Getting Reprimanded By The BLM Officer

By Kini

When you adopt a wild horse from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), volunteer officers will visit to see how your horse is doing. This will occur for one year before the adoption in final. There can be a lot of advantages to this! For one, if you have a lot of enemies, you’re horse is covered under Federal jurisdiction. Two, you may be able to receive wild horse training tips from a helpful officer.

I had my high strung, nervous, wild horse for about six months. My training had not progressed very far. Mostly, because I did not build my horse pen as a round pen which would have been just as easy. A couple of times my big yellow horse escaped because I accidently left the gate open. I would look into the mountains for a yellow dot that could possibly be Big Boy. Then, I’d go hunt him down. I quickly learned that he never went far because he became attached to the mares.

After I relaxed a bit with my new friend, I found that I could take him on trail rides for exercises. I rode my tamed mustang and ponied another near my side. I allowed Big Boy to tag along with no restrictions. As long as I held on tightly to the mares, I had control of Big Boy. I realized that I could use his mares as bait to maneuver Big Boy in any way I wanted.

When I galloped, he’d gallop right along. When we traveled up snow banks, he’d travel close behind. Sometimes, I’d take them on walks like walking a dog, letting them enjoy the smorgasboard of the countryside. Fresh wild alfalpha, dandelions, meadow grasses, oats, and clover. Big Boy would munch out too. When it was time to go, he left his horsd’oeuvres and followed his mares home. When I tied the mares inside the pen, he’d run in, and I’d slam the gate shut.

One day, I received a tip from the BLM Officer in charge of my case. It was in the form of a reprimand. The original harness my big yellow mustang was wearing was getting to tight on his muzzle. It had to come off! I knew that. But, getting close enough to unglasp his harness was absolutely impossible and procrastination was holding me back from taming Big Boy at a faster pace. I wanted to give him a solid foundation.

The dreaded day came when the BLM Officer came to inspect the well-being of my wild horse(s). The Officer demanded that I remove the harness within three weeks or he’d be back to “repossess” my horse. In cooperation, I demanded that he’d demand I remove it within three days!

Once the survival pressure kicked in, it was me and Big Boy in the small muddy “arena“. He was not a happy horse when I had to use ropes to hog tie him. One rope on his harness. One rope to catch his hind foot. One rope to throw around his neck.

I wrapped the harness rope around a tree and pulled Big Boy as close as I could. It was scary. He would squirm and wiggle in resistance. Every step he took inward, the more he resisted. At times, I would have to release the stronghold because he would rear up and paw at me with his hooves or climb up the 8 foot fence to get away from me.

At the end of the day, I’d release him and continued the next. No matter what, in mud and all, the harness had to come off! As the next few days progressed along, I could pull Big Boy’s face all the way to the tree. I had to reach the glasp on his harness and release it.
As soon as I very slowly moved my hand for him to smell, he’d squiggle and wiggle away like a fish. At one point, I became terrified that I had suffocated my yellow pony with one of the ropes. He flipped and flopped on the ground like he was going to pass out from strangulation. So, I released him and when he got up, we went round and round again.

I caught his hind foot and pulling it up with a leverage rope around his neck, he became tired of struggling on three feet . I pulled on the rope tied to his harness and the rope around his neck until he submitted his face all the way to the tree. If he would only let me reach over and undo the buckle on his harness. Nope! Round and round we went, again and again. I kept moving my hand to his sweat drenched face, when finally he let me unglasp the harness and remove it completely.

At last, I released all of the ropes off Big Boy and he scooted off in pride with a look on his face like “That was easy! I knew I could do it all along!”

SAFETY TIP: One rope can be a serious safety hazard. If a rope is not properly held and it entangles around your arm or leg, a wild horse can drag you until you are seriously injured and/or even result in death! Please be very aware of all movements while being around a wild horse!

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