At first, Indigo didn’t want anything to do with Jennifer Steager and classmate Whitney Mahloch, who have been taming and training the wild mustang since early March.
Slowly, the yearling warmed up to his doting human handlers, and by Thursday, it was clear a close bond had formed between Steager and Indigo, or “Indy” for short.
The 32-year-old Steager, an equine training and instruction major at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, decided she couldn’t live without the now playful, affectionate yearling. “I fell in love with him,” said Steager, who moved to Terre Haute from California about three years ago.
She’s adopted the black stallion, one of nine male mustangs that found a temporary home at the college through a partnership with the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Save the Mustangs program. This is the fourth year the college has participated in the program.
Federal protection and a lack of natural predators have resulted in a thriving wild horse population that increases every year. The mustangs at The Woods were rescued from Wyoming, Florida and Montana.
A symbol of American history, wild horses are descendants of animals released by or that escaped from Spanish explorers, ranchers, miners, U.S. cavalry or Native Americans.
The Woods’ equine studies program receives the horses at no cost, and students work closely with the wild horses as part of a training and handling class. The goal is to find good homes for the horses.
Five of the mustangs (including Indigo) had been adopted as of Thursday, and four others were taken to a fostering facility in Brazil on Friday.
This summer, Indigo will remain at the Woods, where Steager plans to work. By next fall, she’ll find another home for her guy.
“I’ve always wanted a mustang,” she said Thursday as she prepared for a practical skills final with Indigo as part of the freshman-level training and handling class.
Steager wasn’t worried about how the mustang would perform on the practical skills final. “He knows what he needs to do,” she said. “I’m more nervous I’ll cue him wrong.”
She talked affectionately to the horse she’s adopted. “I have you all over me,” she said to Indy, who is shedding his fuzzy, black winter coat. Part of that fuzzy coat was on her.
As the students and mustangs waited for their turn during the practical skills final, equine studies major Lauren Nelson started teasing Indigo’s forelock so that he had a puffy hairdo.
“I hope it stays fluffy,” Nelson said. “I think there’s a curly gene in him.”
Nelson and a classmate worked with a chestnut-colored mustang they named Code Red. “It has been a challenge, but a lot of fun and a very rewarding experience,” said Nelson, a freshman from Carmel. “Red” has come a long way, but “he’s a fighter. He’ll fight you every step of the way,” Nelson said.
She’d like to adopt him, but it’s not possible at this time in her life. Nelson knew it would be difficult to say goodbye on Friday.
Steager, a former history teacher, grew up around horses in California, but typically they were adult horses and already trained. Now, the college’s equine studies program and its work with mustangs have given her an opportunity that, until recently, has been a distant dream.
A member of the Indiana Air National Guard, she’s a full-time student at the Woods. Her long-term goal is to have her own business in which she trains horses and gives riding lessons. She still needs a lot more experience, she acknowledged. She’s learned a lot from Mahloch, her classmate.
Nineteen students have worked with the mustangs since the first week of March, and last week was finals week. The equine students are totally responsible for the mustangs and must clean them and their stalls, feed them and train them.
The students have been training the horses to stand quietly while tied, pick up all four feet and to walk and trot while being led by a student. They’ve also work on loading the mustangs into trailers.
In one “sacking out” exercise Thursday, the goal was for the mustangs to step on a large piece of tarp. Sacking out is a way horse trainers desensitize a horse to potentially frightening situations or objects.
On Thursday, Indigo did pretty well on most of the exercises, although he refused to walk on the tarp. He readily walked into a trailer, though, not once, but twice.
“Young man, you seem to have issues with the tarp again,” Steager scolded him. He did successfully “ground drive,” a pre-cursor to riding in which the handler stands behind the horse and directs him using long reins.
As she put a bit in his mouth, Indigo showed some resistance. “I know, it tastes funny,” Steager said.
Sara Schulz, an instructor in the equine studies program, said that when the horses first arrive at the Woods, they are afraid, reactive and untrusting.
When touched for the first time, some of them try to jump over gates or kick or bite. “All their defense mechanisms are up when we get them,” Schulz said.
But after six weeks of working with the students, “It’s almost like you see them melt in front of your eyes,” Schulz said. “It’s just amazing to see the transformation.”
The Bureau of Land Management provides the horses to the college at no charge. “Otherwise, we’d have to try to buy or solicit horses,” Schulz said.
At the end of the final exam, Steager and Nelson let Indigo and Code Red play and gallop around the indoor arena. Indigo playfully kicked Code Red and even jumped on his fellow mustang. Later, the boys romped outside.
On Friday, the four remaining horses were taken to a fostering facility in Clay County operated by Jane Loughmiller, who said someone already has adopted one of the four.
Those interested in adopting the remaining three can contact her at (812) 239-1211 or jane@loughmiller.com.
Loughmiller has adopted several mustangs of her own, and she’s boarding some that others have adopted. “They are very special horses that find a way into everyone’s heart,” she stated.
On Friday, as Loughmiller took the remaining mustangs to their new home, the students were sad to see them go, said Angie McMillin, a Woods equine instructor.
One student kept a journal of her experiences with her mustang, and she plans to give the journal to the horse’s new, adoptive family.
But for Steager, there were no goodbyes; Indigo, whose charm she couldn’t resist, is part of her family now. “He definitely has a sense of humor, and he’s very inquisitive,” she said. “He can be very affectionate and he’s a very quick learner.”
He is a little stubborn when it come to walking on tarp. “We’ll work on that some more,” Steager said.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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Horse course: Program at St. Mary-of-the-Woods helps tame wild mustangs, prepare them for adoption
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