“I ate an occasional flower for breakfast, mesquite leaves for lunch and eelgrass for dinner. I loved my family and my freedom. I never had to run from a helicopter and was never seperated from my family. I never felt the weight of a saddle or the sting of a whip.

So many people fought hard for that, to see me live my whole life wild and free. And there are people who work hard every day just to keep it that way.

They wrote updates about me and clicked their little black boxes. When the ground did not produce, they made green hay appear in places.

And when I fell ill, they were there for me too. They gave me my best chances with two feeds a day, while preserving my freedom.
In the end, it was me who let them know, that it was time. I did not have to suffer. I am a Salt River wild horse and I was managed humanely. I will be remembered.”

–

We are very sorry for the bad news. Moon became ill the third week of September, possibly strangles, paired with extreme diarrhea, which indicates possible internal infection on top of that. We started monitoring him every day like we do with injuries and sick horses. He lost a lot of weight very quickly and we received a lot of calls about him as he looked emaciated. We informed everyone who contacted SRWHMG and AZDA, that we were taking care of him in the field to give him his best chances of recovery. We were encouraged when he started eating again and with the extra protein, he had a chance to do that.

But yesterday he laid down and just let us know that he did not want to fight anymore. At that point it is time to give them a merciful quick ending, because nature itself is not that kind. He was humanely euthanized (dispatched) yesterday at 5.45 pm. A job like that is very difficult, but all part of humane management.

Run forever free Moon.