By JOSIE TUTHILL
Special to the HT
MEEKER | This past weekend contestants in Meeker’s Mustang Makeover (MMM) gathered at the Rio Blanco County fairgrounds to learn from renowned trainers Bryan Neubert and Steve Mantle. Each of them worked one-on-one with a MMM contestant trainer and the mustang they will be entering in August’s competition.
The clinic started Saturday morning with homemade burritos and coffee for participants, volunteers, the board, and perhaps a lucky spectator or two. Trainers were tacked up and ready to go when old friends Mantle and Neubert came into the arena laughing and chatting ready for the day’s puzzles. Both Mantle and Neubert had a round pen on either side of the arena, where the contestants would meet them to work with their mustang for two to three hours, sorting out challenges and finding solutions together.
The Back on Track Clinics were started by Meeker-raised Steve Mantle of Mantle’s Wild Mustangs. Originally, the clinics had Mantle traveling across the country three to six months after an adoption to host an opportunity for adopters to come back with questions and work through problems with their new horse together. A program he brought with him when he got involved with the Meeker Mustang Makeover to help trainers and add to the supportive camaraderie that exists within the organization and its contestants.
Mantle first realized the benefits of mustangs in 1981 when he and his family bought 600 mustangs for their Colorado-based dude strings from a family in Wyoming who had a permitted roundup. For Mantle, what makes the mustang valuable is its unique blend of traits: “a tough, gentle, hardy, and resilient survivor,” making them a great horse for anyone.
Mantle and Neubert met after Mantle had watched Neubert’s training VHS tape until it no longer worked and decided to call him to see if he could ask a few questions. Neubert was working a horse at the time of the call but got the message and followed up with Mantle. They spoke about horses for hours and soon Neubert was signed on to head a clinic at Mantle’s home in Wyoming where he has 200 head of mustangs on his property. Mantle vividly recalled the day after the first clinic was finished where they set up four round pens. Neubert was standing on top of the halter chute calling out instructions to Mantle and his family members in the pens where they ended up training 11 three- and four-year-old horses following the instruction of this detailed genius.
Neubert welcomed the importance of “constant learning and being open to growth.” A philosophy shared with some contestants who on day one’s lunch break took their mustangs outside and practiced what they had learned watching others’ clinics.
Neubert spoke with contestants and spectators alike as if friends on a ride together — he just happened to have a microphone on. He told stories about his granddaughter, and training tips he’s learned from his kids and Tom Dorrance with equal respect.
Neubert never tired and was there to help until the last second before the next trainer was due to come into his round pen. He was complimentary of the contestants for such a short time with their mustangs, even telling trainer Sydnee Julian that what she accomplished with the beginning steps of a turnaround was something he had never seen done in his years of leading clinics.
The Back on Track clinic was full of talent and camaraderie. Among the spectators were board members, past trainers and current contestants all looking to learn and to support each other.
The Meeker Mustang Makeover event is Aug. 22 and 23, 2025.
