OklahomaHorses Magazine January 2021

20 OklahomaHorses • January/February 2021 Q&A WITH CRYSTAL COWAN years. The most useful tool is to gather a certain number of animals and offer them to the public for adoption. Since the Wild Horse & Burro Act was passed in 1971, BLM has placed more than 235,000 animals into private care. How does someone adopt a trained mustang? BLM has several prison training programs where offenders gentle and train wild horses for the public to adopt. The closest prison training program to Oklahoma is in Hutchin- son, Kansas. The training program is great for the offenders, adds value to the horses and provides the public a green broke horse they can catch and ride. (More information on the prison training programs can be found at blm.gov/ programs/wild-horse-and-burro/adoption-and- sales/adoption-centers.) The BLM partners with the Mustang Heri- tage Foundation to place animals through train- ing competitions and training programs. Folks may adopt from an Extreme Mustang Makeover event or from the Trainer Incentive Program. (To find a trainer near you, please visit mustang- heritagefoundation.org/tip/. ) What should someone know before adopting an untrained mustang or wild burro? Any new animal you bring to your place should be quarantined for a time. Our animals are vaccinated, but they could have been exposed to something that your animals have not been exposed to. When you first get the an- imals home, they are going to be afraid of you. They are used to being with the herd in large pastures, but they will get used to you and your place. Working with the animals a little each day is better than all day on Saturday. The adopter needs to be patient and willing to devote time to gentling and training the animal. Can you tell us about the new Adop- tion Incentive Program? The Adoption Incentive Program exists to encourage more adopters to give a wild horse or burro a good home. The program provides up to $1,000 to adopt an untrained wild horse or burro from the BLM. The goal of the program is to reduce BLM’s recurring costs to care for unadopted and untrained wild horses and burros while helping to enable the BLM to confront a growing over- population of wild horses and burros on fragile public rangelands. Adopters receive: • $500 within 60 days of adoption of an un- trained wild horse and burro • $500 within 60 days of titling the animal. The incentive is available for all untrained animals that are eligible for adoption, including animals at BLM facilities, off-site events and on the Online Corral. A $25 fee applies at the time of adoption. How do you feel when you see adoption success stories? I love to see the happy stories of gentled animals and their adopters. Our BLM office has a free open show for anyone who has a freeze branded wild horse or burro. It’s our way of bringing adopters to- gether and allowing them to show their gentled, trained animals. It’s great to see animals we load- ed as wild animals in a stock trailer be led by their person and participate in horseback classes. I love to see the bond between the adopter and the animal, how the animal is cared for (braided mane, etc.) and the smiles.