From Trainer Morgan Renslow:
Well I suppose it’s time.
Charlie is a 4 year old BLM Mustang mare. She is about 14.1hh. I picked her up as a wild horse on April 24. I got married the next weekend (I know I know) so I didn’t work with her at all the first week and a half of having her. May 7 was my first day working with Charlie. It is now almost exactly 3 months from that day and here’s what Charlie can do:
-trailer loads (point her that way and click to her and she’ll hop right in on her own)
-w/t/c very respectfully both ways on a lunge line
-responds well to voice ques-pick up all 4 feet and stand for farrier
-stand tied
-stand for brushing, fly spray, and baths-desensitized in all sorts of ways (she 100% thinks I’m crazy)
-goes over different obstacles like bridges, jumps, pedestals, etc.
-forequarter yields and hindquarter yields
-working on side passing now and she’s picking it up super quick
-and yes, she is now under saddle 
we have taken this slow in an effort to keep everything positive. If I’ve learned anything with the mustangs I’ve trained so far it’s that they never forget (make their ears a little bigger and you’d have me convinced they’re mules). So far she rides very well at a walk, steering, stopping, and backing. I have rode her both in my round pen and out on our property. She will need someone experienced to continue her saddle training but she is SO willing.
we have taken this slow in an effort to keep everything positive. If I’ve learned anything with the mustangs I’ve trained so far it’s that they never forget (make their ears a little bigger and you’d have me convinced they’re mules). So far she rides very well at a walk, steering, stopping, and backing. I have rode her both in my round pen and out on our property. She will need someone experienced to continue her saddle training but she is SO willing.And for things that make Charlie uncomfortable, it’s few and far between. But some of them are things coming from the ground straight towards her, things touching her behind her flank when she’s not expecting it, and being bracy for saddle pads (for some reason that’s the scariest thing to domestic life so far). Her reactions to these things are to jump/startle or scoot away from it. Yes, she has bucked before. Once due to me mounting and me accidentally smacking her in the flank with my foot (smart, I know) and the second when asking her to trot and me genuinely not setting her up in a way I should’ve. Let’s remember she’s 3 months out of the wild. We have since worked through these issues.
Charlie is willing, kind, VERY smart (she understands things very quickly) and genuinely enjoys people. I have adored training her. I’ll be honest, some mustangs can make you feel very unsafe. I have never once felt that with her and she has a heart of gold. I’d love to keep her and I’ll be honest, I’m going to be very sad to see her go.
Charlie will be available by auction on August 23rd in Lennox SD at the Dakota Showdown Horse Trainer Challenge.
They are now processing adoption applications and scheduling meet and greets for August 22nd. Fill out your application here: http://dakotashowdown.com/adopt
You can bid online if you can’t be there in person And lastly, thank you Charlie, I’m honored to have been your first human.
Charlie will be available for adoption at the Dakota Showdown Finale on August 23, 2026 in Lennox, South Dakota. Check out http://dakotashowdown.com for more info.