FENCE POST 2

Just some exhausted SRWHMG volunteers sitting on the fence after putting up barbless wire fencing on the south side of Bush Hwy!

To never see another horse get hit on Bush Hwy, THAT is all that we want for Christmas.

EXPLANATION: Because the Northside of Bush Hwy is now completely fenced by the Forest Service (FS), we have been working hard this holiday season, to secure our fenceline on the southside. (which is barbless wire.)

In this particular spot in the picture (at Bulldog), horses were able to jump the low metal bars, that’s why we just installed this new barbless wire fencing. We will continue to work hard to maintain these 10 miles of barbless wire for the safety of the wild horses we all care about. (Plus the safety of drivers)

Because of the barbed wire fence and the changing of wild horse patterns, we have been talking to the FS about some highly needed improvements that we really could not live without.

Resulting Improvements:

• We agreed to purchase 6 emergency gates and the Forest Service (FS) agreed to install them, so that we can utilize them to let horses into the fence should there be a horse in the road emergency
• The Forest Service (FS) paid for paneling, that we then installed in order to stop horses from getting stuck on the wrong side of the fence at Coon Bluff corner
• The FS has raised the fences to 50 inches high instead of 42 inches, so that horses are not tempted to jump over
• The FS will now fence the road along Granite Reef, which has been needed for a long time, plus they will extend the fence at Water Users, which will prevent horses from walking past where the fencing ends
• Also there are now entrances for people at favorite hiking and biking trails, (even at the Wild Horse Overlook).

We hope it is obvious to everyone that we will never like barbed wire, but we do want to thank the Forest Service (FS) sincerely for making most of the improvements to the new fence that we requested. We also want to thank AZDA for supporting SRWHMG in that. Perhaps you, our supporters can help us in putting a quick thank you comment under this post, to FS and AZDA, because it is important to give credit when it is due. (Plus we will have to work w them for a long time to come!)

Because all of these changes don’t happen all in one day, you may have seen us lately along the road. We are having a heck of a time getting horses off the road and out of dangerous places, like by the canal on power road! We’ve been super busy, to say the least, walking horses back to where they are safe. So if you see our volunteers with yellow vests along the road, there is probably a horse, so PLEASE SLOW DOWN?

Can anyone imagine what it is like to be desperately warning traffic about a horse on the road, and then seeing the horse get hit anyway? It’s happened to us, and it is worse than your worst nightmare.

We do think that the changes will make Bush Hwy completely horse and driver safe, especially once we get an overpass at the 3-way stop. We have been requesting the overpass, because we do not want the horses to loose an important part of their habitat! (We might need your help with that next.)

To never see another horse get hit on the highway, THAT is all we want for Christmas.

With that we want to thank our donators who make our important work possible. Approximately 10% of our yearly budget is spent on improving safety on Bush Hwy. The Forest Service just spent about a million dollars on the fencing, but we spent only 3% (30,000) of that and still get the job done. However, it is not easy coordinating and educating enough volunteers to do this, it takes a lot of people who work out of the goodness of their hearts, and it is not easy raising the funds for it, because it does not sound very exciting.

So if you’d like to support SRWHMG, you can do that with just a like or a share, but even more impactful, with a donation this Christmas season; it will go directly towards their safety! Please click here. Thank you!

Humanely managing wild horses FOR and BY the public, SRWHMG.