Wild Mustangs of Salt Wells, Wyoming

This is in no way going to be an “all informative” blog post about the Salt Wells HMA in Wyoming. There are people who have been visiting that area for years, and years who are way better qualified than me to give you all the whys and wherefores of the area. This post is just me after camping for several days in this vast, beautiful area of far southern Wyoming. We camped with our great friends who have been going to Salt Wells and the surrounding area for many years, which was very helpful since this HMA is well over a million acres.

This area is specifically known for the curly horses. The unique and beautiful curly coat on some of these horses, is not found anywhere else. (That I know of anyway) What a rare and special thing to see.

The ears!! I mean look how cute that is!

Eyes Like the Skies

Curly at Sunset

Horses and fall colors. This landscape was incredibly diverse, more than I expected.

I love palominos, and of course the curlies are so beautiful anyway. Imagine how thrilled I was to find these two, curly palominos.

There are quite a few Palominos in the HMA. Their beauty is just unrivaled.

My favorite time to photograph these golden horses is at sunset, when the light is gold and soft.

This one had cute freckles! How sweet is that.

You know you want to share that.

One thing I always like about visiting different HMA’s is the diversity in colors and markings you see. Every area seems to have their own unique touch on the horses, and Salt Wells was no different.

A true strawberry blonde. Such a beautiful color.

This mare was different for sure.

I love everything about this mare. Her unique face, and the interesting markings on the rest of her.

This gal, what a beautiful soft color she is. And the tall red socks are pretty cool too.

This stallion is pretty iconic, and well known. He was one I really did want to see, and he graced us with a brief moment of his time.

Then there’s this big blue eyed boy.

And his mini me.

He was right by this very pregnant mares side. I love how the wild horses care for, and about each other so much. This is the number one reason roundups are so tragic. They break up these loving families, and destroy those close bonds they have.

Then of course the tiny foals suffer the most in a roundup. This gorgeous mom and her very young foal deserve to live their lives in peace.

The BLM is planning on completely wiping out the wild horses of the Salt Wells, Adobe Town areas. They are on the roundup schedule for 2025 to remove 3624 wild horses. Which is all of them. To see the vastness of this area, and to try and wrap your head around the reasoning behind total removal, of all the wild horses is mind blowing. There is more than enough room for everything. We saw lots of pronghorn, some deer, and even an elk. We also saw lots of cattle. And there is the impetus behind the round up right there. The Rock Springs grazing association wants all the wild horses removed. For some unfathomable reason they feel they need every  blade of grass for their precious cows, and god forbid they share. There is currently a lawsuit to stop the round up, and you can find more information on that, at this link.   

Fingers crossed it’s successful and stops the roundup completely. To lose the unique curlies, and all the other beautiful wild horses here, would be an unimaginable loss. And to what end? More cows?

Simply put, these guys deserve their life and their freedom.

These are the scenes I want to see, and what I want future generations to see.

Vast Freedom

Windy Pair

I don’t want the sun set to set on our wild mustangs. I want them to be preserved for future generations, so they can explore, and enjoy the wonder of the wild ones.