In the news

28 07 2008

Thanks to artist Karen Keene-Day for an email about this article that was featured in the Sunday (July 27) Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10002528

I guess even the government can’t control the BLM; despite the letter sent by U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources), the tone of the article seems to be that the BLM is plowing ahead with plans to “euthanize” wild horses or send them to slaughterhouses. None in America? Guess they’ll go to Canada or Mexico.

The article also says three roundups are planned this fall in Colorado. Sand Wash Basin was supposed to have a roundup (we are/were supposed to get three mares from that herd (for genetic viability) because we didn’t get them after the Little Book Cliffs roundup last fall after ours), but it apparently isn’t funded (I still don’t understand that?), and the West Douglas Creek horses are scheduled to be “zeroed out” because of oil and gas drilling. Where’s the other roundup?

The Cortez Journal ran an AP story last week about testing done on Nellis Air Force Base to determine what killed 71 wild horses there last year. This link to a Las Vegas TV news station provides a link to that story (the report is finally out) as well as past news stories: http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/category.asp?C=63593

Roundups also are being planned in the McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area outside Cody, Wyo., and on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana (just ones I know about). Where are those horses going to go? The BLM is calling the Pryor roundup an “emergency” and in its EA (http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/mt/field_offices/billings/horseeas/2008.Par.13838.File.dat/2008gatherEA.pdf) shows photos of damaged range (in the lower, desert part of the range where few horses summer) and a thin mare (not even shed out and just had a foal). Pam Nickoles, who visited Spring Creek Basin in late May, visited both those ranges a couple of weeks ago and said she has never seen the ranges – or the horses – looking better. I understand this year may be better than next year and the year after that, but to call for an “emergency” gather seems silly in light of the BLM’s financial woes.

Always something, eh?





Range delivery – July 25, 2008

25 07 2008
Welcome to your world!

Welcome to your world!

Happy birthday, baby!

We had a big rainstorm yesterday evening, complete with long-rolling thunder and scary-close lightning flashes. The rain was lovely in the area around my house, two hours away from the basin. In the basin, it rained hard enough to send gravel across the road in places, and although the road was pretty dry, water was still standing in some ditches alongside.

To keep a short story shorter, I spotted Steeldust’s band with the binoculars in an area just off the road, just east of the first intersection. The Spring Creek arroyo was a little gushy after the rain, so I parked there and walked up the road to the horses. My first sighting of Alpha was from far enough away that all I could see was a little shadow by her side! But it was enough to realize she’d had her foal. As it turned out, not only had she had her foal, she had it today. Her back legs and tail are still red with dried blood, which would have washed off in the rain if she’d had her foal before the storm. Pretty amazing.

Alpha was really, really good about letting me take photos – better than I expected – so I didn’t stay too long. Baby is chestnut right now (I’m sure he’ll turn grey) with a big, bold blaze that starts in a diamond on his forehead and ends over his right nostril (Alpha’s snip is over her left nostril). He has long stockings on both hind legs that reach almost to his hocks. He’s a leggy sucker, and yes, he’s a colt – only the second this year. He is the seventh foal born in the basin this season … and in honor of our biggest rain of the summer so far, I named him Storm. He’s strong and healthy and absolutely perfect!

Storm with his family

Storm with his family

 This was one of my first views of Storm and Alpha. You can see the reddish hue to her hind legs and tail.

Hungry baby

Hungry baby

During the short time I spent with the band, Storm nursed a lot – a good sign for this newborn.

Good mama

Good mama

Isn’t he gorgeous?

Sticking close

Sticking close

Look at those curly little ears! Iya’s ears were just like that when she was born. 

Ember and Kestrel

Ember and Kestrel

These sisters very often hang out close to each other. Kestrel is a good babysitter.

Pinon and Butch

Pinon and Butch

Pinon likes to hang out with the boys …

Let's play!

Let's play!

Here he’s trying to get Sundance to play. It’s not fair: Pinon can be a brat, but Sundance has to be a big boy and just walk away without hurting the baby.

Hello!

Hello!

Look how big Pinon looks next to Storm! Pinon is a little older than 2 months now.

Nap time

Nap time

Ember laid down for a nap, and Storm thought about it … but ultimately stayed on his feet. Ember is a little older than 3 months.

Home sweet home

Home sweet home

Look at the beautiful world our wild baby is born into. As I left – slowly, ahead of the next advancing storm – I couldn’t help but wonder how long the basin will be a safe place for our Spring Creek Basin herd.





Well …

20 07 2008
Somebody's pregnant ...

Somebody's pregnant ...

… I think? Our girl’s still holding on. Here’s something weird for ya: Today is 11 months to the day from the first day of the roundup last year. Alpha was gathered Aug. 21. Even if she’s not pregnant, the basin is never a bad place to spend the weekend (unless it rains and the road turns to slime).

Luna, the buckskin butterball in the photo above, has a filly that’s 3 months old now. She should be pregnant for next year.

Most of the ponies look really good. Jif still seems thin; I wouldn’t say she’s 100 percent sound. Molly’s also thin as an older mama nursing a baby, but she’s doing OK. I didn’t see Seven and the girls this weekend except from a distance. I had the good fortune to come across Poco, Bones and Roach both days, and despite her weird hip, she has filled out and looks pretty good.

Bones

Bones

She’s really a cutie, but it’s hard to get a flattering photo of her.

Poco and Bones

Poco and Bones

Here she’s looking better. Both times I saw the band, Bones was closer to Roach than to Poco, but Poco is definitely the leader of the pack.

Poco

Poco

That prominent outcropping in the background can be seen from almost everywhere in the basin. I’ve never been sure if that’s McKenna Peak or if another, sort of flat-topped “peak” nearby is McKenna. I probably ought to look at a map sometime – who needs a map when you know where you’re going or how to get where you want to go on the wild pony super-highways? McKenna Peak also lends its name to the wilderness study area that fills the southernmost end of the herd area. Poco got rid of most of his spines, it looks like – most importantly, the one right below his eye.

Roach

Roach

I love this guy. He just never gets ruffled. I’m always happy to spot his copper coat against the sage green of some distant hill.

Sundance

Sundance

Mr. Sundance, just off the road between the two intersections. The ponies were easier to find this weekend and were in the same general area both days. Sundance and Butch look very similar with just subtle differences. The dapples are a dead give-away that identify this rose-grey boy as Sundance.

Steeldust and Ember

Steeldust and Ember

Daddy’s little girl – Steeldust and Ember. Steeldust is a pretty good band sire. Even though he’s had to be constantly vigilant since April or so, when the bachelors started hanging around, he seems to take it all in stride. He doesn’t hound his mares, but he’s quick to discourage a bachelor that may get too close to his girls.

Peek-a-boo

Peek-a-boo

Pinon, down for a nap, seen through Mouse’s legs. Mouse was waiting his turn at a water seep (being hogged by Butch, Sundance and Luna), and I sneaked this photo from just off the road.

Say cheese!

Say cheese!

Family is the most important thing to wild horses. Sure, they have their disagreements – when Luna thought Butch and Sundance had had enough from the seep, she pawed at them to move them along – but what I love the most is that the youngsters – yearlings Baylee and Kestrel and babies Ember and Pinon – are as comfortable with any horse in the band as with their own mothers.

Grey/Traveler and his band are roaming around his old home territory, and they seem to keep the water catchment at the center of their wanderings. Bounce and Alegre were elusive Saturday, but they were out in the open today back in the east. The pintos were down in the meadow by the county road near dark, and at least a couple of the bachelors – Ty and Mesa? – were nearby.

No rain yesterday, but it was crazy-windy last night. Lightning flashed sporadically to the west and south, but nary a drop of rain did we receive in the basin. Today, I stood in the sunshine while random drops of rain fell from a huge dark cloud directly above us! By around 2, the clouds were building, and I judged it might be time to head out. I was going to go the back way – to the Dolores-Norwood Road to Dolores – but it looked pretty wicked that way, so I went the highway instead. I mention this because as I was driving up the switchbacks from Slickrock and the Dolores River canyon, I looked back toward the basin. In the middle of a vast purple curtain of rain, a giant spotlight beamed through the clouds – right onto my beloved Spring Creek Basin. God must love the wild ones as much as I do. As if I needed such a blatant sign.





A thousand emotions

15 07 2008

If one picture is worth a thousand words, the wild ones have filled me for a lifetime and beyond.  So here are a few favorite photos from the weekend to fill you, at least until next weekend.

Alpha with her band mates

Alpha with her band mates

Alpha seems perfectly content and in absolutely no hurry to have her foal.

Heave-ho!

Heave-ho!

Alpha laid down and rolled, and this is one in a sequence of photos I took of her getting back to her feet. That’s one big belly.

Rivals

Rivals

Hollywood, having successfully “wooed” Piedra and won her favor, now takes his duty to protect her very seriously. Mouse, meanwhile, doth protest. There’s a definite pecking order to the bachelors, and Mouse is on top. He gets the closest to the band, and his closest pal, Comanche, is allowed to get next closest. When they’re bored of standing around napping, Steeldust and Hollywood will go out and tease the bachelors, nibbling and sniffing, but never letting them anywhere near the band.

Stop following me!

Stop following me!

Does Pinon look slightly annoyed? His mama is just another step ahead of him, but he must have thought Steeldust (daddy) and Sundance were crowding him. Look at those ears and curled lip.

Lunch time

Lunch time

Pinon takes a lunch break.

Adults are so funny

Adults are so funny

Ember and Pinon seem to find Steeldust’s and Mahogany’s ground-level antics entertaining.

Pintos at sunset

Pintos at sunset

I found Kiowa, Spook and Chipeta with the rest of the pinto family just before sunset. They like to come down into a little “meadow” near the county road at dusk. I saw them one evening when I was leaving the area, so I checked the area Saturday, and sure enough, there they were. I’m really glad of every chance I have to see this band; they’re one of the most elusive.

Pintos at sunset

Pintos at sunset

The pintos went back up on a ridge, and I took this last shot of them at the end of the day.

Seven's band near sunrise

Seven's band near sunrise

Around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Seven and his band were near the dry water hole off the doubletrack. Beautiful light illuminated the horses.

Seven and his girls

Seven and his girls

Molly is thin, but she’s feeding her baby well. The band didn’t find water at the pond, but they did find it in an arroyo a bit south.

Seven

Seven

Beautiful boy.

Bounce

Bounce

Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were above the road on one of those little hills around the loop in the east. Bounce took an intense interest in something just out of sight, but I didn’t see anything. Maybe, like a mother bird that will feign a broken wing, his feigned interest is meant to throw the observer off the trail so Bounce can lead his small family to safety. Alegre is usually quick to leave, but she didn’t seem too worried about me … maybe because of their height advantage.

Alegre and Gaia

Alegre and Gaia

Pretty girls. All the babies are still pretty fuzzy, but it’s interesting to watch their colors. I think Gaia, Ember and definitely Iya all will lose their sorrel coats and turn grey eventually.

During the weekend, I saw all the horses except Poco, Bones and Roach. It rained Saturday evening, but I did make it once around the loop. I was hoping to see Poco and see if he managed to get rid of the cactus spines in his face, but I never saw those horses. I was surprised to see that the water hole below the roller-coaster ridge road still has quite a bit of water.

The coolest photos I did NOT take this weekend: a bobcat that crossed the road ahead of me as I was leaving the basin to go down and check on the pintos, and two rattlesnakes – one coiled, one slithering – on the road in the dark. I looked at them with a flashlight from the safety of the Jeep. Youngsters, I think, with just a couple of buttons each.





Suspense

14 07 2008

Is it killin’ ya? It’s driving me crazy! Not yet, folks. Not yet.

Some other good news to tide you over: The basin got some good, lovely “female” rain yesterday evening, and given the “iffiness” of some of the arroyo crossings, it has been raining some out there. It doesn’t seem like much, but we’ll take it. Also, Grey/Traveler and his band have found the water tank by the catchment! I’ve seen them in the vicinity twice now, and there are fresh tracks around the bigger of the two tanks. For one thing, this discovery means they’re getting some fresh water, and for another thing, it means the bands are dispersed a little more than they have been all spring and spreading out more to graze.

As for Alpha, she’s big as ever, and her udder looks full. She gets snappy at the two young stallions, Butch and Sundance, and she has started to wander off by herself a short distance – but then she seems just as happy in the middle of the band – and Steeldust seems to be keeping a close eye on her. Signs or just my imagination?

If it’s true that good things come to those who wait, we’re in for a treat!





To whom it may concern …

10 07 2008

Everyone needs to read this letter: http://wildhorsepreservation.com/pdf/EuthanasiaBLM_letter.pdf

I became aware of it this afternoon when I received an email from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. It is signed by Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, and Raul Grijalva of Arizona, chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, and it is addressed to Henri Bisson, deputy director of operations for the BLM. He’s the guy who made the announcement at the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting that the BLM just has to start killing horses.

I attended the advisory board meeting in Tucson back in February, and representatives of the GAO were at that meeting. According to the letter, in June 2007, the Committee on Natural Resources requested the GAO “conduct a comprehensive review of the BLM’s management of wild horses and burros on public lands. We did this because of continued concern that this program is being mismanaged, because we felt the BLM did little to address concerns raised by a 1990 GAO report, and because of recent changes to the Act in 2004.”

Please take a few moments and read the letter.





Pony Up!

10 07 2008

A local nonprofit group that partners with San Juan Public Lands here in Southwest Colorado will host “Pony Up Month” in August. The San Juan Mountains Association has all sorts of things going on, Claude Steelman will show off his new, excellent book, “Colorado’s Wild Horses,” and a local brew pub is setting aside a portion of its beer sales during the month of August to go toward our Spring Creek Basin horses.

Check out this Web site – http://www.sjma.org/whoweare/news/ponyup.htm – for more information.

The planning for this event started months ago, but in light of recent “decisions” by the BLM, it seems especially timely in our effort to save our wild horses.





The wait goes on – Sunday, July 6, 2008

6 07 2008

Any month now …

Alpha with Steeldust, Luna, Butch and Ember

Alpha with Steeldust, Luna, Butch and Ember

Hey, check it out – automatic captions now below the pix. Cool.

So there’s the big girl, looking like she could hold out until August (hopefully not!).

As the Fourth of July approached, I was hoping, hoping, hoping Alpha would do us all the honor of foaling on or near Independence Day. I’ve already – just recently – named her foal … though if it turns out she’s really just monstrously fat, the joke will be on me. I’m going to keep you waiting on that name.

When I first got out to the band Saturday, three things hit me in quick succession, in the space of about three seconds: Where are the bachelors? Where’s Sundance? Where’s Hollywood?

But before I could panic unnecessarily, Hollywood strolled up out of a nearby draw, which contained, you guessed it, Sundance hanging out with the bachelors – minus Mouse, who followed hot on Hollywood’s heels, and minus Chrome and Hook, who were still hanging out close to Wildcat Spring, off to the east. I wondered if Sundance had been kicked out of the band or if he had wandered over to the boy band of his own accord … but there will be plenty of time to speculate about the young man because when I saw the band later – after I had gone partially around the loop, he was back and secure with the family band.

Let me go off on a partially related tangent: Butch was hanging out close to Luna, but he and Sundance hang out – at various times – close to all the other horses. I’ve tried to pay attention and see if I noticed them hanging out more with Luna or Mahogany, but they’re family. Even Pinon and Ember don’t stick right to their mothers’ sides anymore. In the past, I’ve wondered if Luna and Mahogany were the mothers of Butch and/or Sundance. It seemed weird that two mares would produce such twin-type colts in one year. But how about this for a new working theory: What if Sundance is 3, Butch is 2 (they’re almost identical in size), Kestrel is 1 (she really is), and Ember, of course, is the baby. What if both Sundance and Butch are Luna’s? Maybe they were born sorrel – like Ember.

It was partly sunny – mostly sunny – when I got out to them, around noon, which becomes important to the story later.

Steeldust\'s band in big country

Steeldust

Home sweet home on the range. The above photo was taken from the road just up from the dugout intersection, looking eastish.

Grey/Traveler\'s band

Grey/Traveler

Jif is still with Traveler’s band … I suppose I’ll keep looking for her for a while, given her recent disappearance. She walked slowly, but she didn’t seem to be limping.

Alegre and Gaia

Alegre and Gaia

Gaia stamped a foot just as I took this photo. The gnats are still buzzing, but they seem to be *less.* I stamped and swatted and fidgeted, too, but I was never driven so insane that I had to go for the head net.

Bounce

Bounce

Bounce, trotting after Alegre and Gaia. When I first saw them as I was driving, Alegre and Gaia trotted away, so I stopped, turned off the Jeep and made some notes about Steeldust’s and Grey’s bands and Chrome and Hook. Then I drove on, where, just around the next curve, there they were. She must like me; she used to go a lot farther than that! 🙂 I snapped the above pic of her and Gaia and drove on to the split where the doubletrack goes back to the water hole. I checked it – totally dry – then drove on south. But when I looked back, I saw Bounce leading Alegre and Gaia toward the water hole. Didn’t he know it was dry? The horses – all the northern bands – had been in the area, but they had seemed to move on in the past couple of weeks as the pond became a stinky puddle. As I watched, Bounce led the little procession, then stopped, dropped and rolled on his right side, got up, dropped and rolled on his left side, then got up and TROTTED to the dry pond! Oh, mister. He obviously didn’t know it was dry and was anticipating a drink. If there’s so much as a puddle of water in any of the arroyos that cut through there just south of that pond, I certainly don’t know about them. I wondered if he (or Alegre) knows about Wildcat Spring … I’ve never seen him up in that area, but Steeldust’s, Grey’s, Seven’s and the bachelors know it’s there because they’ve been frequenting that area recently. When I went back past that area later, they were gone. I hope they found water. The pond below the roller-coaster ridge road is the only *pond* now with water.

Not too far away, guess who found me? My boy Roach and company. I was happy to see them because I hadn’t for a few visits. But my happiness at seeing them turned into concern. Poco managed to find himself a prickly pear patch, and I guess they had a close encounter. I’m sure the cactus got the better end of that deal – it left at least three spines in Poco’s face (including one directly below his right eye) and a small cluster under his right jaw. ARGH. Didn’t his mama teach him about cacti!?

Poco and Bones

Poco and Bones

This photo may be too small to pick out the spine under his eye. Of all the pricklers he’s stuck with, that one’s the longest – naturally. When he’d shake his head to ward off the gnats, he’d do so gently, so I know it was bothering him. I haven’t seen them for a while, so I have no idea how long he’s been stuck. And I have no idea how he’s going to rid himself of the spines. Too bad I can’t just walk right up and help him out!

Dear, sweet boy Roach snuck up on me behind a tree (in front of me) while I was photographing Poco’s spines, then casually came out from behind it, just grazing. He never seemed surprised, and even though I was stamping and swatting, he never spooked. He went around the tree, and I thought he was heading back to Poco and Bones, who had gone back to grazing, but then he turned around broadside and decided to take a nap under the tree. Guess he’s not too worried … or he figured now that he’d successfully snuck up on me, he was in perfect position to keep a close eye on me. He’s one of my favorites; personality plus.

Thunder was rumbling, and I was about as far away from the basin entrance as possible at that point, so I bid farewell to the boys and girl – I hope Poco sheds those spines soon?! – and headed back around. This is a good time to note that the basin has been getting rain, somewhere between enough to dampen the dust and enough to change a bit of geography in the first major arroyo crossing (Spring Creek) before the first intersection. If it rained, I didn’t want to be on the interior side of that arroyo. (And here’s an interesting side-note to this note: The horses don’t seem to be down in that area at all for water – it’s there, however thin a trickle.)

Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were gone from the dry pond when I passed … Grey was still hanging out near the road with his family. Twister must have rolled in the spring just before I saw them the first time because he was as dark as Two Boots, but when I came back around, he had dried into his (muddy) rosy grey color again. Chrome and Hook were still guarding the trail to the spring.

When I got back around to where Steeldust’s band and the other bachelors had been, they weren’t anywhere to be found. I walked off the road in both directions in case they were just below the drops – nope. I had been gone for about three hours, so I figured they might have gone to water … but where? The spring or the arroyo?

The sky didn’t look terribly threatening (but it was completely cloudy by then), and I hadn’t been on the middle part of the loop road in a while since the horses had been back in the east, so I decided to go that way and see what I could see.

Note to self: Voice of intuition not always right. As I drove, I kept thinking, they’re not down here; no way they’re down here. Damned if they didn’t show up on top of the finger hills almost directly across from me! They grazed their way up from an unseen-to-me draw in the hilltop and into the open, then gradually made their way to the top and over. The skies didn’t look threatening, remember, so I wasn’t too worried. Besides, I was still pretty close to the intersection. I hung out there for a while, actually enjoying the wind that kept the gnats away, then went back to the intersection and north. The horses were at the base of the northeast side of the hill and not very visible. I decided it might be OK to call it a day and head back across Spring Creek for the evening.

It started sprinkling. Nothing to worry about.

The sprinkling got steady. I crossed the arroyo and headed – slowly – toward the entrance, trying to decide whether to just stop somewhere and wait it out or call it a day.

Another note to self: Voice of intuition not always loud but sometimes right on the money. I kept going, and about halfway out on the road through private land, my tires started kicking up mud. Uh oh. By the time I got to the curve by the dilapidated cattle corral, I could barely steer, and braking wasn’t much better. I made it around that curve and put it in four-wheel-low. The Jeep doesn’t like it when I don’t come to a complete stop before putting it in low, but I didn’t dare stop. My heart has pounded that hard during mountain bike races but never while sitting still.

Note to readers: If it starts to sprinkle in the basin, get out. Now.

I’ve never been so happy to make it to the county road – an all-weather, graveled road. I came home via the highway, and when I got to the highway, the rain had stopped there, but behind me, the basin was a single curtain of grey shroud. I couldn’t see so much as a single landform.

Gotta be happy about that – for the ponies’ sake!

(Other horses: I also saw three of the “southside boys”: David, Cinch and Mesa. They were just inside the herd area from the county road. And a couple of days ago, I saw Seven’s band by the spring.)





BLM links

3 07 2008

Found these links today on the Mustang Saga blog: http://mustangsaga.blogspot.com/2008/07/blm-considers-euthanizing-excess-wild.html

The BLM home page has been updated with the WHB material at the top of the Spotlight…

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html

Link to the statement page:

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/Statement_06_30_2008.html

Direct link to the feedback form:

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/feedback.html

WHB Home page with a link to the statement:

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html

 





Grim news – July 2, 2008

2 07 2008

If you haven’t already seen this news, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. If you’ve seen it from one source, here are a few more. The article headlines kinda say it all. The BLM’s Wild Horse and Advisory Board just met Monday in Reno, Nev., and that’s apparently when all this came out. I’m kinda stunned, so for now, read the articles linked here.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/06/blm_considers_ending_wild_hors.html – Associated Press article titled “BLM considers ending wild horse roundups, killing some animals”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/144279 – July 1 Newsweek article titled “The Wild Horse Is Us: An advocate of the American West’s mustangs blasts a proposed government policy to cull the herds.” The figures at the beginning of the article are backward, I think.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/144415 – July 2 Newsweek article containing Sheryl Crow’s comments; includes information about James Kleinert’s film, “Saving the American Wild Horse”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25465974/ – MSNBC article titled “Feds consider euthanizing wild horses in West: Population in holding pens jumps in Nevada, elsewhere as adoptions dip”
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/news_alerts.html – article on the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign Web site titled “BLM Considering Euthanasia for Thousands of Wild Horses”