The BLM will offer 38 horses and 6 foals from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range for adoption on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. The oral competitive bid adoption will be held at the Britton Springs Corrals north of Lovell, Wyoming.
Geldings, mares, foals available
The BLM will offer 38 horses and 6 foals from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range for adoption on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012.
© 2012 by Peter Schmalzer
The public can visit the Britton Springs Corrals prior to the adoption date. Gates will open on Saturday at 8 a.m., with the oral competitive bidding process to begin at 10 a.m. The facility will also be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7, for horse viewing and registration.
To date, the adoption includes 14 geldings and 20 females that include four mare-foal pairs and one pregnant mare. The horses range in age from under 1 to 3 years-old. The BLM is still in the process of gathering up to six more horses during its bait trap gather. Should the BLM remove these additional horses prior to Sept. 8 and receive a health certificate from the veterinarian, they may also be included in this adoption event. The minimum bid for each animal is $125. The starting bid for pairs is $250.
The BLM will load the horses for successful bidders as soon as the adoption concludes. To assist adopters traveling a significant distance, the BLM will also load horses through noon on Sunday. The BLM is available to halter the horses before loading in the trailer. Should adopters choose this service, please bring a halter and lead rope with you.
Dave Weeding will conduct training demonstrations that is free for the public to see, beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday and again at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Weeding is a horse trainer who has competed in three Extreme Mustang Makeovers, taking 2nd place in both Oregon and Wyoming.
For more information on how to adopt or to receive an application, please contact Nancy Bjelland, BLM adoption coordinator, at (406) 896-5222. The BLM will process adoption applications on Sept. 7-8. However, to assist the BLM in timely processing and to avoid receiving all applications simultaneously, we request that you please submit your application to Nancy Bjelland prior to the adoption date.
Montana is home to only one herd of wild horses, located in the Pryor Mountains south of Billings along the Montana-Wyoming border. There are no wild horse herds in the Dakotas.
For more than a century, the Pryor Mountains have been home to free-roaming bands of wild horses. In 1968, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall set aside 31,000 acres in the Pryor Mountains as a public range for the wild horses living there. Subsequent to Udall's order, the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971 allowed for expansion of the range to areas where horses were "presently found."
The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is unique in both its setting and for the wild horses that inhabit it. Many of the horses have primitive striping on their backs, withers and legs, and are reputed to be descendents of "colonial" Spanish horses.