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In Memory of Lancelot

Homepage UPDATES In Memory of Lancelot
UPDATES

In Memory of Lancelot

January 20, 2020
By Kristy
0 Comment
2887 Views

We very much regret to have to tell you awful news. This afternoon, we found the much loved, gorgeous lead stallion Lancelot, deceased.

We are absolutely distressed and have no idea what could have happened to him. He was a healthy, young and powerful lead stallion; they usually don’t just turn up dead.

We saw him last healthy and well, with his band 10 days ago, but we saw his band without him just the other day, which is suspicious. For this reason, we sent our volunteers out to search everywhere. Sadly our worst fears came true. His carcass appeared to be between 3 and 5 days old.

SRWHMG, as well as AZDA, are investigating, to try and establish a cause of death. While we did not see any bullet wounds or signs of foul play we want to absolutely rule that out.

We have confirmed that all of his band members are alive and well and still together and they are with a new lead stallion.

Regardless of how many stallions live wild and free on the lower Salt River, there are only a select few with that very magical quality, that everyone seems to recognize. There will simply never be another Lancelot. Rest in peace, brave friend.

SRWHMG.

—-

[update: January 21st]

We want to thank you all for your support and compassionate comments on Lancelot’s death. We cannot possible say thank you under 800 comments, but we really appreciate the outpouring of support. We think it is a huge statement of how much the Salt River wild horses mean to thousands of people locally as well as worldwide. It is the very reason why they are still here, and what gives us a bit of power when we negotiate on behalf of the public, for the best interest of these horses.

We want to give you a few more details on his sudden death and tell you a bit about his relative in this picture.

Lancelot was only 8 years old. That’s basically prime age for a wild horse and he was in perfect health condition. We cannot say that we have a definite cause of death, but we have at least ruled some things out. While his insides had already been scavenged by coyotes already, from what was left of him this is what we could tell:

  • There are no bullet wounds and no bullets found in the area.
  • He was safely behind the fence and did not have any broken bones and no broken legs or broken neck.
  • There were not great big mowing circles by his feet, that we would see if a horse died slowly and in agony
  • no signs of scratches on his neck or chest or face or any other mountain lion evidence.
  • no signs of a kick to his face, his face was perfectly intact.
  • there was mud on his feet from the river and there is no fence yet, so he did not dehydrate.
  • he did not have strangles (no lesions)
  • no signs of great struggle with another stallion.

So what is left is that he possibly ate something toxic, or choked on something or he even could have had a heart attack. There are many mustard weeds growing right now which are toxic for horses in large quantities. We are monitoring one other lead stallion in the herd for colic symptoms. However, the rest of his band would have eaten just as many weeds and they appear to be fine. So most likely we may just never really know.

While we still cannot believe that this icon is gone, we are grateful that he lived his entire life wild and free. He never had to run from a helicopter and he was never separated from his family and stuffed in a holding pen. This sad fate befalls far too many beautiful lead stallions around the USA, taken from the wild by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). Those stallions are just as caring, just as sweet as Lancelot was, so it breaks our hearts. We are lucky that Lancelot got to live and die exactly where he belonged.


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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

4 days ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
Here is the adorable video we promised of Grandma Celeste, yearling mother Celise and Ceasar when he was brand new. We made a little psa with it which we hope you will share, so that people from everywhere can understand how sentient and loving wild horses are. They deserve far better than the treatment they so often get from the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. (BLM). Luckily in our neck of the woods, we have agreements with the Tonto National Forest and a contract with the AZDA that makes it possible for us to manage these wild horses humanely through birth control. It is because of these agreements that a roundup and removal was prevented, and it is why they get to stay wild for all of the public to enjoy. We believe that solutions like this should be possible for all wild horses everywhere. This is why we appreciate your support so much, because wild horses deserve better. Join us in our important mission. Video by SRWHMG Rick Blandford, editing by Simone Netherlands. ### The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (#SRWHMG) is an accredited non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the protection and humane management of the Salt River wild horses under contract and partnership with the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA). SRWHMG does not charge the government for this management and does not receive any government grants. We run 100% on donations from the public who loves these horses. We proudly manage wild horses humanely for the public and by the public. To learn more or to join us in this important cause please go to WWW.SRWHMG.ORGOr donate through our Donate button on our page which also gets to SRWHMG directly. Thank you! ... See MoreSee Less

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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

6 days ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
Who says stallions can't be buds? Happy Fathers Day Shadowfax and Batman and all other great Dads! These two old retired Salt River stallions have been the best of dads for so many years. Both of them are old now and were about to die a sad death of starvation in the wild, because of their health and teeth issues. They still have a few health issues, but we manage them through their supplements and senior feed and they are now doing great and are enjoying their luxurious retirement at our SRWHMG facility. Both Shadowfax and Batman left their DNA running heavily though the Salt River herd through their offspring. Just for fun we added up all of their known offspring. -Shadowfax has 14 live offspring, 2 rescued offspring and 3 deceased offspring. He has 26 live grandkids and 9 deceased grandkids, he has 5 live great-grandkids (none deceased) and he has one great-great grandson, who's name is NezPerce. So in total he has contributed 46 live horses to the current herd. That's a whopping 11.5 percent!-Batman did not do as good on his offspring survival rating, he has 6 live offspring and 6 deceased (most of whom were hit on the road between 2012 and 2018) Out of those 6 kids he has 11 live grandkids, of whom Nappy is the most well known. He also has 4 live great grandkids. In total he has contributed 21 live horses with his DNA which is 5% of the total Salt River herd! These two studs were the best dads ever. Happy fathersday to them and to all fathers, stepfathers, and father-figures of all species! SRWHMGPhoto's by SRWHMG Cris Becker### The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (#SRWHMG) is an accredited non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the protection and humane management of the Salt River wild horses under contract and partnership with the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA). SRWHMG does not charge the government for this management and does not receive any government grants. We run 100% on donations from the public who loves these horses. We proudly manage wild horses humanely for the public and by the public. To learn more or to join us in this important cause please go to WWW.SRWHMG.ORGOr donate through our Donate button on our page which also gets to SRWHMG directly. Thank you! ... See MoreSee Less

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Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

1 week ago

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
Part two of Celise and Ceasar's story. On 5.28.20 Celise gave birth to Ceasar, 2,5 months before her second birthday. The gestation period for a horse is an average of 11 months, so she became pregnant when she was just 9.5 months old.This is the youngest we've ever recorded and most mares who give birth before they are 2 are not succesful; they often die during the birthing process. We have seen several heartbreaking cases, where the foal got stuck and both mare and foal perished. Even when they birth succesfully, the foals are often too small to make it. We've found several premature foals who didnt make it, and also we rescued one in 2018 who was abandoned and only 33 pounds. His name was Gideon, and if you follow us, you already know we nursed him to become a happy healthy horse. The sad cases we've seen over the many years are completely natural and part of being wild. It happens in all herds and they happened before we started our pzp program. (Just in case any anti pzp people start the usual...) Another risk with the mares that give birth too young is that even if all those risk factors go right, these maiden mares who are still babies themselves, do not know how to nurse the foal, so it could die from lack of colostrum, which is the important first milk they have to have within 6 hours of birth. But no worries, this story is not a sad one. Luckily for both Celise and Ceasar, grandma Celeste immediately took charge and was teaching Celise how to nurse Ceasar, while in the mean time letting him nurse from her! Grandma Celeste still had Celise's younger sister Cezanne with her, who she immediately quit nursing, so that she could nurse Ceasar. She knew Cezanne would be fine without the milk, but Ceasar wouldn't. This picture shows the formation they were always in, grandma in front, Ceasar with her, Celise on the other side of Ceasar and Cezanne in the middle but last. Ceasar was always sandwiched within. They all doted on him and worried about him all the time. Even in all of our years of watching wild horses, this was very special. We have a most adorable video to show you next. (Not sure why we cannot post a video and picture at the same time) People were often confused about who's foal he was, because Ceasar would nurse from both mares. But we saw him born out of Celise, so this is a real life story of how big wild horse hearts are.Lovingly, SRWHMG. Picture by SRWHMG Photographer Rick Blandford. ... See MoreSee Less

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