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Mustang trainer readies for national event

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Lynn Decker is preparing for an extreme makeover. Unlike the stylists, carpenters and other designers associated with the TV shows, the Crockett resident is using her horse training skills to tame a wild mustang.
Decker was selected from a field of more than 500 horsemen from across the United States to compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover and Mission 2008: The Yearling Edition to be held Sept. 18-21 in Fort Worth, Texas. She was one of 400 trainers from 39 states and the only one from Virginia tapped in May during a painstaking process.
Trainers will compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover event for $50,000 in prizes at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth. Three- and four-year-old mustangs will be judged on conditioning, groundwork and a “horse course” that requires maneuvers and includes obstacles found in trail and recreational riding situations.
The competing mustangs will be available for adoption through an oral and silent bidding adoption at the center.
The purpose of the competition is to showcase the beauty, versatility and trainability of these rugged horses that roam freely on public lands throughout the West where they are protected by the Bureau of Land Management under federal law. The agency periodically removes excess animals from the range to ensure herd health and protect rangeland resources.
Thousands of removed animals are then made available each year to the public for adoption.
Hearing about the program through a fellow trainer, Decker and her husband, Steve, owners and operators of Dream Weaver Farms, decided to apply. They completed an extensive application and were chosen.
On June 13, the Deckers drove to Illinois to pick up their mustang, which they named Jimbo. They were handed a folder with the animal’s assigned number.
“We had to round him up and load him in our trailer,” Lynn Decker said. “He was much more relaxed than many of the others. I rubbed his face through the fence.”
She noted all 200 mustangs in the competition are uniform in size and age. They are between 3-4 years of age with current vaccinations and hooves trimmed.
With a little over 100 days to completely train the wild horse, Decker busied herself in the process. She began with a literal hands-on approach.
“He responds well to touch,” Decker said. “He had a goofy personality when we got him.”
Steve Decker added, “He didn’t know how to drink from a water trough at first.”
Lynn Decker is totally qualified for the job. Involved with horses all her life, she has been training professionally for three years.
Decker has attended numerous clinics but mainly follows Clinton Anderson and hopes to one day become one of his certified trainers.
The training is going well according to Lynn Decker. She spends six days a week training Jimbo.
“I let him have one day off a week,” she noted. “We do something every other day. I’m riding him now. He has never thrown me.”
As the competition nears, Decker is getting somewhat jittery. She knows her horse well.
“I’m very nervous,” she commented. “Jimbo is not used to crowds and there will be crowds in the arena. There will be a lot of challenges.”
There are three different levels of the competition: Star, Idol and Legend. It’s the Idol level for Decker with a $5,000 award to the winner.
“It will include walking, trot canter in both directions and trail obstacles,” Decker said.
The Deckers hope to bring Jimbo home with them from Fort Worth. With the bidding process often reaching thousands of dollars, they have a limit on how high they can go.
“We would definitely like to keep him,” Steve Decker said. “You can’t help but fall in love with him.”
His wife added, “I get attached to all the horses I train.”
Both noted the entire process is expensive. Gasoline for the trip to Illinois and overnight lodging, feed for the mustang, farrier costs and the trip to Texas, they said, are costly.
“People in town have helped some,” Steve Decker stated. “Farmer’s Milling has helped with the feed and given good advice.”
The Deckers also are seeking sponsors for their project. They would appreciate any donations.
“We would love for people to come by the farm and see Jimbo,” Lynn Decker said.
Dream Weaver Farms is located at 733 Zion Church Road in Crockett. The full-time training center specializes in colt training, problem solving, natural horsemanship, ground work and horse sales.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .