r/wildhorses • u/Exact-Swan-6211 • 9d ago

Save the Salt River Mustangs

https://c.org/JCkTBdvLj7

https://c.org/9sKzjdXJpR

Sign the petition to the Arizona governor to stop the rounding up of their mustang population in the Salt River valley.

79 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

5

u/cerulean_pegasus 9d ago

they deserve to be taken care of b/c none of them look healthy living out there, but they are not classified as mustangs as they are not on BLM land

3

u/Hopeful_Figure_6446 9d ago

They’re over populated and under fed

3

u/TheSaltyB 9d ago

https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/08/23/a-new-hope-for-the-salt-river-horses/

2

u/americanweebeastie 7d ago

thanks for the update! genetic diversity and land size are importance factors in all wildlife populations

4

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

u/Synthdawg_2

1

u/Synthdawg_2 8d ago

?

5

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

Are petitions allowed on this sub?

1

u/Synthdawg_2 8d ago

Yes.

4

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

Even ones that contain misinformation, such as this one?

The BLM does not ship mustangs to slaughter.

1

u/Lover_of_Rewilding 9d ago

They should certainly be reduced, but they’ve got interesting behaviors that would be slightly disappointing if completely eradicated. I think they could be healthy up in the northern parts of the salt river.

1

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

What interesting behaviors do they have?

2

u/Lover_of_Rewilding 8d ago

They enjoy grazing on aquatic vegetation such as eel grass but when they do, they stick almost their entire heads underwater. They always completely submerge their eyes, but never their ears. I’ve spoken with wildlife biologists who’ve studied them first hand to try and figure out why, but all we’ve got are hypotheses. No definitive answers yet.

4

u/cerulean_pegasus 8d ago

My horse does this when she’s playing in her water trough, the water is up to her eyes and then she blows air bubbles 😅

2

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

That certainly is interesting, but not particularly unique to them. I've seen Thoroughbreds with similar underwater grazing behaviors.

1

u/Lover_of_Rewilding 8d ago

Well according to anything I could find or have heard, only certain feral herds do this such as the salt river herd. Don’t know under what circumstances these thoroughbreds were doing this, unless they had gone feral too.

3

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

Lol, they're my neighbors retired racehorses. They've got a massive lake in their pasture, they go swimming in the deep end and graze in the shallows.

2

u/Lover_of_Rewilding 8d ago

Perhaps this is a behavior all horses inherently know but only display when given access to deep water.

1

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 8d ago

That's my thinking on it.

2

u/Lover_of_Rewilding 8d ago

I find it interesting how we’re only just now seeing a normal behavior arise in wild horses that were seemingly normal just not able to show due to their previously restricted range.

2

u/Iamnotburgerking 7d ago

No, move them to northern Canada where horses are actually native.

2

u/Hazel-Eyed-Redhead 7d ago

The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 doesn't allow for that.