Final Wyoming Wild Horse Adoption in 2016 a Success
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The Bureau of Land Management wrapped up its 2016 Wyoming wild horse adoption season with a successful event September 10 at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton. Twenty wild horses and burros found new homes in Wyoming, Colorado and Oregon after being gentled by inmate trainers.
About 100 potential adopters and interested onlookers gathered for the adoption. Winning bids ranged from $125 to the high bid of the day: $1,800 for 3-year-old Slick. Slick is a gray saddle-started gelding from the Salt Wells Wild Horse Herd Management Area in southern Wyoming. In addition to Slick, eight more saddle-started horses, seven halter-started horses and four burros were adopted.
Happy adopters plan to use their new horses in a variety of ways. Many of these versatile horses will be used for pleasure riding or to carry their owners when they hunt or work on the ranch. Others will be used by outfitters or as kids’ horses.
Slick was adopted by Bill Webb, an outfitter in Pinedale who has owned and worked with wild horses in the past. Webb has found them to be easy to catch and tough. He plans to take Slick pleasure riding and on pack trips.
“I think it’s a good deal for the horses and everyone involved to give them good homes,” said Webb.
Tyane Thompson of Riverton was thrilled to adopt her first horse at the Honor Farm event. Thompson and her family took home five-year-old Crescent from the Divide Basin Herd Management Area northeast of Rock Springs. She plans to further train Crescent for mountain riding and elk hunting.
“She’s going to have a good life,” said Thompson.
The burros impressed the crowd as they were led around the pen loaded with saddle packs. All four burros were adopted but the winning bid was $425 for Doc, a five-year-old from McGee Mountain in Nevada.
The event wrapped up with the adoption of Gas, a four-month-old that was found orphaned in the Conant Creek Herd Management Area east of Riverton. Gas was bottle fed and raised by inmate trainers since his rescue from the range in May. He was described at the adoption as “last in the lineup but first in your heart.”
Two adoptions are held at the Honor Farm each year and the next one is scheduled for May 20, 2017. For more information about the BLM wild horse and burro program, visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro.
For more information about the Honor Farm, visit http://corrections.wy.gov/institutions/whf/index.html.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.