05/22/2026
10 sale authority horses loose in statesville NC areas….
I’m sure many have seen the updates on the 10 SA wild horses that were loose in Statesville NC areas. The two owners have been charged with livestock animals running at large forbidden. Appropriately so. The update as of yesterday is that in coordination with the BLM and animal control services 7/10 wild horses have been captured. Currently there is no updates on the other 3.
I’d like to discuss key points on this matter. One of the owners claims she should not be at fault because she had a “hauler” pick them up which then led to them being turned loose in a barbed wire fence and of course leads to all 10 at some point escaping. Regardless of where the horses were at the time of the escape, the said owner is still responsible.
I was at the Monroe NC adoption event and watched a few groups load 6+ SA horses and head on. That’s where these 10 were picked up from. When the owner signs the paperwork stating they have adequate fencing they are assuming responsibility for these horses. At some point owner decides not to keep them however that looks and has someone come pick them up.
When a person purchases 10 wild horses it is not only ignorant but harmful to the horses and the public to decide not to get them handled before rehoming them. I myself would never be so ignorant to bring home even 2 wild horses without having 1-24x24 stall per horse with shelter and now let’s factor in feed and training time. 1 wild horse can take two weeks or more to get handle-able. The good level headed ones a week or so the tough ones could take months.
You are gambling with not only the horses lives but your own when you decide to overload yourself with wild horses. Now you decide you’re exhausted, can’t afford feed or can’t make progress, so it’s on the internet pages that you are “rehoming” this unhandled untouched problem that you can’t afford to feed. Something that adopter/purchaser should have considered before loading up 10 wild horses.
My stand is that it’s the purchaser/adopters responsibility to ensure they are appropriately facilitating wild horses with a training plan. We can say SA is the issue and as we are seeing more and more SA horses are getting loose due to ignorance. Yet I still can’t get behind that considering the ignorance lies in the hands of the people confidently signing papers for not one but TEN wild horses. Who then says I’m done with them and showed little no regard to where they go, they’re handling, or what will happen.
These wild horses are not having a good time running down Interstate 40. They are quite literally running for their life. Those cars in their perspective are chasing them. Just ONE jump scare and that horse is going to dive into a vehicle. The potential of death to a family traveling or the horse is so high. These horses have been loose for a week or more at this point, in residential areas.
Capturing one loose wild horse is an obtainable act. 10 wild horses is a communal disaster. They run wild like a school of fish and separate. With multiple horses it’s less likely to be a success to lure them with other horses. Now they need to be wrangled and herded which takes professional efforts.
I stand firm that it is not the SA or adoption that is the issue, it is the public that ignorantly purchases and adopts the wild horses without adequately providing care, facilities, and resources for the projects they are bringing home. You have a choice to walk away from a purchase/sale. You do not have to bring home a wild horse. If you do not have proper facilities you need to walk away, if you cannot feed what you already have you need to walk away, if you do not have hauling arranged with an appropriate drop off you need to walk away.
This post is not about the pipeline and how they end up there, this is about adopters and purchasers of wild horses making ignorant decisions to bring home wild horses without intention of appropriately training them and providing the appropriate facilities and care AN AGREEMENT YOU SIGN AT THE PICKUP. Agreement means that YOU AGREE TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF ADOPTION/PURCHASE.
If you get a wild horse you need to intend on training them to be a decent citizen for society. If you can’t do that you need to be prepared to PAY A WILD HORSE TRAINER. If you can’t do that you NEED TO WALK AWAY. Rehoming your problem to be the next inexperienced person to be their problem is the definition of ignorant considering you acknowledged the agreements of owning a WILD ANIMAL.
