In 2022, Lydia Dedera (then Lydia Cotterell) found herself in a tough situation. She’d entered a Mustang adoption competition, and the horse she was working with struggled with aggression. A red roan gelding from Oregon’s Stinkingwater herd, Rojo Rogue wanted nothing to do with Dedera. When trying to gentle him, she’d almost been kicked, bitten, and pinned to the ground.

“There were times where I, in the moment, I thought I was going to lose my life,” Dedera says.

She wasn’t sure if she and the gelding could successfully move forward, but she didn’t want to give up. Rojo needed her to help him find a home.

Rojo Rogue as a new arrival settling into his gentling pen before starting training with Dedera. Photo by Lydia Dedera’s Horse Training

Challenging Choice

Dedera never owned a horse as a child, but she grew up going to horse camp. At 15, she accepted a job as a stable hand. There, she discovered she enjoyed working with horses. If she found a one with a problem, she searched for an answer. She started helping friends and acquaintances with their horses, but she didn’t consider herself a trainer.

Dedera didn’t realize Mustangs existed until she stumbled across a video about them on social media. Intrigued by the video and encouraged by friends and family, she entered a local Mustang adoption challenge when she was 19. That’s where she met Rojo.

When her turn to choose a horse for the competition came, she remembers feeling called to select Rojo, so she did. But despite her initial confidence in the selection process, her first encounters with Rojo discouraged her.

After multiple close calls, Dedera desperately searched for a way to establish trust with him. This led her to a revelation: She realized she viewed herself as a stable hand who wanted to be a horse trainer but didn’t feel qualified. She felt out of her element and even awkward, and she wondered if Rojo felt the same about his current situation.

“I chose him when nobody else did; he wasn’t chosen for another competition, and he was one of four horses left,” Dedera recalls. “I truly felt like I was his last chance.”

She returned to Rojo with a renewed commitment, proceeding only as his comfort level allowed. As she gained his trust, his aggression stopped. Dedera continued his training by using positive reinforcement and approach-and-retreat methods. Eventually, Rojo’s fears faded away, and the two formed a relationship built on trust and respect.

The Four Wins

As of March 2024, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) report estimates that there were around 5,154 wild horses and burros in Oregon, but the number of wild horses and burros the state can sustainably support is closer to 2,700.

BLM’s website explains, “Because wild horses and burros are federally protected and lack natural predators, the BLM must manage population growth to ensure healthy wild horses and burros thrive on healthy public rangelands.” Placing wild horses and burros in qualified homes through adoption is one of several management methods.

Erica FitzGerald is the president and founder of Teens and Oregon Mustangs, an organization that matches trainers with wild Mustangs to promote their adoption. It’s through this program that Dedera found Rojo.

For every competition Teens and Oregon Mustangs puts on, FitzGerald aims to accomplish what she calls “four wins.” Those are:

◆ Find the Mustangs entered in the competition good “forever homes.”

◆ Help the trainers develop better horsemanship.

◆ Reduce the number of Mustangs in BLM holding pens.

◆ Provide buyers with solid horses that have fantastic foundations.

FitzGerald says Dedera (who competed in the adult division) checks all of those boxes.

“All those wins are met with Lydia for sure, and that’s our mission,” she says.

By the competition date, Dedera and Rojo had formed a partnership that made it possible for them to compete in what became Dedera’s first horse show. They entered the ridden division of the challenge, where they placed 2nd in the Novice Trail class and 12th overall. But more importantly, Rojo sold for $9,000 to a home where Dedera continues to work with him.

Dedera and Rojo competing together at the Teens and Oregon Mustangs competition. Photo by Jenn Koenig Photography

When Rojo left the competition with his new owner, a flood of feelings rushed over Dedera.

“I remember loading him up in his new family’s horse trailer and fighting tears,” she says. “I handed his owner a bag of his favorite treats, and when I turned around, the whole stable was empty. I had a hard time knowing what to do with myself for the remainder of that day, but I also felt a strong sense of completion.”

Transforming Lives

Rojo’s adoption marked the beginning of what has become a yearly project for Dedera. Her second year competing with Teens and Oregon Mustangs introduced her to a South Steens Herd Management Area (HMA) Mustang, Firefly, that she kept after the competition.

Lydia Dedera and her personal Mustang, Firefly. Photo by Jenn Koenig Photography

In 2024, Dedera helped her entry, a Palomino Buttes HMA gelding named Simba, not only find a home, but also become one of the highest-selling horses in the program’s history, with a sale price of $34,000.

FitzGerald explains that Dedera’s work with the Mustangs she trains makes them into family horses, which helps them find forever homes.

“She puts a solid foundation on her horses and makes them really adoptable,” she says.

At home, Dedera works with all breeds of horses, but Mustangs are her favorite. She’s trained eight from the wild, and estimates that she has worked with more than 100 Mustangs in total. Her experience with Rojo taught her the value of instilling trust and respect in all of the horses she trains.

“If I can get a horse, a Mustang, to trust me as its friend, as its leader, and to want to be with me and to want to please me, then I can do anything with that horse,” Dedera says.

While it’s clear the Mustangs Dedera works with undergo transformations, those horses have transformed Dedera’s life, too. She explains that her faith encourages her to pursue qualities like patience, diligence, integrity and purposeful living in her daily life. Dedera says God has used Mustangs to grow her in those very areas.

“When you’re studying an animal and you’re helping him become his best, you can’t help but look on the inside as well,” she says.

Dedera isn’t certain what the future holds, but she thinks it will be exciting. She can see herself continuing to teach lessons, train horses and compete, but she would also love to start traveling and performing with Mustangs.

Wherever she goes and whatever she does, the uncertainties of yesterday are gone, and the promise of tomorrow looks bright. And today, in the present, Dedera confidently calls herself a horse trainer.

This article about Lydia Dedera appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!