MUSTANG SALE FED HORSE AUCTION OVER WEEKEND.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

Tom Hill claims he can tame just about any horse, and as proof he points to 3-year-old Shammy - one of two horses he adopted last year from the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The carmel-colored Shammy was so wild he could barely be touched when Hill, 71, began training him. Today, the mustang's once-tangled coat is sleek, he comes to Hill's whistle, and the two ride for hours along creekbeds in Shadow Hills, where Hill lives.

``He's a damn good riding horse. He's strong and smart,'' said Hill, a horsemen all his life. ``You would never believe it when I first got him.''

Eighty mustangs like Shammy and 20 wild burros are up for adoption Saturday and Sunday in Thousand Oaks - with a preview today at noon for interested owners. All are part of the bureau's more than 30-year effort to control herds that roam government-owned plains and hills in the Southwest by rounding them up and selling them.

``We have to remove them, so they don't die of starvation or dehydration,'' said Tom Pogacnik, program manager for the Wild Horse and Burro program in California.

Most of the animals hail from Nevada, where more than 85 percent of the government's wild horses and burros roam.

But five years of drought and brush fires have destroyed thousands of acres of habitat in Western states and made survival difficult in some areas.

The program adopts out about 8,000 wild horse and burros each year - about 1,000 in California - in adoption events throughout the nation, and often the bureau itself collects more animals than can be easily adopted.

Adoption rates in California have been falling, in part because of the economy, Pogacnik said.

For a minimum of $125, bidders can take home the vaccinated animals to have as pets or train as saddle mounts.

``They are wild horses, but because they live in (a) social environment on the range, they are very sociable,'' Pogacnik said. ``They are looking for companionship, and you become their companion.''

Irwin Liu, professor of veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis, calls the adoption program a humane way to keep the population under control - but it has attracted critics.

Andrea Lococo, a regional coordinator for the New York-based Fund for Animals, said the program is endangering the survival of the mustangs, which are descendants of horses brought over by Spanish missionaries in the 18th century and used in cavalries at the turn of the 19th.

The bureau said it wants to bring down the number of wild horses and burros it manages from roughly 40,000 to 30,000.

``Our goal is to balance, with the capacity of the land to enforce it,'' said Dean Bolstad, who heads up operations for the bureau.

Critics, however, call that number far too low.

Criticism is not new to the bureau. In 1999, a report revealed that over a two-year period nearly 200 wild horses had been slaughtered by their buyers.

But buyers like Hill are looking to save an animal or get a good saddle horse for a bargain.

``It's a good price if you want to spend the time,'' he said.

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

WHERE: Conejo Creek Equestrian Center, 1300 Avenida de las Flores, Thousand Oaks.

PREVIEW: Noon to 5 p.m. Friday

COMPETITIVE BIDDING: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. 0Saturday. First-come, first-serve adoptions follow through 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call (866) 4MUSTANGS.

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Photo:

Tom Hill, 71, works with Shammy, a carmel-colored mustang he bought last year at a federal auction. Once so wild he could hardly be touched, Shammy comes to Hill's whistle and rides with him for hours along creekbeds in Shadow Hills.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

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IF YOU GO (see text)