Established in 2001, the Mustang Heritage Foundation created and implemented programs to support the Bureau of Land Management through increased placements of wild horses and burros into private care.
Since its inception, MHF has placed more than 16,000 horses and burros into private care and engaged more than 600 trainers in these efforts.
Extreme Mustang Makeover competitions showcase the beauty, versatility, and trainability of wild horses. Competitors spend approximately 100 days training a wild horse to compete for cash and prizes. At the end of the event, all horses are available for adoption or purchase.
The Trainer Incentive Program (TIP) is a successful training and adoption program that engages talented horse trainers nationwide. Approved trainers gentle wild horses and burros, then find new homes for the animals. Once a home is approved, trainers are reimbursed for their training and marketing services.
2019-2020 Facts
• 2,456 horses and burros placed through Mustang Heritage Foundation programs
• $122,800,000 saved for the Bureau of Land Management
• Nearly 600 progam participants
Trainer Incentive Program (TIP)
• 447 trainers
• $2,321,573 paid in TIP placements
• $2,792 average commission
Extreme Mustang Makeover
• 148 competitors
• $109,185 paid in event incentives
• 6,000 spectators
Learn more at mustangheritagefoundation.org.
Wild Mustang and Burro Freeze Marks
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) uses freeze marking to identify captured wild horses and burros. Freeze marking is a permanent, unalterable, and painless way to identify each horse and burro as an individual. It is applied on the left side of the neck. It follows the International Alpha Angle System, which uses a series of angles and alpha symbols that cannot be altered. The mark contains the Registering Organization (U.S. Government), year of birth, and registration number.
The technique is simple and completely painless to the animal. The left side of the neck is shaved and washed with alcohol, and the mark is applied with an iron that is chilled in liquid nitrogen. The hair at the site of the mark will grow back white and show the identification number.
In addition to the freeze mark on the left side of the neck, sanctuary wild horses are marked on the left croup with fourinch high Arabic numerals that correspond with the last four digits of the freeze mark on the neck.
Although every effort is made to apply freeze marks that are legible, occasionally freeze marks do get blurred. This happens when the animal moves as the iron is applied, resulting in all or some of the identification number becoming illegible. The graph below illustrates how to read a freeze mark.
Heritage, the official mascot of the Mustang Heritage Foundation, shows off his freeze mark.
Freeze mark number range by State
Arizona: 80001-160000
California: 160001-240000
Colorado: 240001-320000
Idaho: 320001-400000
Montana: 400001-480000
Nevada: 480001-640000
New Mexico: 640001-720000
Oregon: 0-80000
Utah: 720001-800000
Wyoming: 800001-880000
Eastern States: 880001-880100
