LOCAL HORSE AND BURRO ADOPTION AUCTION DRAWS A CROWD THAT'S ... WILD ABOUT HORSES

JACKSON, Mo. -- Travis Mendenhall's pretty, blond 16-year-old girlfriend Brittany Mabe talked him into taking her to Saturday morning's Wild Horse and Burro Adoption though he insists he has enough horses at home in Potosi, Mo. During the auction, the two held intense tete-a-tetes under matching white cowboy hats. When the palomino or buckskin mare she'd fallen in love with bolted into the auction pen, Mabe grabbed the front of the rangy Mendenhall's shirt. Most of the time he resisted heroically.

But seasoned auctioneer Kenneth Carney has seen enough couples conduct "board of directors meetings" to know Mendenhall was a customer.

"When she looked up at him I knew he was going to bid again," Carney said.

Mabe and Mendenhall were among nearly 150 people who turned out at Flickerwood Arena to bid on horses and burros or just to give the livestock a look. At the end of the formal auction 34 of the 42 animals brought to Jackson by the Bureau of Land Management had been adopted. Those that weren't taken at auction were available to be adopted until the end of the day. Another burro was adopted 15 minutes after the auction concluded.

Best hoof forward

Carney, who is from Bloomfield, Mo., put the best foot of each burro or horse forward.

"He's got lots of chrome on him," he sometimes bragged, trying to accentuate the horse's markings.

Prices paid for the burros and wild horses ranged from $125 to $330. Those who adopt them agree to house them according to strict standards set by the BLM and will not get ownership for another year.

The horses and burros were gleaned from wild herds in 10 western states to keep them from exceeding the capacity of the land to sustain them. Because of the difficulties they face just surviving, wild horses are known to be smart and to have superior endurance. "It's natural selection at work," says Randy Anderson, a wild horse and burro specialist with the BLM field office in Milwaukee, Wis.

But people have all sorts of reasons for adopting them. "Some folks just want a piece of the American West," Anderson said.

The horses and burros that weren't adopted Saturday will be returned to a BLM holding facility in Nebraska. From there they will get a chance at other auctions held around the U.S.

When the BLM is unsuccessful at adopting out a horse or burro, which usually is because of their advanced age, they go to a long-term holding facility to live out the rest of their lives.

Mendenhall is a 19-year-old carpenter who also works for a company that conducts horse sales. Saturday, he adopted a roan/pinto mare that Mabe named "Splash" before the auction began.

Mabe's going to see how 5-year-old Splash does at barrel racing. She'd have loved to go home with that buckskin mare, too.

"She broke my heart," Mabe said.