You can be $1,000 richer from the US government — if you adopt a wild horse in Texas

If you’ve ever dreamed of adopting a horse, it might be time to make that dream a reality.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will pay you up to $1,000 to adopt a wild horse or burro, according to a news release.

Seventy wild horses and burros will be up for adoption at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Showgrounds in Mercedes on Jan. 10 and 11, the release says. The bureau says the offer is an effort “to find every horse and burro a good home.”

The animals are both adults and yearlings and roamed on public land in the West before being removed by officials in an effort to protect rangelands and promote healthy herds, the release said.

If you’re hoping to adopt a horse or burro you have to be at least 18 years old and have no record of animal abuse, the release says. Adopters will need to provide at least 400 square feet of corral space for each animal along with access to water, food and shelter.

Adopters are required to provide a 6-foot corral fence for adult horses and a 5-foot fence for yearlings, the bureau says. Burros require a 4-and-a-half foot corral fence.

All animals adopted at the event will need to be loaded into a “covered, stock-type trailers with swing gates and sturdy walls and floors,” the bureau says.

Adoptions will be held at 1000 North Texas Ave in Mercedes, Texas, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 10 and 8 a.m. to noon on Jan. 11, the release says.

Since 1973, the bureau has placed more than 235,000 of “excess” animals in homes across the country.