92 SIDELINES DECEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
e
An Unexpected Love Affair:
How Eventer
Elisa Wallace
Fell in Love
with Mustangs
By Dani Moritz
What would a top eventer do with a 13.2 hand wild Mustang
straight out of the holding pen? How about win one of the most
prestigious Mustang events in the country?
At the urging of a friend, Elisa Wallace, an eventer from Jasper,
Georgia, signed up to participate in The 2012 Extreme Mustang
Makeover, a Western-dominated event established by the
Mustang Heritage Foundation in 2007. She was randomly dealt a
three-year-old chestnut gelding she named Fledge, with direction
to train him in three months. At the time, she had no idea what
adopting the little horse would mean.
But, it didn’t take long for her to realize just how special Fledge
was – and with a lot of skill and some serious teamwork, Elisa and
Fledge went on to amaze the Mustang Makeover crowd as they
performed impressive reining movements and stunning dressage
work, not to mention some bareback jumping.
To Elisa’s surprise, they won the event – and both Elisa and
Fledge’s lives were forever changed. “It definitely changes you
when you work with a wild horse and are able to accomplish the
things you can do,” she said. “They blow your mind.”
After the competition, all the newly trained Mustangs
were auctioned off. The thought of loosing her new friend was
something she couldn’t bear. After receiving a few incentives for
participating in the competition, Elisa purchased Fledge for $140.
Elisa laughed, “He was definitely worth the 140 bucks.”
Today, Fledge is enjoying the simple life – playing in the pasture,
enjoying what Elisa calls a condo and going on trail rides from time
to time. Elisa is giving him plenty of time to grow and looks forward
to competing him next year. Elisa, on the other hand, is enjoying
a busy career – thanks, in part, to the attention she received from
last year’s Mustang Makeover.
Under the name of Wallace Eventing, Elisa has evolved from
being solely focused on eventing to doing a bit of everything –
taking on two more Mustangs that competed in the 2013 Mustang
Million. “They [the Mustangs] have pushed me to do things
that I may not have done,” she said. She explained that since
participating in the event, she has taken Mustangs to a reining
show – and is even considering taking up reining with Fledge.
Nimh and Elisa
doing tricks.
Photo by Leslie Grace
Kelly Photography
Elisa and Rune at the Gilmer County Saddle Club Show.
Photo by Aly Rattazzi, Rather Be Riding Photography
