August 26

A Foal Is Born!

It’s a boy! We are so happy to announce our second Salt River foal of 2023! Out of mom Acacia and Dad Cilantro!

When we found out about this little guy, instead of posting about him, we posted a spotlight on Cilantro, his sire, two weeks ago.

Of course we did not say anything yet because of the 2-week baby rule, and it has been very hard to keep him a secret!

This is a rule of honor and a rule of respect for the horses, and we want to thank everyone who has known about him all this time, without disclosing him! Because there are so many photographers and visitors on the Salt River, it helps tremendously with the foals survival chances, if no attention is drawn to him during his vulnerable first 2 weeks of life. Now the band has gotten their much needed peace and quiet bonding time.

Of course we urge everyone to continue to give them their space, and we thank everyone who continues to treat them with respect. You too can help his survival chances by spreading the word that interfering with/chasing/harassing a Salt River wild horse is illegal and punishable. Let’s protect this very special little guy plus all of the Salt River wild horses!

What shall we name him?? It has to be a tree or an herb or both! Please post suggestions below and then, as is our custom, we will pick 3 or 4 of the best names out of the suggestions for voting.

FYI Acacia has been darted 5 times, so NOT sterile! (That comment is for the birth control rumors, which are not true, and we are so glad to prove it!) We will tell you many more interesting tidbits about this beautiful boy and his family. Just stay tuned to our page by clicking “see first”.

Born free, stay free!

SRWHMG.

Photo by SRWHMG Photographer Rick Blandford.

 

 

August 28

The Naming Process

The newest Salt River wild horse needs a name! Thank you for the great suggestions on our previous post, and now it’s time to vote!
These are the names not taken yet by other horses, that match the theme of mom Acacia (out of Billie x Timber) and dad Cilantro (out of Bonnie x Cisco):

1. Coriander (Cori for short), this is literally the seed of Cilantro..
2. Mesquite is a good one because it is the tree so important for the Salt River horses and the same tree as Acacia (mom’s name) ,
3. Cottonwood is a wink to the CBD, who claim horses eat cottonwoods and they most definitely don’t.
4. Joshua or J.T. for Joshua Tree is cute.
5. Palo for Palo Verde Tree, which are the most abundant and hardy tree in the Salt River habitat.

Yes, its gonna be tough!

Please state your choice in the comments below and state it only once. If u you can, please donate with your vote, to help us continue our important work of protecting the Salt River herd. We will count your vote twice with your donation! To make it easy the link for that will be in the comments.

Rules: Please don’t say anything other than the number and your preferred name, and “donated”, if u did. You can like on the commented names u love, but you cannot try to convince others of which name is best. Voting is open to absolutely everyone from everywhere including our SRWHMG volunteers. Voting closes on August 31st at 5 pm.

Let’s keep him and his herd wild and free forever! Thank you! SRWHMG.

September 1st

A Name Is Decided!

A new foal is a rare sight along the Salt River, but here he is, the second foal of 2023!!

• Dam Acacia — out of Billie x Timber.
• Sire Cilantro — out of Bonnie x Cisco.
  (And Bonnie was Fiona x Young Dillon, all 3 long deceased.)

Timber is also deceased, but grandma Billie is still with Acacia and helping to rear the little tyke.

This is an extremely great pairing of two of our strongest sire lines, Timber and Cisco. The chrome comes from Timber’s genes and possibly Young Dillon’s, and the long legs from Cisco’s. And yet, while we have left some mares “open”, Acacia was not one of them, so after 5 darts, she is definitely not sterile! Just a happy natural accident and a foal who insisted on living. Yeay!

As is our custom, because these horses belong to the public, you the public have voted for his name. The name had to fit Dad’s band theme of herbs, or mom’s band theme of trees. We eliminated all suggested names that are already taken by other Salt River horses in those lines, which were a lot.

Here are the voting results:

• Coriander-292 1️⃣✅
  
• Mesquite-195 2️⃣
• Palo-83 3️⃣
• Joshua/JT- 66
• Cottonwood-19

So welcome little CORIANDER (or Cori, or Ander) to this world, that’s unfortunately so cruel and unjust to wild horses everywhere. We hope and pray that your herd will set the example for humane wild horse management, and that you may never find out how cruel mankind can really be.

Sidenote! We retain the prerogative to possibly rename little Coriander, should the lawsuit against the Salt River wild horses get dismissed. Our attorneys have filed our motions to intervene and we fully support the Forest Service motion to dismiss. All paperwork has been filed and we now wait for the judge to be just and legally correct. If and when good news happens, we may name him “Neil”. Which we will then explain in more detail.

Born Free, Stay Free Coriander!

Thank you for your support everyone!

Picture by Susan Goudge and Jennifer Connely. ( 2 great supporters who have kept his little secret for his first 2 weeks along with our photographers.)

Thank you!

SRWHMG.