Rackettown Mustangs
MUSTANGS GO GLOBAL WITH SANDRA WILLIAMSON
Rackettown Mustangs
Growing up in Germany, Sandra Williamson has always had a love for horses. She began riding when she was a little girl and was finally able to own her first horse at 13. Williamson excelled in English, dressage, hunting, and western riding. Eventually, life led her to the US. She immigrated to the States in 2009 and has lived with her family in the state of Georgia ever since.
Little did Sandra Williamson know that she would one day be housing wild Mustangs.
In 2013 she got a call from someone asking if she wanted a Mustang that was bucking off riders. Williamson had never worked with a Mustang before, but she enjoys a challenge, and he was right down the road. When she arrived, she walked into the pen with the Mustang and the other horses.
She instantly knew—due to his demeanor—that she wanted to help him.
“The Mustang pinned his ears back, turned around, and walked the other way,” Williamson says. “I looked at the lady and I said, ‘Yep, I’ll take him.’ I could tell immediately that horse was mistreated, and he didn’t want anything to do with humans. I felt like he was so misunderstood, and I knew what he was saying to me right away.”
She loaded him up, and so began her journey with Mustangs in 2013.
Sandra Williamson and Maximus, the Mustang that changed her life.
The First Mustang
She worked with the Mustang from the ground up, establishing trust first, connecting, bonding, respecting each other while learning about Mustangs at the same time. She named him Maximus and credits him for teaching her so much and starting her journey with Mustangs.
Williamson says she found out quickly that her training techniques, which had worked so well with domestic horses, were not going to work for this Mustang. She adapted her training style. She started observing very closely the behavior of Maximus, reading him and actually “listening” to what Maximus had to say. Maximus has become one of her best teachers and her “soulhorse”. He still lives with her plus 20 other Mustangs and enjoys his evening of life on the Wild Mustang Ranch very much.
“Mustangs teach you; you don’t really teach them,” she says. “There were a few times when I felt that I was in over my head, but I never gave up. I kept learning and trying to connect and bond with them, and finally I would gain their trust and respect. Now they run up to me in the pasture without thinking twice.”
Williamson started looking into Mustangs more and learned about the Bureau of Land Management and how many Mustangs are in holding facilities looking for homes. She knew she wanted to help them get out of holding, which led her to the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s Trainer Incentive Program (TIP).
GETTING THE FIRST TOUCH WITH A MUSTANG
REQUIRES GAINING HIS TRUST AND A LOT OF PATIENCE.
Once Williamson was approved to be a TIP trainer and became a storefront in 2016, which allowed her to take in more Mustangs at a time, some people from Germany got in contact with her that were looking for a Mustang for the Mustang Makeover Germany. Williamson felt honored and excited to be able to help them; however, she needed to do some research on how it was going to work. The Mustangs for the event still needed to be wild, but gentle enough to travel to Germany.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it is possible,” she says. “You can’t touch any of the horses I send over. I have a chute, and we halter them and vet them. We are cautious not to tame them, so all we do is focus on getting them to trust us just enough to follow us wherever we go without touching them.”
Williamson’s first load of Mustangs went to Germany without any problems, but it wouldn’t be her last. Soon after that, other people from Germany started reaching out to her asking for a Mustang of their own.
Williamson would pick out the one they wanted and gentle them more than the regular TIP program required. Mustangs she has worked with, now have good homes not only in the US but all over Europe like Finland, Norway, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and of course Germany.
New Homes Provide Hope
Sandra Williamson keeps up with most of the Mustangs that travel to Europe. Some of them are used for trail rides, while others compete at events, but one Mustang stands out to her. She recalls this Mustang being particularly headstrong; he ended up going to a trainer who offers lessons for handicapped children.
Not long after the Mustang was at the trainer’s facility, he walked up to a little girl in a wheelchair who was born without feeling in her legs and sniffed her. The trainer said it was almost like he could sense that something was different about the little girl. After months of training for Germany Mustang Makeover, the horse and the little girl bonded. She would lead him from her wheelchair and even get on his back to ride.
“This is why we do what we do,” Williamson says. “I just feel blessed with the results of the Mustangs I’ve worked with. The outcome makes it worth it to work harder to get more Mustangs out of holding and into loving homes.”
“The Wild Mustang Ranch is the perfect place to be – for horses and humans. We – the Wild Mustang Team – are committed to rescue more wild Mustangs and find them good homes as well as educate people about these amazing horses.”
