Mustang Magic Champion Honors Little Girl With Health Challenges During FROZEN-Themed Performance

Although Ginger Duke has competed in a number of Extreme Mustang Makeover events, winning the 2015 Mustang Magic champion honors proved special for the Weatherford, TX, trainer. Duke wrapped up a successful show week with a freestyle performance inspired by a young lady who is conquering incredible health circumstances.

Duke appropriately named her assigned Mustang for the invitational event, Britney’s Inspiration, after the girl who contacted her several years ago expressing an interest horses. The 6-year-old palomino mare gathered from Triple B, NV, also known as Inspire, was one of the toughest Mustangs to start thus far for Duke. “The saying goes that the harder ones usually turn out to be the best, and in this case that could not be any truer,” Duke said.  “At first she was so incredibly wild, but as she started to come around and realized that we were not going to hurt her, she became very gentle.”

From the beginning, Duke wanted the young girl to be a part of her Mustang Magic experience.  “Britney was well enough to come out and ride with me, as well as ride Inspire, a little over a month into her training.  From there we decided that if I were to make the finals that we would base it on the challenges she has had to overcome and tell the story through obstacles in the arena named after the top four challenges that she (Britney) has had,” Duke said.

The crowd and judges alike were impressed with Duke and Inspire’s performance that also included trick riding, another one of Duke’s passions. After combining a prior compulsory maneuver score, Duke was crowned champion of the annual Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo event.

“The theme to my freestyle was “They said I couldn’t” and after overcoming the obstacles in the arena, I would stand up in a hippodrome and carry a flag around that said “But I did!” Duke said. Although she had surgery a little over a week prior to the event, Britney was able to attend the freestyle finals and watch Duke and Inspire tell her story. “She fought through the pain to be there, again proving what an amazing, compassionate, determined young lady she is,” Duke added.

Twelve trainers from California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and other states traveled to Texas with Mustangs they had gentled and trained since September of 2014 to compete for their share of $10,000. After four preliminary classes and the top-10 freestyle finals, Sierra Sawaya of Marysville, CA, and Storm Shadow, a 6-year-old black mare, took home reserve champion honors and $2,000 for their efforts. Elisa Wallace and Hwin were named fan favorite for their bareback and bridleless performance by the attending, sold-out crowd.

The competing mustangs were available for public adoption immediately following the freestyle finals.  All of the competing Mustangs were placed into new homes for an average adoption price of $2,100. For complete event and adoption results, visit http://extrememustangmakeover.com/mustang-magic-2/

Presenting sponsors for the 2015 Mustang Magic event were the Mustang Heritage Foundation, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, and Lone Star Ag Credit. The event was also made possible through a partnership with the Bureau of Land Management. Since 2007, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has facilitated the adoptions of more than 5,000 gentled American Mustangs.

The Mustang Heritage Foundation will return to the Will Rogers Memorial Center in September for the Fort Worth Extreme Mustang Makeover. Youth and adult trainers will showcase skills given to wild Mustangs in just 100 days of training. The adult competing Mustangs will also be available to the public for adoption at the conclusion of the event. For more information visit http://extrememustangmakeover.com/extreme-mustang-makeover-fort-worth/.

About the Mustang Heritage Foundation
The mission of the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the goal of the Extreme Mustang Makeover events are to increase the adoption of Mustangs across the country. The Mustang Heritage Foundation created the Extreme Mustang Makeover events to showcase the recognized value of Mustangs through a national training competition. The nonprofit organization also created the Trainer Incentive Program to raise awareness about America’s Mustangs. For more information, visit http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org. 

2015 Extreme Mustang Makeover Events

Date                                                    City, State
March 27-28, 2015                              Doswell, VA
April 24-25, 2015                                 Queen Creek, AZ
May 15-16, 2015                                 Norco, CA
May 29-30, 2015                                 Loveland, CO
June 20-21, 2015                                Reno, NV
July 10-11, 2015                                 St. Louis, MO
July 24-25, 2015                                 Nampa, ID
August 7-8, 2015                                 Topsfield, MA
August 21-22, 2015                             Gainesville, GA
September 10-12, 2015                      Fort Worth, TX