While Element’s is a series of numbers and symbols branded on him after he was captured in the Nevada desert, Daughtry’s is the same – tattooed in black ink on the right side of his neck.

“I’m 44 years old, never had a tattoo before,” he said. “It really is meaningful to me.”

 At left, Conroe resident Robbie Daughtry jumps an obstacle on his horse “In My Own Element” at a farm near Magnolia. Daughtry has trained the mustang for the past two months after he was plucked from the wild in Nevada. They will compete for $50,000 at a national competition in September.

 Daughtry, a Conroe resident, has been training Element for the past two months at a ranch near Magnolia for the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition, a contest that challenges 200 horse trainers across the country to train a mustang straight from the wild, in only 100 days.

The competition is put on by The Mustang Heritage Foundation in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Daughtry said the BLM removes horses periodically to protect resources and preserve the horse population.

The program, which has been held two to three times a year for the past three years, has had more than 1,000 horses adopted.

When Daughtry first picked up Element on June 13 at a BLM pickup facility in Paul’s Valley, Okla., it was love at first sight.

“I swear I fell in love with him when I met him,” he said. “My son told me, ‘Something about Element just makes you feel good.’”

In the beginning, it wasn’t easy.

Element, a 3-year-old bay mustang, was so wary of humans he would barely allow Daughtry to even touch him.

“He’s had his moments,” he said. “He’s dropped me a couple of times when he saw a mule.”

Now, just two months later, Element is a friendly, playful horse. He is a fast learner and a “workaholic,” Daughtry said, adding that when he is ready to call it quits for the day, Element still wants to train.

Daughtry, who works 40-plus hours a week as a water systems operator for AquaTex, spends an additional 20 hours a week training Element at the Theiss farm near Magnolia.

“It keeps me busy, but it’s worth it,” Daughtry said. “I sleep the rest of the time.”

The advantage to working with a wild mustang like Element? It’s like working with a “clean slate” said Daughtry.

“They don’t have people problems,” he said.

“Once he figured out that we weren’t out to eat him, he came around pretty fast,” Daughtry said. “It’s kind of like bringing a baby home — there’s things they’ve never seen before that they are exposed to.”

A native of the south, Daughtry grew up in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, and growing up around horses his whole life, training comes natural to him. But discovering the competition was pure luck.

“I stumbled across the Web site for the competition when I was looking for a horse training competition,” he said.

When Daughtry’s wife, Tammy, found out the horse he would be training was a mustang, she was skeptical.

“I thought is he crazy?” she said. “But it’s cleared up my misconceptions about mustangs. They’ve bonded really well, he’s (Element) really big-hearted.”

In training Element, Daughtry hopes to show people what mustangs are capable of, despite stereotypes to the contrary.

“My part of it is to make this the best horse I can make it,” he said. “A lot of people claim that mustangs are un-trainable. This is one case that proves them wrong.”

The final competition will be held in Forth Worth Sept. 18-20, where the team of trainer and horse that perform the best in the competition will go home with $50,000. On the last day of the competition, all 200 horses will go up for adoption.

“I think we’ve got a great chance at smoking them with the performance I’ve got in my head,” he said.

As for the future, Daughtry said he will “probably” compete in the competition again next year after his experience with Element.

“I’ve had a ball with him, he’s an angel I think,” Daughtry said.

The competition will be broadcast on RFD TV on the Dish Network Sept. 18-20.

For more information, visit www.extrememustangmakeover.com.

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