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HENDERSON, TX. - The Bureau of Land Management will hold the 23^rd annual Wild Horse and Burro Expo at the Rusk County Expo Center in Henderson, Texas, featuring a wild horse and burro adoption event with 35 animals.  The adoption will take place from noon - 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, and from 8 am – 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. 

The BLM will offer animals for the minimum adoption fee of $125 (set by law).  A horse show featuring trained wild horses and burros and their adopters will be held Saturday, Oct. 21, at 9 a.m.  Gentling demonstrations will take place throughout Friday and Saturday.  Please visit www.blm.gov/new-mexico for show registration.  

The horses offered for adoption are adult and yearling horses and burros that once roamed free on public lands in the West.  The BLM periodically removes excess animals from the range in order to maintain healthy herds, and to protect other rangeland resources.  The adoption program is essential for achieving these important management goals.  Since 1973, the BLM has placed more than 235,000 of these “living legends” in approved homes across the country.  The BLM works towards maintaining healthy, manageable levels within herd communities and to create a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt.

BLM staff will approve applications on-site.  To qualify to adopt, one must be at least 18, with no record of animal abuse.  Adopters must have a minimum of 400 square feet of corral space per animal, with free access to food, water, and shelter.  A six-foot corral fence is required for adult horses; five feet for yearlings; and four-and-a-half feet for burros.  All animals must be loaded in covered, stock-type trailers with swing gates and sturdy walls and floors.  BLM staff will be on hand to assist adopters through the short application process.

The BLM pays a one-time $500 care-and-feeding allowance to adopters of horses that are at least four years old.  The BLM pays the allowance after one year when adopters receive official ownership title for their horse(s).  All standard adoption conditions and fees apply.  A limited number of eligible horses will be available.  Younger horses, burros, and trained animals are not eligible for this incentive.  The BLM designed this incentive to find homes for older horses that might otherwise be destined for long-term pastures, where they would live out the remainder of their natural lives at taxpayer expense.

Rusk County Expo Center is located at 3303 FM 13, Henderson, Texas 75654.  For more information, please contact Crystal Cowan at 405-826-3057 or ccowan@blm.gov.