The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The Bureau of Land Management will offer 40 mustangs and several burros for adoption Saturday, June 6, at the Eagle County Fairgrounds, 426 Fairgrounds Road in Eagle, Colo. Several saddle- and halter-trained horses as well as yearlings, mares, and geldings will be available.
“The BLM is responsible for managing multiple resources on public lands, including the nation’s wild horse and burro herds,” said Fran Ackley, BLM Colorado wild horse and burro program leader. “One of the most important parts of our jobs as is finding good homes for wild horses and burros whose populations are outgrowing the range’s ability to support them.”
Registration for the adoption will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 5, and from 8 to10 a.m. on Saturday, June 6. The public can view the animals concurrent to registration times.
There is a minimum bid of $125 for untrained animals and $1,025 for saddle-trained horses.
Mustangs and burros that are not adopted during the silent bidding will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The mustangs are from across the West, including Colorado’s own Sand Wash Basin herd, and the burros are from herds in California and Arizona. The mustangs are hand-picked and will feature many colors including gray, grulla, buckskin, palomino, red and gray dun, appaloosa, roan, and pintos in every color pattern as well as the more common bay, brown, and sorrel.
Their size typically ranges from 14 to 15 hands at maturity.
To view pictures of the animals offered in this adoption, visit www.coloradoci.com.
The BLM works to restore the ecological balance of resources on the public lands by gathering wild horses and burros from public rangelands each year to keep their populations within approved levels. BLM offers the mustangs and burros that have been gathered for adoption or sale to individuals and groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care. For more information about the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program go to www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html
