Horse expert shows crowd at weekend expo how to connect with wild mustang
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RIRIE – The second day of the Teton Horse Experience at the Wind River Arena near Ririe attracted quite a crowd Saturday.
The three-day event kicked off on Friday, bringing horse enthusiasts throughout the intermountain West.
Katie Barnes, who organized the expo with her husband, James, and her friends, Bob and Darci Parry, tells EastIdahoNews.com the purpose of the event is to celebrate the equestrian lifestyle through a series of demonstrations that educate people about the horse-human connection.
“The trainers we’ve chosen have a special connection with the horses and they’re helping riders (and horse owners) connect with the animals,” Katie says.
Multiple vendors are participating as well.
One of the most popular presenters is West Taylor, a horse behaviorist from St. George, Utah. He got in a corral with a wild mustang provided by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and showed those in attendance how to properly engage with a horse and build a relationship without scaring it off. Watch highlights in the video above.
Movies often portray cowboys forcing their way onto a wild horse. It bucks wildly for several minutes as the rider pressures it into submission.
Though that was the model used by the early pioneers, Taylor says his approach, which is based on modern science, requires time and patience. It’s about taking it one step at a time so the horse can learn to trust its trainer.
Saturday’s demonstration was focused on getting the horse to put his head up and look Taylor in the eye.
“I was just trying to engage with him, which comes by being attentive. When he started being attentive to me, it started to relax the neuro-chemicals (in his head that cause stress and fear),” Taylor explains. “We could’ve roped him and held him in place, but he would’ve been stressed beyond his capacity to learn.”
The reasons mustangs exist, according to Taylor, is because the Spaniards brought horses to the American continent on boats in the 1500s. They later sailed back to Spain and left the horses behind.
Many of the mustangs today are direct descendants of those horses from 500 years ago.
That’s part of the allure of owning a mustang, he says.
“America was settled on the backs of horses,” says Taylor. “Having that raw connection to the settlement of America … is really nostalgic.”
While domestic horses have certain characteristics bred in or out of them, Taylor says mustangs have the “raw genetics of toughness and survivability,” which is another reason people like them.
The amount of time it takes before they can be ridden depends on the experience of the trainer.
After 15 years of working with horse owners all over the globe, Taylor says it’s the connection and the relationship he forms with the animals that makes it worthwhile for him.
“I spent five years quietly trying to figure horses out,” he says. “As I was doing that, they were reflecting and showing me everything I was doing that wasn’t working. I was getting beat up, bit, stomped, kicked and chased around … but I eventually found myself and found a way to slow this down.”
Darci and her husband own a small herd of horses in Idaho Falls and they felt an expo like this was needed in eastern Idaho because there isn’t anything like it in the area.
They’re pleased with the turnout and they’re planning to make it an annual event.
“This has been an adventure and the community has been very receptive,” says Darci. “West is so popular here and (we’ll definitely be inviting him back).”
Taylor is one of seven presenters at the event. The final day of the expo is Sunday and will go until 5 p.m. To buy tickets or learn more, click here.