BLM WILD HORSE ADOPTION, INDIO, CA

November 20 – I saw a little blurb in the paper that the Bureau of Land Management was having a Wild Horse Adoption at the Indio Fairgrounds. I saw this as a rare opportunity to see some wild horses up close and personal!! We drove over on Saturday afternoon.



MYRTICE AND CHUCK!!
As we were getting out of our car, who should we see coming toward us but Myrtice and Chuck!! They have a winter place nearby and said they had come over to the Adoption several times. It was great to see them again after so many years. The first thing Ken said to Myrtice was “How’s your Lob?” They used to lease a site at TT Palm Springs and Myrtice played Pickleball while Chuck biked. Myrtice was famous for her Lobs!! Her opponents hated it. Myrtice was pretty effective with that Lob!!

As we were catching up, I grabbed a passer-by and asked him to take our picture. About that time, one of the wranglers came over and offered to take our picture. (You’ll see Cowboy Art approaching in this picture.)

He never did take the picture but we enjoyed talking with him. He has been herding wild horses for the BLM for many years. He told us of the areas where the herds still exist. He said this weekend they had 120 mares and several burros for adoption for only $250 each – first-come-first-served. However, only one mare had been adopted as of Saturday afternoon. He said under the program they used to have all of the horses adopted the first day, but not anymore. This is due to the economy and change of interest to ATV’s instead of horses. If the horses are not adopted, they are taken to a ranch where they now have about 1000 wild horses.

We really enjoyed our conversation with Art and I was thrilled to meet a Real Live Cowboy!!

WILD HORSES

We then went to the corals to see the horses. This is the mare who will be going to a new home – the sorrel with four white socks.

Some of the other horses.

I don’t know why no one adopted this little Black Beauty.

B-F-F's

One horse managed to get her front hoof in the water trough.

Some of the burros.

These two horses are considerably larger than all the rest. Don’t know why. They must have come from Texas!!

We went back over to the coral with the adopted horse for more pictures. While we were there, the palomino was obviously beginning to get agitated!!

It was so fascinating to watch these wild horses being wild!!

Now ALL of the horses are angry!!

What a great experience that was!!