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 Samsonβnot 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.
No excerpt available.
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