In this June 29, 2018 photo, wild horses drink from a watering hole outside Salt Lake City. Harsh drought conditions in parts of the American West are pushing wild horses to the brink and forcing extreme measures to protect them. Federal land managers have begun emergency roundups in the deserts of western Utah and central Nevada. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

GRAND JUNCTION | Each of the 27 wild horses placed up for adoption from a northwest Colorado herd were sold at auction.

Wild horses drink from a watering hole outside Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The Bureau of Land Management held the adoption event Saturday in Fruita after securing the wild mustangs earlier this year in the Little Book Cliffs Herd Management Area.

The horses given new homes included 12 geldings and 15 females.

Bureau spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt says the agency holds adoption events when federally managed pastureland becomes overgrazed by wild horses.

Lenhardt says the bureau ensures that adopters have proper facilities and space to care for the horse.

The bureau has plans to put another 28 mustangs from the same herd up for adoption sometime next year.

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