This is a synopsis of a presentation to veterinarians during The American Mustang session at the 2014 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 6-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) partners with private and public entities to train mustangs gathered from public lands to prepare them for adoption and use as saddle horses. Trained mustangs bring higher purchase prices, which help support training programs, and enjoy a better quality of life after adoption, said Francis Ackley, BLM Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Program lead.

Ackley presented efforts in his state and others to train and offer mustangs for public adoption at the 2014 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Convention, held Dec. 6-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Programs Ackley presented included:

State prison inmate mustang training. The BLM currently has agreements with prisons in Colorado, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona, and Wyoming. These programs adopt out a total of approximately 265 mustangs per year, Ackley said, adding that inmates working with the horses also benefit from learning job skills and gaining a sense of pride in their accomplishments with the horses.

The BLM currently has agreements with prisons in Colorado, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona, and Wyoming. These programs adopt out a total of approximately 265 mustangs per year, Ackley said, adding that inmates working with the horses also benefit from learning job skills and gaining a sense of pride in their accomplishments with the horses. The Mustang Heritage Foundation , created and mainly funded by the BLM, which is responsible for promoting mustangs as desirable saddle horses with events such as the Extreme Mustang Makeover and Trainer Incentive Program. Working with the BLM, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has aided the adoption of 5,000 of 23,000 horses over the past seven years, or 21% of total BLM equids adopted, Ackley noted.

, created and mainly funded by the BLM, which is responsible for promoting mustangs as desirable saddle horses with events such as the Extreme Mustang Makeover and Trainer Incentive Program. Working with the BLM, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has aided the adoption of 5,000 of 23,000 horses over the past seven years, or 21% of total BLM equids adopted, Ackley noted. Private contracts with training facilities, such as The Mantle Ranch Wild Horse Adoption and Training Center in Wheatland, Wyoming.

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Ackley further described the attributes sought in horses for training programs and adoption:

Adopters prefer geldings over mares.

Younger is better when it comes to gentling and handling feral mustangs, with 3-4 years considered the optimal age for starting saddle training. Horses in the 5-6-year-old range can also have positive outcomes if they’ve lived in holding facilities and are accustomed to human interactions.

Adopters prefer horses that will mature to 15 hands or taller. The demand for these taller horses, however, presents a challenge, because a majority of mustangs fall in the 14-hand range. “I estimate 15% of mustangs will attain this height (of 15 hands or taller),” Ackley said.

The horses must have good conformation and no major blemishes.

Adopters prefer horses with rounded hindquarters and withers suited for holding a saddle (i.e., not mutton-withered, which allows saddles to slide side-to-side).

Horses must have trainable temperaments; adopters avoid high-headed, flighty, pushy, and disrespectful horses.

Using the above guidelines to select horses, programs see a 95% success rate in mustang training, Ackley said. Most people who adopt trained mustangs use them for trail riding, packing, and other recreational activities. However, Ackley showed examples of mustangs competing in dressage and used for drill teams, such as the Colorado-based Westernaires, which is a precision riding team for children 8 to 18 years old.

Federal agencies also adopt trained mustangs, Ackley pointed out. These agencies include the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Park Service, Forest Service, andw Border Patrol—the largest adopter of saddle-trained mustangs.

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“The southern U.S. Border Patrol, with approximately 350 horses in service, has a constant need for replacements,” Ackley said. “The horses put in long days in rugged country and are usually retired after five years of service.”

These mustangs are used for patrolling the Canadian border along Washington, Idaho, and Montana. “Their focus is on monitoring smuggling activities in the mountainous border in designated wilderness areas that helicopters can’t access,” Ackley said. On the southern border—including California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas—saddle-trained mustangs are used for routine patrol and apprehension of illegal immigrants and to counter smuggling operations for drugs, human trafficking, and contraband.

In all their uses, Ackley said, trained mustangs prove themselves as sure-footed, loyal, and intelligent.