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And training mustangs for the Mustang Makeover is no easy feat.
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She isn’t just another eventer who trains, but she is the is the eventer who trains wild mustangs. Thoroughbreds and mustangs have always been part of my heart.”įrom a business aspect, Wallace said training mustangs has helped her distinguish herself and build her reputation. I always go for the runt or the underdogs. “Mustangs fall in line with thoroughbreds, stereotyped as an underdog and not for what they really are. They are an addition, just like potato chips,” Wallace said. “When you train a mustang, you can never have just one. Although most people think of mustangs falling into western disciplines, she has two that she events on, Eton and Wyeth Today she has five mustangs, and said she tries to train at least one a year to rehome. That was just the start of Wallace’s mustang adoption advocacy efforts. He’s helped me train other horses and is great with children.” We ended up winning the makeover, and he’s just been a priceless horse to have. “He’s probably one of the smartest horses I have ever trained. What am I going to do with it? Then when I picked up Fledge, my first one, I had a really significant connection to him, and about 30 days in, I knew I was not going to be able to part with this 13-hand mustang,” she recalls. “A friend of mine, Rebecca Bowman, had been training mustangs, and there was a competition in South Carolina that she signed me up for. That opportunity presented itself when her two high-level eventing horses were out with injuries 10 years ago. Known for their spirit, it was always on her bucket list to train a mustang.
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Wallace is an advocate for and “collector” of American Mustangs. She said one of her passion projects has helped her learn this lesson. She encourages others to be in the moment. She reminds herself and other riders that a horse can sense if its rider had a bad day at school or work, and therefore needs to set all things aside when he or she gets to ride, train or compete. You can’t let those things transfer to the horse,” she said. Get connected, and don’t let outward things effect you. “I’m not a parent, but I have 24 horses that are very similar to taking care of a room of toddlers,” she laughed as she describes the bickering and the various personalities. As an accomplished equine athlete, trainer and advocate of the underdogs, Wallace said the traits that make a trainer great are perhaps similar to being a great elementary teacher or parent–be patient and listen. However, for equestrian enthusiasts, the language barrier becomes less of a challenge over time, as both the person and the horse speak with their souls.Įlisa Wallace is one such person. It takes a special person to work with a species that doesn’t speak the same language as you do.