Once again, plenty has happened since my last post. Marie (my pen pal), my Aunt Vicki, and I went to the BLM in Ridgecrest wednesday. First, though, Vicki & I went to the ranch Marie keeps her horses (Candy and Spirit) at to see the horses and pick her up. Both her horses are really sweet, but the young mustang especially so. He let us pet him wherever, lean on him, walk around him and everything. He's only a year old and Marie hasn't had him for long. We had a good time at the ranch, took a few pictures, and then we started driving to the BLM. It was a pretty long drive... Several hours, I can't remember exactly how many. When we got there we were the only people there other than a woman who worked there. When we got there, she showed us a video of how they round-up mustangs, then we took a tour of the facilities, starting with where they first bring the horses in to vaccinate/de-worm them, trim their hooves, attach their halters and so on. Next we drove around in a golf cart to see all the horses and burros, which they had separated by age and gender. We stopped at the fillies corral originally so we could get a few pictures of them, but when we walked up to the fence 4 horses started over towards us and over half of them followed, sniffing our hands and stuff (probably looking for carrots - sometimes people go to the BLM just to feed/socialize the horses, so now they're very gentle and used to people). They even let us pet them with 3 fingers if they could see us.
After we did that, we went back around t the front and asked a few questions. Here are some of the random facts we gathered, then and during the tour of the place...
- on average, horses stay at their facility for around 4 months before being adopted.
- they geld all geldings before adoption, but occasionally if a colt was born on the facility and weaned right before adoption, they will not be gelded. however, if the new owner gelds them on their own, they can get a $50 mail-in rebate from the BLM with proof that their colt was gelded.
- To trim their hooves, they put the horses in a small, padded hallway/chamber like thing and using hydraulics turn them sideways.
That's all for now!
Samantha-
ReplyDeleteDo you know how big (acres) the ranch is? And how many horses on the BLM ranch when you were there?
I was quite surprised how "tame" the mustangs at the BLK were. They walked up to the fence and let you pet them and were very curious and friendly they were. When I adopted my mustang he was extremely wild. It took me a long time before I could gain his trust at all. I suppose that when people come out and feed the mustangs at the holding facility carrots and treats it gets them use to people giving the adopters a bet of ahead start. When I got my mustang he was not given that type of interaction with people and it was months before I gained his trust...
ReplyDeleteOK i corrected BLK to BLM and it didnt correct it..... BLM
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have checked out this site yet or not.. You should check out http://eduscapes.com/nature/mustang/index1.htm
ReplyDeleteTake care
Sorry it took me so long to get back to these comments...
ReplyDeleteLorna: Up to about 1,500 animals are usually housed at the BLM in Ridgecrest, but when we were there there were only about 500. And as to how big it is, I'm trying to find that out... I read on this website > http://www.desertusa.com/desertblog/?p=2064 that it's 57 acres, but I'm not positive that's correct. That was the only place i could find information on it.
Vicki: Yeah that was amazing about how calm those mustangs were! I think it's great that people go out and feed them...
thanks for that link! seems like a great website:)