As a horse-mad young adult I read J. Frank Dobie's factual
book The Mustangs. Later I read Robert Denhardt's The Horse
Of the Americas. If you're like me, you will need no
introduction to the American Mustang horse. But on reading
LAST CHANCE MUSTANG you will be shocked and saddened.
Mitchell Bornstein, with a family and a legal practice, had
a record of taking on difficult horses and rehabilitating
them. With Samson, a mature gelding, he met his greatest
challenge. What happened can inspire us all.
Samson had been rounded up from the wild and helicopters
still terrified him. Other troubles included damaging
halters and twitches and general abuse. The big strong
horse could not run so he only knew how to fight. Mitchell,
who found him at a rescue centre, was Samson's last chance
to stay alive. We now understand PTSD in people; here we
see that it can affect intelligent animals too.
Reflections on the history of mustangs are an important
part of this noble and well-written book. Horses first
evolved in North America and like wolves, crossed the dry
land bridge to Asia, from where they spread. Later they
were killed off in the Americas, probably by early human
hunters. Returning with Spanish Conquistadores, horses
thrived in their Eden. They facilitated transport,
conquests, trade and farming. But when horses were no
longer needed in large numbers and edible livestock took
precedence, even the empty scrub land feral mustangs
inhabited was under new competition. As their natural
predators had been killed off, mustangs were now seen to
breed too fast.
Mitchell Bornstein intersperses his account of slow
progress with the trembling, panicking horse, with recitals
of all the ways mustangs have been rounded up and harmed or
shipped for slaughter. This book is not suitable for
children, nor for those who want to sleep easy and think
that bureaucracy is bound to be doing the right thing. For
those who value truth, admire the survival, strength and
courage of the mustang, and who earnestly wish more
horsemen like Mitchell Bornstein existed, LAST CHANCE
MUSTANG is a must-read. Warning: the average horse owner
should not try this at home. Horses, especially frightened,
injured, PTSD suffering horses, can harm anyone.
Last Chance Mustang is the story of Samson, a
formerly free-roaming, still wild-at-heart American mustang
that was plucked from his mountainous Nevada home and thrown
into the domestic horse world where he was brutalized and
victimized. After years of abuse, Samson had evolved into a
hateful and hated, maladjusted beast until the day he found
his way to a rural Illinois farm, an ill-equipped owner, and
one last chance. Mitch Bornstein's task was to tame the
violent beast whose best defense had become offense. He had
twenty years of experience fixing unfixable horses, but
Samson would be his greatest challenge. Through the pair's
many struggles and countless battles, Samson would teach
Mitch about the true power of hope, friendship, redemption
and the inspiring mettle of the forever wild and free
American mustang.
Last Chance Mustang explains Samson's violent and
antisocial behavior while addressing the remedial techniques
employed to remedy these issues. The art of working with
damaged horses is demystified. Though his story is sad, the
reader is asked to respect Samson—not pity him. He has good
and bad days, and he has a dark side. Like all of us, Samson
is far from perfect. And his saga will move the reader to
both tears and laughter. Part history lesson, part training
manual, and part animal narrative, Samson's is a story that
all readers will be able to relate to: a story of survival,
of trust, and ultimately, finding love.
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