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The Mustang Challenge
How one woman and one wild horse proved that you can win with kindness
Story and Photos by Molly Wald
A small, red-haired woman full of grit and determination stands before a corral in Wyoming. She is here to pick up her mustang, pulled from the wild winds of the prairie to compete with her in the 2008 Wyoming Mustang Challenge. "Here's your horse, Laurie," she hears, and turns, envisioning the gleaming steed we all think of when we think about a wild mustang.
A small, dirty black animal darts before her instead. His eyes are wide with fear, and his lips are trembling as he slams his body into the corral walls trying to get out. He is known as Number 2982, or Scarface, because of the scars running up and down his muzzle. The horse is forced through a chute and into a trailer, and runs, quite literally, into Laurie Kampfers life.
Thus begins the story of Kampfer and her mustang challenge - the incredible transformation of Number 2982, described as "the second-rankest horse" when he was captured from a herd running wild near Bags, Wyoming, in September 2007. Today, he is Two Socks, a horse Kampfer describes as "calm and content, very sweet." Kampfer, who retired from fundraising in the nonprofit world five years ago, now spends her time training horses. She has trained eight mustangs, but describes Two Socks as "the wildest thing I have ever had."
The Mustang Challenge, co-sponsored by the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is one way for the BLM to promote its Adopt-A-Horse program. Since 1971, the BLM has managed the wild herds and rounds up horses from the range to keep them at holding facilities around the country until they are adopted. But these days, fewer people are adopting the horses, and the facilities are running out of money. At the same time, the herds on the range are doubling every four years and, if left unchecked, could die of hunger and thirst. On June 30 of this year, the BLM announced it might have to euthanize leftover mustangs to control the herd population, triggering a huge public outcry.
Meanwhile, the Mustang Challenge promotes these adoptable horses by assigning them to trainers. They have 90 days to prepare each horse for competition that highlights the gutsy temperament and incredible athleticism of the American mustang. After the event, the horses are auctioned off to qualified adopters.
"It's sad for me, the plight of the wild mustang," says Kampfer. "There isn't enough land available for them, and if there is, it doesn't have any grass on it. I admire the fact that the BLM has this program and they're promoting the mustang. So many horses may not end up with a good life, so this was a chance to try to help one. I felt like I could do something - I could help one mustang get a better life."
For the first month, Two Socks was untouchable. "For a while there, I thought I was going to have to take him back," says Kampfer. "He was incredibly scared. So scared that his bottom lip would tremble. He was so afraid of people - he truly had no confidence and no trust. But once he realized I wasnt gonna eat him, he just ... he changed." The magic happened when, after a month, Kampfer was able to halter Two Socks. His eyes softened and his lip stopped trembling. The training process was about to begin.
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