Sometimes horses, like people, need a leg up in life. That’s where Joe Misner comes in. Growing up in Alaska for much of his boyhood, the creator and director of the Wild2Ride Academy is no stranger to wild country. These days, in Missoula, Mont., he is offering the only wild horsemanship certification program of its kind anywhere in America.

While appearing as a panelist at the EQUUS International Film Festival four years ago in Billings, Mont., he heard about a horse facing a dire plight. The owner of a green-broke BLM Mustang was leaving town, and with winter just around the corner, he threatened to abandon the hapless colt in the mountain wilderness if someone didn’t come up with a better solution.

For a horseman who likes to live by the motto, “Come on and let me show you,” solutions are easy.

Misner was just starting to work with Melinda Corso and Montana Reins of Hope (MROH) when Janet Rose came to them for help. Rose was organizing a benefit for a local rescue, Horse Haven Montana, and told them how a foster option for the colt, Dante, had proved temporary.

“At that time, Montana Reins of Hope was still early in its formation,” says Corso. “Taking Dante in really solidified MROH’s commitment to the American Mustang.”

Horsemanship That Creates Second Chances

Creating second chances for wild spirits—both horse and human—is what Misner has been doing for the last decade. That has included connecting horses with high-risk youth; working with Wounded Warrior veterans and Mustangs; and offering Rio Cosumnes Correctional inmates in Sacramento, Calif., a certifiable skill after their incarceration while giving wild horses a chance to earn release from their own federal pens.

Misner discovered during his West Coast horsemanship clinics that people wanted to learn what he had to teach. But unless they went to jail, they weren’t finding his unique curriculum.

That’s how the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center Wild Horse Program, developed with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department (one of only five such horse/inmate programs in the country), became the model for the curriculum now offered by Wild2Ride Academy at MROH.

Misner’s program in Sacramento County honed a successful wild horse gentling approach through retreat-pressure-release, which works with an untouched horse’s natural instincts. It also incorporates leadership horsemanship training for people, based on what he calls the five C’s: Calm, Confident, Caring, Clear and Consistent.

And Dante? As MROH’s first rescue horse and four-legged instructor, he has a forever home.

“Dante started it all,” says Corso, who has brought more than 25 years’ experience in children’s mental health and education to her role as Director at MROH. “We can make this world a better place for horses and humans through quality equine education programs that focus on building relationships with horses on a foundation of trust.”

That’s why Misner, considered one of the premier Mustang trainers in the country, is there.

Cross-Fit, Ranch-Style

A veteran of 16 Extreme Mustang Makeovers, with nine Top 10s, and 2014 NORCO Extreme Mustang Makeover champion (with Kenai), Misner has built a 90-day wild horsemanship certification course progressing through six levels.

After completion of a level, students earn a Wild2Ride Academy certificate. At the end of 90 days and all six levels, they are fully certified in the skills necessary to train wild horses.

The name, Wild2Ride, comes from Misner’s experiences in Mustang makeovers since the early days, and from firsthand experience.

“I’ve worked with ‘wild’ men and horses,” he says. “I’ve watched guys who have gone through lots of failures find something to feel passionate about in horses. Here, we teach from the ground up: with a pitchfork, cleaning stalls. I like to call it ‘ranch cross-fitness!’” All joking aside, the program has proven to be transformative for the living creatures that go through it.

“It’s life-changing for everyone,” says Misner. “You can get an organic transformation.”

Wild Horse to Rider Hours Ratio

It starts with his thought-provoking wild horse hours to rider hours ratio.

“Over a year, a horse runs wild for 8,760 hours,” says Misner. “In comparison, 90 days in training adds up to just 60 hours of human interaction.”

That’s 8,700 hours of wild left in an animal apt to behave more like a deer in horse clothing. Take for example a 14-hand, 3-year-old Mustang mare that Misner watched clear a 3-foot fence from a standstill as easily as any whitetail.

“Horsemanship with wild horses is a lot of oxymorons,” he says. “You learn to stay calm but are ready for chaos.”

His 90-day wild horsemanship certification program is also unique in its freedom from traditional semester formats. Applicants do not have to commit 90 days all at once. Like the training approach they hope to learn and apply to horses, students go through the program pressure-free, learning at their own pace.

“One of the most important things about this program is its flexibility,” Misner explains. “You can start any time. You can stop at any point and then come back for more. You can come for a week at a time.” For students learning how to relax a wild horse, it helps to show them they’re not under pressure either.

Riding Forward

Misner is excited to see more students scheduled to enter Wild2Ride Academy through the rest of this year. Two Academy graduates, Hayden Sunshine Kunhardt and John Sullivan (who left a job with the U.S. Forest Service to learn wild horsemanship), have come on board as full-time, paid assistants.

Misner estimates that since 2019, Wild2Ride Academy has seen two dozen burgeoning trainers enter the program and eight complete the full Academy, despite the pandemic.

“I know it sounds crazy, but COVID really got us going,” he says. “It’s been fantastic. People’s lives changed and more of them than ever want new and better connections.”

That’s on top of the hundreds of horses and inmates he estimates he has helped over his five years working with Sacramento County.

“My dad had a saying, ‘Aspire to inspire before you expire,’” he says.

It’s not something the quiet horseman brings up in casual conversation, but the courage and tenacity his own father displayed in life made an indelible imprint.

While born in Minnesota, 57-year-old Misner recalls how his father chose to take his family home to his own roots in Alaska. Misner was still a boy when his father, a heavy equipment operator, sustained a grievous spinal cord injury in an accident.

“My dad is my inspiration,” says Misner. “He was a veteran, and I saw what he went through as doctors held his spine together, as he went into rehabilitation to learn to walk again, and to hold his body upright. He showed me how you can do anything. To keep moving forward.”

A Horse Named Mohican

Another lesson about tenacity came from a “plain brown wrapper” of a Mustang, one of the last to go down the chute and into a BLM pen, who Joe nicknamed Mohican.

Reno, Nev., was where Misner was headed in 2009 to find his second Extreme Mustang Makeover project. He’d finished reserve champion with a horse named Laredo in the previous year’s Western States Mustang Challenge, and 16th nationally. Misner was feeling pretty good about his “formula” for training wild horses within limited timeframes as he stood along the pen watching a new herd of candidates emerge from a trailer.

But it got off to a horrific start. The horse he intended as his makeover candidate “ran right into the fence and broke its neck.”

Next to go was a 5-year-old gelding, taken from the wild a year previously and kept in a holding pen ever since, who was Misner’s resentful replacement. The horse was Mohican.

“He charged and grabbed my chest and front of my shirt as if to say, ‘I have four legs and teeth, and I’m not afraid to use them,’” recalls Misner. “‘Don’t tell me anything. Ask.’”

He had exactly 90 days to ask Mohican for a makeover and to travel from California to Texas to compete together.

For 59 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes, Mohican didn’t offer much progress. On Day 60, Misner mounted up and started riding in the round pen, but couldn’t get the horse that had once galloped free across the prairie to break into a trot.

“I tried one little spank,” he recalls. “He blew up, rolled over on me, and this time, told me if I ever tried that again he’d squash me like a bug.”

With not much progress to show for those last 30 days, Misner resolutely loaded Mohican and began the 1,200-mile trek to Fort Worth. If he was lucky, he imagined the recalcitrant Mustang would only humiliate and not hurt him in front of all those spectators in the Will Rogers Equestrian Center.

“I purposely entered the Intermediate division,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting much.”

Misner certainly wasn’t expecting what came next. If Mohican saw him as one terrible, two-legged predator, the Mustang’s eyes pretty much popped out of its head when he realized there were thousands of such predators outnumbering them in Fort Worth.

“He stayed glued to me,” Misner recalls.

Maybe it was Mohican’s “come to Jesus moment,” but it worked. Man and Mustang finished 8th nationally, while also performing a freestyle Misner could never have predicted with this horse: “It included jumping over a barrel while holding a flag in one hand!”

In the happiest of all endings, Mohican was purchased at the auction following the competition, raising money for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and finding a forever home.

“I told the woman who bought him that he was very … particular,” he says.

Roses From a Devil’s Garden

Horse Illustrated caught up with Misner the same day he was preparing to welcome five new U.S. Forest Service Devil’s Garden Mustang mares—with foals—to MROH.

Named for a 500-square-mile patch of dense brush and jagged stone so inhospitable only “the devil himself” would plant a garden there, the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory lies within Modoc National Forest outside of Alturas, Calif. According to the USDA and U.S. Forest Service, Devil’s Garden is the largest wild horse territory managed by the U.S. Forest Service in size and wild horse population.

“Devil’s Garden Mustangs have proven their adaptability, trainability and versatility since our first adoptions in 2018,” says Misner. “None of this would be possible without Reins of Hope and its 400 acres that house the facility and program. It couldn’t be done without them.”

It allows Misner and Wild2Ride to keep dreaming bigger and better, including filing for nonprofit 501(c)3 status and launching a fundraising campaign, because “we sure need a covered arena during these Montana winters.”

Mustangs need help, too.

“I know I can make a difference,” says Misner. “Mustangs gave me a master’s degree in empathy for horses, and for trying to do better, every day, with what I have to give.”

This September, Misner and his wife of 30 years, Missy, plan to compete a pair of 3-year-old BLM fillies in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth. A teacher for over 20 years, Missy is also curriculum co-creator of the Wild2Ride program.

“She’s been a huge inspiration in my evolution as a natural horseman,” says Misner. “Without her, I’d be a broken-up old bronc rider, for sure.”

Follow Joe and Missy, Wild2Ride, and the Devil’s Garden Mustangs at Montana Reins of Hope (available to forever homes after 90 days training) at www.montanareinsofhope.com and on Facebook @Wild2Ride and @MontanaReinsofHope.

This article about Joe Misner and his wild horsemanship certification program appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Joe Misner and His Wild Horsemanship Certification Program appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed nearly everything about life as we know it: How we worked, how we shopped, how we interacted with others and, for many, how we prioritized what was important. Though most of us are still finding our way back to “normal,” there are some things that have shifted permanently.

The equine industry wasn’t immune to these pandemic-induced fluctuations, and things changed in ways no one could have predicted: lesson programs are booming, adoption organizations can’t keep horses in stalls, and the market for a quality horse (or even not-so-quality!) is through the roof.

The Farm Labor Shortage

And yet, even with all these positives, the industry is still on the edge of a crisis. Farm and barn owners throughout the country can’t find enough staff to keep their operations running smoothly, no matter what they offer in the form of pay or incentives.

Post-COVID, a combination of factors has contributed to the labor shortage in the equine economy (and most other agricultural industries). These include older employees opting to retire rather than go back to work; the return of many immigrant workers to their home countries; the reluctance of young people to enter any equine- or ag-related field; and people realizing that they don’t want the always-on lifestyle many equine jobs require.

Unlike businesses that handle non-living commodities, the lack of labor could have a direct effect on horse health and welfare. Farm employees can’t simply check on the horses and their water buckets via Zoom; a domesticated horse’s very survival is dependent on humans to show up and care for him.

This workforce crisis has forced the equine industry to expand their search for workers. One farm in the heart of horse country is using a unique method to staff their farm and barns—and changing lives in the process.

A Family Affair

Family owned and operated since 1976, Taylor Made has grown from a small boarding farm to a powerhouse in the Thoroughbred industry, selling more Thoroughbreds at public auction than any other sales agency in the world.

Overseen by brothers Duncan, Ben, Mark and Frank Taylor, the 1,100-acre farm is home to more than 500 horses and encompasses a breeding facility, a boarding facility for mares, and a nursery for foals. As the farm has grown, so has its need for additional workers. In the past, the farm has had no problem attracting staff who were eager to work in the horse world. However, their search, like many other farms in these challenging times, often comes up short.

An additional concern, though seemingly unrelated at the time, was the meteoric rise in addiction—the exact opposite of the trajectory of available farm workers. In 2021, it was estimated that approximately 20 million individuals in the United Stated had a substance use disorder; nearly one in 10 people have battled some form of addiction, reports the Recovery Research Institute. People in recovery fight many battles, a major one being that many have served jail time, which is an additional strike against them when they apply for jobs or even places to live.

With a family member battling addiction, Frank Taylor was thrown headfirst into the world of recovery. Aware of the skyrocketing addiction problem, he became acquainted with the Shepherd’s House in Lexington, Ky., a unique, long-term residential recovery program that focuses heavily on full-time employment and a structured environment to assist recovering males in their quest to regain control over their lives. The Shepherd’s House promotes personal responsibility, accountability, and fellowship, teaching residents life skills that will allow them to commit to a sober life.

The Shepherd’s House’s mission resonated deeply with Frank, whose dedication to work and to his family and friends shapes everything he—and Taylor Made—does. The more involved with the Shepherd’s House he became, the more resolute he became in his conviction that Taylor Made could help people in recovery at the same time they were helping themselves. The seed for the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship was planted.

An Innovative Approach

When Frank approached the Shepherd’s House with the idea of bringing men in active recovery onto the farm and teaching them the skills they would need to get a job once they graduated from recovery, CEO Jerod Thomas was all in. Thomas was not a stranger to horses, but he is the first to mention that Frank is the brains behind the equine side of the program.

“I know that any time you work with any animal, [such as] horses or dogs, there’s a therapeutic piece that’s calming and forces people to take responsibility,” he explains.

This program, the duo hoped, would be beneficial for everyone involved. But first it had to pass muster with the other Taylor brothers—not an easy sell. When Frank approached his brothers with his idea, they were initially hesitant; they were fearful that their horses or people would get hurt, or that the men would use drugs on the farm. Frank convinced them to give the pilot program a try, and if at any time their fears were founded, the program would be disbanded.

Thomas pulls no punches when he explains how people with addiction think.

“You can drop a drug addict in Atlanta [or any major city] in the dead of winter in a pair of shorts and he will find a way to get a car and get drugs,” he says. “The key [to the success of this program] was getting [people with addiction] to use their survival skills as work skills. If you can get that determination channeled into a work ethic, these guys can outwork anyone.”

That work ethic, by its very definition, is what the horse world is looking for.

But there are many more facets to a successful recovery than simply buckling down and working hard: it’s necessary for those in recovery to learn or re-learn life skills and emotional management.

“If you give these guys a job and daily living skills, there is not one thing they can’t do,” says Thomas. This innate belief in the value of those in recovery comes through in everything Thomas and the Shepherd’s House does. Frank was also able to see past the societal stigma and recognized that what these men needed was simply another chance—and COVID, and the resulting labor shortage, was going to give it to them. Partnered with the Shepherd’s House, the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship gives program participants 90 days of instruction on the ins and outs of the handling, care, and management of horses, after which men can be hired on full-time at Taylor Made or one of the other farms in the bluegrass. Shepherd’s House residents are paid through the Kentucky Career Center.

Though the original plan was to have groups of three to five men with six to nine months of sobriety under their belts at a time on the farm, the Taylor Made team has discovered that if they hire people as they come and base the program on individuals rather than on a timeline, the program works better. Thus far, over half of the men who have graduated from the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship have been hired on as full-time farm staff.

Firsthand Experience

Josh Bryan was employed full-time with Taylor Made when he entered the Shepherd’s House with Frank’s support in 2020. Always a valuable farm employee, Josh became Frank’s right hand when it came to conceptualizing and launching the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship; someone who was in active recovery and also knew the inner workings of the farm proved invaluable.

“Hard work is a good way to keep the mind occupied, and horses are very therapeutic,” says Bryan. “We’ve found that guys who complete the program have grown in body, mind and spirit.”

One example of how well the Horsemanship School is working is Drew (last name withheld for privacy).

“He started with us a few months after the program was up and running,” says Bryan. “He has put his whole heart and soul not only into the farm and the horses he takes care of, but also into his recovery. When he first got to the farm, he was broken in all areas: mentally, physically and emotionally. As he got some horse experience under his belt, he fell in love with the work and developed a sense of pride and ownership in the horses. Now a full-time team member, Drew is running his own barn and he continues to grow all the time. He has a bright future ahead of him, not only at the farm, but also in his recovery.”

Drew and the other men in the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship gain a new sense of purpose through their work.

“They become part of the family,” says Bryan. “They grow in all aspects of their lives. They develop a great work ethic and become very grateful and humble to come to work every day and have the opportunity to work for what they earn.”

This sense of camaraderie and fellowship is integral to how the Shepherd’s House operates—but this sense of teamwork is also essential for any farm to operate smoothly.

“We have big dreams for where the program is going,” says Bryan. “Our long-term goal is to make this type of program available nationwide—even worldwide. We are here to help as many people as possible.”

The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic are sure to be felt for years to come, but not all of them are negative. The opportunity for those in recovery to receive a second chance at meaningful employment—and for the equine industry to gain willing, capable workers—is truly game changing. Those of us lucky enough to love horses know how these creatures can heal so many things, people and economies included.

In Their Own Words

“The Taylor Made School of Horsemanship gave me something I never knew I was missing in life: An opportunity at a job that doesn’t feel like work. No medicine could replace what the horses do for me. [The school has] also given me a work ethic that has spilled over into all kinds of areas of my life, for which I am very thankful.” — Hunter B.

“Peace, watching the sun rise, humbleness, working with horses, and serenity when I pray before bed.” — Drew M. on what the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship has brought him.

“It has provided an opportunity for me to change my life with teaching me such an amazing trade. Two years ago, I was homeless, living in the woods with no future. Now I’m blessed to be working with Thoroughbred horses. It’s helped give me a sense of purpose and given me the ability to have goals; with Taylor Made’s help, I will reach them. I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity to be a part of this program. It’s really helped save my life.” — Kaleb B.

The Taylor Made School of Horsemanship has “made my life in recovery enchanted; I also loved horses. God saw fit to place Taylor Made farm in my life. The impact has changed my life. [I am] so blessed.” — Jeremy J.

This article about Taylor Made School of Horsemanship appeared in the April 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post The Taylor Made School of Horsemanship Aids in Recovery appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.