Update: Here is an update on Tristan and the poll results! We want to thank everyone for caring so much about the horses, and regardless of what you voted we appreciate it!

Public Poll.

1. Wild horses from the reservation are not allowed to live in the Salt River habitat per state statute and Forest Service.
2. Tristan, a Salt River stallion has disappeared to the reservation and came back with 4 mares.

So we would like to know in an honest and unbiased manner how the public feels about Tristan and his mares. This is him and the most pregnant mare on December 24th 2024 and we will post some videos also in a bit.

Tristan was last seen by our volunteers on the TNF on July 17th 2024, and he has been on the reservation all that time, until his triumphant return right before Christmas with his own band.

We have lost over 100 horses to the reservation in the past few years and he is, so far, the only one who has found his way back. We unfortunately do not see any of the bands we lost to the reservation anymore, including Spot, and Cisco’s, Nosey’s, Zeus’s and Gopro’s and Bubbles bands etc. We have searched from the air, high and low. We have absolutely no control over what happens on the reservation of course.

We do have the choice to keep Tristans mares only, and let Tristan go, which we would do, if the public preferred that. As long as we keep in mind that we might loose him to the reservation, or he might pick up some more mares and then we’d be doing the same thing all over again.

We made the decision together with the AZDA to let him keep his band, because he’s fought so hard for them, so it was for humane reasons. Stallions entire lives are geared towards gaining their own band and protecting them, and we believe that he is happier with them than without them.

The other argument is also true, that if he looses his band, he will just be a bachelor again and try to fight for other mares all over again too, because stallions do lose their mares in the wild, to other stallions.

Either way, it’s a conundrum, and we’d still like to do what the majority feels is right and you can express that here without fear.

We will listen to you, because we are glad that people care about just one Salt River wild horse. Imagine how much we would all care about removals of possibly 150 Salt River wild horses! Unbelievably, there is actually talk of that right now, coming from the Forest Service. It is spurred on by none other than Jackie Hughes and Center for Biological Diversity, the same CBD who just lost their environmental argument in court against the Salt River horses, 3 consecutive times.

They are now trying to convince our governor to agree with removals. We will disclose more about that later.

We will count your comments below, and the reasoning behind it. Please only comment once, each person will only be counted once. Persons who are not on our page can text our hotline and they will also be counted!

480-868-9301. Thank you for your input! 💕

Pictures by Deb Mykitiak and Chuck Donald.