The last foal of 2020, born on November 10th

The last foal of 2020, born on November 10th, out of dam (mother) Cookie and sire (father) Red Wind. This is the same mare who had Tiny last year, but sadly Tiny was injured and did not survive.

It is nice for this great mother to have a good strong colt, and he is adorable. We named him West Wind to stay in the theme of his father Red Wind, plus he was born on the West side when the band was on the reservation.( It is normal for this band and many others to go back and forth to and from the reservation. )

People ask us sometimes how we keep track of all of the horses. We document every Salt River wild horse through our app that was designed especially for this purpose. Our field volunteers make notes each time a band is seen, and report on the health and whereabouts of each horse and each band. The notes stay with the horse throughout its life on the Salt River.

This is how we know exactly how many horses there are and where they like to hang out. It is how we monitor injuries, how we know their migrating patterns and it is how we calculate breeding percentages, birth rates and death rates.

In 2020 we broke several records for the Salt River herd. We had the lowest birth rate ever recorded, we had the lowest colic rate ever recorded, we had no horse hit on the road, we had the lowest foal death rate ever recorded, and we had the lowest growth rate ever recorded.

These are very good records to break.

Therefore we thank you for your undying support of our work, and we thank the USFS and the AZDA for their partnership in this novel cooperation for the humane and responsible management of the Salt River wild horses.

With thanks to our software engineer Tom Augustine. Picture by supporter Katherine Kaiser Hayes.

SRWHMG.