Adopting a Wild Horse: The Dream and the Reality

There are at least 40,000 so-called wild horses and burros roaming over 10 states in the western U.S. Technically, these equines aren’t wild; they are classified as feral, meaning that they originated from domestic animals that escaped or were turned loose at some point. Because they exist without human contact, they have some of the same characteristics as wild animals.

Many little girls may dream of meeting a wild horse, taming it, and bringing it home from a vacation in Wyoming or California. Though children’s books and videos support this fantasy, in reality the process of rounding up and training feral horses is time-consuming and involves considerable patience and skill. In a typical roundup, about 25% of the horses are fairly easy to drive into a pen, another 25% are difficult to capture, and about 50% of the horses elude capture attempts. Even among those that are captured, not all of the horses have a personality that allows them to be trained as reliable saddle horses. Others may have conformation problems that limit their potential usefulness.

More than 2300 feral horses are adopted in an average year. Adoptive owners must pay an adoption fee, meet criteria as to facilities where the horses will be kept, and promise that the horses will not be resold for slaughter. A program that has seen considerable success uses prison inmates to work with feral horses, putting the animals through a training regimen that solidifies basic skills. Those that are unsuitable for any reason are screened out. Horses that complete the training period of three to four months can be ridden; will stand for grooming and hoof care; know the cues for walk, trot, canter, and lead changes; can side-pass as the rider opens a gate; stay calm when the rider drags a log or throws a rope; and will enter a slant-load or stock-type trailer.

These trained horses have a higher adoption fee but are also far more likely to be kept for a long time by their adoptive owners, who commonly use them for trail riding. Other horses find work on guest ranches or in programs that use horses in treatment programs for emotionally or physically handicapped patients. Several hundred have also been purchased by the U.S. Border Patrol and are ridden by agents who monitor both the northern and southern national boundaries.