For the second year in a row, the Lewisville Independent School District (ISD) FFA members have become part of the solution for the feral horse problem. Lewisville ISD is a Dallas, TX, suburban school district serving the communities of Lewisville, Flower Mound, the Colony, Double Oak and Copper Canyon. Five FFA members under the leadership of agriculture science teacher and FFA Advisor Melissa Barnett have adopted five horses from the BLM’s Palomino Valley Adoption Center.
The horses were picked up on June 1 at the Pauls Valley, OK, holding facility. Until then, none of the horses had been handled or haltered. Each student is individually preparing their horse for the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s Trainer Incentive Program to be held in Graham, TX, in August 2019.
FFA members participating in the program are: Trevor Moreno, Lewisville FFA; Maddie Trussell, Marcus FFA; Rebecca Wittek, Marcus FFA; Abigail Smith, Marcus FFA; and Bri Gutierrez, Lewisville FFA.
When asked why they were participating in the time-consuming summer program, all the students agreed they wanted to be part of the solution to the transfer of excess feral horses to permanent homes. Individually, they had other reasons.
Rebecca loves to be around horses; Trevor had a bad experience with horses and this is helping him overcome that and learn about horse behavior; Abigail wants to be a certified equine therapy trainer; Bri, who owns other horses, wants to see her horse go to a good home; while Maddie, who has never been around horses, wants to enjoy this great experience.
The training process started with unloading the horses individually in a small pen, where each student began “noodling” their horse with a soft training stick and pool noodle. Once the horses responded to this desensitizing, the haltering process began. After 40 days, all of the horses had been gentled and halter broke to lead so they could back and side pass.
All of the horses now walk, trot and canter on the lunge line. In addition, they trailer load and stand for their feet to be inspected and trimmed. All of the horses go willingly onto the livestock scale to be weighed. This didn’t all just happen overnight. It has taken numerous, twice-a-day training sessions and a lot of sweating in the hot Texas sun.
It is obvious that these horses have bonded completely with their student trainers. Recently, a group training session occurred at the District Project Center where the horses, along with student trainers, were introduced to the current heifer project students and their show heifers. And one would have thought they had all grown up together, with not one visibly upset horse or student.
FFA Advisor Barnett indicated that they will pick up four more horses this fall that will be trained for the Fort Worth Stock Show event in January. — Mike Sommers, retired teacher
