‘Like losing the mountains’

Andrew D. Brosig
Posted 10/23/19

There’s nothing as iconic in western history as the horse.

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‘Like losing the mountains’

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LINGLE – There’s nothing as iconic in western history as the horse. 

The horse is so much a part of Wyoming and the west that, as early as 1918, National Guard troops and the University of Wyoming alike were using images of a bucking horse and rider on their uniforms. 

But the history of horse culture in the west goes back even further, long before the first white settlers moved into the territory. Those first horses, utilized and treasured by the early native residents of the area, were one of the most important building blocks of those civilizations.

While threatened by government regulation and overpopulation, a piece of that history is alive today in the herds of wild mustangs which dot the landscape. And one eastern Wyoming woman has made the wild mustangs a big part of her life’s work.

Stephanie Goulart and her daughters, Alicia and Adahline, work and ride both mustangs and domestic horses. 

Modern-day wild horses are a genetic amalgamation of those first ponies ridden by native peoples, horses brought in by earlier Spanish groups and the domesticated work horses of the first white settlers. The draft horses which helped white families tame the west interbred within herds of the mustangs, introducing the traits such as heavy bones and sturdy frames which make the Wyoming wild horse so well adapted to the challenges of the terrain, the Goulart’s said.

“Wyoming (wild) horses tend to be a little bit more big-boned, a little more stocky, really good for this area,” Stephanie said. “It’s the rockiness of the terrain – the up-and-down is very difficult. Wyoming horses are so stocky, so big-boned, they excel in that environment, just because they’re built for it.”

The Goulart’s got their first real introduction to mustangs through another horse training family, the Mantle’s of Wheatland. Alicia “got a bit of info about the mustangs and decided to give it a try,” she said.

‘A bad rap’

One of the first challenges they faced was the bad reputation that has followed mustangs for decades among the equine community. Ever since the federal Bureau of Land Management began making wild horses available for adoption, they’ve carried a stigma that is only now beginning to be overcome.

“I think, in the last five years, mustangs have gotten a better rep,” Stephanie said. “More trainers have come out and are starting to work with them more.

“They’re not for everyone. You’re not dealing with somebody’s barn pet.You’re dealing with an animal that’s been in the wild.”

It’s that very wild-ness which, in most cases, makes the mustangs so useful and attractive to some people, the Goularts said. Historically, the mustangs were the preferred mount of the Pony Express riders, Alicia said. Hardy and bred for the difficult terrain and weather in the western mountains and plains, the mustangs could outlast and outdistance domesticated horses, she said.

And, in many cases, they still do. Alicia recalled a mustang she used to ride barrels, for example. She didn’t look like what many expect a mustang to look like, though, due to the variety of blood lines which went into the makeup of the current wild horse herds today.

“She did very well at it,” Alicia said. “She’s not only fast, but she’s athletic and can make those tight turns as well as the professional barrel horses.”

Stephanie agreed: “Most people didn’t have a problem (with Alicia’s horse) until they found out it was a mustang. Then, they were, ‘Oh, really?’ But you just get that.”

Differences

Alicia was so enamored with the mustangs, after working a few years primarily with their own horses, she opened her own Mustardseed Horse Training business from their property west of Lingle.

“I started learning a little more about the mustangs and how they differ (for training purposes) from domestic horses,” Alicia said. “The difference is they’re wild, so they’re afraid of everything. You have to teach them not everything is going to eat them.”

Once she makes inroads past their ingrained “fight-or-flight” responses, Alicia said the mustangs “are actually more disrespectful than a domesticated horse – they’ll bite you, kick you, try to charge you.”

It’s all a battle for dominance, she said, identical to the conflicts for leadership in the horse’s natural herd structure. Establishing herself at the top of that pecking order is the second thing Alicia has to overcome during training.

“You need to teach them, ‘I am the boss, I will protect you,’” she said. “You have to be the boss. With every (horse) here, I am the lead mare.”

But, in some ways, the wild horses are easier to train than their domesticated cousins, Alicia said. They’ve not been taught bad habits, some ingrained, from years of being around humans. The only habits the mustangs have are those needed to survive in the wild.

“It’s so much easier, because they don’t know anything,” Alicia said. “The only thing they know is what their mothers and the herd has taught them during their years being out in the wild.”

And, whether mustang or domestic, Alicia prefers an “untouched” horse, one not worked with by other people. That way, she doesn’t have to unteach bad habits before instilling the training she’s aiming for, she said.

When training any horse, too, they get their domesticated horses into the mix. Particularly with the mustangs, the presence of an already-trained, calm older horse helps overcome the fear instinct, Alicia said.

“It’s all about touching them, teaching them not everything that touches them is going to hurt them,” she said. “It’s building blocks, basically.”

‘Pure horse’

Stephanie shared her love of horses with her daughters, a love she developed growing up around them in Santa Clara, Calif., she said. The family was finally able to have a horse after moving from California to Wyoming about 16 years ago and the family passion grew from there.

“They’re kind of like potato chips – you can’t have just one,” Stephanie said. “The cheapest part of owning a horse is the purchase price.”

That’s particularly true of the mustangs, which can be adopted for an average of $125 each through periodic Bureau of Land Management sales. For the Goulart’s, though, the horses are more than just “barn pets.

“They’re more like companions,” Alicia said. “A companion would be, ‘You’re working for me, but you’re still – you’re kind of my get-away when I need it.”

Stephanie agreed: “And the mustangs are so honest. They will teach you more than domestics.

“When we first got into the mustangs, a lot of people told us we weren’t going to like them because they’re stupid, they’re in-bred, they’re this, they’re that,” she said. “We’ve found the exact opposite. We’ve found they’re incredibly intelligent, almost to the point they will outsmart you, every time.”

Today, Stephanie, Alicia and Adahline can be found participating in Wyoming Pony Express re-enactment events, at the Casper Stampede or at other events revolving around horses. They have some strong, personal opinions about the future of the wild mustangs they love under the control of the Bureau of Land Management, believing in many cases, the private sector would be better equipped to ensure the future survival of those wild herds.

For survive they must, the Goulart’s said. The mustang is such a part of western history, their disappearance is almost unthinkable.

“It would be similar to destroying a national monument,” Alicia said. “It would be gone. There’s no way to bring it back, no way to rebuild that national monument.

“They fit into the land – They are the land, she said. “They’re like a puzzle piece – you take that piece out and your puzzle is going to be unfinished.”

“If you take out the mustang, you’re going to take out a lot of the history – you lose that history,” Stephanie said. “There’s something about a herd of wild horses running in the landscape of Wyoming that you’re going to stop and say, ‘Wow.’ If you don’t have that anymore, you’re going to lose the beauty of the west. Wild horses have always been here.

“It would be like losing the mountains.”