8 June 12th-June 18th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | All Spurred Up Two Arizona groups are at war over the future of the Salt River horses. BY NOAH CULLEN F or decades, visitors and Arizonans alike have flocked to see a herd of wild horses that roam near the lower Salt River. Known as the Salt River Horses, the animals are believed to have lived along the river in northeast Mesa for more than 100 years. They are iconic symbols of the West, beloved by everyone from nature photographers to those looking for a respite from the urban sprawl of metro Phoenix. People come from all over to the Tonto National Forest to watch their brown and splotchy white coats dipping into the river to find fresh eelgrass, or to see a foal chasing after a mare. But just as the horses inspire passion, they also inspire passionate arguments. Some think the horses should be removed because they will eventually overgraze the land to the point where it cannot sustain them. Others want the horses left alone, with numbers carefully managed via fertility treatments. Arguments play out in court cases and Facebook groups, each side suspecting the motives of the other. One such argument, between the group that currently manages the wild horse population and another that would like to take over that responsibility, has been roiling for months. The fight has gotten nasty, and both groups say the future of the Salt River Horses — and Arizonans’ ability to enjoy them — is on the line. The group that currently manages the horses is the nonprofit Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, and it has a lot of supporters. On Facebook, 174,000 people follow the group, which consists mainly of volunteers who tend to the horse population and is led by Simone Netherlands. An additional Facebook group, the 93,000-follower “Salt River Wild Horse - Advocates” group, largely parrots the talking points of the first. But a much smaller group has been training its fire on the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group. Dubbed the “Wild Horse Transition Team,” the group is run by professor and historian John Mack and U.S. Forest Service contractor Jacquelyn Hughes. It has only 232 members, though a related Facebook group has 3,000 followers. Between them, the groups are harshly critical of the current management group, claiming the group isn’t open to opposing ideas, risks damaging the environment by letting the horses overgraze and isn’t transparent about how it spends money. The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group’s current contract expires in July. As the Department of Agriculture begins considering who should manage the horses going forward, the feud between the two horse-loving factions has reached a fever pitch. Both are competing for the next contract to manage the horses, and both think the other will imperil the horses, and perhaps the envi- ronment, with their plans. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has sent signals that it is prepared to change horses midstream — moving away from Netherlands’ group and adopting a management plan more aligned with Mack and Hughes but that Netherlands finds problematic. The fate of the Valley’s beloved wild horses hangs in the balance. Changing horses? As best as anyone knows, the Salt River horses have been there for centuries. The horses are not technically native to Arizona — horses that once lived in the Americas went extinct thousands of years ago before being reintroduced by Spanish colonizers in the late 15th century. But they’ve certainly been here longer than most transplants. Most estimates trace their origin to the Italian missionary Father Eusebio Kino, who established a series of missions in Arizona in 1691. By 1890, the Arizona Champion Newspaper referred to the horses as “native stock.” It wasn’t until 2016, though, that the Salt River horses enjoyed special protec- tion. That year, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed the Salt River Horse Act, which states the horses are not “stray animals” and that no one can “take, chase, capture or euthanize” a horse without approval from the Arizona Department of Agriculture or the county sheriff. A horse can only be removed for “humane” purposes, such as if they’re old or injured. Every five years, the Arizona Department of Agriculture grants approval for a group to manage the roughly 280 horses now living on the river. The contract is a zero-dollar deal, meaning interested groups must fund their own efforts. That bidding process began again this year, though the department recently canceled the bidding “because of unau- thorized conversations that allegedly violated state law.” Netherlands said she thinks every bidder broke those rules — her group included. The department said it will soon start the process over, and Netherlands expects four organizations to bid for the contract. When it does, the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group will apply to renew its contract. However, the group isn’t hopeful of success. The Department of Agriculture is asking interested groups to submit proposals that adhere to a new provision to remove three adult horses — via adoption — for every foal born into the herd. To Netherlands, who is the president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, such an approach is anathema to her beliefs about how the herd should be managed. Her group has managed the horses through a fertility program. Volunteers dart mares with PZP, a drug that prevents pregnancy, ensuring that natural deaths outnumber births every year. According to the group’s numbers, they have taken the population from 463 horses in 2019 to 280 now, without taking any horses from the herd. The group is well on its way to thin- ning the herd to between 100-200 horses by 2030, as laid out in an agriculture department control plan in 2020. “We have proven that wild horses can be humanely managed without removing a single horse,” Netherlands said. But with the agriculture department’s new 3-for-1 requirement, Netherlands doesn’t expect that track record to get her group very far as it seeks to renew its contract. Applicants will be stating their population goal and Netherlands fears that the contract might go to whichever group intends to leave the fewest. Though she wouldn’t say what number her group will submit, she knows it’ll have to be lower than they’d like to have a chance. She said the department intends to leave A history professor who lives in Fountain Hills, John Mack is leading a rival effort to take over the management of the Salt River horses. (Courtesy of John Mack) Simone Netherlands and one of her horses at her Prescott-area ranch in 2016. (Andrew Pielage) The contract to manage the Salt River horses is nearly up, and the Arizona Department of Agriculture is seeking bids for a group willing to thin the herd further. (Andrew Pielage) >> p 10 | NEWS | | NEWS |
