> We all know that the purchase price is usually the least expensive aspect of
> horse ownership. A $150 "bargain" often is no bargain at all.
>
> Some are happy with BLM horses--there are some success stories, but then
> there are the tragedies of people who wind up with unmanageable horses and
> become soured on horses because of their experience.
Actually the price is 125 not one fifty. I, for one am exceptionally
pleased with the mare I adopted last year and her foal most especially.
It seems that the "small feral horse" syndrome isn't merely the effect of
400 years of rangedom, but more an effect of early feral foal nutrition.
The 3 month old Mustang colt out of my adopted mare is almost exactly the
same size as an Andulsian colt we have boarding at our facilty that is
only a few days different in age. My Mustang foal has certainly cost me
not one cent more to raise then any Arab (of which I still own and
compete) or my Thoroughbreds (with which I've vastly more experience.)
Surely the feral mare has been a handful. I couldn't inspect her very
well as she had only been captured a couple of months prior to the BLM
auction in Paso Robles. I picked her as she was the largest 2 y.o. mare
at the adoption and I was forth in line at the first come first served
place of purchase. Checking conformation was difficult enough with a
horse that was constanly moving, let alone teeth. So it turned out she
was actually 3 when I got her. Wouldn't have been a candidate had I known
that as I didn't want a pregnant horse with possible stunted growth. The
moral, 'DON'T TRUST THE BLM BROCHURE THE AGES LISTED AREN'T ETCHED IN STONE!"
It'll take a lot of patience and a willingness to approach training in a
manner you wouldn't consider with a domestic horse. But the rewards are
manifest. If you have the time and the facility I heartily recommend
these little horses for endurance. My friend Naomi and her former feral
mare, Mustang Lady, mangaged a fine career with top ten Tevis completions
highlighting their rides together. Research shows slow twitch muscle
tissue in the American Mustang as being very simular to that of the
regtistered Arabian. The conformation is very different than what I'd
been used to in the TB, but once you get used to it. :)
Don't walk into it blindfolded. It'll take a bit of familarization and a
willingness to accept new methods, but the rewards are without parallel.
Just my $.02
t
***Tommy Crockett, Los Osos, Ca.***tomydore@goblin.punk.net
"and I'll tell you how it all went down out with the trucker and the kickers
and the cowboy angels and a good saloon in every single town"
G.P. "The Return of the Grievous Angel"
Homepage... http://www.slonet.org/~tcrocket