BLM wild horse and burro adoption event kicks off Friday in Hamilton

The Montana/Dakotas Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is holding their 2025 adoption event May 2-4 in Hamilton.

The event, spanning the entire weekend, is being held at the horse training facility at 736 Alvista Loop, nestled in the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains. 

Admission is free to the public and attendees will have the opportunity to adopt from the assortment of 36 wild horses, yearlings, mares and geldings. The event will also feature a silent auction and a horse clinic. 

Horse and burro specialist Matt “Mustang Matt” Bischof, who met with the Ravalli Republic on May 1, said that he was optimistic about this year’s turnout. 

“Sometimes we’ve had as many as 200 or 300 people and sometimes less,” Bischof said. “It just depends.”

Bischof said the event was an important chance for the Ravalli County community to adopt horses who need homes. 

“We do these adoption events to promote and give these guys good homes because there’s definitely a need for a home for a lot of these horses,” Bischof said. “Most of these horses come from bigger and larger facilities who have gathered them from Idaho, California and Nevada.” 

The weekend BLM event will be the first of multiple adoption opportunities that will span across Montana and the rest of the country. A full list of upcoming events is available at go.ravallirepublic.com/WildHorseAdoption

"This is just the kickoff for the year," Bischof said. "We'll be doing other events throughout the state." 

Bischof encourages people to come adopt, regardless of horse experience, saying that the event would feature a “great selection” of horses for first time riders. 

“We have a really nice selection of yearlings, which I always recommend for first timers,” Bischof said. “Those are young horses that are very trainable and easy to work with.”

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 3, Bischof will be leading a “First Touch” horse clinic, where he will be demonstrating training techniques and answering questions. 

Bischof said there will be a follow-up horse clinic on June 28 and explained that it would be a good opportunity for adopters to come back and get their horses’ health examined and do additional training.

“That’s an opportunity for people to bring their horses back who’ve adopted them,” Bischof said. “I’ll help them get to the next step of training, wherever that horse particularly is. That will be a little more fun because maybe it’ll be the first ride or maybe the first saddling.” 

Adoption applications can be submitted to the Wild Horse and Burro Corral website and additional adoption information can be found at go.ravallirepublic.com/Adoption.