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But one of the reasons that adoptions INCREASED was because they  
loosened the adoption requirements!

And there STILL aren't enough people adopting a mustang to find homes 
for all the ones that need it.

A "mustang" isn't a breed. With the exception of one or two herds, 
virtually ALL the herds managed by BLM have had "improvement stock" 
added. In addition, the herds are "managed" by humans who choose which 
ones to remove from the breeding populations and which ones to leave. 
Flashy color(s) are big sellers, so management tends to leave those 
buckskins, pintos, pallies, duns, etc., even if they are not the 
strongest, fastest, most athletic.

 90% of "mustangs" are simply feral horses -- horses left to replicate 
just like in the old days, when ranchers turned a stallion out with his 
mares and came back the next year to gather up the colts ready to be 
broke.

So  maybe the lesson here is NOT that mustangs are such a great breed, 
but that ALL horses would benefit from being raised in such a natural 
enviroment. As far as cost, I know areas differ in terms of the cost of 
a horse, but in my area, you can get a good, "go-down-the-road", trail 
horse, already started and often with papers for $1000-3000. One year 
when hay prices were high, I bought a nice yearling Doc Bar grandson 
(gelding) for $350! Finished ranch horses were going for $1000 or less 
at the fall auctions. If you adopt a mustang for $600-800 and spend a 
year training & feeding it, you can have that much into the animal. 
More if you buy a younger horse.

While I like to see the mustangs run free too, there are only so many 
resources for "X" number of animals. Decisions have to be made. Not 
everyone will be made happy. There are plenty of horses going to 
slaughter right now who aren't mustangs. Life isn't always fair.

Katrina


On Apr 24, 2005, at 11:12 AM, Mary Bradford wrote:

> I?know one thing BLM should do to limit the people who adopt the wild 
> ones with no idea of what they are getting into.? Right now, they 
> allow you to fill out applications at the auction and approve them on 
> the spot then hand over a horse to the unknowing people.? When I first 
> started adopting, you had to be pre-approved and have the facility 
> inspected by a veterinarian who then signed a paper on the housing 
> conditions.? They did away with the inspection and the preapproval.? I 
> think if they brought that back, that would head off a lot of people.? 
> I've seen people show up at the auction and just decide to bid.? 
> AAAHHHH!? Fills me with terror.?
> ?
> Mary


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