Sturgis Adventures – Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

Though we arrived home on Saturday, I still have a few stories up my sleeve and it’s nice to be able to relive our adventure for a bit longer. It was easy to fall behind in blogging during our adventure.  The internet at the campground was wonky, plus I wanted to make the most of our time with friends!

The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary was on the itinerary for Wednesday the 29th, something I’ve been wanting to do for years. Southwest of Hot Springs, it’s about a three hour ride from where we stay in Spearfish, so it was an early morning for us. Our friends, Kim and Troy joined us and we cruised south on 385 for most of the trip, then continued south again on 71. The sanctuary was very easy to find, with lots of signage directing us in.  You can’t miss it!

It was started by Dayton O. Hyde in 1988 and now encompasses 13,000 acres of gorgeous South Dakota prairie, home to hundreds of wild and also rescue horses.

Diane, our bus driver, piloted our group over the dusty bumps of the sanctuary as Marv, her husband, narrated.  For the next two hours, we explored different areas of the sanctuary, as Marv (and Diane, at times) gave us a history of the area and of the horses themselves.

We got off the bus at several areas and were able to walk among the horses.

One very friendly horse approached me and sniffed the back of my neck, and a fellow tourist snapped a photo for me.

He continued sniffing down my arm for a good while and when his mouth closed around my elbow I decided it was time to get back on the bus!

This was truly the highlight of our trip, for me. Definitely a must see if visiting the Black Hills, and especially if you’re a horse lover!