Arizona woman’s hobby may hold key to saving wild horses

Excerpted from an article by Derry London for WLTX. Video originally posted on KPNX.

Phoenix, AZ — One woman’s hobby of capturing pictures of wild horses may be the key to saving their lives.

The U.S. Forest Service and others have struggled for years to decide how to deal with wild horses inside Tonto National Forest because of worries that they were eating too much of the fragile grasses. But with money and manpower stretched, rangers here never had even attempted to catalog the herd.

More than a year ago, a friend brought Becky Standridge to the area.

“I’d heard about these wild horses for several years, but I’d never seen them,” she said.

For the laid-off Intel worker, it was love at first sight. Standridge brought her camera and began amassing a vast album of the herd.

“I identify their color, their blaze, their socks. All the characteristics. Who’s who. What’s going on,” she said. “The horses are all very special. Their family bonds are very strong. Their freedom is extremely important to them.”

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