August 4

With the death of Nahele, currently the true and confirmed amount of Salt River wild horses on Forest Service land is three hundred and thirteen, 313.

Some Salt River wild horses never returned from the reservation this summer, where several bands historically go.

Some people ask us why, and some even think we made them go there! Let us assure you that we, nor anyone else, controls the horses’ movements; they get to do whatever they want.

It is possible that they have not come back, because their migrating paths have been closed with the FS boundary fencing, however there is still access back and forth along the river, so it could also be, that they just like it there. It is certainly quieter than on the Forest Service part of Salt River.

Unfortunately, we do not have access to the horses on the reservation, but we know they are ok because we see them every once in a while from the bridge over the Verde River and from the 87. The SRPMIC reservation has their own regulations protecting the wild horses and they do not ship them off in the middle of the night.

We were happy to be able to catch this glimpse of Bubbles, who is now all grown up! Unfortunately, because we could not dart her, we do believe she is pregnant, and we worry, because those young pregnancies come with a lot of risk.

Photo by SRWHMG photographer Rick Blandford. 

The other change is that her band, including mom “Blue” and brother “little Blue”, has been taken over by Chip, and we do not know where Champagne is. We actually fear the worst, since he wouldn’t have given up his band to Chip, who is not very dominant, unless he was hurt or dead. We hope to find out what happened to Champagne. Luckily Chip is very nice to the band.

Chip used to like hanging out across from Granite Reef, so we hope they will come out to be seen! Kayakers, please do let us know if and when you see horses around Granite Reef, the last exit from the lower Salt River.

This was an update from our field team. They rely on, and update information to our scientific app, which holds detailed information on each and every Salt River wild horse. Our many volunteers update where all of our bands are, and how they are doing, and then log it in the app. This is why we have accurate information and accurate numbers that we can prove.

Our field team is funded by the public. We need gas for their trucks, we need to be ready for any emergency, (which takes medications, a vet and a facility), and we need to pay for the server and maintenance of our app.
For us to continue to manage the Salt River wild horses, we need your support.

Help us keep the Wild in the West!

Thank you! SRWHMG