Monarch: 2026 Heart of the Horse Trainers Challenge

05/18/2026

Well the competition is over and all of us including Monarch have made it back home safe! I went into this thinking there was no way I’d want to take home a horse at the end of this competition especially considering I only own AQHA cow bred horses, but over the past 120 days I found a horse with as much history, opinions, bravery, smarts, personality, and so much desire to be a good horse. I’ll stop the list there because if anyone has gotten to talk to me about this horse you probably heard a multiple hour speech on how amazing she is and if you know me personally you listened to those speeches every day. I have always wanted a Spanish bred horse and to find one in a rescue competition who’s a mustang was insane amount of fate, also I was the eighth competitor to select out of the pool and for her to still be in there after seven other horses had been selected was also crazy.

This mare was a lot of work there’s definitely been a lot of ups and downs with her through this competition and we didn’t show very good at all this weekend until the last day, but that was okay with me because we made it there. Also I personally got to learn so much from the experience, I got to meet this wonderful mare and I got to adopt her at the end of it all.

Since I have adopted her here is some information on my plans. I plan to get her registered through some organizations because of her heritage and genetics she is eligible for most Iberian bred horse registries such as IWRI, SBHA, and a few others. This will allow this mare to be shown in associations that require registration to be shown. I plan to continue training on her as my personal horse at a comfortable rate to her and not a rush to a show project so that she continues to grow and shine with more confidence and consistency than we displayed this weekend. At some point in the near future I would like to plan a trip to the needle point mountain range and have a how to train your dragon moment with her as we ride and see the herd she is from. I do plan to keep this page running and post updates pertaining to her so if you have enjoyed her and have followed her transformation stay tuned for updates she will also be popping up on my training page Christian Davis Performance Horses.

Thank you to everyone at Mississippi Horses and Heart of the Horse Trainers Challenge for the opportunity and the help adopting her. Y’all have been a great group of people to work with and to be around. Also a big congratulations and thank you to all the competitors yall were amazing to meet and I enjoyed the weekend with all of you hopefully we can set up some of these trail rides we planned and all cross paths again.

05/14/2026

05/13/2026

We made it to Jackson safe and sound. Monarch bumped her head in the trailer and gave herself a little cut above her eye — classic. She’s hauled several times a week since her first month with me and of course today’s the day.
Horses 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

But true to form, she walked into this place like she owns it, and tonight we’ll ride in the big arena and let her see everything and find her bearings.

I’m honored to be here. Are there things I want to be better? Sure. But this is about the progress made in four months — from completely feral, not halter broke, and averse to people, to this.
I can’t help but be proud of who she is and how far we’ve come.

Big thank you to PK Theobald at Hillside Stables and Melissa Babcock for the well wishes and sponsoring Monarchs stall!
(I’m sorry facebook isn’t allowing me to tag you guys on here)



Christian Davis Performance Horses

04/29/2026

Today will be a history lesson on Monarch and an acknowledgement of a herd of mustangs that can be considered endangered. So maybe this will be the post and the offer to push you to check out these great horses out and maybe even adopt one. I have absolutely enjoyed my time with one.

She is from the Sulphur Springs HMA located in the Needle Mountain Range of Utah. They are an extremely interesting herd of mustangs that are considered one of the purest of Colonial Spanish bloodlines. The sulphur herd is in a unique area of the mountains that has kept them from being exposed to outside breeding from other herds and escaped ranch stock, so they are still very true to how they originally were. There are multiple stories on how they got there two date back to the 1500s being either the were lost horses of war rode by Spanish Conquistadors, another being they were traded along The Old Spanish Trade.
Some identification indicators of the Sulphur mustangs are their color they typically come in shades of dun and garulla and almost always have primitive markings (dorsal stripes and leg stripes) which has given them the nickname the Zebra Horse of Utah or to some the Zebra Dun. Another unique characteristic of these horses is due to their Spanish descent they typically have five lumbar vertebrae instead of six.

For the past three and a half months I have had the pleasure of getting to know and enjoy one of these Sulphur mustangs. They have some amazing history rooted in their genetics and due to the removal process of them they are declining in numbers rapidly. They are now becoming an endangered mustang herd. So if you’re considering adopting a mustang I would gladly suggest researching into the Sulphur Springs herd.

All this being said I have enjoyed my time with monarch so much, I am offering a 20% off per month on my training rates on Sulphur Springs mustangs with the condition of a 90 day minimum.

So if you have a Sulphur mustang or are thinking about adopting one contact me for your training needs. Also come check out Monarch at the Heart of the Horse Trainers Challenge where she’ll be up for adoption in a couple of weeks.

04/13/2026

Monarch did amazing at the cow show yesterday! More videos to come, but here’s a pic of us in the holding pen while she got used to the environment. It was hectic- tons of horses, yelling, general chaos — and she handled it really well.

She was scanning and on alert, but every time something caught her attention she’d look back at me like “do you see that?” I’d tell her yes, we’re okay, that’s normal, and she’d settle right back down.

Being a mustang, I think the holding pen probably felt pretty weird for her — like walking into a whole herd of unfamiliar horses who might not be kind to her, but she did great.

We also took the opportunity to introduce her to an important part of show horse life — me sitting on her back eating a loud crinkly bag of Lay’s potato chips.She wasn’t super sure about it at first crunch but she settled😂



Christian Davis Performance Horses

04/05/2026

This sweet girl has had a big week!

At the first of this week Monarch went on strike lol.

She had thoughts about her workload. She believed it to be a little excessive (its not);
but that’s honestly part of what makes her such an interesting horse to work with.
The challenge isn’t pushing her harder, it’s keeping things fresh and engaging so she stays curious and realizes every session is teaching her something new.

She also started in the bridle this week, and I think she actually prefers it to the bosal.

We’ve also been putting a lot of focus on catching, and she is really coming around — making it so much easier and smoother every time.

Progress isn’t always linear, but this girl is doing the work. 💪🏼


Christian Davis Performance Horses

02/16/2026

Monarch is doing so well. She’s gone from not being handled to haltering, leading, and lunging pretty confidently. She is leading from her stall to the round pen for training sessions and she’s already so light and responsive on the lunge line. She’s a really smart girl, such a sponge, and a cool mover—super athletic. It’s been really fun watching her start to understand things and gain confidence each day. She’s got a bright future ahead of her.

Also, sorry for the delay in posting, y’all. We’re thankful we didn’t have any major damages but the ice definitely slowed us down for a bit. Truthfully I think it allowed her some extra time to settle in and trust us as she sees us day to day.

01/24/2026

Monarch | Week 1

We’re getting used to each other.

I chose to put Monarch in a stall instead of the round pen with some cold weather coming in. I wanted her out of the cold, but also close to our day-to-day routine so she can get used to people coming and going around her.

As of today, she has been haltered. It took time and patience. She’s beginning to learn to give to pressure instead of fighting or panicking.

She’s a very smart mare and she is full of potential, but right now she still sees life on her own terms. She doesn’t know yet that we’re on the same team.