This Wild Horse and Burro Program receives many questions on a day-to-day basis from members of the public and stakeholders who are interested in adopting or purchasing wild horses and burros. Below are answers to common questions based on e-mails and phone calls that the BLM receives through the Online Corral.
Create an Online Corral Account, complete an application, and submit online.
Review times will vary depending upon the number of applications submitted. Typical review times are five business days.
You can check the status of your application on your Online Corral Profile.
You can bid up to the total number and type of animals you are approved for on your most
recently approved application.
Qualified adopters must meet standard requirements for owning and caring for a wild horse and
burro, including specific facility parameters to ensure the safety and health of the animals.
Adopting an animal means the wild horse or burro belongs to the federal government until the
BLM issues you a Certificate of Title. After you have had the adopted animal for one year, the
BLM will send you a Title Eligibility Letter. You must obtain a signed statement from a
qualified person (such as a veterinarian, county extension agent, or humane official) verifying
that you have provided humane care and treatment for your adopted animal. Once you sign and
return the Title Eligibility Letter, the BLM will mail the Certificate of Title to you. After you
receive the Certificate of Title, the animal becomes your private property. Wild horses and burros
more than 10 years old – as well as younger animals that have been offered for adoption at least
three times – are eligible for sale. Purchasing a wild horse or burro means that ownership of the
animal passes immediately from the federal government to the buyer.
Proxy bidding allows the Online Corral system to bid for you. For instance, if you bid $200, as your maximum bid,
on an animal that is currently at the starting bid of $125, with no other bids on the animal yet, the Online Corral
will submit your first bid as the starting bid of $125. As others bid on the same animal, the Online Corral will
raise your bid (by $5 more than the last submitted bid) up to your maximum high bid automatically, every time
your bid is challenged. Bidders can raise their maximum bid throughout the bidding process. We recommend
if there's a horse you are very interested in that you set your maximum proxy bid early!
The Online Corral interface will look at who had the highest proxy bid entered first; for instance,
if I placed a proxy bid for $1,000 on the first day of the auction and another bidder also places a
$1,000 proxy bid later in the event; I would win that animal because I entered that maximum
high bid first.
During the competitive event the person with the highest bid regardless of choosing to adopt or
purchase will win the animal.
The adoption and purchase fees must be paid in full within 4 calendar days of an event or
fixed price listing ending, regardless of the payment method chosen.
Adoption and purchase fees must be paid in full within 4 calendar days of an event or fixed
price listing ending.
The hip number is a permanent freeze mark that identifies the last four of their full freeze mark.
Animals may also have additional freeze marks if they were part of a fertility control program.
If the pickup location listed doesn't specify a date that means that the corral folks will contact
you once the animal arrives and set up a pickup appointment. The appointment timing will
depend on staff availability and when the animal arrives and is ready for pickup.
We are only able to offer the listed options on each animal because of transportation logistics,
corral space and timing.
A transport service can be used if they meet the trailering requirements, you will coordinate with
the pickup location after the event!
As a federal agency, we are unable to make recommendations for any businesses.