Wild Mustangs

[ArrowHBrand]

Has anyone ever adopted a wild mustang either from the BLM or from a private sanctuary? I'm always on the lookout for another horse and I came across the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and they have some pretty nice foals for sale at great prices. I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with wild mustangs.

 

[branDcalf]

My daughters and I have gotten several mustangs from BLM auctions and contractors. Of seven, only one didn't make a good saddle horse.

May I suggest contacting the BLM directly, or say, Steve Mantle (in Wheatland, WY). There are so many of these horses. And when they don't get 'adopted' they end up in feedlot situations in the south central states because the non-rural population has romanticized the notion of the mustang.

I don't understand why the Sanctuary breeds their horses. They are also crying for funds because they are short on forage for what they have and hay is high. (It's in the Black Hills newspapers) I would prefer they not be encouraged to breed more. And, wild? No more wild than any other pasture-bred ranch horse. Not handled, maybe. But, that different.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

At what age did you get your wild mustangs? Were they truely crazy wild like some cattle we bought off of the Wyoming range, or were they just not handled?

 

[branDcalf]

5 were 7 year olds, and 2 were 5 year olds. All had been haltered and that was it. All were geldings, recent geldings.

The one that didn't work out had had his own band of mares. We got him to where we could trim his feet, bridle, saddle, lunge and ground drive, but, when we'd go to climb on he'd blow up like nothing I'd ever seen. He had better aim with any of his hooves than anything I'd seen. Pretty impressive.

The remainder, were easy as pie to train. One went from nothing but the halter to being rode fairly well in a week. The rest took about 3-4 weeks. Still green, but rideable.

The minimum security prison in Riverton actually puts some saddle time on the ones they auction off. A rather complex system of lottery and auction. Some of the contractors (like Steve Mantle) put saddle time, etc on the horses they have, too. Or you can get them with a halter on.

Have fun.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Im am viewing the BLM adoption website and it seems like a lot of hoop jumping to adopt a horse. How much did you end up paying? I think I will go to an adoption to see the process before making up my mind.

 

[branDcalf]

We took the bargain basement geldings. The herd stud (gelded) was one fantastic looking horse, but his attitude prevented him from getting a home before we tried.

Other than him, we just picked smallish, sound horses and paid $35 - 50 for each. I wouldn't want to pay a whole lot for one. When I hear of people paying 8 - 12 hundred at some of the auctions I'm amazed.

A friend of mine's brother got a gelding, tall and nicely built, but a curly, for $150. That horse was 8 or so years old.

I'll look to see if I can find contact info for some of the contractors.

 

[branDcalf]

Here's a link to centers in NE and WY.

http://www.kbrhorse.net/whb/blmne.html

It states that the 'adoption' fee is $125. I think that is acurate, unless you take rejects to turn into pets for families like we did.

 

[oscar p]

Do what you want to. But as cheap a horses are, I'd pass on the mustangs, and buy me a good quarter horse colt. With the mustang you have to keep it one year, regardless, if it tames down or not. Then after a year, you can barely give them away. I personally would shy away. BUT there is a 12 year old girl at our saddle club that runs barrels on a mustang mare, she is aways in the top ten.

 

[branDcalf]

And give them away is what we did. lol

Every one of them we gave to families with kids. Definitely not a money maker, but it was my alternative to drugs and drinking for three teenage daughters. Keep some labor-intensive horses around. That way, they have something to occupy their busy little minds with.

Edited to add: The one that didn't make a saddle horse, we were able to send on to one of those feedlot situations in OK. We didn't give him to a family. Yikes!

 

[ArrowHBrand]

I'm not looking to make money off of the deal. I need my next cattle horse for our place. I figured Mustangs have to be surefooted and fast. There is a girl up here that always does well with her Mustang in games too. I would like to get a weanling or yearling, but would take a two year old. The way I understand it is that going through a sale put on by the BLM you have limited choices. Am I correct about this? Color doesn't matter because conformation and attitude are the most important things for me. Color is a bonus. My wife and I already breed, raise, and train QH and Paints and we just bought our son a POA so this would be something different to have on the place.