Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, Hot Springs

This is an actual working wild horse sanctuary. It has about 11,000 acres that the horses can roam. I enjoyed visiting here VERY VERY much. Do not expect luxuaries, it funded by tourist, not by the government. The horses are what you want to see. The bus takes you to the horses, whereever they are that day. I adopted Don Juan, the Spanish male horse, was hard to choose, as so many are so beautiful.

The Wild Horse Sanctuary tour was one we had anticipated for nearly six months. What a great adventure - the entire day was memorable indeed. So many beautiful horses and the foals were a great sight, it was difficult to pick any favorites. The Spanish Mustangs are a treasure; but, all the horses created a wonderful color pallet. The scenery was awesome and answered that desire to leave the highway and explore off road and off the paths. Susan was a new found friend and quite informative guide.

I am adding this review for those that posted negative reviews. First of all I spent an entire month at this sanctuary and I can assure you "non believers" that these horses truly are wild! It was my job as a volunteer to help care for them. They are left to run free and natural. Those horses that you see on the tour ARE WILD but have come used to the tour buses and the visitors. Try stepping out and catching one of them if you don't think they are wild. Also....this sanctuary runs entirely on donations and volunteers. The government does not contribute one penny to this sanctuary. So the buses don't have AC....big deal! The beautiful scenery and the animals are well worth a "little sweat". What this sanctuary is doing to save these WILD animals goes beyond anything you can imagine. All monies received are used to care for the horses and the property. No one is getting rich at the sanctuary. Yes....it is true that horses are for sale. The monies received are spent directly on the horses. You do the math....hay for over 600 horses doesn't come cheap as well as maintenance on the vehicles. The horses have to be supplemented when grass is scarce. So please do some research on the wonderful man named Dayton O. Hyde who has dedicated his life to these animals BEFORE you visit the sanctuary and then maybe you can get a better understanding of the wonderful experience of taking a tour! I urge everyone to research and then visit the sanctuary. It is not a resort....it is an actual working ranch. It is not "fancy" because as I have said before ALL MONEY received is spent directly for the benefit of the horses. You will have a wonderful experience if you arm yourself with a little knowledge before you tour the sanctuary. I give this experience a once in a lifetime trip! You will to if you just take the time to "google" Dayton O. Hyde and will gain an appreciation for all that you see! Did I mention the scenery is spectacular!!!!

Remember that this place exists solely, and is able to care for these animals solely on donations and tours. So your $50 is not much when you consider the costs they incur trying to protect these magnificient animals!!

Save your money. They charged $50 for two hours ride with no AC in the bus. Horses looked tamed not wild. It is not a sanctury. Website advertised hundreds of horses, but in reality there were about 50 horses. Atmosphere is just like any other road in SD.

We visited the sanctuary in the fall from Pennsylvania. We have sponsored a horse for quite a few years now and wanted to see the area. It was breathtaking. We got there a little early and were permitted to take pictures as we walked around the grounds. We then took a ride in a private 4X4 out into the open grass lands where we saw many a horse in there natural enviroment. Our total perception of the day was "gee, these people who work and volunter here are the luckiest people in the states". I'm hoping to get out to the sanctuary in the very near future. Keep in mind that all of the costs involved benefit the horses.

I am not a horse owner but wanted to see this anyway. My wife and I stopped by to catch the 3pm tour which they do not run during summer months due to the heat so we came back the next day. This was the best $$$ we spent on our whole vacation. The horses are incredible and the tour provided some real great history and data not only on the horses, but the Lakota Indians and their sundance tradition( a dance is held there each year after which non natives are allowed in the dance site) along with some outstanding views of canyons and prarie lands. This is a do not miss right up there with Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monuments.

We took the 9:00a.m. tour July 5th and it was awesome. We got right up close to many horses. Most mares had foals that were adorable. The views were breathtaking. We learned a lot from the guide. Well worth the time and money for the tour. The gift shop has a nice supply of items for mementos of the trip also.

Spanish Sulphur Mustang stallion, Don Juan was absolutely beauutiful seen him through binoculars he was a little to far away for pictures. Some people are so picky, I looked through binoculars and saw wild horses roaming way up in the mountain tops we saw hundreds of horses running free eeverywhere, along with quite a few of them resting by the road we got some great close ups. Any animal lover should help support these horses. The people are so kind at the Sanctuary, out tour guide was Mark and our tour was about 3 hours an added bonus for us. My full review is below. BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTAURY I have never been around horses in my life and I was very skeptical at $50 each. I scheduled the tour then I was actually going to cancel it because I read somewhere you can't really see a lot of horses, I emailed the Sanctuary and that explained to me it was likely at that time they had a Wild Fire and since these horses are WILD they may have been hiding they are scared of fire but it is a rare occasion, I decided I was going to give it a try regardless, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY, THE HORSES WERE OUT BIG TIME, I could see some of them with my binoculars roaming way up in the mountain tops, way up there so how can they not be wild as others have suggested, even our guide Mark was hoping they would give us some good views as they are wild. The horses did not disappoint we saw hundreds of them everywhere one out of the bunch I have included a picture came within 2 feet of me and my husband out of all the guests on tour, which included a couple that came all the way from ENGLAND to see the horses. MARK WAS AN EXCELLENT TOUR GUIDE IT COST US $104 WITH TAX-It was worth every penny we spent, and I wish would have had more to give, if I had money I would have made a HUGE DONATION to the Sanctuary. OUR 2 HOUR TOUR TURNED INTO THREE, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL THEY DO ASK FOR SUPPORT AND OFFER SOME HORSES FOR SALE, I ASSUME FOR POPULATION CONTROL IT WAS NOT ANNOYING OR OVERWHELMING AT ALL, SEEING WILD HORSES ROAMING WAY UP ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE, BEAUTIFUL LANDS BEAUTIFUL HORSES, WE TOURED ON A SMALL SCHOOL BUS, I DON'T KNOW IF IT HAD AC IT WAS A COOL DAY, BOTH MY HUSBAND AND I LOVED THIS TOUR unfortunately one of the horses died and was lying right smack in the middle of the road where we were travelling Mark said it could have been from a rattlesnake bite he hadn't been dead too long, we had to go into the grass to get around him and Mark called someone to let them know. GO ON THIS TOUR. you owe it to yourselves. Everyone on our tour was very happy. We all took tons of pictures of horses and the beautiful scenery.

"Wild" horses seems to be stretching it. No pricing was available via web site. At $50/person for a 2 hr tour (which ran closer to 3 hrs), it was tremendously overpriced. Interesting scenery (like we saw everywhere in SD); Indian ceremonial grounds; petroglyphs; threat of rattle snakes; and seeing beautiful horses that seemed more tame than wild. Tour guide added a little humor to the tour. 15 minutes into the tour we knew we were in for a bad experience. Trapped in an old bus with no AC while outside temps were in the 90s. It was worth about $8/person and 30 minutes of time. I would not recommend this to people who are not serious horse lovers. There are much better things to see and do in South Dakota. Right in Hot Springs you have the Mammoth Site (very cool) and Wind Cave.