Success! It has taken a while to find him and bait trap him, but we have reunited straggler boy with his band. With a little patience and natural horsemanship, he was very cooperative.

Once released on the riverside of the highway, with his band, he said hi to his mom and brother quickly, but then Mick said, hey I thought you had moved out?

He then joined up with the other emancipated grey boy (his name is Onaqui) and they are now flanking the outskirts of the band. After 3 months surviving completely alone, Straggler is constantly nuzzling and clinging to his new friend, very sweet to see.

This makes for 12 horses in Mick’s band and 2 bachelors flanking, 14 total. For 14 horses we fill 150 gallons of water in the morning and 150 gallons at night, that’s 60 jugs of 5 gallons per day. We have an AM team and a PM team, but it is no small task, thank you SRWHMG volunteers!

We move these troughs every night on the path towards the river, so that they continue to have a safety net. The middle stop to the river is behind the SRWHMG property; the Salt River Valley. We cannot go any farther with troughs than that, as it becomes too far to reach with water. All bands do follow the horsepaths to the river from there.

While they were dropped off at the river last week, and therefore know where it is, this band, who have predominantly lived at Cove 3 , just need a little convincing that the river is a good place to live.

We would like to thank the AZDA and MCSO for their help with this important relocation project and keeping these horses wild and free.

Sincerely, SRWHMG.