But the scare lasts a lifetime

I was around some of those feral horses back in the early 1980's in SE Montana. The guy had about five or six studs that came out of Wyoming. They were between four and ten years old is what they said. Each one had to be in a pen by its self and if you tried to go in the pen they pinned their ears and charged you. It didn't take long to figure out you didn't mess with them. The guy was a rodeo stock contractor and had over a hundred head of horses. They were used to working stock and set up for it. We threw them by pulling their front legs out from under them, with a saddle horse and tied all four feet and castrated them. Two months later you still could not get in a pen with them. I have know several people that had them, that thought they were going to tame them. But I never saw anyone have a use able horse from them. But that's even true with all horses. If you don't know what you are doing with them the odds of them turning out go way down.

yours were freeze marked not hot branded

All brands hot or freeze scab then peel about 2 or 3 weeks after being branded. The difference between brands and marks are brands are all the same and a mark can be different on each animal like the ones on the mustangs. Each mustang has a unique number that tell how old what state it came from and a tag number


Hot brands are 3rd degree burns that leave a scar Freeze marks generally use liquid nitrogen to freeze and kill the pigment in the skin cell and hair follicles so it comes back white, you can scar with a freeze brand or mark by leaving it on longer think freezer burn which is what you'd do with a white or lite colored horse

yes freeze branded they called it

Yes the scab peels off. But your statement after brand peels who could say where one came from was what I referred to. Just like any burn after the scab peels off a permanent scar remains.

Was referring to branding caustic or hot iron not freeze marking.
In any case I wish the OP much success with his endeavors.
There is no doubt in my mind that my sister could gentle one if the animal was young enough when acquired.
I doubt very seriously that I could. I don’t love horses, she does. I don’t have the patience she does.
I’ve known a couple of people that adopted young wild horses and gentled then trained them successfully.
I’ve owned and worked with horses and worked with mules and understand them fairly well. I just don’t become attached to them the way some do.

Good luck and be safe they can hurt you real bad without trying and an older one can kill you pretty easy if they want.

To dispel the myth that you can't work them or be in a pen with them I've personally been around close to 50000 yes 50 thousand wild horses or burros for my job and have only seen one that was so dangerous that you couldn't work or get in the pen with. these horses are fresh from the range and have only been captured for a day or 2 when we get them. The blm adopts upwords of 6000 horses a year and if they were all rank unworkable we would have run out of adopters long ago. Not saying people are always successful but most people if they know what they are doing or hire the right trainer can get a reliable horse. I rode one everyday for 15 years no buck to her and have trained numerous ones that I also rode then sold or gave to friends and kids.

The mustang heritage foundation has the adult programs and youth programs that gentle and place horses every year along with 4H and FFA programs with the BLM. Are they managed well NO but its politics and activists that hamper management. Biggest issue that affected the program was the 2008 rescission as it killed adoptions and caused long term care of large numbers of horses as there was no demand also hurt the domestic horse world.

Donner plan a trip out west and go see a gather public is allowed to view and then visit a corral facility. I encourage all to do this as they are part of the west but knowledge is critical when forming oppions.

If you catch a wild horse and brand it, when it peels off the brand is good. A brand inspector will accept it. Its a wild animal. Its not stealing.


Why did you think i was saying a brand was not permanent ?

^^That.
I would use them as breeding stock and get some colts out of them and work with the colts to make a horse.

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-host-wild-horse-adoption-jan-31-feb-1

Head to Challis tomorrow. There’s usually a few good looking ones that come out of that herd.

I am not quite ready to take on a horse yet. I have heard the Idaho herds have some of the better horses, alot of draft influence. It was reading about Draft horses being turned loose in Idaho that inspired me to write this poem.

The European horse is very different from the 3 toed horse that went extinct way before Europeans came to the americas. Not only where they 3 toed, but they also only weighed 100-130lbs. They were also browsers and not grazers, so they impacted the land the same as deer, elk, and antelope. So they were not a reintroduction. It was the introduction of a animal which the landscape was not designed for. They are exactly the same as feral pigs. Out deer, elk, antelope, and bighorn sheep have suffered greatly because of them.

I grew up in Fallon and a few years back when I went home for Christmas I trapped right outside one of those corral facilities.

Horses went extinct 7600 years ago and by then they had accomplished their modern form, they were no longer 3 toed browsers. I think most/all of us would change horse management in the west if we could.

Lots of big healthy yotez i bet. North or south of town?

Modern horses evolved in asia to resemble what we call horses the north American wild horse was more like what cat said based on fossil records

You're young, I remember when Nevada didn't have elk or antelope but had wild horses.

From what I have seen newer genetic evidence has disproven this and shown that modern horses and the horses that went extinct around 10000 years ago are genetically the same.

Quite the Read^^^

Interesting

Double check where that came from activist groups try to make that connection to farther their cause but i do believe geneticly they are linked just not as close as you mention but close enough to be the descendants of those first equines