The story of the American Mustangs in the West is an increasingly sad one…
Mustangs are massively over-populated on the range, and adoption programs have faltered in placing sufficient numbers in the private sector. This is simply because of the astounding number of horses needing homes.
There are currently over 79,568 Mustangs on BLM managed lands – an overage of 52,798 horses above the capacity of the natural resources to sustain them.
In addition, 46,482 horses are already in off-range holding facilities, costing the BLM around 60% of their annual program budget ($50M). Every year, there are thousands more Mustangs removed from the range.
In fiscal year 2018-2019, this number is triple the average with over 15,000 needing to be removed so that the range is not decimated and to prevent horses from suffering due to lack of resources such as water and food.
The excellent adoption programs in place managed by the BLM and the Mustang Heritage Foundation have excelled at placing over 7,000 in private homes this past year.
However, for this year, there is a deficit of 6,000-7,000 horses that may not be adopted through existing programs.
Our goal is to help change the story of American Mustangs in the West by providing professional under saddle training and increase adoptions of these amazing horses.
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO.
Mustang population estimates as of March 1, 2020 taken from the Bureau of Land Management Program Data report. Note that wild burros have not been included in the numbers above.
Additional Resources
Check out the resources below to learn more about the state of the American Mustang and some of the other programs working to manage populations and find homes.