Canon City Wild Horse Facility

The former BLM wild horse and burro holding facility at the Colorado Department of Corrections in Cañon City housed up to 3,000 animals at a time and allowed inmates to feed and care for wild horses. The BLM first entered an agreement with the Cañon City Facility in 1986 under the Wild Horse Inmate Program.

The last agreement between the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Department of Corrections was signed in 2020 and expired Nov. 29, 2025. The Bureau of Land Management Colorado wild horse and burro team safely relocated all wild horses from the Colorado Department of Corrections Cañon City Facility following the cancellation of the contract for the Wild Horse Inmate Program. All Colorado wild horses that remained in holding at the Cañon City facility found homes through adoption, fostering, and sales authority before the closure. 

The care, wellbeing and training of these wild horses by the Colorado Department of Corrections and BLM Colorado set a standard for private care placement of wild horses and burros that positively impacted both animals and their caretakers.