Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

OK, it’s a little punny, but it’s true. I went back out to the basin Saturday afternoon. I had an assignment for the paper Saturday morning up at the Calico Trail above Rico, which is kinda, sorta, semi-in the same general vague vicinity as the basin. I did not see the clueless man, and I saw only Bounce, Alegre and Gaia, and Steeldust’s band and the Bachelor 7 *minus* Chrome and Hook (I can’t even confirm that they were or were not with the band Friday because I never got close enough to see the whole group). Those two have been wandering off by themselves lately, though, so I’m not too worried about them.

The good news is that Alegre, Gaia and Bounce were up in the trees on the hill past (eastish) the road that goes off to Klondike Basin and seemed very calm, and Steeldust’s band also was relaxed. Still, I was very careful with them and parked a long way away and walked off the road and out around them (they were just at the curve where the road goes from almost straight east to almost straight south). I had thought Alpha’s tolerance of me last week after she had her baby might have been a fluke, and I was worried that after Friday’s mess, the band wouldn’t want any part of a two-legged, but she barely looked up from grazing.

Before emotion strikes and I can’t write about it, I want to say again how awesome is the gift the horses have given me, of their grace and spirit and tolerance. I was so worried about them, but they allowed me back into their world as if I’d been there all along.

And something a little funny/endearing: They are the coolest cats when it comes to “circling the wagons” around the babies. Go ahead and try to get pictures of the babies without a head, a butt, a swishing tail, legs. They’re the most strategic of generals. No matter where you are, or where a baby is, there will be a horse (or two or four) – oh-so-casually – between you and the foal. And even the bachelors help close ranks when need arises. When Storm laid down for a nap, I tried my through-the-legs tactic, but the grass up there is so high, the picture looks like a lot of legs – and a tiny little baby face, just his eyes and ears.

Storm through legs

Kestrel is closest; Butch, Luna and Alpha also are in the frame.

Scratchies

See what I mean? Here’s Hollywood, standing between me and Ember and Pinon. I’d take a step to the right, he’d take a step forward. And look how calm he is … “just here grazing along …” Pretty cool.

Itchies

Kestrel, at right, getting ready to block my view (they learn it young!) and Mouse at left.

Disagreement

Hollywood patiently explaining to Mouse that no, he still can’t have Piedra (background). The compression factor of the 400mm lens makes Piedra look closer than she was. They didn’t get very animated, but just a few seconds after I took this, Hollywood walked off, and Mouse lunged at poor Comanche, who was minding his own business but close enough – and subordinate enough – for Mouse to vent on!

Hungry boy

Luna ready to step in if needed.

Bounce, Gaia and Alegre

I wanted desperately to find Grey/Traveler, but ugly storm clouds were brewing over the east ridge, and I didn’t want to spend too much time with the horses on the heels of Friday’s incident, so I headed out. I had seen shadow-black Bounce and a flick of Alegre’s tail up in the trees when I first passed, but they were in the open when I went back past them. Took a couple shots over the hood of the Jeep and drove on.

As it turned out, I don’t think it rained a drop. However, on the moisture front, I have some cool news to report: The little water hole just off the road back in that area is full of water again! It makes me wonder if the pond that dried up most recently off the double track at east park has any water in it. The grass actually looks pretty decent there in the east, and I guess the horses think so, too, because that’s where most of them were (I think Seven’s and Grey’s and probably Poco’s were just farther to the south). Also, the spring area has water in the low “creekbed” behind the old “dam,” and it trickles over the spillway, but right there it just goes into the ground (the standing water is pretty smelly, but the tracks are fresh). There’s no water from that point on. There’s also still a tiny trickle coming out of the seep between the intersections. And, back near the entrance to the herd area, the pond off the road to the trap site also has a little water in it.

I was really glad to see those “renewed” water sources. Even though there is grass (clumps but definitely grass) in the east, for the first time this weekend, I noticed how parched and crispy the basin looks. And did I mention how hot it was? Friday, the Jeep showed 100 degrees, and that was under a huge cloud. Saturday felt much hotter, but the gauge refused to rise above 99. Ha. It must be too hot even for most of the bugs. The gnats are gone but a few flies remain. The ponies constantly swish, and the babies are always itching and scratching – and Ember and Pinon look kind of ragged (I don’t know whether that’s because of bug bites or shedding or what). I put pix of Storm and Molly’s filly on the “Find a (Wild) Horse” page and was looking back at the baby pix of Ember and Pinon and Iya – they look so little! They do grow up fast.

By Saturday early evening as I was leaving the basin, I realized the beautiful, wild magic had kicked in again, and even though I hadn’t seen my beautiful boy, Grey (Traveler), my spirits were boosted. Billie, who keeps a blog on the Little Book Cliffs horses (see blogroll), reminds me that visits to the ranges are “musts,” a natural tonic to what ails us in the unnatural world. Amen!