The wild horses along the Creek Turnpike

Wednesday, June 9th 2004, 1:26 pm

By: News On 6

Horses first came to North America with the Spanish conquistadores centuries ago, and you can see hundreds of their descendants if you drive the Creek Turnpike in Wagoner County.

A News on 6 viewer e-mailed us about those horses. So, News on 6 reporter Rick Wells went to find out more on the wild mustangs of Wagoner County.

Anyone who's driven the Creek Turnpike has seen them, hundreds of horses running in the pastures on either side of the highway. Rancher John Hughes: "We have a contract with the Bureau of Land Management to care for and pasture un-adoptable wild horses." He has 2,000 head on this ranch and another 2,000 head at his ranch up near Bartlesville.

The BLM rounds these horses up out west mostly in Nevada where there are too many horses and not enough pasture and they ship them here. "In effect this is sort of a retirement home for un-adoptable wild horses."

Un-adoptable, mostly because of age. Some could probably be traced back to the Spanish Conquistadores who came to North America in the 1500's. "They say the first horses either escaped or were left behind by the Spanish. Also the early Santa Fe Trail people wrote in their diaries they saw large bands of wild horses." I guess much like the Creek Turnpike people do today.

There are seven ranches in northeast Oklahoma and southeast Kansas where the BLM places horses. When there's plenty of grass in the spring and summer life is pretty good.

Ranch hand Wes Young: "They pretty much take care of themselves.â€ During the late fall and winter hay is hauled in for them, the rest of the time it's all the grass you can eat. Hughes: "I think they are about as close to paradise as they can get."

If you'd like to learn more about the Bureau of Land Management's Adopt a Horse Program, you can check out their web site at www.blm.gov.