Sam Vanfleet’s Mustangs
by MIRIAM LUCERO with SAM VANFLEET
S
am Vanfleet, I have been watching your videos on you tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVRYCKvZYIw and find you to be an intelligent trainer of Mustangs. Can you describe some of your techniques that you ap- ply when training Mustangs? What is it about the Mus-
tang that you enjoy?
Thank you! Everything I do just revolves around listening to the horse. I don’t have any special techniques or a certain order of exercises to follow, but I do a lot of work at liberty. The work I do isn’t exclusive to mustangs, I use it with all the horses that come in for training. The mustangs have a few quieter days of approach and retreat, getting them used to touch and movement the first few days. They learn my version of roundpenning first which focuses on respect, direction and speed control, and engagement. Once they are starting to hook on and join up, I start working on softening and suppling each section of the horse... from their poll and neck to their hindquarters. They learn to move their hind-end and their shoulder at liberty as well. That’s the very first basic steps I use with most of them. Mustangs are so raw and powerful... they reveal so much about you as a person and help you grow as a trainer. Once you have a mustangs trust, there’s nothing they won’t do for you..
Sam Vanfleet, you compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover 90 day challenge. Would you share with our readers the first 30 days of training, 60 days of training, and 90 days of training?
All mustangs are different. I’ve worked with about a dozen right out of holding... no two were the same. The first 30 days are so important to lay the foundation of trust. But honestly, each horse is on their own timeline a little bit. I’ve had some curious enough to come up to me on the first day, and others where I wasn’t even able to get their necktag off until week two. I try not to set a schedule each month or week of what I need to get done with my horse.
16 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019 I HORSE & AG MAGAZINE
Sam Vanfleet, you have trained many Mustangs and other hors- es. Do you have a favorite story on one that you trained? Share?
I work at a warmblood breeding facility and young horse training center. Although I’ve gentled a lot of mustangs, I’ve worked with many oth- er breeds too. Especially warmbloods! I have some great stories with “problem horses” but one that really stands out is of course about one of my past mustangs.
In 2018 I signed up for the Kentucky Extreme Mustang Makeover. I picked up my horse... a sweet 4-year-old bay mare. Less than a week in, she was cantering around the roundpenning, kicked up, and landed bad on her leg, and she had to be put down. I was devastated... I wasn’t planning on trying to get a redraw because I was just too upset. Eventually enough people pushed me to get a redraw and set up the process of me getting another. I was two weeks behind everyone else, but now I had a 3-year- old strawberry roan mare. I was still upset and just not focused... but this mare, that I named Eevee, really flourished and became something amazing. Just as we were starting to catch up to the other trainers, Ee- vee became really sick. Sick to the point that it was impossible to work
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