wyoming-born in 1844, william upwester was raised on the high plains and in his youth developed a strong affinity for wild horses. at an early age he found himself able to communicate with these horses in a way that influenced them to behave gently around humans. after a local man told him this ability could be used for lucrative purposes, young william was well on his way to becoming a professional horse breaker.

at one point the western states attempted to build a network for long-distance communication known as the pony express. nowadays we hear of old west ads searching for "young wiry fellows" willing to risk their lives out on the plains to help expand this network, but we never hear much about the horses that were ridden by those men. keep in mind a wild horse is unrideable before undergoing a severe taming and training process by a capable human. well this was william's job. and after the pony express dissolved, he continued to capture and "break" horses for the various establishments and individuals that desired them.

one busy day he single-handedly rounded up a total of thirteen wild mustangs and delivered them successfully to his horse pens. this was considered quite a feat back then (even moreso today!) and word of this quickly got around. from that point on william was known on the plains as "wild 13."

now wild 13, although he was comfortable with horses, felt somewhat ill-at-ease with the local humans. he found most to be crude and vulgar. he also discovered on his infrequent visits to the local saloons that he was disinterested in the opposite sex in any "special" way. in that way rather, he preferred men. but the old west offered little support for individuals desiring to "come out," so for most of his life wild 13 kept these desires to himself.

there was a time when wild 13 would have liked to leave the plains, perhaps to go further west to seek out gold treasure and like-minded souls. but william had a sick mother and a soft heart. actually, she wasn't really sick. but she was lonely, clever and convincing. so wild 13 remained home.

sometime in his 40s, he came upon a rare and ferocious white mustang - a real crazy horse. he did manage to round her up, however, delivering her with great difficulty to his pen. this was a wily horse, and she knew just how to modify her behavior to suit her needs. and one day, just when wild 13 felt she had been broken, he entered the pen and she charged him fiercely, trampling him into the ground on her release and return to the wilderness.

wild 13 died shortly after from the injuries, still loving his horses. his mother, with full health, outlived him by many years.