NESCOPECK, Pa. — Taylor Hayes helps her mother, Maria, train wild mustangs, but this summer, the 17-year-old from Nescopeck had the chance to adopt her own.
This is Kian. Hayes showcased her in an in-hand competition at the PA TIP Mustang Challenge last month in Centre Hall. They won three ribbons and took second place in the youth division.
"For it being my first time, it was a whole new experience and I'm really proud of her," Hayes said. "I think we have a pretty good trust going on. So it was awesome. I almost started crying."
TIP stands for Trainer Incentive Program. It costs just $125 to adopt a mustang from the Bureau of Land Management, but in a sport all about clearing obstacles, this is quite the hurdle.
"You get a Mustang and they're totally untrained, wild, never-been-touched and you have 90 days," Hayes explained. "They judge you not only on if you went through the obstacles and did the obstacles, but how you approached it with your horse. The trainer and the judge there said that she was probably the smartest and the most difficult horse there."
Gentling a mustang in 90 days is challenging enough, but Hayes accomplished all of this with a broken arm.
"Three weeks in, I broke my arm and I didn't think I was going to be able to go," Hayes explained. "I was like 'there's no way I'm going to be able to do this competition because I could barely use this arm and with a wild mustang, you kind of need both arms to be able to lead them."
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"To say that I'm proud is an understatement," her mother, Maria Hayes added.
"I was proud of her for what she was doing before her injury, but after her injury, the way she handled herself and continued to not let anything be an excuse, it really made me proud."
"I worked on getting some motion in my arm and I still worked with her and we managed to be able to go there," the younger Hayes said.
"That was one thing the judge said about Taylor at the competition," Maria said. "He told her that she was his hero because of the fact that she continued to compete with a broken arm and he also told her she was one of the most patient trainers he had ever witnessed working with a mustang."
Patience that paid off.