GRANGER, Texas — A Central Texas couple is getting ready to compete in the 2019 Extreme Mustang Makeover in Ocala, Florida, which challenges trainers and wild mustangs to spend 100 days working together to prepare to compete in a series of classes that showcase their new skills and relationship.
The ultimate goal of the competition: to place the wild horses in forever homes through the Mustang Heritage Foundation.
Craig Moore and Katie Ketterhagen of Granger are two of the trainers in the competition, the only ones representing Texas with their Mustangs, Delilah and Sonora.
"It really means a lot to be able to do these competitions, helping get these horse that a lot of people kinda see as worthless and giving them value and putting them into a good home," said Ketterhagen.
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"For the competition, we have to teach them to not be scared because they're going to encounter new things and they need to know how to handle new things and not run away from their fear because that's what they want naturally want to do," said Moore. "It's getting them over things and then also getting them with you so y'all can do stuff together kinda like a dance."
The couple has been with their mustangs for 80 days now, teaching tricks and going over different exercises with them leading up to the competition on May 10, while also learning about themselves in the process.
"I would say horses have helped me more than anything else in life because they show you a lot of things, a lot of your weaknesses," said Moore. "When you get a horse and you think this is their weakness, it ends up being your weakness they're just projecting it back to you and then you work on yourself and they get better too."
Ketterhagen and Moore are looking to bring back first and second from Florida. They say despite being competitors, that it's also been a fun experience learning from one another's training techniques.
"We help each other, we help push each other. It's like when you're home alone you kinda work on certain things and then you're like 'that's enough for today,' but when you're next to a trainer you're competing against, you're done for the day and then they go back out and work on something you're like, 'Ugh I gotta go work on that and be better!'" said Moore.
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