Salt River Wild Horse Management Group

S.O.S 📢ALARM💄 Rail Lazy H (Jackie Hughes), contractor for the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, has once again sent Alpine wild horses to the Bowie kill auction in Texas, where hundreds of horses each month end up on trucks to the mexican slaughter houses, unless someone saves them.

Without any notice at all, horse advocates have to pull out all the stops again before this Sunday, in order to prevent that horrid fate for these well- known lead stallions and mares.

Desperate to be with them, the stunning lead stallion Coronado stands close to the fence, defending his last mares, from the other two tough lead stallions unloaded in the pen with him. From Thalia's pictures (ASIAB), we recognize they are Phoenix and Blizzard, two lead stallions who's bands were caught and auctioned already, last year.

With our supporters' donations, we purchased quarentined and transported their mares already, and they are now living happily at the Wild Horse Refuge in Colorado. However, Jackie didn't like that. She claims it's a waste to turn them out, and she has been working hard to sabotage any efforts to give these horses a happy life back. She refuses any horse advocates from her Rail Lazy H online auctions, for no reasons at all, we will post that evidence in screenshots later.

Now we have to raise enough money to buy them, quarentine them, doctor them, geld them and transport them. All that is expensive and then they also need to be fed and taken care of for the rest of their lives! It seems almost impossible.

All the while Jackie, -the one making millions off her contract of zeroing out this historic herd-, is still pretending to care about these horses at her mercy, and justifies her cruel actions, by making up a multitude of terrible lies up about horse advocates. She can be seen on social media declaring herself to be the victim, and rescuers to be the real evil-doers making money off these horses. That totally makes sense, right? No.

We fought very hard to keep this herd in the forest so that they wouldn't end up here and we bent over backwards trying to work with the outrageously unreasonable. We offered solutions, for free. In addition, with 2 million dollars we could have set up one heck of an adoption program. The Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service made the unconscionable choice instead and they are letting go Jackie do whatever she wants.

On the Rail Lazy H website full of wonderful stories, (false advertising), Jackie claims she "transitions" them into domestic life.

Well here they are, at Bowie, these gorgeous horses originating from Fransisco Vasquez de Coronado, a treasure to our state. Instead of the pretty stories on the website, they are likely to be "transitioned" to someone's dinner plate abroad within the week. But according to Jackie, ofcourse that's all the fault of horse advocates, ofcourse it is..

So now to the end of this nightmare tale, you can help with that!
These Alpines need two things, 1. FUNDS to save them now, and 2. CALLS to the Forest Service demanding an end to the madness, (because its never going to stop if we don't give them a voice.)

We will work with the people on site there again. All Seated in a barn (ASIAB) has already found a lady named Sofia, one of their contacts, who offered a permanent home for Coronado and 3 mares, IF the money can be raised. Jessica of Red Orchard Animal Rescue (ROAR) is also already jumping in to help and Neda of Return to Freedom is brainstorming with us too. There is a way.

Because their mares are already are at the Wild Horse Refuge, we asked Pat if he would take Phoenix and Blizzard. He said they are really full, BUT will make an acception for these two beautiful boys! Blizzard and Phoenix will also need bail, quarentine, gelding and transport to get out of this desperate situation and see their mares again.

So there's is some real hope for them. The Alpine wild horses need many angels, who won't have their story end this way. ASIAB or ROAR can't and won't save them, if their costs can't be covered. Can we do it again?

Sincerely, ANGRY, SAD, DESPERATE, BUT HOPEFUL, SRWHMG.

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OMG we found Bear! Please help us buy Bear back! We need a huge amount to be able to do it, $8300! (partly purchase price and transport and partly his care) but we want to reunite him so badly!

Update: We are there!!! Bear will be with his family this Christmas! This means more to us than we can explain!! Oh thank you everyone for showing how much you care about these horses! We can now save Bear plus one more Alpine wild horse.

We are over the goal for Bear alone, but If he becomes the reason that we can save more of the unfortunate Alpines, then that will be amazing. Previously we did not raise enough funds, to save all the Alpines in this auction, because Facebook did not show it to people. But now everyone is seeing Bear's story! Thank you so much for sharing.

If there ever was a horse deserving of his happily ever after, it is our beautiful Bear! And if he becomes the mascot to save more Alpine's that would be a beautiful double outcome.

We were never "allowed" to buy him, because we are discriminated by the contractor. This poor lead stallion lost his family not once, not twice, but 3 times and we have his mare and foal now, Swan and Birdie!

Do ya'll think we can save more? Please keep sharing for BEAR and his herd! If everyone really did give just a little, it would not cost anyone a lot, but we could hypothetically buy land just through our 100,000 followers! Perhaps not so realistic, but these Alpine wild horses have been wronged in so many ways and we can dream a little dream for Christmas, to save every last one? By the power of accumulation, if everyone does a little, it will be a lot! Thank you for being part of this Christmas Miracle!
SRWHMG

Meanwhile on the Salt River, these horses don't know evil. They know family, they know nature, they know freedom. But what they don't know, is how lucky they are!

We still have to keep up our programs for them, so please don't forget about the Salt River wild horses for your end of year tax deductable donations! SRWHMG

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group SRWHMG is a non-profit Organization (501c3), dedicated to the protection of Salt River wild horses.

We have a new tag

We Will Win the War for Wild Horses!

In what world does one person get to play judge jury and executioner for wild horses? In what world does anyone support unjust discrimination against horse advocates, false advertising, tortuous interference and alleged fraudulent behavior?

In what world do people still believe Jackie Hughes, roundup contractor for the Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service, when she slanders horse advocates without a shred of proof of fabricated and orchestrated claims? In what world does she get to complain that we, SRWHMG are making money off these horses when we barely make ends meet and she is making millions? (Checkout our guidestar profile and her government contract profile)

In denying good homes from bidding, this contractor can make double the money, because she then ends up with the horses for 25 dollars. With the beautiful buckskin lead stallions, she has even taken those before the auctions, never ever offering them to the public. That is now a fully investigated claim supported by picture evidence and testimonial evidence. In what world is that ok?

And in what world is it somehow horse advocates' fault that she drives 45 Alpine wild horses to the Bowie slaughter auction? (and still pretends she cares about horses??)

In an upside down world!

PLEASE don't let the world be upside down. We need your support! We all know that wild horses deserve so much better!

We work hard to get it done again and again, with your support, even if it's by the seat of our pants, in the nick of time and with low funding.

We did not raise enough money this time for all the horses, but we borrowed against our Salt River fund to save them all anyway! Yet now we cannot afford transport, so please share our fundraising efforts!

Don't forget that every share and like is a voice for the horses! Every phone call u make, might be the drop that tips the bucket in favor of justice.

We Will Win the War for Wild Horses, ( ) by winning battle after battle and never giving up. We will change the course of history for all wild horses everywhere, eventually.
Because; THERE IS A BETTER WAY!!

We are thankful for every one of you!!
Find out what else YOU can do in the comments. Thank you!!

Photo of Salt River horse Michael Angelo, mirrored in the Salt River, taken by SRWHMG Photographer Rick Blandford.

All the pretty horses need saving, but the ugly ducklings do too! Hi everyone! For all of you who have been asking, and are wanting to help, we need solid forever homes for not just the prettiest baby, but all of them! Because we are not allowed to bid, we are fundraising to support several bidders with transport and boarding/training costs to make miracles possible!!

We needed $20.000 , but we didn't get there in time. This means that we cannot afford to buy and/or support the good homes with transport and gelding. We will continue to try to get there and set up more fundraisers for this auction, as we want all to have a good home!! Sadly, we cannot specify exactly at the moment, because our words are used against the horses and people are getting discriminated. So we need your trust; if we come up short, we will have to pick and chose. Can we pull it off? It will be a miracle if we do!

Right now, please Help share and give what you can, pretty 🙏 please, for the Alpine wild horses!! (More updates soon!)

Missing foal found in online auction. Like we've mentioned, horse advocates have saved 315 Alpine wild horses, so we are the primary market for these homeless wild horses, besides for killbuyers. The owner of Rail Lazy H; Jackie Hughes, is keenly aware that horse advocates like to keep families together. We do a lot of effort to paste them back together, because we know that wild horses care just as much about their families as we do. Jackie however seems to do extra effort to seperate families from eachother and take babies away from their mothers extra early, as if they are not stressed enough yet. Here is one pair that can be reunited, if we can find a home for them, Swan and Birdie, they are from Bear's band!
Please keep sharing this to anyone who has acreage. There are some very large land owners in Arizona who need to hear about this! This auction closes THIS Sunday Evening. Please contact us in a message only IF you already have a horse setup and can offer a good home. Thank you! SRWHMG.

Sign up for bidding, before tomorrow morning, if you'd like to own a beautiful Alpine wild horse!!! (Read the auction terms and be ready for pickup from Holbrook Fairgrounds.)

We know and love these wild horses, as you can see in their ID. So far in total, we, by working with the horse advocate community and sanctuaries, have been able to place 315 of them and we own 18 Alpine wild horses and support many others, but we have run out of contacts, so we are now encouraging others to step up for them.

Please beware that we have nothing to do with this website and in fact offered much better and more humane solutions. With 2 million dollars paid to Rail Lazy H, a great adoption program could have been set up for the Alpine wild horses.

However, here they are, with each just one terrible cellphone picture and some are not even sexed. (Boy or girl) If these poor horses don't sell, they are trucked to slaughter auctions with full cooperation from the Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service.

This website is falsely advertising a wonderful story of helping wild horses "transition into domestication" but these horses are all completely unhandled, and some of these were caught just last weekend. Nothing seems to be happening to help them "transition". It's more like these horses are getting transitioned from their idyllic lives in the forest, (where the public loves and cherishes them), to dinner plates abroad.

So far in total, we, by working with the horse advocate community and sanctuaries, have been able to place 315 Alpine wild horses in good homes. You'd think that Rail Lazy H and the Apache Sitgreaves Forest would be really thankful for that. Instead, horse advocates are being slandered by the owner of this website, discriminated at the auction and falsely accused of the weirdest claims, with no proof offered.

In this auction we also find many double auctioned horses. When the owner of Rail Lazy H arbitrarily canceled many horse advocates accounts, preventing them from bidding, Rail Lazy H purchased the horses instead. Those horses are now showing as property of Rail Lazy H and have much higher minimum bids.

Some of the mothers of the yearlings were driven, by the owner if Rail Lazy H, to the Bowie slaughter auction, where they were saved in the nick of time by the entire horse advocate community pulling together. Thank you everyone! Return To Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation All Seated in a Barn Red Orchard Animal Rescue

We hope our ID's of these Alpine wild horses in this auction will help and we will add their stories here a little later too.
The process of documenting every single wild horses in a 500,000 acre Forest is not an easy one, so please do mention SRWHMG and the Alpine Wild Horse Advocates when u share this. We are hoping and praying that these horses will find good homes preferably with company from eachother. They have been through hell and back and have been seperated from their families more than once.

If you can give them a good forever home, sign up, before tomorrow mornings deadline and let us know if you are bidding or if you can offer any if these wild horses a good home! They are extremely trainable, they are beautiful and they are great fire abatement around any property!
Thank you for sharing this around everywhere. ❤️ SRWHMG

Our Christmas card shipping ladies have been working hard! None of our processes are automated, we do not have large offices and no one gets paid. This is how we make sure that every dime you donate goes directly into our important programs for the horses. This year we have a beautiful card with snowy 4 Peaks in the background and lead stallion Carmel in the foreground. If you are a donor or sponsor you should be getting it in the mail very soon! Thank you for being part of this mission and helping us make a difference! Happy holidays! SRWHMG.

It's almost 2024 and there is a better way!

Today there are exactly 312 Salt River wild horses on the Tonto National Forest. We mean exactly, except when Spot gets out again, and then it's 311 temporarily.

Not one Salt River wild horse has ever been removed. Not one Salt River horse has starved, even during the worst of natural circumstances. Not one Salt River horse has ever killed or harmed a human or another animal. Not one tax payer dime has ever been spent on their day to day humane management.

We manage them humanely for the public and by the public. It's possible because of YOUR public donations. It's possible because of our contract with the State and strong partner, the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA). It's possible with the help of MCSO who also does their fair share (helping with horses on the road, humane euthenasia and the public)

It's also possible, because the Tonto National Forest (TNF) is holding their ground on taking the humane route. They should actually be getting as many thanks right now, as they did complaints back then.

Why is this picture with this story? Because this is what the lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest (TNF) looked like 40 some years ago. We think they have been doing a pretty darn good job since then, and if you ever come visit the TNF, you can see that. Listening to the public and balancing many stakeholders cannot be easy, all while trying to stick to environmental goals.

Wild horses do have an effect on their environment. However, they have as many positive effects as they have negative effects, just like any other species, including mankind. No species are in decline along the Salt River, except for the Salt River wild horses.

They are in steep decline and it's a balancing act to make sure that they have enough genetic diversity and viability, in order to still be here long after we are all gone. Our requirements are pretty strict to get the population down fast. More than five hundred (500) foals that would have been born in the last 5 years, have not been born because of our PZP fertility control program. The foals they would have had, are not being born, and their foals and their foals, etc. Do the math if you want to.

We have saved the government a lot of money, we have saved the public a lot of anguish and we have saved the horses a lot of suffering.

It works, and anyone can come to the Salt River and see that we have one surviving 2023 foal, and many happy healthy adult horses enjoyed by thousands of people visiting our local area to watch them. Has it been easy? Is it easy? It certainly is not. Our success is due to our literal blood, sweat and tears, as well as attention to detail and keeping infallable records.

It is also due to having a steadfast lead mare who can negotiate on our behalf, lead many different programs at once, and organize a stampede of support. It is also due to real comradery, honest goodwill, and die-hard dedication of over 100 educated volunteers, who make our many programs run smoothly.

Why can we do it (on a very small budget) and the goverment doesn't seem to be able to? We believe that is because you need 100% dedication and caring for the horses themselves. We care about each and every Salt River wild horse like they were our children. We turn every decision around a thousand times, before we do anything. And we defend them, we will always defend them and give them your voices, loud and clear.

It wasn't a popular fund, our legal fund, but we found the most knowledgable NEPA attorney in the country anyway, and the American Wild Horse Campaign helped like they always do; they are our long time coalition partners we can count on.

The lawsuit was filed in April of this year by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and trophy hunting organizations. We filed a motion to intervene, which included declarations that set straight the numerous factual inaccuracies about the Salt River wild horses, such as the number of horses and facts about their diet. The plaintiffs also omitted any reference to the state law protecting the horses and authorizing the Arizona Department of Agriculture to manage them. In addition, their complaint neglected to mention that the Salt River horse management area was analyzed under NEPA in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Tonto National Forest Plan issued in March of 2022 and signed just last month.

Our motion to intervene was dismissed only because the lawsuit was dismissed and should another lawsuit be filed, we can file another motion to intervene, which we believe we should. If our legal fund would be supported like the CBD's legal fund is supported, we could accomplish so much, for other horse herds that they are also targeting.

Are we tooting our own horn? Maybe. But perhaps we should be tooting it a lot more often and louder plus farther and wider, because then maybe people would understand that there is a better way.

It's the alternative to letting them breed on the range and outgrow their bounderies, and then trucking them to slaughter auctions. It's the alternative to spending millions in tax payer dollars on cruel methods. It's the alternative to the same thing we've been doing for 50 years that isn't working.

Change doesn't come overnight, it takes an entire movement. But 2024 is almost here and the future is now. If you want to help change the course of history for our American icons just share; humane wild horse management is possible;
we proved it, and now all you have to do is let everyone know, including your family and friends and your elected officials and the chief of the Forest Service Randy Moore; just explain; THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

For all wild horses everywhere,
The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.

U.S. Forest Service-Tonto National Forest American Wild Horse Campaign Return To Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation The Asher House Animal Recovery Mission All Seated in a Barn The Wild Horse Refuge Nirvana Mustang Sanctuary Skydog Sanctuary The Cloud Foundation

Today they don't need your donations, today they need your voice, today they need a united choir, a thunderous and resound NO, to their inhumane treatment.

There are better ways!! Ask for a halt to the removals of Alpine wild horses until humane and responsible solutions are considered! Be polite and nice please, and if you get an answering machine, please ask for a call back.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!

Calling for justice for the Alpine's.
It has been pure insanity to try and save every Alpine wild horse. Right now we are up to 315 saved! But this has been an incredible pressure on us and on the rescue community and we are out of contacts and out of good homes and another auction was just posted! What it comes down to is, the removals of Alpine wild horses need to stop. At least until humane solutions are considered and there can be a responsible process. The incredible pressure on the rescue community needs to stop.

So today we are not asking our supporters to donate to save them, but we are asking for phonecalls, we need many phonecalls to urge humane solutions in the field, instead of killpens! If you have time to make a comment on Social Media, then you have time right now after reading this, to make just one phonecall to the chief of the Forest Service Randy Moore. (202) 205 8439

A really nice executive assistant named Robin is doing her best to field all of the phonecalls and we appreciate her. Please be polite and explain that NO horse removed from our public lands should ever end up in a killpen!!
Tell them there are better ways to manage wild horses and name Salt River Wild Horse Management Group as an example.
It's not scary, it's not hard, it's not time consuming and it won't cost you a dime, but it WILL make a difference!

202 205 8439

For the wild ones, Thank you!!! 💕

Bowie Auction rescued Alpine's!
Merlin's band.
Merlin is a fairly young lead stallion and he does the job together with Blackstone, who might be the older original lead stallion of the band. Sometimes those roles change as older horses slowly loose their power.

This band has had a lot of band changes as they lost some mares in Jacob Roer and Jackie Hughes traps earlier this year, and then they picked up some mares from Coconino's band, who was captured in the traps himself with only half of his band. (*We rescued Coconino from the Rail Lazy H auctions and he is now at the Wild Horse Refuge in Colorado with at least a few of his mares).

Luisa is a Coconino mare and we believe she may have injured her stifle jumping out of the traps, but she has been healing in the wild. The sweet thing is that Merlin and Blackstone always wait up for her.

The Alpine wild horses left in the wild are truly in turmoil, because of the removals and the shootings combined. These horses have been through hell and back, and they are trying to survive by taking care of eachother, they are simply amazing.

Our documentation and field work is so important, because it is the only way we can recognize them in the auctions, as Alpine wild horses have no brands. It is for this reason that our volunteers have been traveling 5 hours (one way) to Alpine and 5 hours back. Our AWHA volunteers, who live in Alpine, are also imperative in this process and we are looking for more volunteers who live in Alpine or Nutrioso. They are becoming their own non-profit soon and you can support them at www.Alpinewildhorses.org

FYI we think we are missing yearling Jillette. Perhaps this yearling will show up at the next Alpine wild horse auction, which will be online at RailLazyH, Jackie's website on Dec 16th! Aaaaargh. We are already trying to find placement for those horses, because without a place to go, we cannot rescue them! How can u help?? We need homes for these horses, and land or people with land. But most of all we need these removals and the pressure on the rescue community to stop.

Thank you everyone for your support! SRWHMG. Return To Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation All Seated in a Barn .

Guardian! (Rescued at the Bowie auction)
This is the brother of Dauntless. He saw his dam (mother) his sire (father), and 2 band foals (half sisters) shot and die in front of him, as well as the lieutenant stallion of his band. Searching the Apache Forest, back in October of 2022 we found them all laying close together, massacred. (Our Pictures are on the Alpine massacre evidence page, but are highly graphic)

While under fire, he must have been running for his life, with the remaining members of his family. We were so happy to find at least half the band alive. While taking lots of pictures for ID that horrifying week, we whispered apologies to them, for mankind, and all the unjustified hatred and killing towards them. We wish they could know that there is so much love for them too. You've all shown that so clearly today.

But Guardian wasn't old enough at the time to lead his band, so they were kindof lost and vulnerable. Then a gorgeous stallion appeared with them, a large pale Buckskin. He was highly alert, kept them all together, and stayed far away from people. The picture below, of the newly formed Hero's band, was taken just a few days day after the massacre. Hero blew his nose at us, (possibly blaming us), and proceeded to turn them around, right after we took this picture. See Guardian to the right of Hero.

Sadly, even the massacre didn't stop the Forest Service from continuing the removals, and a few months later, Hero and his band were caught in the traps of Jacob Roer and Jackie Hughes.

Then, with your help, we purchased them all in the online Rail Lazy H auction. Remember their Fundraiser? They are now happily running on 8000 acres at the in Colorado. Except for his sister Dauntless, who lives happily ever after, at the Aspen Lodge in Alpine, and she has since had a beautiful foal; Legacy, out of the deceased stallion Eric. (Fyi It is just $99 a night to stay at the Aspen Lodge in Alpine and visit Dauntless and Legacy and Hope.)

It bothered us ofcourse, that Hero and Guardian, were not in that auction, but we found Guardian still wild and free, not long after. We asked Jackie about Hero and she swore she didn't have him. (we have the text messages to prove it.) However, several weeks later, we positively identified Hero, at a ranch owned by a friend of Jackie's!

So how might he have ended up there? We are still not clear if it's legal or fine with the Forest Service, if Jackie just takes any horse she wants, without offering it in a public auction...and then also deny it, when asked.

Anyway, Guardian was still free in the forest, and we saw him protecting the two orphan babies and the palomino, who was shot in the jaw. ( they were the only 3 survivors of their band of 12. ) We ofcourse asked Jackie if we could rescue the three of them...but that was a no, then a maybe, then no again. It often seemed like a deliberate cruel game with our emotions.

Sadly we have not seen Jaws or the babies since last year, which means they likely parished during the cold winter up in the high mountains. Guardian was seen a few more times, surviving and looking healthy, but we knew it wouldn't be long until he would lose his freedom too.

Finding Guardian in the Bowie kill auction this weekend made our hearts plumit. He was treated so badly by mankind again and again, and there seemed to be no way to prevent this ultimate betrayal - his slaughter in Mexico.

BUT we have learned to never give up. We let you all know what was happening, we found rescue partners in ( and ) and permanent sanctuary at . We are so thankful.

Even when things seem quite impossible, we always aim to beat the odds and you know we often do! Through the generosity and compassion of thousands of angels - that is all of you - and large organizations coming together, his fate was turned around. Guardian is forever safe!

He will now get to experience that there are wonderful people too in the world. He was bought in the auction by Jessica of Red Orchard Animal Rescue, and his costs will be covered from the total amount raised by All Seated in a Barn (ASIAB)

So you see, your generocity made a big difference. Every dolllar counted and every person mattered and time was of the essence. This holiday season, we hope that each one of you may know that you make the world a better place.
Thank you to everyone who helped! We love our supporters so much! SRWHMG.

P.S. This story is not fiction, these are the things we document while monitoring and studying wild horses in the wild. They all have a story.

P.S2 In our posts we always say "we", why? Because while it is usually Simone writing (without chat gpt), we are 100 volunteers. Sometimes it is one person documenting and sometimes it is a whole team. Some of us are in the Tonto National Forest and some of us in the Apache Sitgreaves national Forest. Some of us are helping horses cross the road, some of us are fixing fences, picking up p**p after our rescues, etc.etc etc. All of us are covering different shifts; it is how we get so much done all at the same time.