January 3rd

We rescued Shadowfax when he was at the end of his natural lifespan. Why? Because we could, so why not have a little compassion.

He is nearing 3 decades old, and his teeth are worn down to the gums, but with a nice concoction of soaked pellets and equine senior feed, we were able to get him back to good health and here’s what he looks like today.

He is no longer wild and free, but he has a new family. He has horse friends, human friends, shelter from the elements, fly control, he is dewormed, and he is gelded so that he can have a girlfriend too. He lives without fear and without worry that he will be chased off by other stallions. He has some cancerous growths, but when they get worse he will have pain control. He is very tame now, he is very vocal and calls people over for attention and he loves his scratches from loving volunteers every day. He even has his own scratching post.

This is not a post against being wild and free, because we keep all of the Salt River herd wild and free. But we treat wild horses as humanely as is possible. Batman is also doing amazing, but is not as old as Shadowfax. Once we rescue a wild horse, we are not authorized to re-release them and it would also not be in their best interest as they are used to getting breakfast lunch and dinner and hugs from people.

There are some people who specifically made a page to spread lies about our organization and gain some type of hero status for themselves. While they’ve never rescued a horse themselves, they are continually nasty and complain about Shadowfax being at our facility and not in the wild. Well, in the wild he would have suffered a slow and lonely death from starvation.

To those too ignorant to understand that, we say nothing, because all smartass keyboard critics, who pretend WE are the enemie of wild horses, will be ignored forever.

We don’t know how many more months or years Shadowfax will have, but he let’s us know every day how happy he is with his retirement. That’s the reward that makes it all worth it.

Along with our larger mission and our field work, we are happy to do these small deeds of kindness like this, and we are thankful for your support and our partnership with AZDA, which makes it all possible.

We hope that 2023 will bring the future of humane wild horse management into focuss. Compassion is key. To help us, please give us your full attention and support by inviting all of your friends to like and follow our page. This year we are going to need it in the battle for our larger mission of humane management for all wild horses everywhere.

Thank you, SRWHMG caretakers and volunteers.