A few months ago Freckles was roaming the countryside, eating grass and living at a Twin Peaks herd area with fellow burros and mustangs. That changed when U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) captured the 3-year-old blue burro and entered it into its Wild Horse and Burro Program.

The program controls the population of wild horses and burros -- about 31,000 in 10 western states according to the BLM, 3,500 more than the resources of the area can sustain -- and puts the animals up for adoption. On Saturday morning, 150 or more horse enthusiasts gathered at the Napa Valley Horsemen's Association ranch along Foster Road to individually bid on 20 mustangs and six burros.

Terrie Savercool of Vacaville said she heard about the event, held in conjunction with the horsemen's association, and decided to bid on a burro.

"Eventually I want to open up my farm (in Vacaville) for the handicapped to experience farm life," she said.

Savercool said that a burro would make a perfect addition to her farm, which already includes chickens, llamas, goats, sheep and ducks. She arrived at the ranch early Saturday to win the auction on the burro she named Freckles and a 2-year-old mustang she named Levy.

Owning a wild horse or burro can be a challenge. Savercool said she will tame her new animals on her own, but for those who have never tamed a wild horse, BLM volunteers such as Mike and Nancy Kerson offer advice and support with the process.

The time it takes to tame the animal depends on who is doing the training and the horse's temperament, Nancy Kerson said. Her husband, Mike, said it also depends on what the owner wants to do with the horse.

"They need to know that it's a wild horse that's never been touched," he said. "You want to fit it with what you want to do."

The Kersons, members of Napa Valley Horsemen's Association, were instrumental in bringing the auction to Napa said Jeff Fontana, BLM public affairs officer. The BLM holds similar auctions throughout the state, but Saturday's auction was the first time the group has held one in Napa.

"The objective here is to find good homes (for the animals)," Fontana said.

The basic adoption fee for the animals is $125, but that price can go up depending on the number of interested buyers. One bidder on Saturday paid $1,000 for a mustang, Fontana said. Although the initial cost of the animals can be relatively low, the cost of caring, training, feeding and housing it can be $1,000 or more a year. But that's about the same amount for domesticated beasts.

Fontana said the BLM requires prospective buyers to provide a minimum of 400 square feet for each animal adopted. It also requires the owners to maintain their animals in an a 6-foot-high enclosure for mustangs, and one that's 4.5 feet high for burros, until the animals are fence-broken.

Winning a BLM auction doesn't mean that the high bidder gets title to the horse, Fontana said. The owner must keep the animal for a year before title is granted, he said. In addition, for the first year owners cannot use the wild horse in a manner that would exploit its wildness, such as using it as a rodeo horse.

Saturday's auction wasn't all about business. A Meet the Mustangs horse parade featuring domesticated wild horses gave horse lovers and the many children in attendance a glimpse of what a wild horse can become with a little love.

Many horse trainers were also on hand to demonstrate how to build a bond with a wild horse or burro. For more information about the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program visit www.blm.gov.