134 Estimating the capacity of horse owners to absorb the surplus of wild horses

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In FY2019, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) adopted or sold 8,548 wild horses and burros, but the remaining population still exceeded the appropriate management level by over 61,000 animals. In early 2019, BLM's acting head indicated that a key step in controlling the overpopulation of wild horses on federal lands is increasing private adoptions. Assuming that current or former horse owners represent the most feasible outlet, this paper explored the capacity of this population to absorb the surplus. We pursued this objective by utilizing social media to distribute a nationwide online survey of current and former horse owners. First, we asked whether respondents had adopted (or considered adopting) a wild horse before, whether they might consider it in the future, or whether they would never consider it. We then inquired about reasons for and barriers to adopting. All respondents except those in the last group were asked to report their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for wild horses with different levels of handling and training using a stated preference approach called the payment card method. With 2,247 complete responses, 2,041 respondents (90.8%) reported having adopted, considered adopting, or would consider adopting a wild horse in the future. The most commonly identified reason for having adopted previously was to provide a wild horse with a better life (n = 311, 63.7%), while the primary barrier to adopting was having appropriate facilities (n = 558, 52.2%). Interval regression analysis was utilized to estimate WTP for wild horses with 3 different levels of training: entirely unhandled, trained with basic ground manners, and started under saddle. Across the 3 models, preliminary results suggest that WTP for wild horses is consistently influenced by whether the respondent has adopted previously (+), years of experience with horses (+), age (-), and income (+) ( P < 0.05). Moreover, training before adoption positively influences WTP. For the average respondent, our results suggest that respondents are willing to pay an average of $282.03 more for a horse that has received training for basic ground manners and $539.21 more for a horse that has been started under saddle as compared with a completely unhandled horse. Within our sample, results indicate an overall positive perception of the private adoption of wild horses; if the main barriers to adoption can be overcome (lack of appropriate facilities and time/expertise to safely train an undomesticated horse), our results suggest general feasibility of the BLM's plan to solve, or at least significantly alleviate, the overpopulation of wild horses through private placement.