News Release

For Release:  March 25, 2008       
Contact:   Jeff Fontana (530) 252-5332
CA-N-08-33

Alturas Horse Trainer Working with Wild Horse for Mustang Challenge Competition

Destry Campbell, a horse trainer from Alturas, recently received a bay gelding mustang from the Coppersmith Herd Management Area, officially numbered 05218365, from the Bureau of Land Management as the first step in the Western State Mustang Challenge. 

Campbell is one of 30 specially selected Challenge horse trainers from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona who have 90 days to gentle and train their assigned mustangs in the competition.  Campbell will compete for a part of the $7,500 purse at the Mustang Challenge, which is a new addition to the 10th Annual Western States Horse Expo being held at Cal Expo in Sacramento on June 6-8.

Judges will evaluate each horse and trainer on conditioning, groundwork and how the horse maneuvers through an obstacle “horse course,” which simulates trail and recreational riding situations. The public is invited to participate in adopting one of the Mustang Challenge competition animals June 8.

The Western States Mustang Challenge is a spin-off of the highly successful Extreme Mustang Makeover held last year in Fort Worth Texas.  The Mustang Heritage Foundation in partnership with BLM created the events to highlight the value of American mustangs and showcase the beauty, versatility, and trainability of these living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the American West.

Wild horses and burros are managed in California in accordance with the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. This act gave the Bureau of Land Management the responsibility to protect wild horses and burros while ensuring their populations are managed to maintain or restore a thriving ecological balance.

For more information, visit http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html or call 866-4MUSTANGS.

-BLM-