"I’ve waited four years to be here and if I don’t get the one I want today, I think I’ll just cry,” said Kriss Yunker of Flippin Ark., just before the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Mustang and burro sale held on Nov. 7 at the Cattlemen’s Livestock Auction in Harrison, Ark.
Round up on Federal land, wild mustangs and burros still roam free in the West and are descendants of animals that were released or escaped from Spanish explorers, ranchers, miners, the U.S. Calvary or Native Americans. With few natural predators, these thriving herds must be controlled to assure healthy herds, and also control their damage to area lands.
Wild mustangs and burros are offered for sale or auction across the United States and are happily received by many horse-loving Americans, who embrace their motto “adopting a living symbol of American history."
James Hood of the Bureau of Land Management, in charge of the Nov. 7 sale, stated that he sees a “lot of repeat business. People come back and do this again and again.” Hood pointed out that today was a first come, first serve sale as opposed to the more familiar auctions. Buyers were given a number upon registration and having shown they could meet the basic requirements for wild horse adoption, which include a minimum-sized corral and stock trailer for hauling (see www.ozarksfn.com for specifics). Adoption fees are set at $125 for animals three years or younger, and $25 for animals over age three. Buyers are also informed that they are actually foster care takers of these animals for the first year and will not receive title to the animal(s) until they are examined at the end of that year by a BLM inspector.
Larry Marlar of Omaha, Ark., attended today’s sale “just to look,” having adopted two mustangs the year before. “Today they’ll pull a buggy and they crawl up on the hay bales, almost like dogs,” he shared with a smile, quite pleased with the two additions to his outfit.
Others, like Margaret Mays of Alexander, Ark., are so enthusiastic about this program that she showed up today with a friend and their horses that they adopted a few years ago at another BLM auction. Their horses, Krystal and Augie Bear, once thin but now healthy mustangs, were on display today for others to see just exactly what wild mustangs can and do look like, once they are gentled and well-cared for.
In September 2008, Margaret Mays, Augie Bear and her dog, Miss Minnie Pearl, a former resident of the North Little Rock Humane Society, competed in the Third Annual Great Ozark Trail Dog and Horse Race in Leslie, Ark., and came in third.
Bertha Bell Groves of Scotland Ark., near Clinton came to today’s sale, as a first time buyer, looking for a burro to ride. “I think they are so cute, like a big giant rabbit with those big ears.” By early afternoon, Bertha Groves, her husband and a ranch hand had loaded up a seven-year-old burro for her to take home and ride.
James and Deborah Wilkerson of Cedar Creek, Mo., have bought animals at BLM sales twice before and today James said he’s “looking for mares to start a little brooding stock." One of his dropped a foal earlier this year and “we’d like to try that again."
The Wilkersons also pointed out that some of these sales can be done over the Internet and if the timing is right, the buyers can receive their horses or burros at the sale site.
The seventh buyer Nov. 7 was Kriss Yunker, who took home her new dream horse, a small Palomino mustang. “I have friends who have done this before, so I’m ready," she asserted.
The next BLM sales/auctions scheduled in this area include Humansville, Mo., on March 27-28, 2009 and Springdale Ark., on July 10-12, 2009.
