Wild Horse Adoption Plan Criticized by Expert Trainer

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently proposed a controversial plan to address the backlog of wild horses. The plan involves offering $1,000 to anyone willing to adopt a horse from public lands or government corrals. However, this proposal has faced significant criticism from wild horse trainers and advocates.

Michelle Miner, a seasoned wild horse trainer from Skagit Valley, believes the plan is a terrible idea. She has been training wild horses for decades, including her latest, Little Black Shadow, likely rounded up near Yakima.

"I spend four hours a day with him every day, and if you don't, they revert to being wild," Miner explained.

Miner emphasizes that adopting a wild horse requires a substantial commitment, which is why she criticizes the federal government's idea to pay people to adopt without ensuring they have the necessary skills.

"You have no business taking one of these in, no business at all," Miner stated. "Just getting them to walk into a barn is a big deal. You can't shut the door."

The BLM describes wild horses as a billion-dollar problem, with numbers expected to reach 100,000 by 2019. Besides adoption, they propose sterilization, euthanasia, and even selling horses for slaughter.

Last year, the agency spent over half its budget on wild horses rounded up and placed in government holding facilities, where their health reportedly suffers.

"They don't understand hot wire, barbed wire - they just want to escape by any means possible. They jump over. They dig under," Miner said.

Miner believes the federal government has mismanaged wild horse herds for years, and this latest solution will exacerbate the problem.

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), condemned the BLM's alternatives as "a roadmap for the destruction of America's wild free-roaming horses and burros."

"BLM, the agency whose terrible mismanagement has brought us here, is now proposing more bad ideas, including mass roundup and slaughter to cover for their incompetence," Roy stated.

The BLM claims it needs to protect rangeland for wildlife, including endangered species. However, Miner argues the plan endangers both the horses and the people who might adopt them, thinking they can profit.

"They don't react like a domestic horse. They are a wild animal. They will always be a wild animal," Miner said.

Originally posted by King5