[139] Mustangs Take Center State This Weekend at MTSU's Miller Coliseum

FOR RELEASE: Oct. 20, 2011
CONTACT: Dr. Patrick Kayser, 615-494-8849

Mustangs take center stage this weekend at MTSU’s Miller Coliseum
MURFREESBORO—This Friday through Sunday, Oct. 21 and 22, there will be an “Extreme Mustang Makeover” at MTSU’s Tennessee Miller Coliseum to showcase the beauty and versatility of this rugged horse.
All events are free and open to the public, excluding the Saturday night Top 10 finals performance. Tickets to that event are $15.
Hollywood westerns have helped the mustang become a symbol for America as the vanguard of freedom, strength, determination and hope. Considered by devotees to be tough and hardy, Mustangs endure the extremes of the summer and winter seasons as well as the ongoing threat of starvation.
“The adaptability of these horses and what they can do in the right hands is unbelievable,” said Patti Colbert, director of the Mustang Heritage Foundation. “If you have the patience to work and make a connection, then it seems that mustangs give up everything. They become training partners.”
The Texas-based foundation, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, created the Extreme Mustang Makeover event to highlight the value of the horses through a national training competition. Over the course of 100 days, trainers—many of them local—work with these previously wild horses to transform them into trained mounts.
On Sunday, attendees will be able to enter competitive bidding to adopt the participating horses.
Mustangs virtually have no natural predators, and, therefore, their population is growing by 20 percent each year, according to information released by the Bureau of Land Management.
“We’ve got to decrease that number,” said Dr. Patrick Kayser, MTSU professor of equine health and reproductive physiology and coach of the University’s Stock Horse Team. “The Extreme Mustang Makeover is an important event to increase the amount of adoptions for mustangs.” Kayser is one of three judges for the competition.
The highlight of the weekend will be Saturday’s finale, organizers said.
“There are some stunts that they pull that I’m not going to do on my horse, let alone on a mustang,” Kayser said, adding that he has seen a mustang leap onto a moving wagon and a rider jump from a trampoline onto the saddle and dunk a basketball in between. “There is something about a mustang that will make a warm spot in your heart,” he added.
For more information about the Extreme Mustang Makeover, including times of events, visit the Mustang Heritage Foundation website at http://www.extrememustangmakeover.com/emmtennessee.php, or contact the Tennessee Miller Coliseum staff at 615.494.8961.
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