California Riding Magazine • July, 2010

Horse People: Bob Mundy
Norco farrier is wild about Mustangs.

by Donna Fernandez

Bob and Mustang Sally at the 2009 Extreme Cowboy Race.

Norco farrier, Bob Mundy, has developed quite a reputation for his work with wild Mustangs, with impressive performances at Norco’s Mustang Trail Horse Challenges in 2009 and 2010. Last year he won the specially-created “Mommy and Me” division on Mustang Sally with her 30-day-old filly, Delilah, by her side. This year he placed fifth on a bay gelding he called Shane, who took top dollar at the auction following the competition.

Mundy’s work with Mustangs is far from over. In mid-August he is heading for Ft. Worth, TX, to compete in the Mustang Heritage Foundation’s $100,000 Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover, where he will compete against over 100 other trainers from across the country. Just one week before Norco’s Trail Challenge finale in May, Mundy drove up to Reno, NV to pick up the Mustang that he currently has in training for the Supreme Makeover. This will be Mundy’s third challenge so he named the new gelding, quite appropriately, Third Time’s A Charm.

Unlike the previous Makeovers, this competition will also require the competitors to work cattle, but Mundy says they will be ready. “I could tell right from the start that this is a horse that is really comfortable with himself. Even when he is apprehensive, he will hold his ground. He has some grit, some toughness about him. I like that.” Mundy expects that they will do really well.

Bob applies pressure by twirling the end of the lead line to encourage Shane to disengage his hind quarters and turn to face him.

Although horses have been the center of his entire adult life, Mundy didn’t grow up with them. His only experience with horses as a child was an occasional visit to a stable during the summer with his dad, near his home in Indiana. He has fond memories of riding a special palomino on the group rides they used to take. “It was always single file with a guide, but my dad tipped me off to lag behind sometimes so that I’d have an excuse to run to catch up.”

After finishing high school, Mundy moved to Southern California. That’s where he was first introduced to the American Mustang. He heard a news story about Mustang adoptions through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Mundy says he was stunned. He recalls thinking, “Oh my God, I can get a horse for $125!”

He rented a U-Haul van and trailer and headed for a BLM adoption in Yucca Valley. Mundy came home with not one but two Mustangs that day; a mare and a colt that he had gelded. That was in 1986.

Friends in El Monte, who had a Thoroughbred at the Santa Anita racetrack, helped him start the gelding he named Cody. “I didn’t really know anything, but it all seemed to work out,” he says. “I guess I had a lot of common sense. I didn’t really have any bad experiences.”

Bob and Third Time’s A Charm, meeting for the first time.

It wasn’t long before he was riding Cody in Western Pleasure and Trail classes. Mundy liked the mare, too, but let her go after that first year. “I’m one of those people who doesn’t believe in keeping horses in the backyard if you don’t use them,” he says. “It’s wrong to just let them sit there.”

Mundy got his first job working with horses for a couple of different trainers at the Santa Anita racetrack doing all types of work including grooming and cooling out horses after their morning training.
When he began his formal education in farrier science at Valley Vocational trade school in the City of Industry, it had been his intention to use the income from shoeing to help him become a pilot. However, as his involvement with horses grew, so did his love and respect for them. The point came when he decided to make working with horses his career instead of aviation.

Over the past 20-plus years Mundy has shod race horses at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Hollywood Park; hunters, jumpers and dressage horses at the LA Equestrian Center, Flintridge Riding Club and San Dimas Equestrian Center as well as for private barns. For the past 15 years he has also been the shoer for the LAPD mounted patrol.
This winter Mundy had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East on numerous occasions to assist longtime friend and mentor Tom Doolan in the shoeing of horses for Godolphin Racing Stable owned by Sheik Mohammed Maktoum of Dubai.

Rewarding Hobby

Besides shoeing for others, Mundy has several of his own horses including the foal of a Mustang he adopted for his daughter several years ago. He enjoys competing in events like Craig Cameron’s Extreme Cowboy races. He has found that a confident person does really well with horses. “You really need to stay black and white. There is no grey with horses. When you start putting grey in

he world of horses, that’s where a lot of confusion comes along.”
When asked what he finds most rewarding about working with horses, Mundy says, “It’s just the satisfaction of seeing the change. In teaching them, you basically take them from kindergarten though high school and beyond. When they get something that you are really trying to show them, and you see that change in them, that is the really cool thing.”
“When working with a horse, I lead up to a point and when I see the horse take over, I let them. It’s like teaching a kid to ride a bike. You run along with them but only until they can do it on their own. It’s the same in working with the horse.

“If they get stuck I will pick them up again,” he continues. “It’s not constantly lead, lead, lead. If they make a mistake it’s OK because the greatest thing about mistakes is it’s an opportunity to learn. I want them to do it on their own.” Mundy wants his horses to enjoy learning so he tries to keep it fun and keep it fresh, so that they look forward to it.
He really enjoyed working with Shane, the Mustang he trained for Norco’s recent Trail Horse Challenge. He was especially impressed with the horse’s willingness and curiosity. “I love a horse with intense curiosity. Even though they are afraid, their curiosity drives them. If you can reassure them and you can gain that trust, their curiosity just keeps getting bigger and bigger and you can keep going forward.”

As for the upcoming Challenge in Texas on Aug. 13-15, Mundy says that Third Time’s A Charm has some really good movement. “If we make the top 20, I am looking forward to the freestyle where I can show what he is capable of doing in just 100 days. I really hope we will be able to do a couple of things that will surprise a lot of people.”

Author Donna Fernandez lives in Norco and currently owns an Appendix Quarter Horse and a BLM Mule. She has ridden several disciplines, but “these days I mostly mosey around town and on the river trails.”