July 14th @ 10AM

The Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) has just made a Facebook page especially for the Salt River herd! This page will give official updates about the herd and people can also ask questions there. This first post talks about the relocation of the Butcher Jones horses.
Without the AZDA we would not be able to do the job we do for the horses. Please like the page and thank them for the part they play in keeping the horses wild and free. Thank you!

SRWHMG.

The Arizona Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the United States Forest Service, and through the contracted Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) have successfully relocated a total of 60 Salt River Horses back to the management areas of the lower Salt River.

This move was successfully executed by the SRWHMG under the direction of the AZDA. The horses were baited with feed and water, moving them slowly and allowing them to become more comfortable with their surroundings. Eventually the horses got close enough to the river where they decided to go on their own. This may sound easy, but in reality is far from it. From the manual transport of feed and water daily by foot, to the organizing and keeping an eye on the horses’ welfare, this was a large project efficiently manned by the contracted SRWHMG.

The final band of horses relocated from Butcher Jones presented the biggest challenge. AZDA bait trapped the band and the horses were carefully loaded into a trailer. Yet upon release at the river at Goldfield, they walked the 6 miles to try to get back where they had come from. At this point, it became a convincing act to persuade the horses to give the river a shot.
Along with the others, this last band is now also happily roaming the lower Salt River, where the older horses in the band were born. Now that they know where the river is, we will not worry about where they want to go any longer as the Salt River Horses are allowed to roam freely on over 19,000 acres of management area. Visitors can find them along any of the Recreation Areas along Bush Highway in the Tonto National Forest.

The Salt River Wild horses are protected by ARS 3-1491 and their numbers are managed through fertility control PZP. The AZDA wants to thank the United States Forest Service for their continual support of the Salt River Horses and the SRWHMG for all the hands on hard work they do.

Posted by AZDA Salt River Horse Herd on Tuesday, July 14, 2020