RW Sponsored Rider: Sam VanFleet Mustangs

With a love for horses that started young, Sam VanFleet started working at a Draft Horse Rescue when she only 11. As a self-starter, Sam learned to ride and adopted her first PMU foal from the rescue she volunteered at. Soon she was competing in the A-circuit jumpers with her little mare, yet she still yearned to aid more PMU foals that would be sent to slaughter if not rescued. In 2014 with the help of the Draft Horse Rescue, Sam was able to rescue 10 PMU horses and she adopted her second PMU foal from this herd. The same year, Sam applied to the Extreme Mustang Makeover program, which shifted her focus to training wild mustangs and getting them into wonderful homes. These days Sam mainly works with young horses, particularly mustangs, PMU foals, and warmbloods. She is an approved TIP-trainer, has competed in many Extreme Mustang Makeovers, and still advocates for the rescue of PMU Foals. She has been traveling across the country to learn from different trainers and teach clinics of her own. Riding Warehouse is extremely proud to support her in her journey!

Liberty Training, a form of natural horsemanship, is a training method that allows a true connection to form between horse and human and is based on how horses naturally interact within a herd. This is the cornerstone of Sam's training method when it comes to working with mustangs. In this video, she demonstrates an advanced stage of liberty training and a few tricks with her mustang Lynxx! For more liberty information, check out Sam VanFleets' Liberty Training How-Tos.