Oakley the Alpine Wild Mare's Story:
This gorgeous mare was pulled from the US Forest Service contractor Rail Lazy H's obscure auction by our partner Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and was set to go to a large sanctuary with her entire family! Before it was time to transport the mares & fillies, the sanctuary became full and could no longer offer them a forever home.
We agreed to take all 5 displaced Alpine Wild Horses in, and with the help of Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and some committed sponsors we were able to bring home all five of these ladies on October 8th 2023!
Oakley is the most beautiful golden buskin mare! She was in the wild last spring, so it's possible that she may be pregnant. She is the wise leader of the five displaced mares who are still so very bonded here at Nirvana.
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The Alpine Wild Horses of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest have one of the most harrowing stories of all time.
Historians confirm that accounts of the presence of horses have been made in the Alpine Herd’s homeland since Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition through the area in search of the Seven Cities of Gold in the 1540’s! These horses are remnants of the Spanish horses brought along on the expedition. Many of them carry heavy primitive markings, characteristic of old Spanish breeds!
In 2022 the US Forest Service, who manage wild horses living in National Parks, deemed that the Alpine Wild Horse Herd was further endangering an endangered ground mouse, and declared their complete removal.
Shortly after the removal announcement, there was a mass shooting where over 50 Alpines were shot dead in the forest. Several horses that now call Nirvana home watched in terror as they lost their families, including brave Guardian, who took in two orphaned babies after the shooting- one of which had been shot in the jaw and survived for many months afterwards. Several other hoses survived with injuries, wondering why they fell prey to such a madman. The people responsible were never caught, but it is easy to see that it was likely local ranchers who graze their cattle on the very same public lands where the Alpine Wild Horses lived wild and free. It was interesting that the cattle were still allowed to graze the area regardless of the endangered mouse….
The round ups officially began in late 2022 and the horrors the Alpines experienced only continued. Though we are grateful these removals were conducted via bait and trap instead of treacherous helicopter round ups, there was lots of suspicious activity and volunteers would often find horses dead with broken legs and bullet holes dumped not far from the trapsite. It was apparent that lots was going horribly wrong as the horses were pushed in the corral or into the trailers that came periodically to empty the traps and take the horses to the Rail Lazy H facility, resulting in broken legs and lots of suffering, with the gunshots that were meant to provide a faster end, often missing vital organs and resulting in more suffering.
By 2025, nearly all of the Alpines had been removed. Visitors to the forest have had a hard time finding any horses, and the last one seen was wondering alone, calling out trying to find any other horses he could join up with.
We are so grateful to be home to so many of these special, historic horses- providing them a future that otherwise would have been stolen from them!
