Hi, I'm Malinda Bermudez and I'm Dylan's mom. I'm creating this blog to share Dylan's story of adopting and training a wild Mustang. I hope you enjoy following along with us!
Meet Dylan: he's my 13-yr old son who while having grown up around my horses, they just weren't ever his thing and he was nervous around them because of their size. I didn't mind, horses have always been my passion and I never pushed him that direction. He only really caught the horse bug around the age of 10 when he gradually bonded with our aged Curly-Arabian mare Twist. There was a spark between them and she patiently built his confidence with horses and learned the basics of riding. Slowly but surely, and without much involvement from me (mom), Dylan found his own way into horses and when he was 12, I saw that the spark wasn't looking to be temporary. Meanwhile, sweet Twist was entering her twilight and at 28 years old, she has well-earned her retirement. We do have other horses, but they're all advanced seniors. He is still riding and learning from them and I hope he can continue to do so a few more years but all things considered with our aged herd, I'm thinking it's prudent to plan ahead for Dylan's next friend and partner.
Horse prices in recent years have been crazy and frankly, purchasing an experienced kids horse wasn't going to be in the budget anytime soon. My favorite trainer says there's 3 ways to get a well-trained horse: 1. Buy it Trained (too expensive). 2. Pay Someone to Train it. (also out of our budget) or 3. Train it Yourself. I've always been a frugal horsewoman and have traditionally gone with option 3 having trained from scratch 2 of my own horses over the years. As a bonus, training your own inevitably forces you to become a better equestrian and deepens the bond with your horse. So, it was decided, we'll train our own for his next horse. We started daydreaming about who, when, and what breed. I adore my Curlies but with few available and crazy asking prices, that just wasn't going to happen, so I started considering wider options.
Enter the Teens & Oregon Mustangs competition. For those unfamiliar with the program, my short summary is that it pairs untouched mustangs with teens, although there are now many divisions with varying ages and skill levels. Trainers have several months to work with them and then there is a competition to show off what you've accomplished. The goal of the organization is to get mustangs adopted into good homes while giving kids valuable experience and an opportunity to shine. Many horses are auctioned at the end and there are prizes for top placing trainers. See their Facebook page or website for lots of info!
We've followed this amazing group for several years now and it's seemed like a wonderful organization. Additionally, last summer there was a huge roundup of South Steens mustangs which is a well-known herd famous for horses of good quality and as a bonus, colorful. I started pondering letting him apply... Then after several months of consideration last fall, I opened a conversation with him about it. His eyes lit up. We researched and pondered it more. We reached out to a trainer in Molalla who kindly let us visit and ask lots of questions about the program and process. More and more, it was sounding like something we'd like to be a part of. So, for Christmas, I wrapped a calendar by Mustang Meg (an Oregon photographer who takes gorgeous shots of Oregon's wild horses), a framed inspiring photo from my favorite trainer, and a BLM application to adopt a wild horse. He officially had permission to apply to the program. When he opened it, it was a moment I'll never forget and we have a short video of it that I'll cherish always and will also likely always make me tear up.
In January we anxiously watched the social media for the Teens & Oregon Mustangs groups and the evening before we left to go camping I saw that applications were open. We raced through the 19 pages as best we could (as horses are chosen based on order of submission) and sent it in feeling a range of emotions: huge excitement, some tentative thoughts that things happen and maybe we're being nuts taking this on, but mostly, excitement won the day. 'Dream big and work like hell to realize it' has always kind of been my mantra so here we go! His application for the Rookie Youth In-Hand was submitted roughly 2 hours after it opened. He applied to work with a yearling/weanling so it'll be just groundwork and no riding at the competition. This is perfect for him as he's got some good skills with groundwork and he will have time to get more saddle experience while the Mustang grows.
To back up a little, Dylan has developed some solid horsemanship skills in recent years. His little brothers showed serious horse interest and so naturally I couldn't resist getting them a fantastic little Curly pony in May of 2022. Dylan spent a lot of hours training him under my guidance first in groundwork and then to saddle and packing his brothers around. Little Kipper really boosted his confidence with learning how to train and I quickly saw that he has a natural touch with timing and body language.
Although Twist is his first love, Dylan also rides Kea who was the first horse I ever trained. At almost 25, she's come out retirement to help further his skills and I just can't even put into words how amazing it is to watch this horse who I bought as a long yearling and trained from scratch, team up with my kid for new adventures! I may still call Dylan a beginner, but last fall he rode through the mountain trail course with me in Eugene like he was a seasoned pro. We love hitting the trails together!
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