NEW: Wild horses to be adopted in New Castle

Posted: Sunday, September 6, 2009 12:00 am

Peter Adelsen Perspective staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments

It is a childhood dream for many Americans to own a horse. That dream could become a reality for many with the upcoming wild horse adoption in New Castle.

The history of these horses goes back to when the first Europeans came to America and with time, they gradually became a part of the wild American West.

Wild horses are not roaming the wilderness of Indiana, but these horses may get a home here. The United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management brings them east for adoption because there is not enough food to support the horse populations, said Davida Carnahan, the public affairs specialist with the Bureau of Land Management.

"We bring them east for adoption because there are no wild horses back here," Carnahan said. "It just seems fair that the folks who live east of the Mississippi aught to have the opportunity to adopt these as well."

Sixty horses will be coming to the Henry County Saddle Club in New Castle on Sept. 18 for a viewing from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and there will be an adoption on Sept. 19 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adoption fee for one horse is $125 and a companion costs $25, she said. So, a person can adopt two horses at a combined price of $150.

"It will be first-come, first-served at the adoption," she said. "So if you see a horse on Friday that you really like, you have to get there first thing on Saturday morning."

Although the cost may appear cheap, the cost of caring for a horse can exceed $1,000 per year when including shelter, feed, supplies and medical bills, she said.

Once a person adopts a horse, the horse is not officially owned by the person at that time. The BLM requires that a qualified farrier or veterinarian certify that the relationship is working out well at the end of the first year of adoption, she said. If it is deemed a good relationship, the BLM would give the adopter title of that horse. In rare situations, the BLM may reclaim the horse, she said.

The BLM requires a minimum of 400 square feet, 20 feet by 20 feet, for each animal and corrals must be six feet high.

"Initially when they bring them home they need to be in a relatively confined space," she said. "The idea is the horse has to be confined so it can see that there are barriers."

The BLM also does not recommend putting the wild horse with domesticated animals at first because they want the horse to bond with the owner and not with the other horse in the corral, she said.

"You want to establish that relationship with the horse first," she said.

In the past when New Castle held the adoption, people came from many miles away for the event.

"These horses have such an enduring legacy and they have such a great heart and that is the whole reason I believe why people want to adopt one of these wild ones," she said. "They are very strong, they have good legs, they are very sure footed or they wouldn't be able to survive in the wild."

The horses up for adoption have always lived in a herd. Even when they are adopted, that mentality sticks with them, she said.

"When you take one out of the herd and you take it home with you then you become the herd and they bond with you like no other domesticated horse will," she said. "Some of these horses are eventually trained as therapy animals and you can train a wild horse to do anything that you can train a domesticated animal to do."

Wild horses may not be as tall as a domesticated horse and that is for good reason. She says these horses are typically smaller because of their limitations on food and their environment.

"The herds in southern Utah were descended from horses that they actually used in the mines, so they were small," she said. "But in general, they look very much like a domesticated horse except it looks like it just hasn't been taken care of. They will probably look kind of ranchy."

The United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management first began the adoption program in 1973 and has since then 220,000 wild horses and burros have been adopted, Carnahan said. The BLM first became the protectorate of the wild horses and burros under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

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