Wild Horse and Burro Inmate Program (WHIP) Shows Off New Holding Center

Clark DesSoye – Florence, AZ – November 22, 2014

Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan and BLM Arizona State Director Raymond Suazo addressed an engaged crowd at the new holding center facility in Florence. Both speakers stressed the importance of the partnership between the department and the Bureau of Land Management to the success of ACI's Wild Horse Inmate Program.

Among the horse enthusiasts in attendance at the open house were Arizona State Senators Al Melvin and Barbara McGuire and State Representatives Frank Pratt and Vince Leach as well as BLM Lead Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Roger Oyler. The entire ACI WHIP staff and several of the inmates from the program, took part in demonstrations lead by the manager of the program Randy Helm. Attendees were shown how the animals are transformed from wild, frightened creatures into docile and responsive workmates and pets.

Randy explained many of the techniques the trainers use to "get the horses and burros thinking instead of just reacting." He went on to detail how they can provide training to meet the needs of many different constituents. For instance, the US Border Patrol needs horses that can track and chase while police departments may need horses that can help with crowd control.

Using the barrel contraption fabricated in the ACI industry yard, the horses learn how to carefully move objects, including people. Maj. Bobbi Shad, the commander over all of the US Border Patrols mounted and ATV patrols for the state of Arizona, introduced several agents and their mounts from Casa Grande and Nogales. She explained how the Border Patrol chooses their horses and how they have more than 80 horses that have come from inmate training programs.

There were many questions about the program that Randy and Bobbi answered and the team from BLM was on hand with lots of literature and staff to answer more specific questions about adoption.