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Two Feral Horses Sent To Yosemite National Park After Being Trained By Inmates

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By NPT Staff - May 8th, 2018
Drifter and Sandman are two mustangs that have been trained to work with rangers in Yosemite National Park/NPS

Drifter and Sandman, with Ranger Justin Fey, are two mustangs that have been trained to work with rangers in Yosemite National Park/NPS

Two wild horses taken from public lands in the West have been trained to work as mounts for rangers at Yosemite National Park, where they'll help patrol the park.

The park adopted the two mustangs through Sacramento Sherif Department's Wild Horse Program. The six-year-old geldings, Drifter and Sandman, arrived in the park in early April after four months of training by inmates at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, California. The horses will join the approximately 100 horses and mules that the park has and will be integrated into such park operations as traffic management, search and rescue, and the Mounted Patrol. 

These horses were adopted through a partnership program between the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management to find homes for the more than 46,000 wild horses currently in holding facilities. The program consists of inmates, most of whom have no experience with horses, working on training the horses in a 120-day program. The inmates feed and care for the horses, sensitize them to people and activities, and eventually saddle them and begin to ride them.

Once the horses are deemed ready for adoption, public auctions are conducted to find permanent homes for the horses. At Yosemite, rangers are continuing their training.

"This is a unique and exciting opportunity to have these wild horses working with us here in the park," said Ranger Justin Fey, Yosemite's Mounted Patrol program manager. "These horses are serving as natural ambassadors for wild mustangs and for Yosemite National Park. We are excited to get these horses ready to help us in a variety of functions.”

This adoption marks the first time Yosemite National Park has used wild horses. Training for the horses includes working with rangers and becoming more comfortable in the park environment, which includes trails, asphalt, park visitors, bicycles, parking lots, and vehicular traffic. 

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