COLORADO WILD HORSE-INMATE PROGRAM

(Information and graphics courtesy of BLM, Colorado District Office)

In 1992 Colorado BLM developed an innovative and exciting adaptation to the existing wild horse - inmate program.

Carefully selected and supervised inmates learn various stages of animal care and training. Through this program, they gentle, halter train and saddle train 20 to 30 horses per month. A horse is considered successfully trained when it can accomplish the following:

• Easy mounting and dismounting

• Knows the commands for walk, trot, lope and keeps its head and body collected.

• Can turn either direction, stop and back up on command

• Can pick up all four feet

• Can load and unload in a 4-horse trailer

Horses trained through this program are available for adoption at the prison in Canon City. Adopters of saddle trained horses reimburse the prison for their training expenses. The current price for a saddle trained horse is $740. This fee includes $125 for the BLM adoption fee, $180 for feed and $435 for training. BLM receives only the adoption fee, the remainder goes to the Department of Corrections to fund the program.

For more information, call the Canon City office at (719) 269-8500.

Webmaster's Note: Such programs are very beneficial for those wanting to adopt wild horses, but who have limited or no horse training experience. Having a horse already gentled and started by the prison program at a very reasonable cost is often less expensive than making such arrangements on one's own, boarding the horse for the gentling and training period, etc.

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This is not a BLM operated or BLM sponsored site. It is run by private wild horse and burro enthusiasts. We are thankful to the BLM for providing the information which is presented here.

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