Over the next weeks and months in the summer and fall of 2014 we used this Facebook page to inform people what the Forest Service had in store for the Heber wild horse herd. We asked that people please follow and share our page and they did! In the fall of 2014 we got the attention of the media. We met up in the forest with reporter Brenna Goth and photographer Tom Tingle of the Arizona Republic. “A herd in limbo” was published on Dec 11, 2014. It was the first of numerous media outlets over the following years to cover in print, online, in television broadcasts, and or radio programs the plight of the Hebers.
The main objective of the Heber Wild Horses Facebook page is to save the herd. By that we mean all of them should be left free and free-roaming in the Sitgreaves and they should be declared a “Study Herd” for the next 7-10 years as requested by the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN 1980. According to the latest Schedule Of Proposed Actions (SOPA) the Heber Wild Horse Territory management plan final decision and implementation is expected in Oct 2023. If that happens the culls will begin along with some form of birth control such as PZP or GonaCon and there will soon no longer be any wild horses to see or photograph. The horses up in the Show Low area will all be removed. The horses that are so often enjoyed and photographed from Clay Springs west to Forest Service Rd 50 will be gone. There will only be a few token overmanaged horses in a small area of the Black Mesa Ranger District.
We are so grateful for each and every one of you who over the years helped to spread the word by following our page and sharing our posts. We are also thankful for all those who have come from near and far to visit and photograph the Hebers and share their photographs and stories of the Heber wild horses on their own Facebook pages and other social media outlets. It truly does take a village.
This black stallion is the original Diamond of the Heber herd.