Give Them Love Attends BLM Mustang Auction
by Julie Peterson
Give Them Love's Dan and Julie traveled to Lindstrom, Minnesota to attend a Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) Wild Mustang adoption weekend. They had the opportunity to speak with representatives of the BLM,
adopters and vendors, to learn about the adoption process. Most exciting was seeing the majestic American
Wild Mustangs. The majority of the mustangs at this auction were from Nevada herds. They were grouped in
separate pens by age and gender. Each mustang had a rope around its neck with a numbered tag attached. On
each holding pen was a list of the horses’ number, color, age, and the year and state in which they were
captured. The mustangs were all beautiful, showing a variety of colors and markings, and all in very good
condition. The BLM representatives were very knowledgeable, friendly and happy to answer all of our
questions and talk about the Wild American Mustangs.
Anyone interested in adopting a mustang must complete an application and be approved through their regional BLM office. Applicants must show that they have basic horse care knowledge and will be able to provide their mustang with proper shelter, food and water, and veterinarian care. Fencing must suitable for a wild horse, six feet tall for an adult horse, five feet for youngsters and mules, and no barbed wire. Once you have been approved to adopt one or more mustangs through the BLM, you can bid on the horse of your dreams at an auction, from a BLM holding facility or via the internet. Bidding generally starts at $125.00 for an ungentled horse, more for a halter trained or gentled horse.
At this event there were two mustangs up for adoption that had been reclaimed by the BLM because the person(s) who had previously adopted them failed to provide adequate care to the standards required by the BLM. The BLM has the right to check on any mustang that is adopted through their program. As part of the application to adopt a mustang, you must provide a map to the place you will be keeping your horse. You give the BLM the right to visit your property at any time. This is to assure that you are providing for your mustang in an appropriate manner, and if not, they have the right to remove the mustang from your possession. There have only been a few cases where this right has been exercised for the protection of the animals.
Approximately thirty mustangs were adopted at this event. The BLM workers loaded the mustangs one by one into the adopters’ trailers and they were off on an adventure of a lifetime. The mustangs not adopted at this event will be kept at a holding facility and transported to another adoption weekend in hopes of finding their new forever home.
After attending the adoption weekend and seeing the Wild American Mustangs, we are now even more excited about our plan to adopt and gentle these marvelous creatures. We are applying for adoption approval through the Eastern States agency for the BLM and will begin construction of the round pen, fencing and shelters for the horses. We will be sharing stories of our Mustang gentling experience on this website in the near future!
