Valley residents will have the chance to own a symbol of the Old West this weekend. The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled a special auction and adoption event involving horses and burros gathered from Nevada ranges over the past year.
Thirty Mustang yearlings, gelding and mares and 10 burros will be made available for adoption to qualified people on Friday and Saturday.
The event is being held at Horseman's Park at 5800 E. Flamingo Rd. near Stephanie. The preview of the horses takes place Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. and the adoption starts Saturday at 8 a.m. and lasts until 5 p.m. The BLM will provide for free delivery within 100 miles of the park for all animals adopted. FLYER: Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Event
Critics of the BLM's wild horse program hope this is the start of something big. Anyone who's followed the I-Team's reports on wild horses over the years has heard the allegation. The BLM only seems interested in rounding up the horses, not in finding them homes. Critics of the wild horse program are hoping this weekend's auction event is a big success, if for no other reason than to encourage the BLM to do more of the same.
Just a few months ago, the horse in Craig Leets' backyard was running free on the open range, a wild animal in every way, and now it is affectionate. Leets has wild horses in every corral on his property.
"When they first came in, all they wanted to do was climb the fence," said Leets.
Leets is on the board of the National Wild Horse Association, and he volunteered to house and help gentle five of the wild horses that will be up for adoption this weekend. The amazing transformation from wild beast to backyard pet in just a few weeks is testament to how adaptable and amazing the mustangs are.
"I have two mustangs and two Arabs," said Leets. "The mustangs are far better. They have better instincts. I'd have a mustang before any other horse every time."
They will never be docile like, say, a cat. The doe-eyed buckskin, for instance, looks fairly innocent, but is something of an escape artist that keeps figuring out ways to open its pen and then run around inside the yard.
The BLM has rounded up thousands of horses in recent years. Most of them end up spending years warehoused in government pens.
Critics say the BLM is a lot more interested in getting horses off the range than in finding them homes, but that changes this weekend. Thirty wild mustangs and 10 burros, all rounded up in Nevada, will be put up for adoption. BLM is the sponsoring agency.
The Wild Horse Association volunteers are handling most of the chores. It's encouraging to everyone who cares about these special animals and who worry the breed is doomed otherwise.
Anyone who wants one of the horses can probably pick one up for around $125. And a second one for $75. The NWHA will help with training, even transportation. Some within BLM have argued there's little interest in wild horses in Las Vegas. Horse advocates are hoping to prove the naysayers wrong, realizing that there's an awful lot riding on the success of this three-day event.
The event is being held at Horseman's Park at 5800 E. Flamingo Rd. near Stephanie. The preview of the horses takes place Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. and the adoption starts Saturday at 8 a.m. and lasts until 5 p.m. The BLM will provide for free delivery within 100 miles of the park for all animals adopted.
Click on the link to view the flyer for BLM's wild horse and burro adoption event on Friday, June 22nd through Saturday, June 23rd at Horseman's Park in Las Vegas.
Wild horse and burro advocate, Jerry Reynoldson is offering to help anyone and everyone find homes for horses. For more information on adopting a wild horse or burro, call 1-702-398-7799. (But you need to dial the complete number).
Buckskin filly captured in Dec. 2006 and now available for adoption.
Female Burro captured in Jan. 2007 and available for adoption.
