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Happy 6th Birthday, Rosco!

Homepage UPDATES Happy 6th Birthday, Rosco!
UPDATES

Happy 6th Birthday, Rosco!

March 2, 2022
By Kristy
0 Comment
2309 Views

March 2nd

We are celebrating Rosco’s Rescue and at the same time his 6th🎂 birthday today 3.2.22!

Once upon a time in the Tonto National Forest, (on the evening 🌙✨of March 2nd, 2016), there lay a shivering brand new foal all by himself in a field. Luckily, nearby, some Salt River Wild Horse Management Group volunteers (SRWHMG) were watching and waiting for his mom to come back, but sadly, she never did.

A half-hour earlier, the volunteers had witnessed in horror as the foal was being attacked by a new stallion of the band. This stallion did not let the mare return to the foal she just delivered. This was something we had never seen before, and have never seen since.

We did not have any agreements yet at that time, but Simone called the Forest Service and the AZDA Ag inspector, who then gave permission to rescue Rosco. He would have suffered a slow and cruel death all alone without the very important colostrum a newborn foal needs to survive. (the first mother’s milk with antibodies)

SRWHMG volunteers carefully picked up the shaking newborn and loaded him on a blanket in an SUV. Then our field team🚗 drove around late at night to find him the important colostrum.

In addition to the colostrum, he also needed plasma to gain strength, which was administered by our vet. From that point on Simone and our SRWHMG volunteers stayed with him around the clock, he was never alone and was fed his milk replacer🍼 every hour.

Rosco now had a new family, the SRWHMG family. But we knew that a real horse🐴 mom would be ideal for him, so after a long search on the internet and placing ads, we came across April who had lost her own foal at birth. She was so distraught about it that she had stopped eating or drinking and this is why her owner was looking for a foal for her.

However, the pairing up did not go quite as easy as we had hoped. After Rosco had learned to be fed by humans, he did not recognize the mare as his mom and did not want to drink from her, and April wasn’t quite sure about this little wild horse either.

But SRWHMG never gives up. After trying for days, the moment when Rosco finally latched on for the first time was quite exciting! And from that moment on……Rosco was her baby! They saved eachother and it was the best thing ever.
Of course, everyone at SRWHMG fell in love with sweet April, and we ended up purchasing her for 2000 dollars, which was all the money we had at the time. April was a wonderful surrogate mom to Rosco, and later she also was a surrogate mom for Pacman (more about that when we do Pacman’s story)

Like April helped Rosco, so did Rosco help April. And like we helped Rosco survive, so did he play an important role in helping us survive and become who we are today. Rosco taught us how much work it takes and how many volunteers we needed. We also realized that to be succesful in humane management, we needed our own rescue facility and our own foal barn.

Today we continue to build up our modest, yet functional facility along the Beeline, bordering the Tonto National Forest. We have since successfully rescued 18 other dying or orphaned Salt River wild horses, who all get to live happily ever after together. We will never forget our first rescue, sweet Rosco, who turns 6 years old today.

  • April is now retired as a nurse mom and spends her days at the ranch in Prescott hanging out with her boyfriend Custer, who is a BLM 3 strikes horse. We will celebrate the anniversary of the night April came to us March 11th as her birthday.
  • Rosco’s biological mom still lives happily in the wild, she has had 4 foals since Rosco. She is still with the same lead stallion who attacked Rosco. We have always kept a suspicious eye on this stallion each time one of his mares was pregnant, but he has never attacked a foal again, and has reared all of his foals lovingly. We never disclosed who this stallion was, for fear that people would hate him.
  • The AZDA inspector who was kind enough back then to let us rescue our first foal, was Inspector Richard Shore, who has since retired and we wish him a wonderful retirement.
  • the volunteers who took turns feeding and caring for Rosco, most of them are the expert caretakers still with us today, continuing to care for our rescues at our facility.
  • the public who supported us from the very beginning are still our most loyal supporters today, who made it all possible from the very beginning.
  • Our sweet boy Rosco lives happily ever after at the ranch in Prescott where he has lots of room to run together with his buddies Pacman and Diamond. 🎉Happy Birthday 🍰Rosco. We ❤️love you!!!!!!!!

If you’d like to sponsor Rosco click here.


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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

8 hours ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
We have extremely sad news. A beautiful young stallion was found with a severe compound fracture of the cannonbone. Nothing was left intact that could have possibly healed. Therefore we are very grateful that MCSO and AZDA were able to give him a quick and painless way out of his suffering. He was a very special young stallion out of Faith and Champ, his name was Loyal, and he was that in the true sense of the word. He was so Loyal to his family. He was still with his birthband and was helping his Dad Champ keep the family together as Champ is aging.We are so sorry for this sad news on this holiday weekend and we are so sorry for anyone who may find his body as it is close to a recreation site. He will go back to nature as meant in the wild. Please know that his life was truly wonderful and free, and that in the end, he did not have to suffer. Run forever free Loyal 💔We are so grateful for our partnerships with AZDA and MCSO. Please have a safe weekend everyone. Many broken hearts for Loyal, SRWHMG. ... See MoreSee Less

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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

19 hours ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
We hope everyone gets to enjoy the beauty of the Salt River wild horses this Memorial Day weekend. On weekends like this the thousands of people in and around the river can get confusing for the horses. Please be aware that when you come to recreate along the lower Salt River, you are entering their home. Please help spread this important message for them:Salt River wild horses are protected pursuant to ARS 3-1491, It is illegal to harass, chase, interfere, capture or kill a Salt River horse. Therefore please adhere to these safe viewing guidelines: -Keep a safe distance of 50 ft from horses at all times, even if they come your way. This is for their well being, and for yours.-Approaching or pursuing closer than 50 ft can be considered interfering/harassment, which is punishable by law with a fine and/or jail sentence. -Do not feed horses, this is bad for them and is also against the law. (except for the feed program by SRWHMG, which is not active right now) - Keep dogs leashed as horses can attack dogs and vice versa. Maricopa County Leash Law is in effect in the Tonto National Forest. -Close all gates behind you for their safety. - Trash kills. This is their home and it is your public land. Pack out what you pack in and pick up after someone else if you want to help make a difference. -Please report any issues of harassment or injury to the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) (480)868-9301 We hope everyone enjoys a safe and responsible Memorial day weekend! SRWHMG.Photo of the youngest Salt River wild horse Makenzie and her family, by SRWHMG Rick Blandford, edited Simone Netherlands property of SRWHMG. ... See MoreSee Less

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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

2 days ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
Foal Flashback Friday. The adorable foal under moms tail in the first picture is the big grown stallion in the second picture, which is a screenshot from our app. The mares' name is Summer and his name is Monsoon. We name horses purposely in themes so that even when they are all grown and on their own, we can easily remember their parentage just by their name. We follow each Salt River wild horse from birth untill death and check up on each horse when we can. Both Summer and Monsoon are doing great. Monsoon is a lieutenant stallion in Orion's band. Btw we pray that this Summer is short and that Monsoon comes early! Have a great memorial day weekend everyone.First picture by GP Walsh Photography. Second picture by Destini Rhone. ... See MoreSee Less

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Tuesday, 24, May
Today is the day!
Saturday, 21, May
Shadowfax/Batman update:
Wednesday, 18, May
Mark your calendars…
Tuesday, 17, May
From most adorable foal of 2018
Saturday, 14, May
Trash kills
Friday, 13, May
Clean up the river

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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
  • Home
  • Donate
    • Sponsor a Horse
    • Jade’s Legacy Fund
    • Bequest Form
    • Supplemental Feed Program
  • Updates
    • Long Term Plan
    • In the News
    • HB2858
  • Info
    • Background
    • FAQs
    • Wild Horses Have Value
    • History of Wild Horses
    • Horse Viewing Guidelines
    • Protected by AZ State Law
    • How Long Have They Been Here?
    • Humane Birth Control
  • Video
  • What You Can Do
    • Sponsor a Horse
    • Donate
    • Volunteer
    • Corporate Sponsorship
  • Shop
  • Donor Dashboard