When Don adopted his stallion he had doubts about whether he'd ever be able to ride him. Don's horse seems uneasy in captivity, but now the mustang trusts him enough to let him on his back. An animal that's been wild for too long may never adjust to life in a corral.

Adoption seems to be working now as a way to control the wild horse population, but is there another way to take horses from the wild without taking the wild from the horses? For questions and answers on:

The Internet adoption process check the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT site.

Do you think adoption is the best option for dealing with wild horses?

Sanctuaries and Safe Havens

The Institute of Range and the American Mustang is a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 by Dayton O. Hyde, whose mission is to give freedom and a quality of life to America's wild horses. The Institute owns an 11,000 acre sanctuary in the Black Hills of South Dakota. On this range, looking much as it did centuries ago, several hundred wild horses run free. Here at the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary visitors from all over the world can come to see and photograph wild horses in large herds, under spectacular conditions. It is a home they share with coyotes, cougar, mule deer, elk, wild turkeys, and peregrine falcons. A home where wild mustangs not only live but flourish, nurtured by their freedom.