Adopt a Wild Horse

I'm going to check this out, but promise I won't adopt a horse!

I often mountain bike the trails off Skyline in the Oakland hills and ride by the Chabot Equestrian Center and horse stable. It is really cool. The people there are nice and let you just hang out and watch them care for and work the horses. Seems like a cool hobby. And from what I have seen the mountain bikers and horses get along fine. Some people sell shares of their horses, so you are part owner. Hmm maybe...

Young and healthy wild horses and burros looking for new homes will be available for adoption at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) adoption event Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.

The BLM will offer 60 horses and 10 burros ranging in age from under 2 to about 5 years old.

"With spring here and long summer days ahead, the timing is right to begin training an adopted mustang or burro," said Pardee Bardwell of the BLM's Ukiah Field Office. "To help people get started, we will feature free training demonstrations during both days of the adoption event."

The horses were gathered last fall from the Fox-Hog and Coppersmith herd management areas in Northwest Nevada and from the Devil's Garden Herd Territory in Modoc County. All are known for producing good-sized horses that excel at ranch work, pleasure riding and endurance riding. Burros come from Southern California deserts.

"Wild horses are strong, loyal, intelligent and very trainable," Bardwell said. "Adopters find they are great for pleasure riding and trail riding, back country packing, ranch work and competition. People train burros for back country packing, pulling carts and riding."

Wild horses and burros are protected by a federal law, the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The law recognizes the animals as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the west," and requires the BLM to manage the wild herds.

The BLM periodically gathers horses and burros to control herd populations on ranges shared with wildlife and domestic livestock. Herd sizes are controlled to ensure there is sufficient feed and water for all range users.

There are about 32,000 wild horses and burros roaming on public rangelands in the western states. More than 205,000 animals have been placed in private care since the BLM's Adopt-a-Horse-or-Burro Program began in the early 1970s.

www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov

Much more at the online article.

Once on a multi day 4wd trip in Nevada we came off a mountain pass and saw a big herd of wild horses running in the desert. Cooler than I could have ever thought.