Mustang Champions Freestyle
Thank you for attending this years event. Look forward to seeing you next year.
Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo
6pm – January 19, 2024
Will Rogers Coliseum
$50,000 in cash and prizes.
The Competitors
MATT ZIMMERMAN
Matt Zimmerman was raised on a cattle ranch in central Nevada, where he encountered mustangs on a regular basis. He received an Agriculture Business degree from Oregon State University and part of his degree led him to work on an Australian Cattle station training horses. After college, he eventually found his true passion and started his horse training business and has not looked back. Matt has won four Extreme Mustang Makeovers and been named Reserve Champion two times. Matt also has had success in reining, trail, western pleasure, starting colts, round pen challenges, and creating ranch horses. Matt and his wife Stacie Zimmerman own and operate Zimmerman Horse Training in Caldwell, Idaho and have been involved in the placement of over 1000 mustangs. Since 2017, they have hosted The Mustang Mania TIP Challenge finding homes for 670 mustangs.
MIRKA CREW
Mirka Crew comes originally from the Czech Republic and is now a dual citizen of the Czech Republic and the USA, residing in Richland, Georgia. She has spent 20 years training horses for the public, teaching clinics, judging competitions and competing in western disciplines; Stock-Horse/Versatility, Western Dressage, and the discipline of liberty and bridleless riding. Mirka is a 7x World Champion, has placed Top 5 in several Extreme Mustang Makeovers, Mustang Magic events and ILHA Invitational Freestyle performances. She seeks lightness in responsiveness, connection, and harmony with each horse. Over the years, through influence of many great human and equine mentors, Mirka has discovered that collection can be achieved even at liberty and bridleless, and she calls this approach Posture Focused Training. Mirka believes that the sky is not the limit and her passion is helping her students establish their unstoppable mindset. She believes that there is only one true limit, the one we place upon ourselves.
ELLIOT HOLTZMAN
Elliot Holtzman and his wife Caitie run their grassroots training business in north Texas called Versatile Horsemanship LLC. Together they specialize in the versatility of the horse, with one horse knowing many disciplines. Besides training, resort style clinics, and lessons at their home base in Nocona ,Texas, they are often on the road teaching clinics and performing for entertainment internationally. Elliot enjoys showing in cow horse, reining, ranch versatility, and is a competitor and judge in the International Liberty Horse Association.
MARY MILLER JORDAN
Mary's partner, Magic, is a buckskin pinto from South Steens, Oregon. She was Mary's random draw for the 2012 Mustang Magic competition. Mary won Magic's bid at the end of that show and brought her home. Soon after, Mary founded a non-profit called I AM HERD Mustang Sanctuary, where she and her Mustang partners offer Horse-Human Relationship Clinics and Wild Horse Assisted Wellness Programs and Retreats.
Just this past January Mary and Magic re-entered the arena for the Mustang Magic: Celebrity Show to share their play about a little girl that dreamed her stick horse unicorn into real life. Mary and Magic are excited to share Part 2 of this little girl's story at the Mustang Champion's Show in January 2024.
ELISA WALLACE
A professional trainer and three-day eventing competitor, Elisa has been riding horses since age two. By the time she was eight years old, she had trained her first horse. Since then, she was named as an Alternate for USA Team for the 2016 Olympics. In 2012, Elisa attended and won her first Extreme Mustang Makeover with her mustang, Fledge. She now has five personal mustangs: Fledge and Rune her main demo mustangs; Hwin, who is immortalized as a Breyer and has competed up to preliminary eventing; and Eton and Wyeth who are talents she is bringing along in eventing. Elisa’s ultimate goal is to show how amazing mustangs are by competing at the upper levels and the world stage of eventing.
CRAIG MOORE
Craig is a past Mustang Makeover champion, TIP Challenge Champion, and former Road To The Horse Wild Card Competitor. He currently trains horses for a living with his amazing wife Katie in May, Texas. Craig was raised in a large happy family of six. Although there were no horses in the family, Craig began taking riding lessons when he was thirteen years old. His parents purchased Craig’s first horse, a 23-year-old grade gelding named Flash. Craig competed in High School and Junior Rodeo events before moving to Central Arizona College and then college rodeo events. After completing his degree, Craig was an assistant to Les Oswald and Jason Hershberger. He credits these two trainers for giving him a solid introduction to training performance horses. The opportunities enabled Craig to ride up to 10-15 horses a day, an experience he stated was invaluable. Craig moved to Texas to pursue his passion of training horses full time and helping people and horses while continuing to expand his own knowledge of equine enhancement. ement.
SAM VANFLEET
Sam VanFleet is a young horse trainer who works with a variety of breeds at Prosperity Farm in Williston, Florida. She is a consistent Top 10 Extreme Mustang Makeover competitor, as well as a traveling clinician primarily focused on liberty and trick training. She specializes in young horses, colt starting, mustangs, groundwork, liberty, tricks, and dressage. Sam’s work features strengthening the connection and understanding with your horse, starting with groundwork and always emphasizes patience. She focuses on the horse wanting to be a willing partner and building a solid foundation of trust. Her techniques are featured in the many videos she has produced for YouTube, which have gained a following of over 85,000.
NATE EICHER
Nate Eicher became interested in training horses at the age 12, when his dad took him and his brothers to a horse auction where they were homing BLM mustangs. They adopted their first mustangs there. Between then and 2013, Nate was determined to fuel his passion for training and learn all that he could through videos, books, mentorships and hands-on hard work. In 2013, a friend encouraged him to do a mustang makeover, so Nate did. That year started his competitions with wild mustangs, leading to many championships and reserve championships. Nate has also competed in reining, cutting, team roping, and ranch versatility as well. Nate and his wife Amy live on their Ranch in Mineral Wells ,Texas along with their sons Dillon and Hudson, and their daughter Avery.
