The 2020 edition of the Meeker Mustang Makeover is looking for horse trainers to compete for $4,000 to $8,000 in prize money.
The small northwest Colorado town located in Rio Blanco County will once again offer visitors a chance to attend both the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials and watch the regional horse trainers compete.
Using area wild horses, the event will pit 10 trainers, both professional and amateur, against each other in a saddle competition after only 100 days to start and train a wild Mustang.
The program is designed to help ready mustangs for adoption and use, while educating the public about the mustang population in northwest Colorado, and the Piceance-East Douglas HMA herds. Horses will be 3 years old, a prime age for training, and yearlings for the youth event.
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Last year’s winners were two young sisters, ages 10 and 12, with their father Joe Wood. Trainers are allowed to work as a team.
New this year will be the Youth Event, for five trainers between the age of 10 and 18 in a halter-only class, with the chance to earn scholarship funds of $4,000.
Following the competition, horses will be auctioned off.
Saddle trainers can win part of the prize money and also receive 50% of the proceeds of their horse’s sale, in addition to the BLM Adoption Incentive Program money of $500 after two months and an additional $500 if they adopt the horse at the end of the year.
Interested trainers can contact Billy Goedert at 970-629-5848 or billygoedert@gmail.com.
Applications are due April 30. Trainers will pick up their horses May 30 at the BLM office in Meeker and the event is scheduled for Sept. 11 at the Rio Blanco County Meeker Fairgrounds. Accommodations will be made should the coronavirus pandemic disrupt the event.
Tickets are $5 for the Meeker Mustang Makeover at the gate, and children 12 and under are free. Sheepdog tickets are sold separately.