Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

From the BLM website about the 25th anniversary of the wild horse inmate training program at Canon City, which is going on today (started yesterday): “This year marks the 25th anniversary of Colorado’s Wild Horse Inmate Program in Canon City. To celebrate, the BLM is hosting an event in Golden to draw attention to the program and highlight how the program has contributed to the community.

“In the last 25 years, the WHIP in Canon City has contributed enormously to the community. Those contributions include inmate rehabilitation and job training, national security along the border, and training opportunities for new riders.”

For more information, visit http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Programs/wild_horse_and_burro/whip_25_anniversary.html

I do hope it’s a successful event, with lots of horses adopted. One of our Spring Creek Basin mustangs, who went through the program at Canon City is currently serving at a Border Patrol station in Colville, Wash. In fact, he was one of 10 mustangs that participated in the inauguration parade for President Barack Obama less than 18 months after he was rounded up. We’re extremely proud of our Justice – and all the mustangs serving on our country’s borders (our Kootenai was named after a Sand Wash Basin cousin, also serving on the northern border).

Also, the Colorado chapter of the National Mustang Association has contributed to the program over the years with donations of magazines and boots for the inmates. I visited the facility in August 2007 after our roundup, when we were allowed to identify Grey/Traveler, who was not identified during the roundup and was mistakenly removed and taken to Canon City, and bring him home. That story has a happy outcome, and we’re forever grateful to Fran Ackley, Wild Horse & Burro Program lead for BLM in Colorado, for making that happen.

If any readers attend the events at Canon City, please leave a comment and let us know how it went.