Wild horse inmate study approved by house

OLYMPIA — Convicts working in a “Gentling Program” to help calm wild horses?

That’s what Washington Ninth District Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy would like to see.

Dye, whose Ninth District includes Adams County, introduced House Bill 2579, which unanimously passed the House of Representatives last Wednesday. It now heads to the Senate.

The bill would establish a study to be executed by the state Department of Corrections to evaluate and report on the feasibility of implementing wild horse training at the Coyote Ridge Correctional Center in Connell.

The program would be similar to one in Arizona. Dye recently toured the site of Arizona’s program, according to a press release.

“The Arizona program involves about 30 inmates working to train wild mustangs that have been captured from Bureau of Land Management public rangelands in western Arizona,” Dye said.

“The inmates work in the Gentling Program to calm the animals so they can be adopted.

“Many of the inmates have had no prior horse experience,”

Dye says she reached out to officials at Walla Walla Community College and Coyote Ridge about the idea and received positive feedback.

Dye says the program would benefit inmates.

“The program gives inmates hands-on training in the equestrian field, helps them to build self-confidence as they care for the animals and provides the opportunity for employable skills they can use upon release.

“The recidivism rate for those inmates who have participated in the program and served their time is low,” Dye said. “It also helps the Bureau of Land Management manage the horse population on public lands.”