Horses were up for adoption in Sonoma

SANTA ROSA, CA (KGO) -- For the first time in 10 years the Bureau of Land Management will sell wild horses and burros to anyone with the space and money. There are some bargains offered at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

If you're part of the crowd that commutes to the city and craves a hybrid, you probably weren't in Santa Rosa on Friday.

"We're lookin' to look," said some potential buyers.

So look, they did and the livestock looked right back. The bureau of land management bought about forty head from Northeastern California and put them up for adoption. The burros arrived first.

"You want a burro?" asks ABC7's Wayne Freedman.
"No," says a young woman.

"You want a burro?" asks Freedman.
"No," says a man.

"You want a burro?" asks Freedman.
"Yeah," replied another man.

There are 10 of them. If you have a 20 by 20 foot space with a fence and $125, you can take one home tomorrow.

"What can you do with a burro?" asks Freedman.

"A burro is a hay burner," says one man.

"The burro will eat the grass," says another man.

The burros may have been cute, but on this day, they weren't the main attraction, horses were.

Thirty-one 31 young, wild, hearty mustangs. Chris Cline, a mustang owner, of Sonoma showed up just to look today, or so she says.

"They're adorable," says Cline.

These animals are so attractive because they are wild, but they can be trained. This one learned a halter in three months.

I think a wild animal has more of a brain than a domestic one because they have to use it more.

Essentially, mustangs are stronger and smarter because they have survived. They are raw, untamed spirits; vestiges of a younger, broader America and at such moments, clichés actually work.

"There's just a mystique about them. Come on. It's the wild west," says a woman watching the horses.

Or put another way, they're a reminder of true horsepower.

Get more Local News »

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•