Mary Sue & Kokak Revisiting Red Rock, His Mother’s Wild Home just west of Las Vegas
Training a wild mustang or a wild burro requires a special type of person, one with patience, gentleness and the ability to ‘read’ the wild creature’s signals. Wild ones are extremely intelligent and observant. In the range, they needed to be constantly alert, to quickly make decisions to stay or run, and to trust in the other members of their band. An adopter needs to understand their ways before beginning training.
Joe Camp, Benji’s creator, movie director, and author of the best seller The Soul of a Horse – Life Lessons from the Herd fell in love with and adopted wild horses who taught him to view training through their natural instincts. So much knowledge to explore on his website (thesoulofahorse.com). But begin here: Two Mustangs, Three Mind-Boggling Months
This website, mustangs4us.com/gentling_&_training.htm, will lead you to many more sites and books such as that by Cliff Tipton who says, “Mustangs have a survival instinct. They’ve had to struggle and fight for their food and water all their life…When you train a mustang you’re not domesticating him, you’re becoming his partner. You’re creating a bond.” Wild burro training is featured here too.
Photo by Matt on Okole’s first return to his former home.