Man, mustang partnership cross country; Barnetts host travelers

Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES
Jake Harvath found a pleasant place to stay on his trek across the country with Lonnie and Sharon Barnett in Garfield. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/. — Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Jake Harvath found a pleasant place to stay on his trek across the country with Lonnie and Sharon Barnett in Garfield. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.

Pursuing his lifelong dream, Jake Harvath of Utah is crossing the United States, passing through 30 states, with his three mustangs.

Recently, while crossing Benton County, he stayed at the home of Lonnie and Sharon Barnett of Garfield.

"It's been a lifelong dream of mine," Harvath said. "Trying to show people how useful they (mustangs) are and I want to encourage people to adopt them. I'm trying to spread awareness and educate people about 'em."

Relying on the hospitality of strangers, Harvath camps out along the trail. He does not have a team traveling with him. As for relying on the hospitality of strangers, he said he's been pleased with the kindness of people.

Lonnie Barnett said he was taking cattle to market when he saw Harveth on Gann Ridge Road.

"They found me! That happens," Harvath said, "I've knocked on doors and asked if I could camp in their barn. Nobody's told me 'no.'"

"I hollered at him and asked 'Where you staying the night?'" Barnett said, and told Harveth where his barn was and told him to make himself at home. He set up camp in the barn.

"Sharon cooked biscuits and gravy this morning and we packed a bunch of homemade cookies for his trip," Barnett said. The Barnetts also fed the horses even though Harvath offered to pay for the hay.

"He was right there close on Gann Ridge," Barnett said. "I knew if he was here, we could give him breakfast and let him get a shower."

"If it had been any colder, we would have stopped (when we came back from the sale barn) and taken him in the house," Barnett said.

"I get support from plenty of good people like the Barnetts here," Harveth said.

It can take up to two hours to pack in the mornings but only about 30 minutes to unpack at the end of the day. He alternates which horse he rides. There have been a couple of times when he needed to find a veterinarian for scratched eyes. The horses are currently on their third sets of horseshoes and will probably get shod again in about two weeks.

To find the best routes, he often learns from local people even though he carries a GPS device.

"I try to get as much information as I can from people," he said. "Sometimes you have to reroute."

Harvath was planning to travel U.S. Highway 62 east from Benton County, but Barnett advised him to take back roads.

Mustangs are unique, Harvath said, explaining that they're born in the wild and therefore have "a lot of traits bred into them by nature, not bred into them by us. That makes them very hardy."

"They have pretty minimal health issues, strong feet, lots of good physical traits," Harvath said.

Host Lonnie Barnett said the comparison of a mustang to other horses is as a coyote to a house dog.

"They've taken on traits of domestic horses that have gotten loose and bred with them," Harvath said. "They're pretty robust. They're typically very easy keepers," he said.

Harvath and his three mustangs -- Bella, 16, Denver, 6, and Eddie, 12 -- left home in Heber City, Utah, Sept. 25, 2023. They travel about 20 miles a day depending on terrain and weather, but continue despite cold, rain, wind.

The gray mare is Bella, his companion for nine years. He said he got her when he was just 14 and was beginning his apprenticeship as a horse trainer.

"She was pretty darn green when I got her," he said. "I was a kid who didn't know anything. She taught me so, so much."

He said he's had Denver for a little over a year and Eddie for almost a year.

He found Eddie in a rescue in Colorado Springs.

He bought Denver when he and a friend competed in a 100-day competition in which a trainer works with a mustang for 100 days, puts them through a show, then auctions them off.

"I auctioned off my horse and got him instead," Harvath said. "He was still pretty green when I got him.

"I started apprenticing as a horse trainer ... that's what I did all through high school," he said. After graduating from high school, he began his career as a horse trainer. "I like to train colts."

His philosophy is to become a partner with the horse.

"It's like a dance partner," he said. "It's important to build a good partnership -- it's a good team effort. It's almost like you see your dance partner. You've got to have a leader in a couples dance and you've got to have a partnership to make everything happen. It's based on good leadership. That's how they work. They're herd animals. It's important to communicate in a way they can understand."

There are between 50,000 to 60,000 mustangs in holding pens in the West. The government spends money feeding them.

"Wild horses are not native to the United States," Harvath said, explaining that as the horse population has grown but has lost places to migrate as civilization has encroached on the area. "Nowadays they have no natural predators so there's no limiting factor on their populations."

Minimal resources causes many of the horses to starve.

"I've been out there. I've seen it," he said. "It's pretty bad conditions."

Persons interested in helping can go to the web site of the Bureau of Land Management to adopt a mustang.

Harvath said he saved his moneyto make the trip, but also has a GoFund me page for Year of the Mustang.

"That helps feed these guys," he said.

He travels trails, back roads, forest roads, main highways and plans to go to the east coast, go to New Jersey, then back across the country on a more northern route.

"It will be the longest continuous horse journey in a year's time -- 7,000 miles," Harvath said.

He said he passed through "the biggest ranch in New Mexico" that took him five days to get across and didn't see another person during that time. It was Vermejo Park Ranch, 560,000 acres, between Colorado and New Mexico.

"It was some of the most beautiful wilderness I've ever seen. It was really pretty," Harvath said.

"For the most part, it's good I came down here ... that was the plan, traveling through the South in the winter," Harvath said.

He posts videos on YouTube and TikTok.

The idea of the trip initially shocked his parents, who are nonetheless supportive and work on the "back end" of the social media and the finances.

"My mom does all the comments and DMs; they're pretty involved." One of his two brothers also helps manage the business.

Annette Beard/Pea Ridge TIMES Jake Harvath found a pleasant place to stay on his trek across the country with Lonnie and Sharon Barnett in Garfield. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.

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