The Bureau of Land Management’s State Office has extended its wild horse gentling and adoption partnership with the Wyoming Department of Corrections for five more years. The partnership will provide funding for the care of up to 200 excess wild horses and burros at the Wyoming Honor Farm.

Since 1988, the BLM and the Honor Farm have worked together to train and adopt wild horses primarily from Wyoming’s public lands. Inmate trainers at the minimum custody facility demonstrate techniques such as catching a horse, advance and retreat, picking up feet, and beginning to ride during gentling clinics held twice a year.

Each adoption at the Honor Farm offers approximately 35 halter and saddle-started horses, as well as some halter-started wild burros. The program aims to help both the horses and the inmate trainers make positive strides by learning to respect and trust each other, ultimately aiding in the inmates’ transition back into society.