Valor & Voice
​Valor & Voice is a hands-on mustang gentling program that begins before your mustang ever arrives at Zenhorse®.
Participants will have the opportunity to travel with us to a BLM adoption location, select an unhandled mustang partner, and—with training, supervision, and support from the Zenhorse® team—develop the skills and relationship needed to gentle that horse.
Our hope is that many of these partnerships will continue long after Valor & Voice ends.
BLM Approval
Before being formally accepted into Valor & Voice, each participant must apply to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and be approved as an adopter.
Zenhorse® can help you complete the BLM application. Because your mustang will initially live in the gentling facility at Zenhorse®, we will provide the information needed to describe the horse's facility and housing during the program.
BLM approval must be completed before final acceptance into Valor & Voice.
Selecting Your Mustang
Once participants have received BLM approval, we will travel together to a BLM adoption location.
You will participate in selecting the unhandled mustang who will become your partner for Valor & Voice.
Zenhorse® will trailer the selected horses back to our facility, where they will live in our gentling pens while participating in the program.
Gentling Your Mustang
You will be the primary person building a relationship with and gentling your mustang, with instruction and support from the Zenhorse® team.
Participants must be able to work with their mustang at least three days per week for approximately two hours per session.
Approximately 9–11 training time slots will be available throughout the week, with no sessions on Mondays. Participants are welcome and encouraged to spend additional time with their horse.
We anticipate the program taking approximately eight weeks, but every mustang is different. Some may progress more quickly, while others may need additional time. Participants must be willing to remain flexible and continue working with their horse until the appropriate gentling milestones have been reached.
Preparing Your Mustang for Adoption
Our goal is for each mustang to leave Valor & Voice with the basic handling skills needed to safely transition into a home.
Before completing the program, your mustang should be able to:
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Be haltered
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Lead
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Load into a trailer
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Pick up all four feet
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Accept brushing and basic handling
The individual horse—not the calendar—will determine how quickly these milestones are reached.
Adopting Your Mustang
Once your mustang has reached the required gentling milestones, you will have the opportunity to adopt your horse directly from the BLM for $125.
The adoption fee is paid directly to the Bureau of Land Management, not to Zenhorse®.
Participants are not required to adopt their mustang. However, priority for available Valor & Voice positions will be given to applicants who intend to adopt their mustang partner following successful completion of the program.
One of our hopes for Valor & Voice is to create partnerships that continue beyond the gentling process. For participants who adopt, completing the program is not the end of the relationship—it is the beginning of the next chapter together.
Participants intending to adopt will need to have an appropriate BLM-compliant home or boarding arrangement available when their mustang is ready to leave Zenhorse®.
If a participant ultimately determines that adoption is not the right choice, their work still matters. They will have helped prepare a formerly wild mustang for a successful transition into an appropriate adoptive home.
