Nebraska horse sets Guinness World Record after being rescued from kill pen

HAY SPRINGS, Neb. - A once-unruly rescue horse has galloped his way into the record books thanks to a Western Nebraska horse trainer.

Megan Reimann recently set a Guinness World Record with her horse Rusty for the most tricks performed by a horse in three minutes.

The duo completed 33 approved tricks in the time limit, and had to be watched live by several Guinness-approved witnesses to make sure the record was legit.

"There's a whole lot of paperwork involved," said Reimann. 

Rusty was rescued from a kill pen in 2016 and was completely unmanageable to begin with, but with the help of an online training group, Reimann began teaching Rusty simple tricks like fetch which completely changed his behavior.

“Rusty would bite, plow through people and had zero boundaries," said Reimann. "I thought I might have to send him back."

This is Reimann’s second Guinness World Record, with the first being set in 2023 with her cow named ghost for the most tricks done by a cow in one minute.

She believes this form of training can be a blueprint for other people dealing with animals that reject other methods.

As a result she has started teaching and writing about horse tricks under the pen name "Noche Miller" in the hopes of further spreading the knowledge she's gained.

"In the horse world we look down on trick training as just tricks," said Reimann, "But in reality teaching tricks builds communication with our horse. It teaches them how to learn, makes them want to work with us, and trick training is really extremely valuable, no matter what more serious discipline we want to do." 

Reimann says Rusty now helps with ranch work and is even gentle enough for her children to ride which is a remarkable turnaround for a horse once considered untrainable.