Wild Horses May Find Homes in Mexico : Talks Under Way for <i> Charro</i> Associations to Adopt Mustangs

Several thousand wild horses that have been passed over for adoption by American families may be donated for use in Mexican rodeos and equestrian pageants, according to terms of a contract now under negotiation by Mexican officials and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The agreement, if approved, would represent by far the single largest adoption of the wild horses since the animals came under the protection of the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. The shaggy mustangs have become overpopulated since the act was passed and now cost the Bureau of Land Management about $20 million a year to corral and feed.

“It would help both sides if this agreement can be worked out because the horses would be put to a good, humane use,” Lauro J. Neri of Los Angeles, who has been instrumental in the negotiations, said in an interview. Neri is also president of the Charros Amigos de Los Angeles, a Los Angeles horsemen’s association, and an appointee to the National Public Lands Council, a citizens advisory board to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

3,000 Horses Involved

Under the arrangement, he said, about 3,000 horses would be distributed among charro associations in Mexico that agree to accept and care for the horses. Charros, who are known primarily in the United States through their participation in parades, are equestrian clubs in Mexico that hold their own rodeo-like competitions and pageants. There are 536 such associations in Mexico.

Most of the wild horses would be trained for riding or use in roping events, he said.

“The Mexican charros are the first group that have really come forward with an offer of this magnitude,” said Connie Kingston, Wild Horse and Burro Program coordinator for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in California. “We have developed a cooperative agreement that we sent down to the Mexican charro associations.”

That feasibility of the agreement is being studied by the Mexican government, which would have to underwrite the transportation of the animals, Kingston and Neri said. Under the agreement--as under all wild horse adoption programs--groups adopting the animals must agree to have them checked within a year after adoption to ensure that they are well-treated.

If the agreement is finally approved, several thousand more animals eventually could be sent to Mexico to provide horses for aspiring charros who cannot afford to buy them, Neri said.

Outrage Over Slaughter

The wild horses are the descendants of animals turned loose on the range by ranchers in the late 1880s. To prevent overgrazing of cattle ranges by the shaggy horses, ranchers began rounding them up and selling them to slaughterhouses. Outrage over the slaughter led to the 1971 law.

In 1975, after the newly protected horses began reproducing rapidly, the Bureau of Land Management instituted an adoption program under which anyone who promised to care properly for the animals could adopt one for $125.

But federal rangelands and corrals are still crowded with an estimated 56,000 of the animals, Kingston said. At least a third of them--particularly stallions and older horses--are considered unadoptable, in part because they are difficult to train, Kingston said.

Last year, the Bureau of Land Management began offering groups of 100 or more horses free to any qualified group or individual that would promise to care for them. But, except for the Mexican charros, only one group took the bureau up on its offer, Kingston said. The group, the National Organization for Wild American Horses in Colorado, took about 150 horses, she said.