The extreme drought conditions that have persisted in southern Nevada
had seriously threatened the health and well-being of the wild horses in the Wheeler Pass Joint Management Area near the community of Cold Creek,
Nevada. The continued decline in body condition and lack of forage
culminated in the immediate need for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to remove wild horses from the area and send about
126 to the BLM Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals for care and adoption.
With the water and feed conditions getting bad, then they had an emergency gather and they contacted
this off range facility to take the animals and so we did.
Just seeing the animals coming in in the condition that they come off the range because they don't have food and water
They're very poor. They're very weak and then seeing them
blossom with good care and
then helping people go through the experience of adopting a wild horse and
developing the bond with a wild horse
and just that connection, that first touch is
golden.
We're closing in on two or three months now that they've been here and we allowed them a good long time to recover and
all the animals have jumped up, you know, we had twos and threes when they were coming in.
There was a few fours.
But now, on the level that the these horses have all come up to high threes
Most of them are fours and fives, and above and we've got some good healthy baby pairs on the ground.
We've had at least two births since they got here
and
right now we've got 114 of the animals that came in out of I think it was 125 126
that actually got over here that are ready to go
And then we have some pairs that are under three months of age on the babies and they're not quite ready yet.
but everybody else has
achieved the level that they can be put up for adoption. So we just happened to open it all up
this weekend, August 11th, so that everybody has a fair chance and an equal chance to come and adopt
maybe one of the horses that was in their backyard or one that they've seen online, and
We're pretty proud of the fact that they got back up in this condition.
We care quite a little bit about the animals that come into this facility
And you know,
I think this is a pretty good testament to that.
The quality and the
friendship that you develop the relationship that you develop with a wild is
totally different than with a domestic horse.
I've got two Mustangs at home and I'm picking up a burro today. I've had domestic horses
I have a quarter horse at home.
But the mind and the spirit of these animals is so amazing that you can't really compete with it.
we are here to pick up two Mustangs that we have adopted and
take them back to their home in Cold Creek.
there'll be a lot of training to do and where we look forward to the process. Enjoy the process
the bonding through the training and
We ride in the mountains do a lot of trail riding. So they hopefully will feel like they're
more or less back home and doing what they used to do.
Just in a little bit more domesticated manner I suppose.
I love them all but yes, I do have a couple that that we've definitely
fallen in love with, even more.
I like 13 and 33, and the babies over here.
Talk to people, talk to people who have adopted come to events like this one and learn.
That that's the best thing that you can do. Some of our best
adopters, most successful adopters are people who've never owned a horse before because they don't have any preconceived notions on
how it should go.
And You learn
almost as much from the horses as they learn from you.
My my little Mustang that's broke right now
can do almost anything. We've taught him to lay down. He cuts cows he can trail ride with the best of them. He knows reining.
He basically just is an all-around horse and
competes with you know
all the quarter horses that people spend thousands of dollars on and I've spent 125 bucks just to pick him up.
you develop a love for these wild horses and it gets in your blood.
Adopt a horse or burro. They are amazing. I wouldn't do it any other way.