BLM and Lander wild horse pasture place untrained horses
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LANDER, Wyo. – The Bureau of Land Management and the Wind River Wild Horse Public Off-Range Pasture found homes for 11 Wyoming wild horses last weekend at an adoption and free public day near Lander. This shared commitment to place excess wild horses into private care helps the BLM maintain healthy wild horses on healthy, productive public rangelands.
The 11 untrained yearlings were made available through the BLM’s Adoption Incentive Program, which provides qualified applicants with financial assistance to care for adopted horses. To encourage more people to give a wild horse or burro a good home, the program provides up to $1,000 to adopt an untrained wild horse or burro. The goal of the program is to reduce the BLM’s recurring costs to care for wild horses and burros while helping the BLM to confront a growing over-population of wild horses and burros on public rangelands.
Brock Quinlan, a wrangler for a lodge in Colorado, came to the event because he wanted to start an untrained horse from the beginning. After training and building trust with his adopted yearling from the Stewart Creek Herd Management Area, he plans to use the horse to guide guests on the trails.
“You have to get the horses to trust you first,” said Quinlan. “If they don’t trust you they’re not going to do anything for you.”
Mike Miller from Crowheart adopted four horses—two to use for his job with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and two for his kids to train and ride. He plans to ride his horses on mounted patrols and eventually ride them in search and rescue operations.
Miller appreciates the monetary assistance the AIP provides. “The program basically pays for the feed for these horses,” Miller said. “I don’t know why more people don’t do this.”
The BLM, recognizing Americans' strong desire to connect with wild horses - living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West - has established four Public Off-Range Pastures on grasslands throughout the high and central plains. The public is welcome to visit one of these pastures to learn more about the Wild Horse and Burro Program. To learn more about the Public Off-Range Pasture program, visit www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/get-involved/public-off-range-pastures. To learn more about the Wind River Wild Horse Public Off-Range Pasture, visit www.windriverwildhorses.com.
To learn more about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, including the AIP, visit blm.gov/whb or contact the national information center at 866-468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov.
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.