How to Adopt a Mustang from the USFS

When “bidding” on mustangs from the United States Forest Service, there are certain procedures you must follow, of course. First, you fill out an application for approval to adopt, which is found on the USFS website here. There are several very specific requirements, so be sure to read the instructions carefully. If you have additional questions, check the USFS website first, and then the Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals Facebook page. The staff at the corrals is amazing, and the online members are almost always helpful.

After you’re approved, look through the selection of horses that are available, which are not on their website, but rather on the Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals Facebook page. But keep checking back because things change frequently in the weeks leading up to the actual “auction.”

Don’t get too attached to any of the horses, but start listing them according to the one you want most, second most, third, etc. Occasionally something will come up that will cause a couple dozen horses to be pulled from the auction, such as the development of a new partnership with an entity that can more effectively promote and showcase these beautiful horses. It makes sense that the DDWHC people choose the best of the available horses to go to the entity involved with this partnership. And that makes for a lot of disappointed people who were waiting to adopt those particular horses.

But remember, it’s not about you, and the chances that you will do as much good for the breed and the USFS as a partnership with vastly superior resources, is slim to vanishing. Besides, the odds that you would get one of those particular mustangs was similarly low anyway, considering that there are hundreds of other adopters. Don’t get attached to any of the horses until such time as you actually have been approved to adopt that exact horse (or horses). That will save a lot of frustration and anger. And above all, don’t take it out on the corral employees. That only makes you look selfish, childish, petulant, and honestly, narcissistic. Besides, it might get you banned from adopting at all. (I would be tempted to ban you if you got mean and I were running the show!)

After the list of available horses has been finalized, which may be a day or two before the actual adoption event, spend some time looking over the preliminary list you’ve been keeping, and narrow it down to just fifteen horses per selection. I was adopting two horses, one for myself and one for my husband, and wanted very different things from each, so I had two lists of fifteen horses each. The forms that you fill out with these selections can also be found on the USFS website.

At the designated time and date, which was 8:00 am, Monday, December 4, 2023 for this round of adoptions, you will send your email with your selections. I found it was better to save the PDF and paste it into the body of the email rather than adding as an attachment. This prevents the government servers from inadvertently flagging your email as harmful. The government employees at the corrals cannot open emails flagged as harmful, so take the time for this extra step.

Imagine several hundred anxious adopters waiting until the stroke of 8:00 am to hit the send button. I don’t care how fast you hit that send button, your odds of being first in line are pretty slim. Maybe not Mega Millions slim, but still not great. Keep that in mind and be patient waiting for the corrals to call. The call will come from a 530 area code, so be sure to answer if you can. If you miss the call, listen to your voice mail to get the correct number to call back. It won’t be the one that called you because of phone system routing.

Since this was my first adoption event, I was under the impression that everything would be finished on the first day, and when I didn’t get a call, I was crushed. By mid-morning of day two I began looking elsewhere to find suitable horses for our adventure. But logistically, handling a couple hundred adoptions in one day just is not possible, so patience is definitely required. A little before 2:00 pm on day two, I got the call. With no fanfare, the girl on the other end of the line said, “The next horse on your first list (my horse) is 8953, and the next horse on your second list (my husband’s horse) is 9133. Are those two acceptable?”

In my disappointment the night before I had thrown my lists and printed photos of the horses in the trash and we had gone camping. We were sitting in a remote park with spotty service, and I couldn’t look online to see which two horses these were, but at that point I was just floored that any of my selections were available, and quickly agreed that they were more than acceptable. After all, I had put the best thirty horses on my list—how could any of them still be available after a day and a half?

The phone call lasted less than a minute, but I was in tears as soon as I got off the phone. I called my brother David and he looked up my selection forms from the sent email and told me that I had received my third selection and Brent’s sixth selection. The mare who was to be mine is so gorgeous that I still cannot believe someone didn’t scoop her up long before my turn came.

The best thing is both of our new horses are black, both are six-years-old, and both are 15 hands. Brent’s gelding has a white pastern on his left rear, and my mare has a small star. I love horses with very little white. In a world that clamors for lots of chrome, that’s unusual.

Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down was playing just minutes before I got the call, and was still going through my head. I asked Brent if he wanted to name his horse, and he didn’t really care one way or another, so I suggested Kryptonite (Night for short), and he liked that. So, join me in welcoming Kryptonite to our family!

Naming my mare hasn’t come as easy. I’m still working on it and will update everyone on that as soon as I know. She might be one that I have to get to know before I can name her. I’m hoping she will be my “heart horse” and the name I choose for her must be correspondingly perfect.

Fast forward 24 hours, and it’s a new world this morning, fresh, and icy and beautiful. And I need a job!