This is a non-commercial, independent website, owned and written by Nancy Kerson, for the benefit of actual and potential adopters of BLM Mustangs and Burros and similar animals.
DVD or VHS (2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!
$39.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $44.95 total
Lesley Neuman: The First Touch Gentling Your Mustang $45.00
Lesley works with 3 wild horses at a BLM adoption, and very clearly explains what is happening, what she is doing, & what she sees in each horse as it progresses. Study this video and you can learn "pressure and release" gentling techniques to gentle your own new mustang!
Help for Burro adopters! Crystal Ward Donkey Training
All the basics of gentling, handling, and training. A MUST for new burro adopters! Good for domestic donkeys, too!
ADOPT A MUSTANG (Wild Horse)! Sparky the Mustang: from First Touch to First Ride To First Show To 5-Day Wilderness Ride!
WHY ADOPT A MUSTANG? There may be as many reasons to adopt a Mustang as there are adopters. But here are some of the most popular reasons:
Click on each item to read about it:
Adventure & Personal Satisfaction Helping a wild horse transition from wild to best friend can be immensely meaningful and satisfying. Most people recall that their "first touch" - the first time their Mustang allowed them to touch the horse - as one of their peak life experiences.
Clean Slate: A Mustang fresh off the range is "pure horse" - no one has taught him or her stuff that you will have to un-do. And by the time you are ready to ride, you will thoroughly know your horse.
"Mother Nature is the Best Breeder" Most Mustangs have excellent functional conformation with strong bones, excellent feet, and strong constitutions
Sound Minds - They know where their feet are, they don't waste calories running around being stupid, and they are motivated to survive!
Genetic Vigor & Health - Many domestic breeds have developed diseases and weaknesses associated with inbreeding, line-breeding, & human selection based on an unbalanced emphasis on just a few traits. So far, Mustang herds are free from HERDA, HYPP, and other genetic diseases; Contrary to popular opinion, Mustangs have a high degree of genetic health, and very low incidence of inbreeding. Wild horse social structure inhibits inbreeding.
Health & Care ConsiderationsMost Mustangs are "easy keepers" who can thrive on a diet of just clean hay and a salt lick. Mustangs seldom need expensive shoes; Mustangs are tough and hardy.
Low Entry Price to Horse Ownership: $25 for a "re-assignment" horse, $125 standard adoption fee, $275 starting bid for saddle-trained; Due to widespread breed "snobbery" titled, well-trained Mustangs sell for a fraction of their equivalent with a pedigree.
Owning a Mustang is a Link to History: Spanish Conquistadores, pioneers, mountain men, Native American horse cultures, rancho and vaquero days, cattle drives, homesteading, gold and silver mining, Cavalry Remount Program - Mustangs bring it all home!
Photo: California BLM
One man's experience: For the last ten years, I have been using my Mustangs as Mounted Posse horses, and they just work out great.
Once a year, our Posse takes a 150 mile ride across the old Mojave Trail. Each year that I have gone I have taken a Mustang. I even brought along another one for the Drag rider. After that trip, he was purchased by one of the riders, as she no longer wanted to ride her Arab. She has ridden him ever since.
I recently took a non believer to Nevada, and we got a mustang for him. He, too, has changed his opinion.
The real reason I chose these horses was the price, and the fact that they are part of our western history. It wasn't until I owned one that I found out what great horses they are. I can truly say that my horse Dot, a white leopard appaloosa mustang, is my best friend. Once you own one, they hook you!
- Doug Gorman, California BLM Volunteer
Sound Feet, Sound Minds "Mother Nature Breeds A better Horse" George Lane and one of his BLM Mustangs that he uses to pull Wells Fargo Bank's famous stagecoach! George reports he appreciates the Mustangs' soundness and quiet, sane minds. Mustangs generally excel at trail riding, being accustomed to wilderness and knowing where their feet are. They feel at home in wilderness, many prefering trails to arenas. Wind? They grew up in it!
"Just a Trail Horse"? Actually, it takes a lot of training, skill, and connection between horse and rider to be a good trail horse.
Experienced horse people like Mustangs because of their sound feet, hardy constitutions, and sane minds. Horses on the range, growing up in a functioning natural herd structure, are socialized in a way that few domestic horses are. They know their manners!
Mustangs are masters of body language. They are masters at reading energy and intent in other animals and people. They respect their leaders.
They are wise and sure-footed in uneven terrain. They know where their feet are. They don't waste calories, their sense of self-preservation is much stronger than most domestic horses. Therefore they will never allow themselves to be spent out - they always keep a reserve, so they will get you back home again!
Chance, a mustang mare owned by Arizona Lindy, illustrates the versatility of the hardy mustang - she excels in both Endurance and arena competition
The US Marine Corps Color Guard uses BLM palomino Mustangs exclusively
Sparky and Ruby, along with Tonopah and Charlie - all BLM mustangs, completed the 72-mile "Fearful Crossing" pioneer trail ride from Lovelock to Fallon, Nevada, with energy to spare and 100% sound feet.
Char Antuzzi competed for several years in the Tevis Cup Endurance Ride, riding a mustang named Sir Galahad who was rounded up with other wild mustangs by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
"I like the mustangs because...the day they are born they do an endurance ride," Antuzzi said.
Many horseback riders pick Arabians because they are born in the desert. But mustangs are, too, and they have survival skills that allow them to expend the least amount of energy possible and stay alive, Antuzzi said.
"Because they always have a reserve, they'll never run themselves into the ground," Antuzzi said.
For many horsemen, this is the most compelling reason. When you adopt a Mustang, you are getting "pure horse" as Nature intended, without the overlay of a past with other people's mistakes. When you start with a wild horse, earn its trust, and participate in the training, you know that horse at a deep level that is rare with domestic horses. This is a horse with no prior training, no prior mistakes, no prior spoiling or human-caused bad habits.
Contrary to the commonly held opinion that mustangs are inbred, Mustangs actually enjoy the highest level of genetic health of all horses. Most Mustang gene pools are healthy and vigorous, with excellent genetic variability. No HYPP here. No HERDA. No Doc-O-Lena Disease.
Range-hardened mustangs are tough and inclined to good health. Countless adopters can relate tales of mustangs surviving terrible injuries and illnesses that would surely have killed the average horse within a short time. Due to hundred of years living in harsh conditions, they are "easy keepers" - seldom requiring expensive supplements or rich feeds. Living on the range, mustangs have learned, generation after generation, not to waste calories. In this way, they tend to be level-headed, calm, easy-going animals - not the skittish, flighty creatures often conjured up by the word "wild."
Horses that can look this good when they live HERE will thrive with regular feed, water and shelter and vet care
Efren Segura's new mustang from Calico Mtns can already perform tricks!
Many people, like myself, find that the experience of earning a wild horse's trust, and then training it to become a wonderful saddle horse & companion is an exciting and meaningful experience that enriches their lives tremendously. An adventure begins: A newly-adopted mustang is loaded into the trailer
You can't beat the price! (starting at $125 - occasional "specials" - and re-assignment horses are even less- as low as $25 each!)
But BEWARE! DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE LOW PRICE TAG!
Please understand that horse ownership can be expensive. Even a free horse can be expensive! In addition to housing and fencing (or paying a monthly boarding fee), food, veterinary care, tack and gear, wild horses need training!
The reason for the low adoption price is not that the horse has low value, but that it is untrained. When you purchase a domstic horse, you are mainly purchasing training. I firmly believe that anyone can gentle a wild horse who makes a personal commitment to learn and "keep showing up". But eventually the horse needs training. Training for the saddle does, in most cases, require professional help for a good outcome. Budget for it!
If price is the main attraction, think hard about whether or not you can actually afford a horse. (See "Free To Good Home")
On the other hand, the low price is not necessarily a bad thing! Many people report that the low price originally attracted them to mustangs, but what really hooked them was how great the horses turned out!
Many people find a thrill in owning "a Piece of History," "A Living Legend."
From the Spanish Conquistadors, through the Great Native American Horsemen, explorers like Lewis & Clark, Mountain Men, pioneers, homesteaders, ranchers, "Buckaroo" and "Vaquero" cattlemen, and the Military Remount Program, as well as the Dust Bowl-Depression Era tragedies, and the coming of the tractor, with its concurrent decline in horse-ownership during the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's - IT'S ALL THERE - coursing through the blood of America's wild horses.
copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Nancy Kerson, all rights reserved - I'm happy to share, just need to be asked and have credit given where due.
Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.
