With the adoption of the Pryor Mountain Wild mustangs completed Saturday, 57 horses were loaded into trailers and are headed to their new homes across the country.
Approximately 200 people were in attendance Saturday to bid on a mustang or just to walk through the corrals to get a closer look at the once-wild horses. An auctioneer called out prices for each horse beginning at $125, with some sales ending in bidding wars.
All but five horses were adopted by one of 63 approved bidders for an average price of $597 at the Britton Springs corrals north of Lovell Saturday, according to the BLM. The five horses that weren’t adopted were sold for $50.
Conquistador, a 19-year-old stallion, brought in the highest bids and sold for $2,500. Many others went for more than $1,000, while some sold for the starting bid price of $125. The total proceeds of $34,035 from the adoption will go to the national Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Matt Dillon, director of the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, said he was glad to see all of the horses were headed to new homes. One older stallion, Stiles, was purchased by the center for $50. Dillon picked up Stiles from Britton Springs on Sunday and will take care of the horse for a few days before it is transported to a horse sanctuary in New Mexico, in a setting that isn’t too much different from the wild, Dillon said, except it is a non-reproductive herd.
“Basically a retirement home for horses,” Dillon said.
Several of the other older horses were purchased by the Cloud Foundation and will be kept together on a ranch near Pryor, Mont.
Successful adopters picked up their horses in trailers on Saturday and Sunday and no people or animals were injured throughout the process, according to the BLM.

Ken McNabb gave demonstrations Friday and Saturday on the basics of training a wild mustang. In front of a crowd of about 50 people, McNabb took a mustang through some exercises to get the animal used to looking at him and watching for cues. McNabb walked around the circle pen, slapping a rope against his leg and making kissing noises at the circling horse. When the horse stopped and looked at McNabb, he stopped pressuring the horse to walk around the pen.
“I make a request and I give a reward,” McNabb said. “A carrot is not the reward he is looking for. He wants a complete release with no predators and no people bothering him.”
While the horse stops and looks at the trainer, McNabb stops in his tracks and lets the mustang relax for a few moments before the animal loses interest, and McNabb is back to circling behind him in the round pen, slapping the rope as he walks.
“As soon as he ignores you, move his feet,” McNabb said.
After the mustang got good at looking at the trainer, it had graduated to the next level of training, McNabb said. He then worked on getting the mustang to point its front legs in McNabb’s direction before releasing pressure. After a few times around the pen, the horse was turning to face McNabb upon request.
“Horse training is not about miracle moments, it’s not about ‘a ha’ moments, it’s about repetition and practicing what you’re doing,” he said.
McNabb is a professional horse trainer, instructor and clinician from Clark, and also hosts a show on RFD television. He was at Britton Springs during the horse gather and through the adoption Saturday.
He told the crowd not to make too sterile of an environment for the newly captive horse to train in, that the animal should get used to a few outside noises and movements and learn not to be afraid of them.
McNabb said he keeps eye contact with horses during much of the training because a horse can read human emotion.
“I think he can read off of me as much as I can off of him,” he said.
While training with the mustang for the first time, it is better to go slow than to rush through training exercises, McNabb said. And the easiest way to ruin a good training session? To get angry or to act aggressive or otherwise emotional around the horse, McNabb said. 
“He’s the master of reading intent,” he said. “The more emotional you get, he feeds off that.”