Wild Horse Auction

[goatgirl]

I was wondering if anyone on here had ever adopted a horse from the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro auction.  The auction usually passes through our area twice a year and this year my husband and I are considering purchasing a young horse at the auction.  How difficult is it to break/train these horses?  Would they require any different housing or fencing then a regular horse?  Any advice is greatly appreciated.      

[CollegeGirl143]

if you are not an extremely experienced horse person with experience breaking and training horses, do not adopt a wild horse.. they are not easy horses to work with or gain trust from... The only people who should be adopting wild mustangs are people who have experience with them or plan on working with a trainer.

[goatgirl]

Thank you both for the helpful advice.  We still have a few months before the auction comes our way agian.  It should give us plenty of time to continue researching our decision and get our fields/fences ready in case we decide to follow through with an adoption.  I'm going to look up the Reader's Digest article right now.  Thanks.

[Queen E]

This April 2007 Readers Digest has a very good article on children working at taming wild Mustangs as therapy.....worth going to the library to read!

[medic4259]

I adopted a mustang 15 years ago. The stallion had been gelded several months prior to adopting out. It was an experience. Every horse has a different personality. While ET had a lot of trust issues he had a good heart. Building trust is important when working with any horse. However, wild horses come from a herd where there is a strict pecking order. While working with ET was worth the extra time ( a friend helped me out) it's not for everyone. It's a long term commitment. You can't just change your mind and get rid of the horse in a week or even a month. If you don't have alot of experience with handling unbroken horses and still want to give it a try you must have someone with experience to assist you. There is no joy in an injured horse or person. Having the proper place to keep the horse  is of utmost importance. Having well built, strong fences is also very important. Talk with someone who has experienced working with wild horses and make a plan. They are worth the extra effort.

[Queen E]

I recently read an article by someone who did this and they described the horse having behavioral problems for about two years and then things got better.  Issues you see with feral horses--not trusting the human obviously. They had other horses to contrast their experience with this one.  They indicated it had been hard on them and the other horses.
I can only compare this to the difference between having your own child or adopting one from a troubled country. It's great for you to do this, but expect some emotional scars.