BRIGHTON, Colo. (KDVR) — At Woodchip Farms, there is a very good reason a horse in an exercise pen has no rider on its saddle: It’s because he is a mustang.
“A mustang is a wild horse in the United States that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. They are the mutts of the horse community,” said Woodchip Farms horse trainer Devin Williams.
Williams looks, talks and even rides like the famous TV cowboy Rip from the series Yellowstone. But he’s no actor. Devon Williams is the real deal. He breaks and trains wild Colorado horses.
Williams is a horse trainer and ranch manager at Woodchip Farms in Brighton. And he’s more comfortable in a saddle than on the ground.
The mustang comes from Spanish, Arabian and North American breeds of horses, but they all have one thing in common.
“Only experience they have with humans is getting rounded up and thrown into a chute, thrown into holding, and then hoping that someone adopts them,” said Williams.
The ones that don’t get trained, don’t get adopted, and more times than not wind up where a horse would rather not be. Unlike the mustang Williams calls Apache, who Williams said was a challenging horse to work on.
“He was so difficult. Pinning his ears, he bit me, threw me in the dirt. But once you know I earned his trust, he’s just a big puppy dog,” said Williams.
Williams says that it’s all about the horses.
“As much as I would like it to be about me it’s really about these horses,” Williams said. “If there’s one person that’s willing to take a chance on a mustang, it will be one of the best decisions they’ve made.”
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
