Tucson Sector now has 32 wild mustangs in area horse patrols
By Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona range news
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Border Patrol is saving money while gaining horses particularly skilled at patrolling in rugged mountainous terrain.
Six wild mustangs were delivered to the Tucson Sector's Border Patrol Horse Patrol Training Center in Kansas Settlement, 15 miles south of Willcox, last week.
The mustangs had previously been gathered by the Bureau of Land Management from areas where the wild mustang population was considered too high, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Bobbi Schad, who is also the Tucson Sector Horse Patrol Coordinator.
"BLM selectively reduces a population, just as the Arizona Game and Fish Department watches herd populations. They determine where to pull them from and how many," she said.
After the mustangs are brought to one of three BLM facilities, they are separated to determine which will go to BLM pastures, and which can be trained and adopted out as performance animals, she said.
BLM uses inmate rehabilitation programs within state prison systems to train the horses. They receive anywhere from 90 to 120 days training before they can be adopted out, Schad said.
"We traveled up to the newest BLM facility at Carson City (Nevada) and tried out 12 horses. We were able to adopt six. We're looking for horses between a minimum and maximum height, between the ages of four and five, with stocky, big bones in their legs and big feet. They are sturdy and rugged and less likely to obtain leg injuries," she said.
"And we look at their temperament, whether it's a docile horse for an inexperienced rider," or more jittery, she said. "These horses trust each other, but not necessarily people. You need to reach that relationship where, if you're on a ledge out there, you trust your horse and your horse trusts you."
"The instincts of wild mustangs are more hypersensitive, because nature tells them to be alert," Schad said. "These horses are very good at spotting. They look intently and listen intently and if you listen to your horse, they help you. At night, they can distinguish between the different sounds and smell of cattle or a group of people moving."
Currently 32 of the 192 serviceable horses in the Tucson Sector are wild mustangs adopted through BLM, Schad said, adding she expects to get five more next week.
She said the cost of adoption depends on the BLM facility from which the horse is adopted. Mustangs from the Carson City, Nev., facility cost $600 per horse, including the 90 to 120 days of training. Mustangs from Canyon City, Colo., cost $900, plus an extra $25 per horse to BLM. At Hutchinson, Kan., they charge per days of training.
"We pay $2,000 to $2,500 for local purchases (horses bought in area communities); and the proceedings to get horses seized during smuggling arrests are costly," Schad said.
There are nine sectors nationwide with horse patrols.
In 2007, the Spokane Sector was the first Border Patrol sector to join in BLM's Noble Mustang program by adopting mustangs. The Tucson Sector started last year.
Schad said that although the mustangs are often gathered from rugged areas with the use of helicopters, she has not seen their mustangs to be overly sensitive to planes or helicopters used at times by Border Patrol.
"The horses are initially completely wild, but they could've been in captivity from three months to three years before we got them. They go through a lot of desensitizing and it is a slow process of gaining trust. They are desensitized from gunfire by using blowing tarps and cap guns, but some don't ever desensitize," she said. "Usually if the horses the mustangs are with don't react to something, they won't either."
Schad said horse patrols are used "mainly in rugged, mountainous terrain and in environmentally sensitive areas, such as Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument."
She said they often respond to citizen reports and seek intelligence by looking for new scout sites and trails.
In 2005, the Tucson Sector acquired the 240 acres which now make up the Horse Patrol Training Center, including dorms and classroom (and an ATV training course and alfalfa fields for the horses).
It holds about four training classes a year for sector agents hoping to join the horse patrol, as well as training for horse patrol instructors.
All eight Tucson Sector Stations, including Willcox, have horse patrol units, and there are currently 92 agents on horse patrol in the sector, Schad said.
Training is grueling. From learning to take care of a horse (feeding, shoeing, first aid and learning about basic ailments) to balancing with no stirrups and controlling their horse, they must be ready in two weeks to go out to field training, Schad said. "It's a very tough, fast-paced training, and they're sore from so much riding."
A training class of 15 students was in progress Friday. Douglas Station Agent Robbie Allred said he has wanted to join the horse patrol since he saw pictures of the horse patrol when he was at the academy three years ago.
Allred, 28, said, "I thought it was cool. The horses can get into the mountains where no ATVs can get. A horse goes where no other machine or agent can go on foot. It's quiet and you can sneak up on individuals and groups."
"It's also a cool aspect of Border Patrol. It goes back to the tradition that all Border Patrol was mounted; having your own horse was a requirement to get in the Border Patrol," he said. "And, we're still riding, even in the days of technology."
Douglas Agent Jason Rheinfrank said, "When Border Patrol began May 28, 1924, you had to have your own horse, gun and have ranching and riding experience to join."
Allred, who has ridden recreationally only a few times while growing up in the city of Houston, said, "Training is intense. We are in the first week of three weeks of training. My legs are sore, my back is sore and my hands are blistered. But if you can ride with the pain, the instructors will teach you. They're great."
Schad said, "This is where the Border Patrol started, and that's where we're going back to. I'm just lucky to be doing something I like."
