Mustang Prison Auction and Sale

So far I've found quite a bit of information on wild mustang adoption.

A few prisons in the areas where the wild mustangs are rounded up are using the training of the horses as therapy and rehabilitation. It proves to be successful as the recidivism rate (how many parolees return to prison) is half the national average of 68% says Brian Hardin, the program's supervisor for the Colorado Department of Corrections.
I am studying psychology for a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology and plan on studying this form of therapy in depth.

Note: BLM = Bureau of Land Management

I have researched several web sites and have found more than one prison that tames and trains mustangs, The Horses of The Conquistidors. I am providing web sites and phone numbers and email addresses of some of the contacts I have located so far. This is an ongoing investigation and I will add contact information as I find it.

I will also give dates of some of the auctions.

Request: Weekly Mustang/Burro Newsletter

First of all I'd like to stress the fact that we have a golden opportunity to get fine horses at relatively low prices through adoption. The wild mustangs I am discussing are the descendants of the galiant steeds of The Spanish Conquistidors. They are not mongrels of the equestrian world. They have bred amongst themselves for hundreds of years where only the strong survived and reproduced. They are in fact potentially be best riding horses on earth. The Spaniards chose the best horses they had available to bring with them to the New World. These horses survived the trip across the Atlantic ocean, many tossed overboard in the horse latitudes, and provided the Conquistidors mighty service in conquering the new continent. They were sturdy, reliable mounts. Now after hundreds of years on their own, they have naturally bred into even stronger horses able to stand the elements and disease that not many pedigreed horses could tolerate. Although they are wild to begin with, they are not feral horses. They, as I said, come from Spanish riding horses and have great potential to become excellent mounts with training. Many of the horses offered for adoption at the prisons are young and will be able to be trained for many different purposes. The US Border Patrol uses trained mustangs. They recently adopted 20 and plan to get more. BP uses them on the rough terrain along the US/Canadian border and in El Paso on the US/Mexican border. They will make excellent trail riding horses. I believe they'd be great for dressage and stadium jumping and cross country. They'd be good barrel racers and cutting horses. The Horses of The Conquistidors have the potential to make great riding horses that everyone should consider.

Now I'd like to inform you about how to get The Horses of The Conquistidors.

Canon City houses the BLM's largest wild horse and burro holding facility and is one of five facilities in the nation with a Wild Horse Inmate Program (WHIP). WHIP, formed in 1986, is a cooperative agreement between BLM & Colorado Department of Corrections, in which select wild horses and burros get personal and extensive training, as part of an inmate rehabilitation program. WHIP prepares mustangs for private adoption and for use by US Border Patrol. East Canon Correctional Compex is located 120 miles south of Denver, CO. In addition to providing training servces, inmates feed and care for all other wild horses and burros at the facility. Recently enlarged, facilities now allow holding capacity of 3000. The inmates benefit by learning meaningful and marketable work experience they can use when they are released. BLM rounds up 6500 wild mustangs yearly and 2000 go to East Canon. On average 7 to 10 horses are trained every month and aare ready to be adopted. Prison adoption fees are $1025/saddle broke horse and considerably less for unbroken and halter broke horses. Fran Ackley is the BLM's wild horse and burro specialist. Start with these 2 web sites to find out how to adopt. They have auctions on 2 Fridays each month. http://www.coloradoci.com/serviceproviders/whip/index.html?intro
http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Progras/wild_horse_and_burro.html

Warm Spring Correctional Facility's Wild Horse Program is similar to East Canon CC in Colorado. They train mustangs in the prisoner rehabilitation program. It is located in Carson City, NV . You can contact Susie Stokes at (775)861-6469 and Cindy Lawrence at (775)853-4182, cblawrnc@aol.com. The next scheduled auction is Prison Mustangs Aug. 20-22, 2010 @ Reno Livestock Events Center 1350 N. Wells Ave. 1721 Reno, NV 89512
web site: http://www.mustangs4us.com/prisonhorse.htm

There is a Prison Gentling Program @ Camp Stewart Prison
Prison Adoption Saturday Feb. 13, 2010 @ Camp Stewart Prison 1721 Snyder Avenue Carson City, NV
Preview 9:00 AM
Live Auction/Adoption 10:00 AM
These horses are saddle broke and have been worked with extensively. They offer young horses, so expect the horses to grow larger than they are at the auction.
See http://www.wildhorseandburroexpo.com/Prison%20Mustangs.htm to get a deeper understanding of the horses they offer and a history of prices which varies because it is a real auction.

I will be researching further and adding information in the future. Please leave comments and any information you find on this subject.