This weekend at the Red Horse Ranch in Cassopolis, visitors peered in large enclosures to gaze at wild horses up for adoption.

The ranch once again hosted the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Adoption on Aug. 18 and 19. The adoption program, which started in the 1950s, manages wild horse and burro populations to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands.

Every horse and burro up for adoption was captured in the wild and brought to holding facilities and given medical evaluations before being brought to the adoption site.

“We have two options once the animals are in captivity,” said BLM employee and adoption program manager Steve Meyer. “One is to feed them and house them for as long as they live, with some living 40 years. The other thing is finding homes for them, which is what I and my crew do. We travel to a different spot every month.”

While adopting a wild horse or burro does present a few unique challenges, it is no more difficult to train them than any other horse or burro, said Suzette Hudak, owner of Red Horse Ranch.

Hudak has personal experience with wild horses, as her 16-year-old daughter adopted and trained one herself.

“[Wild horses] are smart. They need to build trust first. If you have a domesticated horse that has been handled since it was born, it instantly trusts, where some of these horses have not had much human contact. That’s what you need to be most patient about,” she said. “But once you build their trust, it’s no harder than any other horse.”

Greg Reynolds, a horse trainer experienced in gentling wild mustangs, was also on site demonstrating gentling and training techniques. His presentations drew a large crowd to the site Friday afternoon.

Sarah Frame, 29, of Kalamazoo, was one of many who travelled a distance to see the horses and learn from Reynolds’ presentation.

Though she travelled more than an hour to get to Red Horse Ranch, Frame said the distance she travelled was not far compared to how far most wild horse adoptions are.

“Usually when you see the adoption events, they are out west,” Frame said. “It’s great that this one is relatively close and I can come and actually see it in person.”

As she is soon going on a international trip, Frame did not come to the adoption looking to take home an animal, but rather to learn more about the adoption process and how to train a wild mustang.

“I would like to adopt a mustang in the future, but it’s not the right time right now,” Frame said. “I think I have the skills to take that on, and when I get back I plan [to adopt]. [The wild horse adoption and presentation] is helping me to understand what that would be like.”