How to train your dragon: A story of fire and ice

They arrived at Kalispell’s Freedom Ranch last week as horses 5867 and 5852. Stepping off the trailer skittish, wild and nameless, the mustangs now known as Dragon and Champagne on Ice represent opportunities for trainers Stacia Stevens and Tenaya Welsh to showcase their skills as part of the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s Extreme Mustang Makeover.

Over the next 100 days, Stevens and Welsh will work with their horses several times a day, hoping to complete their transformation from wild to mild before hopefully making the trip to Oklahoma for a competition in August.

“It’s not just training. We basically have to turn them into show horses with the capability to do several fancy maneuvers and tricks,” Stevens said about the competition. “It’s an honor to be the first people to work with these horses. We are the predators and they are the prey and we are trying to negotiate a deal for them to trust us. It’s all about that trust.”

An animal lover since early childhood, Stevens has been training horses for more than 30 years and will be competing in the challenge for the second time. She finished in the top 20 in 2008 and had no plans to return for a second shot at the title until she met Welsh, a local high school student with horse training dreams of her own.

“She is the reason I am doing this again. I want to help her grow because I believe she is going to be our next great horse trainer,” Stevens said of Welsh. “Not everyone should just jump in front of a wild mustang. Not everyone has the heart, desire, compassion and willingness to go through the trials to get to the rewards, but Tenaya is definitely someone who will put in the work.”

At age 15, Welsh has been working with horses for more than half of her life.

She began riding with her mom and one of her coworkers at age six, but soon decided she wanted to work with the coworker’s most stubborn horse. Through hard work and dedication, Welsh was able to gentle the horse, Buck, and wound up riding him for the next eight years.

With dreams of becoming a professional horse trainer, Welsh has spent the last year learning from Stevens, working alongside her and gleaning knowledge as the pair works with troublesome horses for numerous clients. When the chance came to take on the challenge of the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Welsh jumped at the opportunity.

“Horses are loveable and, when you train them right, they can do amazing things,” she said. “Horses are gentle and majestic, which makes me want to work with them that much more. This is my opportunity to take a horse and truly make it my own.”

THE MUSTANGS competing in the Extreme Mustang Makeover challenge are virtually untouched prior to pickup. They are horses that once roamed free on public lands protected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program periodically thins the herd from the range to ensure herd health and protect rangeland resources. Thousands of the removed animals are then made available each year to the public for adoption or purchase.

At the end of the competition, Stevens’s horse will be put up for auction in a fundraiser for the event while Welsh will be allowed to keep her mustang.

When the day came last week to make the 1,300-mile round trip to pick up their mustangs from the BLM in Burns, Oregon, it did not take long for Welsh to find the yearling she wanted. Standing apart from the others was the Mustang that would soon come to be known as Dragon, sweet but stubborn, and 500 pounds of pure muscle.

“She was a fire-breathing dragon when we met her, but we fell in love with her immediately,” Welsh said.

Stevens, likewise, did not take long to find her pick, a uniquely colored mare who has become known as Champagne on Ice due to her interesting coloration.

Back at Freedom Ranch, the training did not get off to a perfect start for the pair as Dragon, not liking being away from his herd for the first time, got stuck trying to climb under the fence. Champagne on Ice easily cleared the paneling in her enclosure on her first day, but all that was long behind them by Saturday, just four days later.

A trip to Freedom Ranch Saturday found Dragon following Welsh’s every move, hoping for a pat and a hug as the pair worked together. Champagne on Ice was just as calm, if not more so as she eagerly accepted the scratching of her hindquarters from Stevens.

To the casual observer, it would be hard to believe the two horses were running wild and untouched just a few days prior.

According to Stevens, it took just a few hours for Dragon to truly attach to Welsh while the process took less than an hour with her and Champagne on Ice.

“It’s mind boggling to see the kind of progress they have made with these horses in just four days,” said Cori Malloy, a friend and client who made the trip to Oregon with the pair to pick out their horses. “It’s been amazing to be alongside them during this journey and to see how quickly the horses are coming along.”

The pair will continue to showcase their progress on Facebook as the 100-day training period continues. Updates can be found by searching for Gentle Persuasion Horse Training.

As for now, the duo of Stevens and Welsh intend to enjoy the process.

“It really depends on your horse and your knowledge. There are very tough horses that you can just get through it, but there are also good horses that will allow you to enjoy the process. After 30 years of doing this, I feel that I have a pretty good process in place,” Stevens said. “Each animal is different, just like people. Some horses can handle the pressure of training and others can’t. I’m confident we will find just what we were looking for in these two horses.”

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com