Features:

Card-based management - Play cards from your hand to manage the wild horse herd
Resource management - Balance population, forage, water, funds, health, genetic diversity, reputation, and BLM relations
Year-by-year progression - Start in the 1990s because things were nicer then.
Journal - Tracks events and actions each year
Action points - 2 per year for special actions (breeding, salt block, party?)
Halter breaking - click a horse a few times and then lead them around! You can then adopt them for more.
Action bar - most action cost you money like fertilizing and replensihing water. try to use your cards wisely for this.

Card Types:

Horse cards - Add horses to your herd with various traits
Action cards - PZP vaccines, wildfires, habitat improvements
Event cards - Random positive/negative events affect resources
Infrastructure cards - Water tanks, fencing, visitor centers

Your Goals:

Population: 90-120 horses (AML range)
Genetic Diversity: 50%+
Herd Health: 60%+
Reputation: 40+
BLM Relations: 40+
Funds: $0+ (not in debt)

Things to avoid:

Population drops below 15 or reaches 0
Population exceeds 120+ (emergency BLM roundup)
Forage or water falls below 10
Herd health drops to 10% (boost morale with a party!)
Reputation or BLM relations drop to 5 (gov is watching)
Debt exceeds $3,000

Tips:

Balance PZP vaccines with population growth
Invest in water infrastructure before summer droughts
Build reputation through tours and social media
Maintain BLM relations through partnerships

The Pryor Mountain Mustangs: A Brief History

The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Range, straddling the Montana and Wyoming border, is home to one of America's most iconic and genetically unique herds of free range mustangs. These horses are direct descendants of the Colonial Spanish horses, brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Known for their primitive markings like dorsal stripes, grulla coats, and ambling gaits, they represent a rare "living link" to the Old West, with DNA confirming Iberian roots and low inbreeding for high genetic diversity.

Crow Nation tradition holds that the horses arrived in the Pryors around 1725, traded or stolen by Crow warriors from other tribes and integrated into their culture as symbols of strength and endurance and something vital for hunting, travel, and warfare across the rugged Bighorn Basin. The Pryors, part of ancestral Crow territory (now overlapping the Crow Reservation), were a sacred refuge where these horses thrived in isolation for nearly 300 years, though mustangs have seen mass slaughters that decimated the herds in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In Pocket Mustang Preserve, you step into the role of a dedicated ranger managing this sacred herd, set against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the federal agency tasked with overseeing America's wild horses under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM's presence in the game reflects real life efforts to balance herd health with rangeland sustainability: You track "BLM Relations" to collaborate on humane tools like PZP vaccines and adoptions, while avoiding debt or overpopulation that could trigger interventions. This highlights the agency's dual role as protector and regulator. They (and various volunteer organizations) are essential for preventing ecological collapse, but often at the center of heated debates.

Roundups, a key BLM tool to maintain Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) like the Pryors' 90-120 horses, have sparked controversies since the 1960s. Early plans to auction off the entire Pryor herd as "trespassers" ignited public outcry, leading to the 1968 establishment of the nation's first wild horse refuge (39,000 acres). Today, advocates criticize helicopter driven gathers for terrorizing families (e.g., the 2009 Pryor roundup separated 130 horses, including foals) and fear genetic dilution from "metapopulation" policies that ignore unique herds like the Pryors'. Incidents like the 2025 euthanasia of certain horses from well known lines have fueled calls for more humane alternatives, like fertility controls over mass removals. This game nods to these tensions through "emergency roundups" as a lose condition.

For more info, visit the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center.
(getting permission to link up orgs)

More information