ROCK SPRINGS — They came from Nevada and were a bit smaller and thinner-boned than their Wyoming cousins. They might not have been perfect for a mountain elk hunt or a week’s pack trip into the Thorofare, but for a teenage barrel racer — just right.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management put 40 captured wild horses and 10 burros up for adoption outside Rock Springs last week. After a half day of viewing, inspecting and selecting, six horses and three burros were cut from the herds and shooed through chutes and runways into trailers that would take them to their new, permanent homes.
Brothers Jake and Trevor Hicks brought their families up from Mountain View, looking for a yearling each. They planned to train and add them to the ranch’s working herd, to be used for hunting and packing.
At just $125 each — with the potential to earn $1,000 from the BLM for keeping and humanely caring for the animal for a year — adopting once-free mustangs has been a good deal for the Hicks brothers.
“They tend to be smart, sure-footed … compact. I think they’re awesome.”
Mark Atkinson
Last time they took a horse home, “in 10 days we were riding her,” Jake Hicks said.
Brad, Tammy and Paige White drove from Evanston to look, but couldn’t immediately decide on taking a horse home. After a break for lunch, they were back smiling, filling out adoption forms that described their new horse’s corral space, shelter and water.
The adoption event drew cowboys Nate Stubbs and Enoch Chatwin up from Arizona, looking for the “the biggest you can get” and the ones with the least amount of human influence. They would gentle and train the animals themselves to be used for herding cattle, riding trails.
That the horses were untouched was paramount. “We don’t want anybody else messing with our horsemanship,” Chatwin said.
Wyoming tough
Operating under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the BLM seeks to limit Wyoming’s wild horse population at 3,795 or fewer across 4.7 million acres. The agency currently estimates the state’s wild horse population at 10,264, almost three times the BLM’s upper goal.
Nationwide, the BLM counts 58,952 wild horses and 14,568 burros — 73,520 animals — where the agency’s “appropriate management level” calls for 26,785. As populations increase, the agency gathers, or rounds up, wild-running bands and corrals them for gentling, adoption, sale or auction. Some are released back to the wild, others are destined for captive life in a BLM pasture.
At Rock Springs, the corrals hold up to 800 horses, some there only for a stopover during cross-country transport.
A small crew — Remo Dansereau, the knowledgeable “D.J.” and others — sees the bands through the weather, pitching hay daily. The corral workers “all have a deep passion for horses,” BLM spokesman Micky Fisher said.
Last week about 70 people walked among about 10 corrals that separated horses and burros by sex, age and other factors. Each animal wore a rope collar from which dangled an ID tag.
Clipboards wired to corral fencing listed some particulars for each animal, including original home ranges: Last week’s adoption featured the collection from Nevada.
“They tend to run a little smaller,” Dansereau said. Wyoming horses gathered from the nearby Salt Wells and White Mountain herds have better feed and water, said Pat Doak, a photographer who advocates for adoption and shoots pictures for new owners.
Some adopters look for color, or want an animal from a particular herd, or a horse they might have come to know when it was in the wild. Horses from Salt Wells in southern Wyoming have flaxen tails and manes. The McCullough herd east of Cody boasts color. The McCullough rainbow includes blue, red and strawberry roan; gray and palomino; bay; brown; black; sorrel; chestnut; white; buckskin and pinto, the BLM says. McCullough fans have named individuals — Taboo, Top Gun, Jigsaw, Thor, Tempest and so on.
“I think it’s a great program, having seen the joy it brings to a lot of families,” Fisher said. At Rock Springs, adopters also get a Doak picture or two.
“It does make the horse more special,” the photographer said.
All her horses are pretty
Some horses have been gentled, halter-started or saddled-started, at the Mantle Ranch outside Wheatland or by inmates at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton.
“They’re really nice horses, great for recreational mountain use,” said Mark Atkinson, a lifelong equestrian, professional wilderness packer, trail rider and hunter who adopted three horses from the Honor Farm. “They tend to be smart, sure-footed … compact,” the Lander resident said. “I think they’re awesome.”
Lander’s Kelsey Wicks has four BLM horses she uses to restock NOLS wilderness expeditions and teach riding. She came to the adoption and auction programs while working at NOLS’s Three Peaks Ranch outside of Boulder almost a decade ago.
“They seemed like really smart and athletic horses in general,” she said. Those gentled at the Honor Farm give owners a head start in training. “All are still young and early in their learning progression,” Wicks said.
When adopting, she looks for a Goldilocks temperament: “Athletic and energetic but not too spooky or hot … something that doesn’t want to nap all day long.”
Personality is apparently only one factor. “Friends do accuse me of only liking pretty horses,” Wicks said.
The BLM and its contractors freeze brand the gathered mustangs, indelibly coloring an animal’s hide and hair on the neck. In addition to in-person adoptions, the BLM operates an online adoption corral that includes videos of the animals.
A 3-year-old gelding — horse no. 0104 — for example “is un-touched with no training,” the site advertises. The BLM gathered the energetic 15-hand bay from the Twin Peaks herd in California. He stuck his tongue out as he pranced back and forth in front of the camera last month. Fully 180 people viewed his particulars as the deadline for adoption loomed. Horses and burros that are sought by more than one party are auctioned, some animals bringing thousands of dollars.
Horses that are older than 10 years and have not been adopted after three attempts can be sold, although the agency won’t knowingly let them go to slaughterhouses or to those who would resell them to such facilities.
The BLM can’t find homes for its wards, but it’s still responsible for them and holds 60,887 in pastures and corrals. The entire program cost the agency $157 million in 2023.
With virtually no natural horse predators and an ability for a band to double its size in four years, the BLM’s responsibility for range health weighs against letting herds expand and run unfettered on semi-arid, sagebrush lands. Adopter Atkinson, who has a professional awareness of ecological health, saw one site used by too many wild horses. “It looked impacted,” he said.
The Wild Free–Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 requires the BLM “to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses and burros as components of the public lands.” The law acknowledges that wild horses are “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”
Wild horse advocates accuse the agency of inappropriately favoring livestock grazers, rounding up horses in brutal helicopter-driven stampedes and sentencing some to long-term warehousing. The BLM treated more than 700 animals with fertility control last year.
The BLM lists injuries and deaths from roundups and seeks to maintain “healthy horses and burros on healthy public rangelands,” the agency says in its information pages.
“It is law for us to do this,” BLM spokesman Fisher said. “A lot of the attention is naturally on the gather part. I would love it if there was more attention on the adoption side.”
Wicks respects the BLM’s efforts, she said. “I think they’re constantly trying to figure out how to have these horses adoptable, available for people to find them.”
The BLM is as corrupt and dishonest goverment bureau. This article makes them sound like fairy tale story. They operate under false information, horrific trapping practices and helicopter chasing. The cattle, sheep , and minning lobbyists are co-offenders in destroying the horses rightful access to the lands which they are being taken from. The real purpose is not to lower the horses but to totally destroy and erradicate for more cattle and sheep leasing. These animals were gifted this land back in 1972 but corrupt and money greedy ranchers and goverment lobbyisrs havd decided they can mske money off theses animals both through cheap land leases. and sending them by the hundreds to slaughter owned by connected contract individuals with lucrative goverment contracts. They know the contracts and the practices will never be contested because the people who arrange all this operate way under the radar of the public eye.
Carolyn, you are absolutely correct on every comment you have made about the BLM; totally agree with every statement you have made. The BLM is ‘in bed’ with the wealthy cattle and sheep ranchers, and it is a known fact that cattle destroy more grazing land than the mustangs. The use of helicopters is very cruel running these beautiful animals in very hot weather without regard for the foals and the family bands that are devastated when they are driven into the holding pens where many are stampede death, and not given enough water, good feed or shelter from the heat and other weather elements. Many do end up at slaughter houses which is a big money making business overseas for horse meat. Absolutely revolting, very cruel and disgusting.
There are many horses, burros and donkeys sent to slaughter. Mexico and Canada can’t wait to get them. BLM can do a better job.
I personally believe the helicopter roundups of the wild horses needs to be stopped forever and let the wild horse population get their freedom back on the public lands which they are accustomed to
I agree…round ups are brutal
and unnecessary.
The adoption program is a broken program. 64000 wild horses are stored in hell out of site out mind. Out of the 2692 that were stripped from the East Pershing Complex 103 have died at the Winnemucca at the non public facility. Saving wild horses is not the idea only ridding the land of them so cattle can thrive.
I agree…round ups are brutal
and unnecessary.
Well let’s be honest about what is what. Both wild horses and cattle are not native species to this country and these deserts. However grazing rights go back to railroad times. There were not as many wild horses back then as they were captured, trained, traded and eaten by many tribal groups. But the reality is that the wild is very horse on these horses, sometime so bad that have to put horses down out of mercy for the animal. I agree with the adoption program, it is a great program. Cattle, while not my particular interest, they do have right to lease those lands and if stopped prices would add to the already insane inflation. I believe that steps could be taken to improve in all areas, it seems that poor management is the proper name for the BLM, maybe they should be the PLM. But they are government agency, so waste, corruption and worthless expenses are their foundation. This is why less government is always a better option.
Given how many end up in the slaughter pens this is downright lie. The brands they put on mustangs make it easy to identify them in kill pens. Bml just trying to not look like the bad guys they are because they prefer the money from ranchers over the tax mo eye from tax payers
A lot of folks seem interested in ranchers and farmers supporting the feeding of the horses. Rather than decide what the ranchers and farmers should spend their livlihood to support, tell us how much you are willing to contribute to caring for the horses. You do realize that decreasing the beef supply will raise food prices for everyone don’t you? It should be obvious that some control of numbers is necessary.
A bunch of bull!! Adopt a horse, get 1000 dollars, keep it alive , barely, and then after 1 year, owners can sell them to kill buyers at auction.!! If you believe this is OK, you are cruel and just in it for the money!!!😡
My thoughts exactly.
Helicopters gathering them up & causing fatal injuries!! BLM is in bed with the cattle industry!!! Don’t sugar coat this story, WE know what the TRUE story is!!! 1000/horse to be turned in later for slaughter has to be stopped!!
AMEN!!! WELL SAID Marjorie!!!
I agree that the horses are being traumatized by being scared to death by helicopters, driven from their homes and separated from their families so that the ranchers can graze livestock. I’m sure the ranchers have the BLM wrapped around their little finger, and I’ll also sure there is money and greed involved. Leave the horses alone! It’s their right to be there!
Agree! Cattle are endangering all our wildlife, using up all the natural resources. BLM has shot & killed some of the horses, I have proof. Hwy 99 Rock Springs yes I know very well what ranchers did here to those herds. Greed is the root of this slaughter going to Mexico & Canada!!
The horses from the McCullough Peaks herd were auctioned off, and went for thousands of dollars. Why was their situation different from all the horses that were adopted for just $125.00 ? Also, how is the money used from the auction ?
Because bml deliberately targeted a somewhat famous filly and tore her away at six months of age ( she was still nursing on her dam.) Just to hurt mustang advocates as well as make a bidding war for her as people wanted her to not go to a slaughter pen.
The TIP Program has been badly abused by some very unscrupulous individuals buying low and then getting $1000 back for doing absolutely nothing with the horses, and them ending up at auctions. That TIP program needs fixing for the safety and welfare of the horses and potential ownera. Formost each TIP trained horse has to pass an exam before those people get a dime.
Horse has to be able to, lift all 4 feet to clean, stand tied, load in trailer, lead quietly, be patient for halter and flymasks on and off, fly spray, blanket. Then a basic riding test. Saddle, mount from ground, mount from object, rode to left lead and rode to the right lead. Stop, back up and stand with rider. Horse has to get a passing score for the trainer to receive the money. Im sick of my tax dollars going into the pockets of grifters. If horse doesnt pass then BLM has to take it back and it goes back in rotation, trainer gets nothing.
Also,, I would love to say to the ones that are active in the preservation of these horses/ burros ,,thank you !! : )
I’m not replying to anyone.I’d just like to know,why you’re average family,people on fixed incomes can’t afford your precious beef? Maybe use confinement feeding like the poor pigs.Pork is very affordable
Why slaughter horses, confine them for an eternity ,and not beef,that are just being raised for that very reason? Too inhumane?Or just not as profitable for big business? W
ho after all run this country.
They are being sold to kill buyers who then ship and sell them for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
Because six ranches pay the BML to look the way while their cattle do more harm to public lands than the horses and burros do.
How can I adopt from MN?
Leave Biden out of the picture. If he can’t acknowledge the child of “White Cloud” aka Hunter, doesn’t care about human traffic & drug runners @ the border and the sanctity of life, how can we expect him to care about one of our national treasures? The drug issue won’t be dealt with until somebody “important” dies.
He thinks mustangs and colts are cars.
Wild horses DO have natural predators. Mountain lions in certain areas specialise in them. If things were different, I suspect there’d be fertility control and natural predators only, needed. If that.
Sadly the livestock industry controls most things, including hunting and wild horse removal.
In the absence of further information, it’s concerning that one outfit has horses ready for riding in 10 days. That would cause a wild horse a lot of fear and stress.They are, after all, wild, not domestic, animals. I’ve seen too many videos of wild horses being “gentled” and they are often trembling and there is way too much pressure applied.
Its called flooding. Overwhelm the senses. Horse’s world is sight, sound, smell, touch, ambient energy. When you throw enough at them to overwhelm those senses its flooding. I dont approve. It is common.
BRANDING: Several commenters have concerns about wild horses originating on BLM lands in the west may be sent to Canada or Mexico for slaughter. The BLM utilizes freeze branding of the wild horses at roundup time which clearly identifies the horse as being a US horse – branding goes a long way towards preventing export for slaughter purposes – without branding the US horses could not be distinguished from other horses -branding is essential for this reason. In addition, each state has ” brand inspectors ” whose job is to ensure livestock has the proper papers in order to cross state lines and in some cases, to move within the state. It would be interesting to know if Federal brand inspectors routinely inspect horses that are being exported to Canada and Mexico in order to identify US horses – there must be some sort of inspection. You can find more information on the BLM branding program by searching for ” BLM freezebrand” or a similar wordage.
The number of wild horses on the Wind River Indian Reservation got completely out of control resulting in roundup and sale of the horses. These horses are not under BLM management since the Shoshones are a seperate nation. Again, there is information on the internet about several thousand Indian horses being rounded up and probably shipped to Mexico. Assuming that was the case, many people probably confused these Indian horses with BLM horses which they are not. And, privately owned horses can be exported to Mexico or Canada and/or meat from private horses which are slaughtered in the US can be exported. Please read more about branding and Indian horses on the WRIR.
Currently, there are NO horse slaughter plants in the US. They were all shut down a few years ago. Horses are trucked out of the US to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. Private horses, TBs, and horses from auction houses bought up by “kill buyers” usually end up in the slaughter pipeline. Certain rescues buy these horses at auctions to save from slaughter. Horse Rescue Heroes is the main buyer in Tennessee and Kentucky. This is a legit rescue and does great work with horses. They adopt them out after vetting these horses.
There is NO horse slaughter within the US. These horses are being sent to Mexico & Canada & this has got to stop!!
It is wrong to use helicopter s to round up horses It is wrong to favor cattle industry over wild horses cattle do more harm to the environment than horses proven fact flatulence
I have read your commet,,I appreciate it very much! I think we should do it ,as far as before this awful helicopter drive! Wording why we can’t spend extra 6 days or so to bring them in old school ways?? I know we would have many volunteers,, ,,right? Can I ask your thoughts on that? Your comment,caught me because I agree 1,000% anyway,, : ) thank u for your opinion
Carol: The Buffalo roundup at Custer State Park in South Dakota is akin to the social event of the year and draws thousands of onlookers. It covers the 80,000 acre park with nothing more than horses for moving the critters; and, the riders are volunteers who gladly welcome the opportunity to aid the staff. The Buffalo are sorted, vaccinated and the excess animals sold at public auction with papers proving their health; therefore, they can be transported since they are disease free. If the BLM solicited volunteer riders to roundup wild horses in the huge open range pastures in the west they probably would get well over a thousand volunteer riders – after all, how many Americans get the chance to participate in an old fashion western roundup covering a vast landscape – very, very few. For most, it would be the experience of a lifetime – throw in a few chuck wagon cooked meals for icing on the cake. And, it would be a gentle movement of the horses with few injuries – consider that the wild horses would feel much more comfortable around other mounted horses than helicopters and pickup trucks. Custer State park has utilized this method for many years and its been highly successful. Also, Custer State Parks sale of healthy buffalo that are shipped all over the country has started hundreds of other private herds – the key is healthy, disease free animals that are under veterinarian care. There will be many articles on the internet and videos showing the SD roundup.
100%agree
The claim that wild horses have no natural predators is absurd. Do cattle have natural predators? Of course — bears, cougars, wolves. The same as the horses, the elk, pronghorn, deer, moose. The TRULY absurd reality is the sponsored SLAUGHTER of most predators in wild horse country. If wild horse numbers increase as quickly as authorities claim, it is HUMAN-caused, interfering with Mother Nature in the name of “management”.
Another harsh reality and unadvertised consequence of BLM’s program paying adopters $1,000 per horse after a year of ownership, is the fact that unscrupulous adopters have no intention of handling or training the numerous horses they purchase for $25 each. Instead, they collect the $1,000 per horse after one year, then haul them to auctions (often having let the mares be bred), where they almost always end up being bought by kill buyers who sell them for meat-price in Mexico or Canada. The intent and mission of the original Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was to prevent just such an outcome. Ending the BLM’s $1,000 per horse payouts is long overdue.
😞🥺 Unfortunately what you say is correct from my own research and wishing others would do the same to learn the truth.
VERY WELL said! Two excellent points!
Thank u for the great articles on wild horses & burros, explaining how they keep the land safer from wildland fires than grazing cattle do. The BLM and Dep’t of Forestry do not follow scientific information re: horses & burros on fertility practices, separating families, etc. Congress needs to protect these animals! Please speak-up to your state and federal representatives!
I’d be interested in the true story of how many of these horses are sold to kill buyers and sent to slaughter in Canada or Mexico. They are sold for meat.
Tell the whole story.
I live in Ohio I would be interested in adopting a horse or two and a burro.
Please send me any info about this I am very interested.
What the BLM is doing to the wild herds is totally illegal, and should be reviewed and letigaged through non-governmental courts on behalf of the animals legal rights. According to the Wild Horse Act declared law by President Nixon in 1970. According to this law….these wild horses were granted freedom to roam free without fear human intervention. BLM helicopter roundups, large unprotected and unsupervised enclosures without adequate food, shelter and medical attention of hu dreds of animals is absoutely not free, and is grounds for legal intervention on behalf of these animals. The BLM has long covered up the absolute truth of what happens to these animals. The “Incentive adoption” program makes it possible for killer buyers to buy hundreds of animals and mainline them directly to slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada. These are living descendants of the history of our country and the part they played in it. The true goal is to intentionally erradicate the wild horse herds to be replaced by hundreds more of cattle and sheep. The BLM is “beholding” to the greedy ranchers, the power driven lobbyists and corrupt goverment indivduals that are making millions of dollers destroying these animals. Once there all gone it is called extinction.
You stated the real issues in your comments! Thank you. The cattle industry is pushing many species to extinction & it has to stop. Grazing on OUR PUBLIC LANDS only paying pennies on the dollar ($1.35 lease cost to BLM) It’s not right whatsoever!!
This is hot garbage. Many of them end up in the slaughter pipeline, shipped to Mexico to be killed.
” …….. and holds 60,887 in pastures and corrals.” Its my impression that many of these horses are out-placed onto private ranches in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, south dakota, etc. for the rest of their lives at a rate of about $60-65 per month per horse. Their forever home. A big advantage of out-placing the mares and geldings is that there are no stallions mixed with the mares; therefore, a lot of foals are not being sired – maybe as many as 30-50,000 per year. As the article states, the wild herds can double in size every 4 years or so – but, by separating the mares and stallions the total number under management is drastically reduced without horses being sold or sent to slaughter. Adoption plans work nicely but only a few of the wild horses find homes where they are trained and live a useful life – far more run free on the open prairies under contract with ranchers. I really like that scenario – it gets the horses off the red desert and out-places them to private grass/forage – and they run free. However, if you want to see Wyoming’s wild horses – the viewing might be best in Oklahoma.