Travel Shot: The Courageous Horses of Havasupai - Arizona

I’m about to share a bit of a sad story from our Havasu Falls trip. This is not intended in any way to put down the Havasupai people who live on the reservation, but merely an account of what we saw.

At the end of our exciting helicopter ride up the canyon, we made our way to the parking lot to find our car and watch all the exhausted people who bravely made the 10-mile hike up the canyon. We instead took the easy and extremely fun way out via helicopter.

In my defense, I had never been in a helicopter, despite Scott having his private pilot’s license. I know, you feel really sorry for me. Shame on Scott for never taking me on a ride.

Back to my story. The pack mules and horses that carry gear through the canyon are usually tied together to form a line. As we were all watching and photographing one set of horses making their way up the mountain, suddenly the second horse in the line lost its footing and fell over.

The horse must have been top heavy with four huge packs tied to its back, so it lay on its side, unable to get up. This would have been less of a dramatic situation if the horse had been in the front of the line. Unfortunately, he was second in line and the horse in front of him had no intention of stopping.

The leading horse kept pulling on the rope that was attached to the fallen horse’s head, but the fallen horse was not getting up. No matter how hard the front horse stretched the fallen horse’s neck, he just didn’t have the strength with all of that gear.

It was a sad sight to see and brought tears to my eyes. I have to say though, the tribe members did rush over to untie the horse from the leader and free him of the weight on his back. Only after the packs were lifted and with a little help from the tribesmen, did the horse finally get up.

This photo was taken of the horses after they had reached the parking lot and were resting after a long journey. This picture is not of the fallen horse. He was a bit shaken up and I thought it best to give him some space.

This handsome guy is one of the mules who loved getting attention from the tourists.

This post was partly made possible with the generosity of Only Apartments: With our Florence apartments, you can enjoy the beauty of Florence for a cheaper price than a hotel room.

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