Wild Horses Up for Auction
By Jeff Horwitz, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.
Apr. 21–They’re wild horses, and you could ride them someday.
This weekend, the Bureau of Land Management will put scores of wild horses up for adoption at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds.
“It’s part of America’s heritage to take a horse home,” said Mindy Odom, the California Adopt-A-Horse or Burro Program adoption program’s coordinator. “For people in the West, that’s a big thing.”
It’s not that the animals haven’t done fine on their own for several hundred years. They’re direct descendents of horses and burros brought to the West by Spanish colonizers and successive waves of American settlers, Odom said, and their herds have long since adapted to living in the wild. With no natural predators, the horses and burros must occasionally be culled by Bureau of Land Management staff.
All healthy animals removed from the herds are put up for adoption, Odom said.
One hundred animals 80 wild horses and 20 burros will be offered to the public on Saturday and Sunday, though prospective buyers may inspect the animals at any time following their arrival at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds at noon.
The first opportunity to purchase a horse or mule will be at a silent auction from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday. The minimum bid for a horse or burro is $125, which covers the adoption fee. Most animals sell for around $160, said Odom, though it’s not unheard of for a bidding war to erupt over a particularly cute burro.
“I’ve had a burro go for $1,000,” she said. “Two women wanted the same little baby, and they just kept bidding.”
Horses and burros not immediately sold can still be bought for $125 on a first-come basis following the Saturday auction, and will be available again between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The animals are a bargain, Odom said, though prospective owners should be aware that domesticating a wild horse is hard work.
“They’re right off the range,” she said. “Nobody’s been petting on them before you take them home.”
That doesn’t mean that people who haven’t owned horses or burros in the past should shy away, she said.
“A novice person can do OK, because they’ll go at a slower pace. The big thing is to have the time to put into it. You have to be out there with that animal every day,” she said.
A horse trainer will be on hand to give tips, Odom said.
Adopting a horse or burro isn’t incompatible with life in Southern California suburbs, Odom said. A burro’s braying can sometimes grate on neighbors, but Denise Frick keeps her two adopted mustangs in her half-acre Mira Loma back yard.
“I can’t tell you how many times over I could have sold these horses,” Frick said. She used to have registered quarter horses, but finds mustangs to be superior in nearly every respect.
Not only do her two adopted horses have unbelievable stamina, “they’re steadier minded, less likely to overreact to something in the wild or on the trail.”
Unlike horses raised by people, she said, “They’ve learned how to be a horse.”
Those interested in the adoption may contact The Bureau of Land Management at (800) 951-8720.
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