14 days from the 'wild' .. with no food motivation in sight ... Nothing but energy. We just barely missed making finals at the Mustang Million competition, but it changes nothing in regards to the amazing freestyles she has yet to share with this world. When something is beautiful and pure and real .. then that 'something' is meant to be shared. |
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SWEET POTATO THE MULE GOES TO SCHOOL
by Mary A. Lainhart |
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Sweet Potato's school is
called Rose Hill Ranch |
SWEET POTATO GOES TO SCHOOL
We all get an education, formal or informal, at some point in our lives. It’s no different for wildlife and our domestic animals. I guess we all begin on the same playing field. Our parents or other parental figures nurture us, keep us safe, tend to us and guide us. Parents and playmates - be they siblings or friends - teach us social structure, play, interaction. Every creature, human or animal, acquires knowledge in this way. But eventually we humans and our equines go on to a more formal education. For most North American children, it begins with preschool. For our equines, it’s off to the trainer.
Sweet Potato is big enough now to go away to the trainers to learn more than we’ve had the time or knowledge to teach him here at the Buck ‘n’ Mule Farm. In a sense, his education began the day he arrived here. He has learned acceptable manners from his people, other acceptable manners from his herd. In March went to Rose Hill Ranch, where trainers Jack and Emma Minteer will teach him more behaviors and skills that will give him a solid basis for future learning and success. His adopted siblings Clover, Wakan and Neehee accompanied Sweet Potato to school. The three older equines weren’t ridden much last year, so they’ll benefit from a refresher course in what they’d learned there previously…and maybe a few new things.
Sweet Potato is big enough now to go away to the trainers to learn more than we’ve had the time or knowledge to teach him here at the Buck ‘n’ Mule Farm. In a sense, his education began the day he arrived here. He has learned acceptable manners from his people, other acceptable manners from his herd. In March went to Rose Hill Ranch, where trainers Jack and Emma Minteer will teach him more behaviors and skills that will give him a solid basis for future learning and success. His adopted siblings Clover, Wakan and Neehee accompanied Sweet Potato to school. The three older equines weren’t ridden much last year, so they’ll benefit from a refresher course in what they’d learned there previously…and maybe a few new things.
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Sweet Potato’s training schedule will be tailored to his unique needs. Physically, mules grow and develop more slowly than horses. He won’t finish growing until he is about five years old. It’s important that his training is suitable for his growing bones and developing muscles, so as not to cause him any harm or long term damage. So under-saddle work may wait a while, but he has plenty to learn in the meantime: groundwork that will make his training even more effective when’s time to start under-saddle work.
The Minteers will start by evaluating where Sweet Potato is now so they can reinforce his current strengths while developing new abilities. At a pace customized for him, they’ll ensure that the new things he learns on the ground now will serve him well when he’s ready for the saddle. We’ll give you progress reports in the coming months. We were sad to see him go, but are excited to watch as his formal education take him toward adult competence and success. |
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Hint: click on Sweet Potato's photos to take a closer look at them.
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A Short History of the AMERICAN WILD MUSTANG - Part 4
by Mary A. Lainhart
The crowded Bureau of Land Management
Rock Springs, WY Holding Facility 
Scattered across ten western U.S. States are an estimated 26,700 free-roaming wild mustangs and burros according to the BLM estimates March 2015. These animals are located in specific BLM managed roaming areas as shown in the map above. (Click on the map to take a closer look.)
Mustangs running free and born free at the
Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary near Hot Springs, SD |
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