(July 9, 2021) Horses in the wild will travel many miles each day for water and food. The terrain is usually harsh— rocky and expansive. Even though Montgomery Creek Ranch’s 2,000-acres is a lot of land, it's not large enough or rough enough for the horses in our care to wear their hooves down naturally like they would in the wild.
So twice a year, our team rides out on horseback to bring in the over 200 wild horses and burros that are a part of the “Big Herd” to trim their hooves.
They are sorted into small groups and eventually, one by one, each horse is directed into the padded squeeze chute where they are laid onto their side while three farriers nip and grind down their hooves with electric sanders and saws.
Every horse has a microchip and some have BLM and other brands. Our team identifies each horse, administers the vaccines and dewormer, while a vet stands by on-call. Each horse takes about 7 minutes to do, and we try to make a stressful process as easy as possible for the horses and ourselves. It’s an all-hands-on-deck operation that takes several days.
For a video of our process, please click here.
This year, we completed the trim in a record-breaking two days - that’s over 400 hooves trimmed each day! We have the best team who ensures the safety and well-being of our horses and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Rescuing wild horses is the easiest part of this job, caring for them takes a lot of time and resources. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today towards the care of our wild horses and burros.
