We are sorry we don’t have good news yet, but want to post just a great big THANK YOU to new and old followers, new and old volunteers, and new and old sponsors and donors, without whom we could not carry on our important work of protecting and humanely managing the Salt River wild horses, and giving a voice to wild horses everywhere. Every like here, is a voice for the horses.

We are just so thankful for everyone who is helping, in the forest and online. People have been coming out in droves, drones have been buzzing in the systematic search, and snacks have been handed to our volunteers by total strangers. Our poor volunteers who knew her so well, are carrying on with broken hearts.

While this heartbreaking search for Lainey continues, we also have to continue caring for the rest of the Salt River herd and that includes continuing our feed program during this drought, continuing to care for our rescues, and continuing to spread education.

SRWHMG is still the only entity standing in the way of government removals, and it is difficult enough to hold that line without people trying to bash us and our volunteers, that’s why we drew attention to the “bad page” yesterday.

We don’t expect our haters and detractors to understand what it is like to have to work w the Forest Service, with always the threat of our horses being removed.

We don’t expect thank you’s from the general public, who come to visit the horses, because most don’t realize how much we do, or what it takes to keep the horses happy, healthy and free.

We definately don’t expect thank you’s from the Forest Service, even after all of our years of humanely reducing the population, which we did in good faith.  Unfortunately, they will never be happy enough with the number of horses, or appreciate how much revenue they bring in, how much the public loves them, or how great of an asset they are in reducing the risk of forest fires.

So it’s a good thing that appreciation is not what we do it for.

We do our work, day in day out without getting paid. We continue, even when it would be much easier to quit or not care so much. Why? We do it, so that a small piece of Arizona history, will live on long after we are all gone. We do it to preserve them the way they always have been, here on the Salt River, wild and free. We do it, to make a difference, for the horses and for the public.

This job is like being in a constant war for their survival. It is a never ending fight. Even now,  Salt River wild horses are not safe. That’s why we are so thankful for the tremendous support. Even while we can hear many hearts breaking when we have no good news to report on, we all have to carry on. 💔

The greatest wisdom in life is knowing the difference between right and wrong, the greatest purpose is to fight for what is right, and the greatest reward is knowing you made a difference.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! 🙏💕🐴

✍️ Simone Netherlands, president SRWHMG.

📷 SRWHMG Photographer Erin YagerSimone Netherlands, president SRWHMG.

SRWHMG Photographer Erin Yager