Black Crow Mustangs Trains Wild Rides in Montgomery

Meet a horse-loving Orange County couple on a mission: they tame feral mustangs and prep them for adoption.

Watching Mike Kefer and Cody Bisignano train wild mustangs at their farm in Montgomery is a bit like watching a smooth Texas two-step. Except one partner is an over 800-pound horse. Kefer and Bisignano lead effortlessly: quick, quick, slow, slow. The mustang follows, turning and walking in rhythm.

The couple behind Black Crow Mustangs, a nonprofit that rescues and trains the hardy, intelligent creatures that roam across the western U.S., is on a mission to “forge everlasting bonds between America’s wild mustangs and people.”

The animals they work with at their facility have been rounded up by government helicopters from federal land stretching from Nevada to Arizona, where over 70,000 horses run free, as estimated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The corralled horses are placed in holding pens run by the BLM and the U.S. Forestry Service, where they await adoption by individuals who hope to own—and possibly ride—a mustang.

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“Many of these mustangs may never be suitable for their new journey in life to be compatible with humans, so we’re trying to get them from the source and save as many wild mustangs as possible,” says Kefer.

Kefer and Bisignano pick up mustangs in Illinois or Pennsylvania and bring them back to their farm to begin training them to interact with people in a low-stress environment. “People often ask us how we pick our mustangs,” says Kefer. “For the most part, everyone wants the good-looking or athletic or flashy ones. Those horses go quickly; people adopt them every day. But what about the ones that aren’t as pretty? Those are the ones we focus on—the ones that are left behind.”

Since Black Crow Mustangs’ founding two years ago, Kefer and Bisignano have worked with 100 horses and have found homes for 20—and they’re about to bump up those numbers considerably. In the spring, they relocated from Springtown Road in New Paltz to a larger equestrian facility on Albany Post Road in Montgomery. The 44-acre property—which they purchased (with the help of investors) for $1.4 million—includes wooded trails and a spacious outdoor riding arena, as well as an 80-by-150-foot indoor arena that will allow them to double the number of horses they take in each year.

“At the other farm, we’d typically take in 10 wild mustangs a year, but with this facility, we’ll be able to take up to 30, so it’s a huge deal,” explains Kefer, “The more we can hold, the more we can help, and it will give us a bigger presence and more awareness of what we do.”

The Black Crow duo is highly suited for this venture. Kefer was already a horse lover by the age of five, and when he saw his first herd of wild horses running across Nevada during a family trip, his soul was captured. His family later moved from Wantagh on Long Island to an 80-acre horse farm in Accord, where they ran a horse-boarding business that also offered lessons and trail rides.

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“I learned very young how to communicate with horses, and it has evolved,” he says. “Do I get scared? Yes. They’re big animals, but you have to put your poker face on.”

Black Crow Mustangs
Photo courtesy of Black Crow Mustangs.

Bisignano, a Saugerties native who became a professional horse trainer in 2013, realized her calling to work with troubled or neglected horses when she was eight and received a pony from her parents. “One day, I jumped on it, and the pony tore all over the backyard, hitting everything along the way,” she says. “From that day forward, my love for horses began.”

Plus, with mustangs, she adds, “there’s the whole American icon of the Wild West and what they stand for.” And from a training perspective, “they’re pretty much clean slates. Most of them haven’t been handled or mishandled by people, so that makes them so much easier to train.” Kefer notes that it’s all about building a trust-based relationship. “It’s more like teaching them to dance with us. When you dance together, it’s a true partnership.”

Kefer exudes confidence when he steps into the field with a new mustang. “The first day is the most exciting because we have to get close to them as soon as possible,” he says. “We just walk in and out for the first two days and stand there and let them get curious enough that they’ll come closer. That’s a big deal because they need to know that every time a human comes in, they’re not going to get chased with flags. Their instinct is to run.”

From there, they catch the horse with a rope and get it comfortable enough for training, eventually touching and haltering it. Their training method, which they’ve coined the “Three Cs,” stands for connecting, communicating, and confidence building.

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“The big thing is communicating with the mustangs in the way they need to communicate,” Bisignano says. “People think they can treat these animals like a person or a dog, but they’re not domestic pets. They’re wild animals meant to take care of themselves. They’re self-supportive.”

Kefer describes his and Bisignano’s dynamic as “yin and yang,” noting that she absorbs the horses’ energy and gives off grounded energy. “[Bisignano] taught me that my energy matters,” he says. “It’s no different than when talking with people. If I come at you screaming and yelling, how do you feel? If I come at you softly and quietly, how do you feel? So we always start quietly and end quietly.”

Mustangs were introduced to the Americas by conquistadors.
Mustangs were introduced to the Americas by conquistadors. Photo courtesy of Black Crow Mustangs.

That wasn’t always the case. Kefer says he’s probably “eaten more dirt” than anyone alive and has suffered some serious injuries working with mustangs. “It’s everything from broken ribs to concussions,” he notes, adding that the worst was a detached retina from an accident years ago. “Some baby foxes ran out in front of us, and it spooked the mustang. She slammed her head and caught me right in the face.”

All the battle scars are worth it to find homes for the horses they’ve grown to love. In the winter, Kefer and Bisignano picked up three pregnant mares and celebrated the foals’ births in February and March. They said they get emotionally attached to the animals that have occupied their farm.

Kefer and Bisignano pick up mustangs in Illinois or Pennsylvania and bring them back to their farm to begin training them to interact with people in a low-stress environment.

“I’m a guy. I don’t cry, but every single time one of these horses leaves, I cry because of our strong connection,” says Kefer. “It’s hard to send them off.”

Now that they’re settled at the bigger property, they expect to pair even more horses with people through a stringent screening process. “Their [requirements] are physical and structural. Ours is emotional, so we match our horses with our people,” says Kefer.

A case in point was a mustang that he and Bisignano determined would be best suited for a child. “We found a 10-year-old girl, who was perfect, and now she has a best friend for life. She even took her wild mustang into a show with other horses and placed fourth,” he says.

He adds that while many people want to adopt a mustang, they don’t realize what’s ahead. “They think it’s going to be easy and that they’re going to have a friend that will follow them around like a dog.” In many cases, he says, new owners won’t be able to approach the horses and they can ultimately be reassigned or, in rare cases, “end up in kill pens.”

The pair is currently looking to attract more volunteers and offer additional clinics on how to give mustangs a good start. Meanwhile, they’re also looking for more people to sponsor a horse for $9.99 a month. Kefer says it costs $15 a day to care for each mustang—support is crucial.

“Our vision for this new facility is to be a hub for everything mustang-related,” he says. “We want to be able to care for and train up to 30 mustangs at a time and start our ‘Outlaw’ program which will be a sanctuary for any mustang that might not fit in their new role with humans. Instead of sending them back to the government, we’ll keep them and provide food and care and let them live ‘freely’ in captivity. We hope to eventually grow this program to 100 acres.”

To donate or sponsor a horse, go to blackcrowmustangs.com.

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