Salt River Wild Horses

About two weeks ago, we boarded Koda for a couple of nights and then headed west towards Mesa, Arizona, to photograph some wild horses in that area. Admittedly, this is more my kind of photo excursion than Todd’s, but we were both game to get away for a couple of days, and we hoped it would be a little warmer in Arizona.

It had been awhile since we found ourselves in the Sonoran Desert. We had forgotten how neat it is to see, and be surrounded by, saguaro cacti. The diversity of the vegetation around our campsite was amazing. We stayed in an excellent Maricopa County campground that was very near the horse viewing areas.

The Salt River wild horses roam the banks of the lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest, and have been doing so long before the forest was created in 1902. It is said that these wild horses are descended from a herd brought to the area by Spanish missionaries in the 1600s.  

In 2015 the U.S. Forest Service put out a notice of intent to remove all free-range horses from the area. This created a public outrage that resulted in thousands of people and businesses speaking out in protest over the removal of the horses. Arizona’s elected officials in Congress wrote letters to the USFS in an effort to protect the horses. As a result the Salt River Horse Act was put into place to protect the horses for future generations to come. Today the horses are managed by the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and can be seen roaming freely along the river.

While we were there, the horses came to the river in the late afternoon for water and to eat the eelgrass that grows in the river. At this time of year (so we’re told) they aren’t super active, so we’d love to go back in the spring when they are more active.