The Challenge | Montana Horses Magazine June 2021

"Free Range Shadows" photo by Ross Mosher

The Challenge of Wild Horses

Commentary by Renee Daniels-Mantle

Last year, according to the Bureau of Land Management (www.blm.gov), there were approximately 95,114 unbranded, unclaimed, free-roaming horses or burros in 177 herd management areas across 26.9 million acres of public lands over 10 western states.

Total removed: 10,824

Total placed into private care: 6,133

Total fertility control treatments: 735

Total expenditures: $91.191 million

There are 46,000 in long-term holding facilities.

Burns ,OR BLM wild horse corrals

Cory Malloy

For centuries, the subject of wild horses has been debated. The morning strategy sessions that once took place around a campfire and a coffee pot, followed by climbing on a horse and doing the real work of management, might now be held at an espresso shop or over a coffee table book filled with images of wild horses, but the conversations are still being had.

What are we going to do about the wild horses? The question itself insinuates there is a problem, that the status quo cannot continue, that something must be done. After a series of events starting 500 years ago, the responsibility of dealing with wild horses has fallen to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Currently, there are around 140,000 federally-owned horses under their management, on public lands that can support about 30,000 at range. Horses multiply, land does not. There are simply too many wild horses. Without aggressive, immediate action and inventive solutions, what is a challenge today will soon become a crisis.

The BLM, a public land not livestock management agency, does not take this responsibility lightly. The immediate solution: find them homes off public lands. Since a single wild horse who spends its entire life in the care of the BLM costs taxpayers about $50,000, it is imperative to responsibly get rid of as many horses as possible, as fast as possible, control their growth, then maintain a manageable number. Despite the contentiousness between the myriad of interested public and private parties, the BLM has reached out to the many, seemingly unlikely, entities for ideas. The subject of wild horse management has once again become a conversation had by the men and women who can follow it by climbing on a horse and doing the real work.

People have been able to adopt, and get title to, wild horses and burros for decades. For as little as $25, you can have “a national treasure” of your very own. Historically, BLM adoption programs have made little difference. But, with the value of “un-wild” horses at an all-time high, favorable media attention to the issues, increased public interest, and the willingness (or desperateness) of the government to collaborate with others, that could be changing.

More horses are now finding homes off the dole. The BLM Adoption Incentive Program, launched in 2019, allows qualified adopters to receive $1000 when adopting a qualified wild horse or burro. It doubled the total number of adoptions in the first year. The Trainer Incentive Program, administered by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, “a 501(c)(3) public, charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating the successful placement of America’s excess wild horses and burros into private care,” reimburses approved trainers for their time and marketing when their horse finds a home. They claim to have placed over 14,000. Private-public partnerships place horses at ranches, paid to feed and care for them. And across the nation there are hundreds of events and talented trainers making wild horses more available to the public than ever before.

Though this trend is encouraging, there are still around 46,000 horses and burros in holding facilities. That leaves about 60,000 too many at range. The real problem in still out there.

Steve Mantle, gentling a wild horse at a demonstration

Kim Eckstrom

I recently spoke on the phone (ironically, over morning coffee), with Steve Mantle of Mantle’s Wild Horses in Wheatland, WY. Steve has been a private contractor for the BLM since 1998. The Mantle Training and Adoption facility maintains 200 head of BLM horses that they gentle, to varying degrees, and make available for the public to adopt from the ranch and at events.

Raised “old-school” in a family that runs thousands of horses (primarily in the dude industry) and cattle ranches throughout the West, including on and near public lands, Mantle has the expertise in livestock and land management that is essential to handling the wild horse challenge. He believes the best way to properly manage the wild horse herds on public lands is to rely more heavily on the men and women who live and work right alongside them. “I cannot over-state the value the public land rancher plays in this,” he explains. “They’ve been managing these horses for years.”

It’s no surprise that most of the wild horses, often called “mustangs,” have no blood from the original Spanish horses brought over by Cortes in 1519. Many are the result of managed breeding by the homesteaders. Steve explains, “There are different influences from different time frames and different areas. Here, the homesteaders would have a saddle horse and they’d have a draft horse team. So, this herd has bigger bone and is influenced by draft blood.” It’s different elsewhere. He recalls a conversation with an 86-year old “bow-legged cowboy” who recognized some of the adoption horses at an event as “the kind he grew up with” near Elko, NV. The man remember that his community systematically managed the herds of wild horses that shared their grass and water. They responsibly managed the range, replaced the non-desirable wild horse studs with their thoroughbred stallions, and gathered, castrated, and culled every fall . Each family took the horses they needed for their operation. Similar stories are told all over the country.

That all ended in 1971, when Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act “to provide for the necessary management, protection and control of wild horses and burros on public lands.” The Act was in response to public outcry over “the sometimes ruthless and indiscriminate manner in which wild horses were being treated on western rangelands. So-called "mustangers" played a major role in harvesting wild horses for commercial purposes during this time” (blm.gov). Like most, the intention of the law might have been good, but it also immediately shut the public out. Every horse on public land was titled to the federal government, including thousands of horses once owned, bred, and managed by the ranchers. “Management wasn’t a problem before 1971,” Steve chuckles. One family had 200 mares that instantly became the property of the government. It wasn’t until a decade later they were allowed to gather and buy them from the BLM. Steve’s family put over 600 of those “wild” horses to work. “We bought them, broke them, and put them to work. They were the backbone of our dude strings in the 80’s.”

Laws, restrictions, regulations have evolved, as has the horse. Working within the current system, cooperation, and an open mind have given Steve the ability to walk easily within the many worlds influencing the wild horses’ future. Accordingly, he is often asked for his opinion. “I was riding in a truck with a BLM guy once and he asked me what I would do to handle this, given a blank check. I told him, let the guys that know how, do the work. Don’t you think, with the right incentive, that every family making their living off this land could tell you exactly how many horses are out there, where they are, how they’re doing, how many should or shouldn’t be there?”

Though Steve Mantle and his operation are one-of-a-kind, there are many other knowledgeable people and operations waiting for the opportunity to productively share their expertise. Hopefully, the BLM and the public will continue to solicit information from those who have practical, proven, and inventive ways to solve the wild horse challenge.

Regardless of your opinion about mustangs, public lands, the government, ranchers, animal rights activists, horse slaughter, commercial equine operations, or horse people, it’s clear that all must come together to make a difference.

According to Steve, there’s been a missing piece of the puzzle so far, and that’s the public land rancher, who needs to be invited to sit back down at the table.

BLM wild horses training for the Extreme Mustang Makeover

Stacia Stevens

Montana’s own Stacia Stevens, from Gentle Persuasion Horse Training at Freedom Ranch in Kalispell, and her student, Tenaya Welsh, will be competing in Stacia’s second EXTREME MUSTANG MAKEOVER in Oklahoma City, OK, August 12th - 14th. “Created and presented by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, the purpose of the Extreme Mustang Makeover competition is to showcase the beauty, versatility, and trainability of American mustangs. Mustangs competing in these events are wild mares and geldings, typically four to seven years old, that have been living in BLM corrals. Approved trainers are paired with a mustang and spend approximately 100 days preparing for classes that will showcase the mustang’s new skills. At the conclusion of the event, all mustangs are available for adoption or purchase via public competitive bid. (mustangheritagefoundation.org/extreme).”

Stacia and Tanaya’s BLM horses came from the South Steens Herd Management Area (HMA), a 130,000 acre range near Bend, OR known to manage for their pinto color and above-average conformation. They picked them up on April 14th and have 100 days to prepare for the competition and sale, where they vie for thousands of dollars.

“It’s all about trust,” Stacia says. A thirty-year veteran horse trainer, she took her very first lesson from the venerable John Lyons and continues to learn from the best. She and Tanaya will be taking their horses to a Ken McNabb Clinic in July to further their knowledge and training skills. She is especially proud to be working with 15 year-old Tanaya, who will be competing in the Youth Division, helping the next generation of horse trainer and horse “go and grow.”

Stevens invites you to an Open House and BBQ at their facility on August 6th to watch a practice run and learn more. They would also like to thank their generous sponsor, Lazy R & R Ranch Supply in Kalispell for all they’ve done to help on their journey to the Extreme Mustang Challenge.

Steve Mantle at Mantle's Wild Horses | Mantle Training and Adoption Center

Kim Eckstrom Photography

The Mantle Training and Adoption Center, located in Wheatland, WY is one of very few off-range locations where the public can go directly to adopt a wild horse. “In 2021, the BLM celebrates 23 years of working with the Mantle Family to train and gentle wild horses for adoption. Each year, the Mantle Ranch cares for approximately 200 head of mixed-age and gender of horses. The Mantle Ranch is a family-based business consisting of Steve Mantle, Bryan Mantle and Katie Sherman, and Nick Mantle and his wife Kayla. Steve started working with wild horses in the 1980’s and both Bryan and Nick have 19 years of continuous time working in the family business with the wild horses and BLM. Their operation currently uses the internet to place over 50% of the adopted horses. The facility offers on-site, and in-person adoptions by appointment. Their training methods involve simple safety, patience and consistency as the top priorities. They spend time observing the horses’ behavior, and then develop a training plan for each horse based on their specific needs. (blm.org).” Watch for Mantle horses at Cheyenne Frontier Days and other events, or make an appointment to visit the ranch. Visit Facebook.com/MantlesWildHorses or call Steve at (307) 331-2225. For online BLM adoption information, see www.blm.gov/whb.