Footage And Videos Of The Salt River Wild Horses In Arizona
The Wild Heart & Soul of the Salt River: Mustang Stories Told Through My Lens
I will never forget the first time I got to experience seeing a band of the Salt River wild horses cross the river. On an early late fall morning in 2023 they emerged seemingly out of nowhere from a dark and densely wooded river bank and then slowly crossed the river single file during a very vibrant sunrise. That was the moment I fell in love with filming them. I felt like I was on the set of an old Hollywood western movie with an iconic Sonoran desert landscape and Saguaro cactus in the background. This awe I felt was enhanced by the sunrise casting colorful reflections on the water and that one of kind sound of the horses wading and splashing across the river almost right in front of me. As I have shared many times, whether its on the river or up in the hills, it just never gets old seeing and capturing video of these beautiful and charismatic animals- still roaming freely in their rugged desert domain and home of over 200 years.
Since 2023, I’ve returned to the lower Salt River area in the Tonto National forest near Mesa Arizona, again and again—with multiple cameras in my backpack—looking for opportunities to capture compelling video footage of these Mustangs in their daily lives and movements. Every visit is different. Sometimes I hike in well before sunrise to be in position to capture the horses at first light or head out late in the afternoon to catch the golden hour and sunset scenery. Sometimes I patently wait hours and its a complete bust with no horses to be seen or heard- anywhere. Other times its complete chaos with multiple bands of horses showing up and putting on quite a dramatic show including dashing across the river. Or two feisty Stallions sparing or fighting for dominance and Mares. You just never what is going to unfold. And for me the live action the horses can provide makes it worth the investment of time and energy looking for them- including getting up at 4am in the morning and hiking alone in a dark desert landscape that a lot of big Mountain lions also call home….LOL
Anyway, from these experiences, I’ve created dozens of high quality short videos shot in 4k that provide glimpse into their world—unedited by narration or agenda—just the pure, honest beauty of wild horses living in the Arizona desert.
You can watch footage I have captured and edited on my dedicated Salt River Wild Horses YouTube channel here, where I continue to try to add a new video clip once every week or so. This includes lots of popular Youtube shorts or reels.
My Goal:
That hopefully my cinematic style videos allow people to get a sense what I feel when I’m standing on the river bank as the horses come charging over. Or what its like climbing into the hills before sunrise and finding a big band of horses feeding peacefully in a hidden valley—connected to something wild, free, and still very real in our modern world. I also have grown to appreciate that not everyone is able to visit here or able to hike to some of these rugged desert (and extremely hot at times) locations because of health or fitness concerns. Many people and followers of mine have graciously shared with me that these videos allow them to still enjoy the experience of seeing the horses vicariously.
Hopefully my photography journey with the Salt River horse herd is far from over. As long as they roam, I’ll keep filming—one sunrise, one river crossing, one dark and early morning trek into the hills, one story at a time.
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If you’d like to experience the Salt River Wild Horses through my lens:
👉 Watch the videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZD1wE1Va71W9Nzp6ennTg]
👉 Please consider subscribing to this channel to support my ongoing work and help others discover these incredible wild horses.
Every view, share, and subscription helps keep this story alive.
Wild Horse Video Footage For Sale, Photography Tours, & Consulting :
Please contact me if you have any questions or want to inquire about purchasing video footage of the Salt River horses. Or inquiring about consulting or setting up a private consultation and or a small group guided field tour to find and photograph the Salt River wild horses.
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Below are some links to a few sample videos