Record high bid at Honor Farm wild horse and burro adoption
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RIVERTON, Wyo. – Fifty-six wild horses and burros gentled by inmate trainers found new homes during the spring adoption at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton. This successful adoption continues the BLM and Honor Farm’s shared commitment to place excess wild horses and burros into private care in order to maintain healthy animals on sustainable, working public rangelands.
The event marked the record high price for a saddle-started wild horse from the Honor Farm. Diesel, a 3-year-old black gelding gathered from the Divide Basin Herd Management Area in southern Wyoming, was adopted for $5,700.
More than 200 people gathered for the event, including adopters from Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. Of the 61 animals offered, 56 were adopted including all 28 saddle-started horses, 13 halter-started horses and 15 pack saddle-trained burros.
Laura Turek of Riverton already had two wild horses at home, including one from the Honor Farm, when she adopted two more saddle-started geldings for backcountry riding. She attended the preview the day before the adoption to talk to the trainers and ask questions about the available horses.
“The trainers are fantastic,” said Turek. “I’m a big advocate of mustangs. They’re a hardy breed and so many need homes.”
Kelsey Wicks, ranch manager for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), adopted the school’s 19th mustang, continuing the tradition of using Honor Farm adopted horses for NOLS courses. The yearling will start out slowly, carrying supplies to students on courses in the backcountry. If the halter-gentled gelding does well, he will eventually carry his own students.
“All the horses we’ve gotten are so nice, with such a solid start,” said Wicks, who also adopted a 3-year-old bay gelding for her personal use. “They all have their own personalities and make great mountain horses.”
NOLS uses the story of gentled wild horses and their journey from public land to camping courses as a way to educate their students about public land issues. Past students have even fallen in love with the wild horses they met during NOLS courses and gone to the Honor Farm to adopt their own.
Two adoptions are held at the Honor Farm each year⸺the next one is September 14. Other upcoming BLM Wyoming adoptions include the Wind River Ranch adoption near Lander May 31–June 1, and the Deerwood Ranch Adoption near Laramie June 7–8. For a full schedule of adoption events, or to learn more about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, 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.