Photo: Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary
The Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary just outside Lander, Wyoming, cares for 225 of more than 57,000 wild horses that once roamed public land in the western US. The Federal Bureau of Land Management, which cares for them, sends some to be trained at the Wyoming Honor Farm, a 640-acre minimum-security state prison. Each day, about 30 inmates work on transforming the wild horses into riding horses, through a process called ‘gentling’. Most inmates have been transferred for good behavior from more restrictive state prisons. “We are in the people business and helping the horses is extra,” says farm manager Travis Shoopman. “But the guys really learn a lot of life lessons from the horses. They learn to try, they learn to not lie to themselves about their feelings, they learn to control whether it's the highest of high emotions or the lowest of low emotions.” This September, for the farm's second auction of the year, hundreds of buyers came from all over the US and 34 horses fetched $65,000 for the Bureau.
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