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At the end of competition in Murfreesboro last weekend, Hank Hepperly of Walland had mastered the rugged test of training a wild mustang and out-scored most of his fellow competitors.

He and another trainer, Gary Stanfill, of Lexington, were tied for first place in the Legend Freestyle Finals of the Extreme Mustang Makeover Eastern Stampede, requiring a two-minute "mustang smackdown" to bread the tie. Hepperly ended up placing second.

Stanfill took home a prize of $5,000, and for his hard work, Hepperly received $3,000. The horses they trained were then auctioned off, and Hepperly's went for $3,300, the second highest amount among the competitors.

Hepperly entered the Extreme Mustang Makeover Eastern Stampede along with about 80 others who were challenged to train a wild mustang and then compete in skills tests 100 days later. Hepperly was the subject of an article in The Daily Times back in August, after he had picked up his horse Dillinger in Cross Plains and began the training process. The contest was hosted by the Mustang Heritage Foundation as a way to showcase the beauty and trainability of these horses that roam freely on public lands in the West.

The horses were scored on body condition, and movement through an obstacle course along with loading the animal into a trailer. A total of $30,000 in prize money was distributed.

"The whole experience was indescribable," Hepperly said after he returned home from the competition. "I really learned a lot from training this mustang, things that you would not learn from a domestic horse."