For Immediate Release:  August 20, 2007
Contact: Denise Adamic BLM 303-239-3671
Ann Bond BLM 970-385-1219
Fran Ackley BLM 719-269-8511

BLM offers mustangs & burros for adoption

Cortez, CO — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer 35 hand-picked mustangs and several burros for adoption on Saturday, August 25, at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds.    Most animals offered for adoption will be under five years of age. 

The mustangs offered for adoption will be gathered the week prior from BLM lands in the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area where their populations have exceeded the capacity of the land. The Spring Creek Basin mustangs are known for their trainability and unique coloring, which includes pintos, duns, grays, and roans. All of these animals are certified healthy, have been wormed, vaccinated (including West Nile), and come with a complete set of health care records. The burros offered for adoption will be transported from the BLM Canon City holding facility.

Adoption registration will be held from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 24 and from 8 – 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 25.  The silent-bid adoption will take place on Saturday from 10 – 11 a.m., with the minimum adoption fee at $125.  Mustangs and burros that are not adopted during the silent bidding will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Professional horse trainer, James Morgan will host free training clinics Friday, August 24 from
9 - 11 a.m., 1 - 3 p.m. and 5 -7 pm.  The clinics will focus on how to approach a mustang safely, how to interpret its body language and behavior, and how to determine if training techniques are effective.  The training demonstrations are provided courtesy of the National Mustang Association.

Adopters must be at least 18 years old, have the ability and financial means to care for a mustang or burro, and have corrals that meet BLM specifications:  Fully grown horses must be kept in a corral with a minimum of 400 square feet (20 feet by 20 feet) per animal that is surrounded by a six-foot pipe or board fence.  Five-foot fences are allowed for trained horses and those less than 18 months of age.  Four-and-one-half-foot fences are required for all burros.  Wire fencing is not allowed because it endangers the animals.  Animals cannot be released into large pastures until they can be approached, handled, haltered, and led.

Mustangs and burros are well known for their inherent traits of intelligence, loyalty, stamina, sure-footedness, and soundness.  Throughout the 36-year BLM Wild Horse and Burro program, adopted mustangs and burros have found their way into the hearts of thousands of recreational riders and show arenas in both Western and English specialties, dressage competition, endurance rides as well as ranch work.
 
Applications for adoption are available at www.cijvp.com, by contacting the Dolores Public Lands Office at 970 882-7296, or any BLM office.

-BLM-