Justin Dunn - Training Mustangs

Today, a special treat from the archives of the late Howard Hale.   Our guest today is Justin Dunn. He's a Colorado horseman (now training out of North Carolina). Give us some of your background and how you got started, will you, Justin?    "Started with training other people's horses and found that I had a knack for it. Got into taking people on trail rides down there in South Texas, and then decided to move to Colorado and start a trail ride business here. And on a shoestring budget, couldn't afford a lot of already trained horses. So I got a lot of buckers, biters, bolters, and kickers for free, and started training them and using them in my trail ride business. That just kind of kicked it off."   So you get some of those problem horses to the point where you could use them as trail riding horses for some of the folks?    "Yeah, I have a string of 14 horses, and all of them are either BLM Mustangs or rescue horses or, you know, rejected horses for whatever reason. I take them in, train them, put them in my trail ride business, and we also do a camp for children with cancer, and all my horses are in that too."   Are the Mustangs easier than the problem horses?    "They're probably the easiest horses I've ever trained. I have six of them myself, and I've trained probably 25, 30 other brand new Mustangs. So yeah, they're probably the easiest horse I've ever trained."   Justin Dunn on training Mustangs.    ---   Justin Dunn is a nationally recognized horse trainer and clinician who specializes in working with American Mustangs and rehabilitating horses with behavioral issues. Rather than focusing on traditional Quarter Horse training, his non-traditional approach is distinguished by training entirely without bits, spurs, whips, or horseshoes. American Mustang School: He is the founder of the American Mustang School, which focuses on gentle, natural horsemanship and educating owners on horse psychology.