Salt River horses to McDowell Sonoran Preserve?

[Alston_Neal]

This could be interesting.
https://www.azfamily.com/2025/07/30/sco ... thin-herd/

[chumley]

@Alston_Neal
This proposal seems to align perfectly with the intellect of those who are currently "managing" the herd.

[CannondaleKid]

Whatever happens, from personal observation, based on how denuded the areas between the Salt River and Bush Highway have become there are far too many horses for the available natural resources... because they simply could not survive on what little vegetation is there

So, how DO they survive?
First off, they are no longer 'wild' horses... the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group has been feeding them ever since they started their 'management'.
And they last few years they have been dropping hay bales in new areas, so once that hay has been consumed the horses keep wandering around seeking more and in a very short time those areas are totally clean of any prior vegetation and now they are nothing but dust.

On my regular mountain bike rides through the area (2-4x weekly) I used to get 3-4 rides in before needing to clean and lube the chain. But now I'm not even through one ride before the dust buildup causes so much noise from the chain I have to grit my teeth until back to the car. As a result I've changed my route to pass by the car roughly halfway through each ride so I can remedy the issue and continue.

[chumley]

@CannondaleKid
But aren’t they pretty?