I’m looking into adopting a saddle-broke BLM mustang from one of the incarceration centers. However, I don’t own my own barn/farm, so I’m wondering, for those who’ve done it before, how did you broach that conversation with your barn where you board? And what was it like boarding the mustang?
Any tips would be appreciated!
Could you explain more, what do you think may be different with a feral horse that is a riding horse now from any other horse you may want to board?
Our riding center used to start many feral horses and kept and handled them just like all other horses.
Many of them made excellent school horses quickly, some were sold to private owners, to other riding centers, some we kept for our own lessons and trail rides, some competed in endurance.
I expect your horse will also be a wonderful horse, that will be welcome any place you want to board.
A mustang that’s been broke and going well under saddle isn’t really different than any other horse.
I could see how a deep convo with the barn owner would be necessary if you’re taking on an unhandled mustang–there are some housing requirements, how to deal with a horse that doesn’t know about people, etc–but don’t understand why there would be any concern at all, from anyone, boarding a broke and well handled mustang?
Wouldn’t be an issue at all.
I have a mustang that I gentled and broke to ride myself and don’t own a facility. The only place I had to have a conversation was the very first place when she was coming straight from BLM un-gentled. Once she was fully gentled, I was able to take her to a different barn closer to me and didn’t have to have any conversation other than to say I had a horse I was about to start under saddle. And since then she and I have been at 4 different barns in various locations and I’ve never had to say anything different than I would for any other horse.
Agree with the others. You’re adopting a horse that is started under saddle, no different or special conversations or considerations needed!
If you have to ask this question, I wonder if a newly broke Mustang is the right horse for you? Granted I haven’t boarded my horses in a long, long time but at least then it wouldn’t have been any different than any other horse.
Is this your first time owning a horse?
Is this your first horse?
Just because it’s saddle broke doesn’t mean it’s broke, or safe to fit into a boarding situation with handling by kids, old ladies, etc. These horses in the prison programs are “safe” to get on depending on your skill set and level of experience.
I once went to look at a horse that was “broke” but had been feral, I did not feel it was ethical to bring it into my boarding barn to be handled daily by my elderly barn owner. It had zero experience in that situation and I worried it could be reactive.
It may depend where you are-- in my neck of the woods*, BLM horses are pretty common and there are several boarding at the barn at any given point in time. They had all had at least basic job skills prior to arrival–skills like “staying in a stall or fenced field.”
When my friend moved with mustang in tow to Minnesota and then Kentucky, on the other hand, the horse was considered exotic and she did have to explain that he was not a Wild Thing.
*strictly speaking, patch of the desert
I think it presumptuous to assume this is a first-time horse owner. This is a totally valid question. I Iive on the East coast, and I know many barn owners that would run for the hills is somebody mentioned the word Mustang. They are uncommon here, and everybody assumes they must be wild or if they were oncewild, they must have huge vices and be difficult to handle,. I have two friends with mustangs and both could not find a boarding facility for this reason. One eventually just bought her own property because it was easier.
I’m sorry I am not much help, but I wanted to share that this is indeed a regional issue, not just a newbie to horses issue.
Nope this is not my first horse, in fact it isn’t my second or third. But I grew up in the midwest, and the horses I owned were kept on a family-owned farm so there was never any discussion on formal boarding. Additionally, I currently live on the East Coast and, as @sonestra said, if I even whispered mustang, folks would be armed with a boatload of assumptions. On TOP of that, I’m moving to Austin, where it’s a whole different ball game.
So, bringing a mustang into my life, will be treated differently from another horse given their background, and that IS what varies.
If the horse is to all intents and purposes saddle broke and used to life with people, just don’t announce his breed. He’s a grade ranch horse.
When I was a kid the local dude string stables used to bring in a truck load of horses each spring including what are now called “wildies” in Canada off a native reservation. They got broke into the dude string and sold off to teens like me. My ex feral horse was indistinguishable from other horses except for being faster handier and smarter 
and terrified of horse trailers.
I am going to assume that you will be buying one of the Solid Citizens of the prison program (I assume that’s what you meant?) not one of their renegades. If the training has worked it shouldn’t be noticeably different from other horses.
I wouldn’t see much of an issue with it in Texas. We have a couple of different Mustang Makeover competitions here…it’s not totally foreign like it may be in the east/northeast. But, I would agree that if you are concerned about it, and horse is a good citizen, sounds like you have a grade horse now 
Often they do more work on the basics like despooking and groundwork, so if anything the horse is likely to be better behaved on the ground. We had one in our pony club that is now a lesson horse and she is the mellowest sweetest horse you can imagine, great with the little kids and no quirks.
I just said something like “I’m thinking of bidding on a horse from the Extreme Mustang Makeover, is there space available to board?” They asked a few questions about what sort of fencing he’d been in with the trainer, that sort of thing, and were fine with it. BO did admit to me later that she was a little nervous about the idea of taking in a Mustang, though. I haven’t had any issues with getting farriers, vets, etc. to work with him either.
Years and years ago I had one that had been gentled through a now-defunct prison program, and at one point I sent him away to a professional trainer for more saddle work. I could NOT find a farrier in the trainer’s city that would trim him, even though the trainer assured them that he didn’t have any issues with having his feet handled. Finally the farrier I had been using drove 1.5 hours (3 hours round trip) to do the job. Didn’t charge me any extra, either, I think he was disgusted with his colleagues.
Support this idea. Absolutely fair.
Mustangs are descended from feral domestic horses. It’s a horse. It has an interesting family and life history. But knowing the details isn’t necessary to be able to feed it, turn it out in pasture and bring it back in to the barn.
It’s like being a school kid going to a new school and saying “I just moved here from where my family was living in [some exotic land]”. OK, but you are still a school kid and do all the things the other school kids do. If you didn’t tell people that, it would be fine, they don’t need to know. What you really are in the current circumstances is one more occupied seat in the classroom. Or in your horse’s case, one more occupied stall in the board barn.
It shouldn’t be an issue in Austin. I live in Texas and have met BLM horses here and there in almost every discipline. I won’t say they are common, exactly, but they aren’t that uncommon. I’ve never heard of expectations that BLM horses are anything other than just another grade horse.
Maybe I’m behind the times, but don’t they still freeze brand the necks of Mustangs? That would make hiding it’s true breed a bit difficult. Just be honest so it doesn’t get awkward. If the horse has been through a program and is trained, it’s the same as buying any other horse.
Yes, they’re still branded. A lot of people aren’t familiar with it, though. A LOT of people at my new barn have commented on my guy’s “interesting white marking”, not realizing it’s a brand. His brand isn’t very clear, but many of them aren’t.
Right. Most people I know have no clue what that marking is, if they even notice it. Most people I know don’t know what the BLM is, much less the branding and mustangs. A few do know. (We are roughly 1,000 - 1,500 miles from the nearest mustang lands.)
With all the brands for Euro-breeds, placed in various and sundry places on the horse’s body, people who don’t follow brands have just stopped noticing them. And the BLM brand is furred over anyway, and for some reason people tend to not register what it is if they notice it at all.
And, if people are thinking of a ‘mustang’ from the BLM as an undersized, skinny, rough-coated wild horse, and they see a well-tended horse the size and shape of a nice Morgan or appendix, behaving in a civilized way, they don’t think ‘mustang’. Per Toblersmom’s experience.
I really don’t think that a mustang would be an issue in Austin, Texas. The Mustang Heritage Foundation is based in Texas. The high dollar Extreme Mustang Makeover event is held in Fort Worth. Most likely the impression will be from people, “oh, that’s cool.”
Mustangs, feral horses, are not a breed, but grade horses that were raised in herds running loose, as many ranch horses are in the West that have registration papers and an owner.
Feral horses come in all kinds and most are like all domestic horses, their own individual, some nicer than others, but all domestic horses with domestic horse traits.
Our riding school received to be handled and halter break a handful of real wild horses, Tarpans.
They still handled and trained just like any other, horses being basically horses.
If a feral horse is acting up and needs extra management, I would not say is because of it’s origin, but his lack of proper training, just as any other such less than civilized horse.
Now, how to convince those that love the wild horse mystique or those scared of it, that those are basically horses?
I would not think that would be necessary in TX, but as some have posted, maybe it is in the East?
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