After parking we walked through an Acacia forest down to the Salt River.
Our next move was to go high as we had not yet spotted the wild horses.
It wasn't long before we could spot them at a distance out on the flood plain. But our best sighting was close to the entry road as we drove out!
Lou Lou on the trail
Us with an impressive Saguaro
Isn't the wild scenery just breathtaking?!
About the Wild Horses
"The hundreds of horses that live within the Tonto National Forest and roam along the banks of the Salt River are technically feral, as they’re the descendants of horses the Spanish re-introduced to North America during their conquests of the New World. However, as with most of the feral horses in the United States, they’re referred to as “wild.”
According to state records, the Salt River herd has been roaming the land freely since before the Tonto National Forest was designated in 1902. But though they’d been living on the land for at least a century, the horses’ fates were uncertain in the early 21st century. In 2015, the United States Forest Service issued a notice declaring the herd as “unauthorized livestock” and announced a plan to capture, remove, and auction off any unclaimed horses.
The apparent end of the Salt River horses spurred local advocates into action. The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group was formed and successfully reached an agreement with the Arizona Department of Agriculture. Now, the nonprofit group manages the horses and attempts to control the population by darting the animals with a birth control."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/salt-river-wild-horses
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/salt-river-wild-horses
No comments:
Post a Comment