On this Foal Friday, we have good news and bad news. If you want to read only the good news, please read until the end of the second paragraph only.

The good news is that all 3 Salt River babies, Iris, Wonder and Strider are doing excellent as of today, and are making all their milestones. They are surviving 1500 CFS raging rivers, AZ temps of over 110, and -knock on wood-, the mountain lions.

 

— Stop reading here if you’d rather not know the bad news. —

 

But as mathematical chances of nature will have it, only 70% of Salt River foals survive their first year. Today we were going to announce (an accidental) Salt River baby no. 4, but unfortunately, he did not make it.

As close as we were monitoring him, and as hard as we tried, we could not prevent him from getting attacked by a mob of bachelor stallions. We’ve seen them do this many times before, and we hate that part of their nature. (but we won’t name the culprits.)

Lead stallions Widget and Simon, working together, -with a little help from our volunteers-, did get the little guy back with his mom Cece and grandma Bebe though.

 

He had some bite wounds on his back, which you can see in the picture, but he was keeping up with his band bravely, so we were very hopeful that he was saved in the nick of time.

 

However, a few days later, when we saw how his shoulder wound was progressing the wrong way, and how he struggled, we decided he was in need of urgent help. With permission granted to rescue, we gently captured him and were rushing him to the veterinary clinic, when on the way, just 10 minutes before we arrived, he died in our arms. Poor little guy.

As volunteers who monitor these babies, it is very hard not to get attached to them, – no matter how small, they leave a great big impact. It is also incredibly sad to witness the sorrow of the mare afterwords, our job can just really suck sometimes.

Before we get the “dont u know thats nature” comments, yes we know all too well, – there are 400 deceased wild horses in our death records, and we knew every single one. Managing wild horses humanely is not easy, but we stay strong, because they deserve it.

Normally we leave deceased horses to go back to nature, but because he was already in the car, because he was very loved in the short time he had, and because we didn’t want to attract the mountain lion, we decided to cremate him and bring him back home. Cremation is expensive so if you’d like to help, please donate in his honor.

PP: Saltriverherd@respect4horses.com

We named him GoGo after the theme of his maternal line, and Gadget after his dad Widget. GoGo Gadget had a short little wild life, but we find solice in the fact that he was surrounded by his family, in the place where his ancestors have lived and died for centuries. He is part of the history now of the #saltriverwildhorses.

Rest in peace GoGo Gadget. 🐴💔😢

#managethemhumanely

Pictures by SRWHMG Karen Carney and Cris Becker.