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  • Cavin Graham rides U-Know-It, a recently tamed mustang named after a catch-phrase used by Graham’s late friend Shawn Estermyer.

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September 17, 2012

Friend’s memory inspires mustang makeover competitor

By Christopher Smith christophersmith@daltoncitizen.com

Shawn Estermyer dreamed of taming a wild mustang for the Extreme Mustang Makeover contest in Clemson, S.C., but Estermyer will not be going this year.

Cavin Graham of Rocky Face will be going for him.

Though Graham admits Estermyer will always be the better horseman, Estermyer lost a battle with melanoma cancer earlier this year.

“We wanted to take part in this competition together,” Graham said. “We talked about it often, but kept putting it off. Now he’s gone. You never know how much time you’ll have with the people you love.”

Graham will be taking fond memories of Estermyer with him to the competition on Oct. 19-21, while saying “you know it” in his honor. That’s because Estermyer was known for ending every sentence with “you know it,” said Graham.

 It’s also the name (spelled U-Know-It) that Graham gave to an untrained mustang he met in a holding facility north of Knoxville, Tenn. It was there that Graham said he stepped into a 50-foot corral, staring down a dangerous horse.

“U-Know-It’s experiences of humans, up to that point, were not the most pleasant,” Graham said. “He had been wild his whole life until he was captured. He was scared when I met him, either running from me or charging towards me. I calmed him down by speaking his language. He’s been calm ever since.”

Graham said the language he spoke is called natural horsemanship — where the trainer imitates non-verbal cues used between free-roaming horses — to earn U-Know-It’s trust.

“I talked him down and showed him I wasn’t a threat,” Graham said. “When they get over their initial fear, mustangs are a pleasure to train. At this point, you couldn’t call U-Know-It wild anymore.”

Graham attributes his ability to tame U-Know-It to his late friend. He said Estermyer taught him everything he knows. Graham and Estermyer were instant friends who built their friendship around training horses, said Estermyer’s wife Pam.

“Before long, they were riding together,” Pam Estermyer said. “Shawn started training Cavin and he made a lot of friends because of it. He saw Greg Cameron in Texas, Buddy Hicks taught him how to shoe, Claude Byers was his first client, and Cavin Graham will be taking his memory to Clemson.”

She said before his passing Shawn Estermyer’s friends gave him one last ride in February. He died on April 12.

“It will be bittersweet to head to Clemson without him,” Graham said. “He was a real pleasure to be around, and he played a huge part in my life. He’ll never know the impact he had on me and U-Know-It.”

U-Know-It is being trained on the local trails around Dalton. He resides at the Heartland Ranch in Rossville, where he will remain until the competition.

After the show, the competing mustangs will be available for adoption.

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