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The Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada Department of Corrections – Silver State Industries conducted a saddle-started wild horse adoption event at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center on June 3, 2023. Forty-seven qualified bidders including successful adopters, from all over the United States attended the event, traveling from places as far away as Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

All available horses were successfully adopted at the event. Twenty-one saddle-started wild horses from herd management areas located on BLM Nevada and Oregon public lands, trained for approximately four months by inmates were offered for adoption. Several horses received additional training due to the cancellation of the February 2023 adoption due to Nevada’s extreme winter and hazardous road conditions.

"We are very excited for the turn-out by the public for this event,” said Jenny Lesieutre, BLM Nevada, Wild Horse and Burro Public Affairs Specialist. “The combined bids were the highest I have seen in years, and as always, the Northern Nevada Correctional Center and the inmate trainers did not disappoint! I am grateful for the generous adopters and excited to see the future of all these horses.”

Successful bidders paid a total of $108,200 for the animals. With bids starting at $150, the event’s saddle-trained wild horse top bid of $11,900 went for “Apache,” a grey colored, 5-year-old, 16.2 hand gelding from the Coyote Lake / Alvord-Tule Springs herd management area located in Oregon. The lowest bid was $1,100.

The successful bidders officially adopted their horses. After properly caring for their adopted animals for one year, the adopters are eligible to receive title, or ownership, from the Federal government. The BLM uses its adoption program as a primary tool to place these iconic animals into private care. The animals available for adoption typically come from overpopulated herds on public lands where available vegetation and water can become scarce as populations grow. There are no natural predators that can effectively control wild horse and burro population growth on public lands.

The BLM has placed nearly 306,000 wild horses and burros into private care since 1971. Many of those animals have become excellent pleasure, show, work, or companion animals.

The next saddle-trained wild horse adoption and competitive-bid auction at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center is scheduled for October 14, 2023. Additional information on this partnership, including past and current event catalogs, is posted on-line at https://on.doi.gov/2jE05uy.

For more information about these special adoption or sale events and how to adopt or purchase your own wild horse or burro visit BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program webpage at https://www.blm.gov/whb.