Photo by Bob Hills
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The Wild Horses of the Salt River
By Linda Shannon-Hills
Growing up with horses in my childhood and teenage years, I have always had an emotional connection to horses. I always searched for horse herds in the wild, sometimes finding them, but most of the time these herds eluded our search.
After moving to Arizona, Bob’s photography friends told him about a large herd of wild horses near the lower Salt River. In many areas of the country, it can be difficult to find these horses in the wild but at lower Salt River, we heard stories of how easy it would be for us to experience these horses in their natural environment.
Planning out our trip north, we researched the areas along the river most likely to find these mustangs. For our first excursion, we headed to the Granite Reef Recreational Area. I found a comfortable spot to sit with my binoculars and camera, while Bob walked along the riverbank on the south side. The area was not crowded with people as it was mid-week. With my notebook in hand, I started making notes. No horses in sight but this would require patience.
Bob came back to the place I was sitting, no luck either in finding horses near the river. Bob sat down with me, and we discussed other options to finding these mustangs. Suddenly a huge group of wild horses came charging through the trees and crashing into the Salt River, swimming straight toward us. They were fired up, with skirmishes breaking out within the group as they moved through the water, seemingly without direction.
One can only describe this experience as awe-inspiring. Beautiful creatures living in the wild, it was very intriguing to see this many horses running free at once. That is a lot of horsepower in one place, and the herd made so much noise, you could not miss them in the river. We spent several hours watching and photographing the variety of horses.
Once we returned home, my research began to learn more about this herd of mustangs. The Salt River wild horses are a historic population of unbranded, unclaimed, wild and free roaming, that were born in the wild and protected within the Tonto National Forest. It is believed these mustangs are descendants of Spanish or Iberian horses that were brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. The name “mustang” was derived from the Spanish word “mustengo,” which means “ownerless beast.” Tracing historic records of 1687, Missionary Father Eusebio Keno journeyed to southern Arizona.
In 2016, an Arizona law passed stating the wild horses are “not stray livestock,” and are now managed humanely through the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.
The Salt River waterway is over 200 miles long and is the largest tributary of the Gila River … and is apparently the river of choice for wild horses.
On each visit, I find myself just watching as they eat the lush grass along the river, while others hang together in solidarity. Never a dull moment while viewing these horses in the wild.
Reference: saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org/less-than-500-wild-horses-remain-on-public-lands-in-arizona