Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, South Dakota joined efforts with four horse sanctuaries and saved the lives of three Sulphur Herd mustang mares after an unsuccessful Bureau of Land Management (BLM) adoption.

The BLM Sulphur wild mustang mares arrived in satisfactory condition at the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary on February 1, 2012 after photos of abuse surfaced showing one of the Sulphur mustang mare with its legs bound while a trainer sat on the mare.

Outraged by the photos, Institute of Range and the American Mustang (IRAM) Program Director, Susan Watt went in action with the assistance of four horse sanctuaries and wild horse advocates; Neda DeMayo, Return to Freedom (Lompoc, California), Karen Pomroy, Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary (Green Valley, AZ), Jen Reid, Best Friends Animal Society (Kanab, Utah), Celine Myer, The Ark Watch Foundation (Los Altos, CA). Bob Hubbard Equine provided the transportation for the mustangs to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary located in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

The three mustang mares were originally captured in the Sulphur Herd Management area of Utah in July 2006. The Sulphur Herd roams a vast, unpopulated region of alternating high desert basins and expansive mountain ranges.  Their home, the Needle Range, is a starkly beautiful mountain block that lies about 45 miles of Milford, Utah, along the Nevada State Line.   In some spots the range rises to nearly 10,000 feet in elevation. The BLM Sulphur Herd objectives are to strive to maintain an ecological balance through dispersal of wild horses within the habitat and the removal of excess horses beyond the carrying capacity of the range.

“If her feet are bound her spirit is broken; hopeless, helpless and heartbroken. Is this the way we should treat the icon of our American Freedom? This will be a permanent sanctuary for these Sulphur mustang mares.” says, Susan Watt, IRAM Program Director.

The Institute of Range and American Mustang (IRAM) founded by Dayton O. Hyde in 1988.  IRAM owns 11,000 acres of private land dedicated to range preservation and a balanced ecosystem. IRAM’s finest gift is The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, whose purpose is to provide not only freedom for unadoptable and unwanted wild horses, but also a research area dedicated to solving wild horse herd management that will contribute to the well-being of wild horses everywhere.

For more information on Equine Sanctuaries in United States:

www.wildmustangs.com

www.returntofreedom.org

www.equinevoices.org

www.bestfriends.org

www.knightsbridgefarm.org