Adopted Horses Leave Homes on the Range

Metal pens rattled with a fierceness that startled onlookers as dozens of wild horses ran from corner to corner looking for a way to break free.

At that moment Saturday, Bureau of Land Management officials were pursuing a young cream-colored horse with a flowing blond mane and tail. More accustomed to the wide open fields of Northern California, instead of man-made pens and horse trailers, the nervous horse fought capture. But in the end, it lost the battle and was herded onto the trailer that would take it to a new home--a Santa Paula ranch owned by Cindy and Danny Jalife.

“She’s just nervous right now,” said Danny Jalife, downplaying the enormity of the task ahead of him--taming the new horse he dubbed Rex. “She’s had a lot of trauma. She’s only been in captivity three weeks.”

Rex and 79 other wild horses and burros went up for adoption Saturday at the Ventura County fairgrounds. The adoptions, which continue through today, were put on by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in an effort to control the number of wild horses running free across the country.

“There are just too many horses and burros out there for the land to support,” said Mindy Odom, wild horse and burro specialist for the bureau. “This helps keep an ecological balance.”

Odom estimates 60,000 wild horses and burros roam the United States, with the biggest concentration in Nevada. The adoption program began in 1973 and has placed more than 160,000 horses in private homes across the country. This weekend’s event is the third adoption to be held in Ventura County, the last one being in 1994, Odom said.

Would-be adopters bid on the horses at a silent auction Saturday morning, with most of the animals selling for about $125. Land management officials said the turnout for Saturday’s auction was low. Only eight horses were snatched up by buyers.

“Last time we did this, we did much better,” Odom said. “We sold about three-fourths of our horses.”

More horses did sell throughout the day, with interested buyers simply paying out $125 for the horse of their choice.

The sale ends Sunday afternoon. Unsold horses and burros will be returned to a holding corral in Ridgecrest where they will be put up for adoption again at a later date.

Larry and Linda Littsen of Simi Valley were convinced the adoption program was a good way to get quality horses for reasonable prices. Despite walking away as the highest bidders of the day, the couple paid just $140 for a 7-month-old brown horse with a shimmering black mane and tail and a white star on his forehead.

“Normally you could pay $500 or $600 for a domesticated horse like this,” Larry Littsen said.

It turned out to be such a great deal, the couple bought another horse before the day was over.

But along with the great price tags, the Littsens know it will take a lot to break, or train, the horses.

“You have to be real easy with them,” Larry Littsen said. “You can’t pressure them too much. It’s like trying to break in a deer.”

But many of the buyers said that once the horses are broken, they can be just as gentle and loving as any domesticated animal.

“We bought another wild horse a couple of years ago,” said Cindy Jalife. “And he’s the sweetest of the four horses we own. He comes up to you in the morning and greets you. He’s just great.”

Officials said the younger horses, usually about 6 months old, are the easiest to train.

Buyers are responsible for providing transportation to get the animals home, but a couple of horse-transport companies were standing by to take newly purchased animals home for a fee.