Knicely Done: Mark Lyon's bag of horse tricks

When we first met Mark Lyon tens years ago he was training a wild mustang that had never been around people.

Lyon and other horse trainers around the country who entered the Wild Mustang competition were each given a deadline to tame a wild mustang and outperform the others in a difficult obstacle course.

Lyon won the national championship that year with a few unique extras that set he and his horse apart from the rest of the field.

Lyon is now based in Texas but he and his wife Miranda travel to other areas of the country with their horse training business M and M Horsemanship. In recent weeks they've been working out of Pine Ridge Stables near Ashland.

"He's a horse trick actor," said Lyon as he demonstrated some of his work with his horse Detroit for WOWT 6 News. "I can direct whatever we want him to do."

Lyon has worked with the horse over the last six months mastering a number of stunts that can be performed in movies.

"I can be off camera behind the director giving signals to the horse," explained Lyon who communicates from a distance with long whips to give the horse direction.

"I can have the horse run to a certain spot and stand." Lyon explained if that maneuver was used In a movie scene, it could be a riderless horse returning to a hitching post on it's own. The message to the viewer is that something happened to the rider.

Lyon estimates there are about twenty tricks that horses he and his wife Miranda train are capable of performing. That includes backing the horse toward a large bean bag and having the horse sit on it.

"It's really about patience," explained Lyon in regard to his training techniques. "Whether you're dealing with kids or any other animals or humans, it's just patience, consistency and make sure they understand it."

Knicely Done!

For more information on Mark and Miranda Lyon's work with horses