James Duffey drove his 2014 mustang through the doors of Tractor Supply in Monroe Township about 12:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. But it isn’t what you think. The 18-year-old from Garwood’s mustang is a 4-year-old strawberry roan horse named “Star Spangled Dune.”
Dune was wild, untouched by human hands, until Feb 23 of this year. In June, James rode Dune into the Monroe store and bought a soda at the register.
Why ride a horse into a store? “Extreme Mustang Makeover.” The contest is organized by the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to showcase what mustangs can do as domesticated horses.
“I rode Dune through the Tractor Supply because it shows off how quiet and cooperative he is,” said James, who attended middle school in Garwood before he was home-schooled during his high school years. “The manager and other folks there were really accommodating of our adventure. Not only am I responsible for training him, I also have to market him to potential bidders and buyers.”
James and Dune competed in the “Extreme Mustang Makeover” in Lexington, Kentucky, later that month. Starting out in 25th place in the Handling and Conditioning class, James moved up to 19th in the Mustang Maneuvers class and then 17th in the Trail class. In total, he finished in 19th place out of 43 competitors and was the seventh-highest placing rookie. Among the 18 to 21 group, James was the fifth-highest placing “Young Gun.”
Each trainer had about 100 days to work with his or her mustang. At the competition. they had to put their horses through challenges, like riding patterns and trail obstacles.The 10 trainers with the highest preliminary scores presented a freestyle routine. At the end of the contest all of the mustangs went up for public auction.
“I knew it would be difficult. … My primary goal was producing a really solid, respectable horse and giving my horse the best possible home in the auction at the end of the contest,” James said. “I recognized that the auction was going to be my only opportunity to present any kind of freestyle and really show off what Dune is about, which is sweet and quiet. I knew that this was our last chance to show off, so we did. I walked under him, spun all the way around in the saddle, and cantered figure 8s. I kept my focus on him and we had a great time. It seemed like it took a long time, but on the video, it was over in a few minutes. In the end, there were enough bidders to get him up to as good as some of the top 10 horse prices.”
At the end, Dune’s new owners drove him the thirty minutes to his new home in Lexington, a multi-acre farm of grass paddocks and friendly horses.
“It was a lot easier to let go of Dune because he is going to such a good home,” James said. “We are keeping in touch and I hope to visit. The Extreme Mustang Makeover is a great community and I look forward to competing next year.”
For James it has been the process that makes training horses like Dune special.
“First I had to be able to touch him,” James said. “First touch was a big deal. Dune progressed well, so I was able to do our first ride in about 30 days. We went to Island State Beach and rode next to the ocean in April, which is a little crazy since Dune is from the Pancake mountains of Nevada. We also marched in the Sayreville Memorial Day Parade. The Legacy Riding Stables (of Sayreville) mustangs were the first horses they have ever had in the parade. Dune was perfect.”
James has coached a drill team for Legacy Riding Stables as part of its Summer Camp program. And this was not the first Extreme Mustang Makeover for him. He placed seventh in last year’s Youth Challenge in Massachusetts.
Legacy Riding Stables at 3299 Bordentown Ave. in Sayreville offers trail rides, pony rides and riding lessons for all ages and skill levels. You can contact them at legacyridingstables.com or call (732) 727-3838 for more information.
The Mustang Heritage Foundation is “passionate about the successful placement of mustangs into private care so future generations can enjoy this distinctive feature of our American heritage.” It has placed over 8,000 mustangs into private care since 2007. You can contact them at mustangheritagefoundation.org or call (512) 869-3225.
(photos courtesy of Jerry Duffey)
(above) James Duffey of Garwood atop his mustang “Star Spangled Dune.”
(above) James and Dune buying a soda inside Tractor Supply in Monroe.
