Several wild horses bought at a Bureau of Land Management auction in Carson City on Saturday, have been delivered to a 2,000 acre ranch in Northern California.
Five horses traveled from equine holding facility at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center overnight. Two mothers and new born foals will be held for two months before traveling, so they can be freeze branded before leaving, said Annie Jantzen, of the Deer Run Preservation Group, which collaborated with the American Wildhorse Preservation Campaign to buy the horses.
"All five did exceptionally well on the journey, eating and drinking within 5 minutes of disembarking the trailers, which I hear is pretty amazing," Jantzen said.
The horses enjoyed a special 'salad' of hay to ensure their stomachs would adjust to the change in diet, she said. Seven horses and babies will live out their lives on the 2000 acre ranch, staffed by a ranch hand who is a former Carson City man well experienced in wild horses, she said.
Horses will remain in an area for the next 1-2 weeks for health monitoring before being turned out on the 2000 acres. There is one more baby expected within a couple months, to the younger of the two white mares.
The Deer Run herd once numbered about 50 and has been systematically cut and removed over the last several years.
Because of the plight of wild horses on and coming into the Deer Run area, and the horses being subject to removal, the Deer Run Preservation organization will remain intact as a non profit entity, she said.
The horses that were removed in February were a part of the Pine Nut Mountains herd management area that is adjacent to Deer Run Road in Carson City. The BLM said the horses routinely crossed the Carson River into River View City Park, where the agency said it received complaints. The removal was done for public safety reasons and for the safety of the horses, the BLM said.