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Effective methods are needed to quantify and understand free-roaming horse habitat use and movement patterns. GPS collar technology is used widely by wildlife biologists and researchers to track numerous wildlife species. However, GPS collars have had limited use on free-roaming horses in the United Sates. The purpose of this research was to test the efficacy of GPS collar technology as a safe and reliable method for collecting free-roaming horse movement data. Between 2009 and 2011, we marked 28 domestic and free-roaming feral horses with VHF/GPS collars in northwestern Nevada (Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge) and southeastern Oregon (Roaring Springs Ranch).The horses evaluated in this study were tested for damage resulting from collar placement on the neck, impacts from collar design, and general health and wellness of the animals. We found that none of these horses had significant hair loss or wounding resulting from collar wear. Detachment devices that are used to release the collar from the horses neck had a 89% success rate. These data suggest that free roaming hoses can be safely marked and monitored with GPS technology, providing data that can be important for improvement management of monitoring of free-roaming horse populations throughout the west.