Check out photographer Pam Nickoles’ new blog: http://nickolesphotography.wordpress.com/
Keep up with her adventures getting in – and out! – of herd areas to photograph wild horses. Her first post has a link to a clip of her photos of Sand Wash Basin wild horses before last fall’s roundup.
Breaking with tradition (I’m sick and moping for horse contact), I’m going to pass on a recommendation for a horse-loving musician you may not have heard of: Templeton Thompson. “Girls & Horses” is the title song of her album of the same name. I first learned about Templeton from the photos of Texas photographer Candace Craw-Goldman, but I never could find any of her CDs in any store. Finally I broke down and ordered this CD from the Web last fall (call me old fashioned, but I just haven’t gotten into the downloading-music-from-the-Internet craze). Now it’s one of my favorite CDs.
Find her Web site at http://templetonthompson.com/
And yes, there’s a hint of mustang love to her as well … read down on her journal page.
Beautiful weather out there … too beautiful to be cooped up inside sick. But the snow is melting into mud again, so there may not be an update on our Spring Creek ponies until next weekend – supposed to be good weather all next week. Till then, imagine them fat and fuzzy and wild!
Our Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area BLM manager sent a link to this article last week, but I have to say I was originally put off by the unfortunate (in my opinion) tagline: “The crowded West has little room for wild horses.” As opposed to what, cattle and oil wells and McMansions, I thought?! But I picked up a February issue at the newsstand (which I do every month; I ought to just plunk down my money for a subscription) and read the article … and was pleasantly surprised. After I read the article, I understood the tagline; it refers to what the horses are competing against – and it’s not just cattle and oil barons but attitudes, too.
Here’s the link to the online article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/wild-horses/fuller-text/1
I encourage everyone to read it – online, or pick up your own copy. I’d be interested to know what others think of the article. Even as close to the issue as I am, it seemed pretty balanced, but I do admit my obvious bias!
http://beautifulmustang.blogspot.com/
I posted this link a few days ago; now, she has a few links to YouTube videos – including the section I watched on C-span – about the Border Patrol mustangs. Watch them! Justice isn’t specifically featured in any, but they’re great to watch!
Go never to the wild with an agenda … If you’re silly enough to go with an agenda, be prepared to abandon it immediately.
That is a lesson I learned early on, and it continues to hold true. As late as driving along the herd area on the county road Sunday morning, I had one mission but no agenda. I had an idea where I wanted to park and hike in – not my favorite hike-in spot – but that idea was quickly abandoned when I happened to spot a white spot among white snow spots: the pintos. Hit reverse, back to my spot, through the fence and onward.
When you’re given horses, never ignore the gift.
Sharing snow
The pinto girls and boy and their solid pals were below the bench that runs around the west side of their hill, grazing lazily in the sunshine. In this photo, Kiowa and Copper shared a patch of snow. Check out Copper’s expression.
Chipeta and admirers
Front to back: Corazon, Chipeta and Ty. I don’t quite understand the dynamics of this non-traditional family, but it makes for fun watching. Copper definitely seems to be back in charge, but he tends to leave Chipeta to her own devices. She’s a bit of a coquette, I think. If they get too close, she pins her ears warns them away. It’s a little dance they do.
Mesa and the girls
We scared up some deer, and the horses walked on up to the top of the hill. Chipeta caught up to Kiowa, and Mesa paused to check me out before moseying out to lead the line.
I headed toward Round Top with the particularly vague idea of hiking to the summit to survey the area. At 10 a.m., the ground was still frozen. By at least 10:45 a.m., the thaw was well under way. Good thing I didn’t really want to march up the Top because I spotted horses out on the hill where the pinto band was last weekend.
Four horses total. Two together, Bruiser a little farther away and … David? By himself? Uh oh. The two horses together were Cinch and Shadow. Luckily, they waited until I hiked out to them to start the fireworks. (David saw me, but the others didn’t until after the show.)
I said no!
Cinch got frisky, but yearling (actually, she’ll be 2 this spring) Shadow wasn’t willing to accept him, so she ran from him, occasionally firing a half-hearted kick at his chest.
Go away!
Right after this, they suddenly stopped and started grazing (as best they could through the snow). David was right above them, watching them and me, and I thought Shadow might walk right up to him. But she didn’t. He finally turned around and went back down his side of the hill. Finally Bruiser noticed me, then Cinch, then Shadow. THEN she walked up the hill to David, and normalcy was restored.
Some magic
They trotted down the hill toward an arroyo, then up the other side toward Round Top.
Another sort of chase
David finally had enough of Cinch being close to his girl and lunged at him. This was across the arroyo. They all trotted away together.
I continued on up toward Round Top, hiking past the pond on the way. Dry. Not even any snow in the bed of the pond. There’s a trail that goes up to the ridge on the southwest side of the saddle between the two Tops, which I’m starting to call the saddle trail. From there, I spotted, way off yonder in the amazingly far distance, what looked like Grey/Traveler’s band. I could pick out a grey – him or Houdini – and what looked like Twister.
Sleepy Seven
Look who I found napping in the sunshine closest to Round Top. He was sort of uncharacteristically calm; I couldn’t believe he watched me while lying down. At first, I saw just him and Roja – grazing nearby – and was really looking around for old-girl Molly.
Sleepy Molly
When I finally saw her, I realized that while focusing on Seven and Roja, I had walked right by Molly, who was napping under a tree, one of her habits. She looked at me for a minute, then seemed to realize that I was closer to her family than she was and trotted on back to them. Seven got to his feet and stretched, then started nickering to Molly, but it was a little odd – more like a colt nickering to his mother than a stallion nickering to his mare. I know that sounds weird, and it was.
Roja and Molly
These girls are close. I think Molly could be Roja’s dam.
Seven and his girls
Once they reunited, they didn’t go far, but I headed back up to the trail. I was glad to see these ponies.
After I saw Seven and the girls, I was pretty sure the far horses were, indeed, Traveler’s band, but they were way up to the northwest, and my Jeep was way back to the southwest. Because of the snow and mud and what promised to be a long walk not only to where the band was but then back to the Jeep, I decided to walk back to the Jeep, then drive up to the corral and hike from there.
Under the mountains
The horses ended up being even farther along the hill above the corral than I thought. That’s Filly Peak sloping up to the right. Two Boots looking at me, Twister behind her, Houdini grazing, and Iya in front of her.
Houdini
Mama Houdini. Random thought from the day: She should be about three months from foaling.
Traveler
Handsome boy.
Horses, mountains
See the fence in the background? Behind the horses. That’s the boundary fence that eventually runs down to the county road. I’ve never been that close to that fence.
Bliss
The promised image of Traveler enjoying a bite of snow. He really seemed to enjoy it!
Backside of Filly Peak
Twister, Traveler and Jif with the southwest side of Filly Peak in the background.
Jif
Jif should have Traveler’s foal this spring, too.
Family
A final look of the day at the ponies.
I took my time walking back across the hill and down to the Jeep, savoring the day and letting my tiredness catch up to me. The weather was particularly gorgeous; for January, it was nothing less than amazing. My mission of the day, by the way, was to find Grey. Fabulous day.
We’re supposed to get some snow in the next few days, so I won’t be making a trip to the basin this weekend. But I will be taking a trip to the Browning Ranch in Farmington, N.M., which acts as a holding facility for wild horses rounded up and removed from (at least) the Carson National Forest. Claude Steelman, photographer and author of the excellent book Colorado’s Wild Horses, adopted a yearling colt from the Carson and took him home last Thanksgiving. I’m going to meet up with Claude there and see what’s what.
Did you see the Border Patrol group during the inaugural parade? Did you catch the mustangs? The quick shot of the first two horses – black Okanogan and grey Bullet? – was great. Boy, were they shiny and handsome! I think two buckskins were next in line, and two buckskins brought up the rear; I couldn’t tell which was Justice.
I found this blog – http://beautifulmustang.blogspot.com/ – with some photos. She also thinks the lead horses were Okanogan and Bullet. There’s a buckskin in the background of one of the photos …? No mane on the left side – Zeus? Hard to tell.
The thing that hit me in the few seconds they were featured on the channel I watched (C-SPAN; I couldn’t stand the political jabbering on the other channels) was how calm the horses were! It looked like they were taking it all in stride. Pretty darn cool.
Hello, my name is TJ, and I am addicted to the wild horses of Spring Creek Basin.
The lessons have been both big and small, but I learn something new about them almost every time I visit, and though two different people last week suggested I need to get a life (away from the horses, I think they meant), almost nowhere else do I find such enjoyment as in the simplicity of days in the wild of the basin. And so I can’t seem to stay away. They mean well, I think, but what other addiction is so healthy and enjoyable and full of benefit?
Perfect nap weather
Steeldust and his big band and Hollywood and the bachelors were out between the loop road and Knife Edge. I was able to drive in and park at the water catchment. (Kreacher and the girls were down in the “valley” southwest of the catchment.) Mouse was close to the band, as he has been in recent months; Duke, Hook and Chrome were fairly close; and Hollywood and Comanche were scrapping a little farther away. Yep, you already guessed the change-up if you know which horses weren’t visible – because they were together. But given that they were all together the last time I saw them, I didn’t think too much about it and stayed on track to visit Steeldust’s band. Oh, notice Butch’s position – he’s lying down at far left. He looks like he’s so sleepy he’s about to roll over on Ember. In the next few moments, he did. They were so close, she had to lift her head over his when he laid his big head on the ground at her knees.
Harrassment
Where have you seen this pose before? Baby brother Storm was trying this with big sister Ember a few weeks ago (at least). In fact, the butt in the background is hers. Pinon was quite a bit more tolerant, but Storm also seemed a bit half-hearted. In fact, here, I love that he seems so focused on me but is still pawing at Pinon – what a multi-tasker!
Three boys
Pinon, Storm and Butch. You can see Ember’s face in the background – flat-out asleep – and that’s Luna behind Butch.
Sentinel Duke
Meanwhile, Duke was on a ridge above the band, taking it all in.
Hook and Chrome
McKenna and the unnamed peaks in the background.
Lover boy
Meanwhile, Steeldust squeezed in a little lovin’ on Alpha-girl. She accepted it – for a few moments – then struck at him and led Storm away. Easy come, easy go, buddy.
Three more boys
Hook and Chrome hooked up with Duke, then they went across the ridge to a little point, where they could look down on the band.
I could see Hollywood on a ridge below, but Comanche had dropped out of sight, and I still hadn’t seen Aspen, Piedra and Baylee. I still hadn’t put it together. I climbed a little higher to make sure no one was on the other side of the highest ridge and found a dry spot for a little lunch break. Then I went down to Hollywood. Found Comanche … and, on the other side of the ridge below Hollywood … Aspen and the girls.
Uh-oh
My first glimpse of change: Hollywood on the ridge (I’m shooting from a ridge parallel to his) and Aspen below with the missing mares. How did I not see that coming? Prior knowledge can be blinding.
All together
Same five horses that have been together since before the holidays … a little change in dynamic. That’s Comanche and Hollywood together in the foreground, and Aspen, left, Piedra, back center, and Baylee in the background.
New lead guy
I gotta say I’m not liking this change. I’m pretty fond of Hollywood, and he’s a better stallion than Aspen, not to mention that Aspen was low on the totem pole among the bachelors. Not as low as Kreacher but maybe above Hook. What is it with these lesser stallions getting the girls?
Snow snack
After most of the past year keeping Mouse at bay, Hollywood loses his mares (and he got not one but two!) to Aspen?! Now, if Holls has a fault as a band stallion, it may be that he’s not always as attentive as he should be, especially with several footloose bachelors on the prowl. Nobody seems to be hurt, so I’m thinking it might have been as simple as Hollywood not paying attention and Aspen sneaking in and snaking the girls away.
The proof
I watched them for quite a while. Because these five horses have been separate from the big band and together for at least the past several weeks, I figured it was possible that I just happened along at a point in time when the girls just happened to be closer to Aspen than to Hollywood. But Aspen definitely was acting like the band stallion, so for now at least, Aspen is king.
Five in a line
There they are – my look back as I was leaving (the snaking actually came right after this). Hollywood, left, Comanche on the other side of a low ridge, Baylee, Piedra and Aspen. Piedra, by the way, should have Hollywood’s foal this spring (sometime in April); I think it will be her first.
I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Bounce, Alegre and Gaia and/or Poco, Bones and Roach because back in that area by Knife Edge is one of their stomping grounds (P, B & R are usually a little farther east), but I didn’t see hide nor hair of those ponies. After I left Aspen’s band, I headed toward the intersection on the loop road that goes to Round Top. Earlier, while walking the road, before cutting off toward Steeldust’s band, I saw horses that I’m pretty sure were Seven, Molly and Roja up on the saddle area between Round Top and Flat Top. No sign of them on the way back, either. I crossed the road and headed toward Flat Top to close my loop back to the Jeep, also hoping I might see Traveler; they were on the west side of Flat Top the last time I saw them. A long shot, sure, but worth a look.
Kreacher and the girls were still down in the little valley but a little closer to the road when I got back. I was plenty tired at that point (another five-plus hours of adventure walking), so I didn’t go out to them. They watched me go by, then went back to grazing. I was glad to see them branching out from their north hills territory.
The only cattle I saw were northwest of the dugout intersection by the hills above Spring Creek and northeast of the finger hills.
It was a gorgeous day, and I hiked without a coat. There was only a very light breeze. You can’t get much closer to perfect. Quite a bit of snow, and with snow and clear blue-bird skies comes mud. The coolest thing is that you can actually hear the snow melt (see what I mean about simple pleasures?). The ponies take it in stride and use it to their advantage. It’s much easier for them to just gobble mouthfuls of snow when they’re thirsty than have to travel to known water sources. They seemed to enjoy it, and in the next post, I’ll have a nifty shot of Traveler to illustrate just how much!
The crazy thing is that I almost left that evening because the walking was so tiring. But I hadn’t seen my boy Grey (Traveler), and I just am so addicted that I couldn’t leave without seeing him. It took all day Sunday, but I found him and his family. 🙂 Stay tuned.
The inauguration of our 44th president is tomorrow. Lots of pomp and circumstance surrounding the event (is it just me or is the inauguration of any new president, sort of by definition, a historic event?), but what I’m most excited about is the hope of catching the mustangs with the U.S. Border Patrol during the parade!
If you’re a regular reader, of course, you know that Justice, one of our own Spring Creek Basin horses, is one of those mustangs. According to the BLM Web site that has information about the horses and their agents, Justice is one of four buckskins in the group that will be marching. I’m not even sure that I’ll be able to pick him out! Brutus, Buck and Justice all have manes that fall on the left sides of their necks, and Zeus’ mane falls on the right side. Brutus and Buck have short little forelocks (in the pix), and Justice and Zeus have long forelocks. Zeus may be a lighter buckskin than Justice. Here’s the link again to check out the pix and agent bios:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/news/inaugural_parade_horses.html
Also, my story about Justice going to Washington came out last Friday in The Durango Herald. Here’s the link:
http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/Features/Outdoors/2009/01/16/Justice_goes_to_Washington/
My email is not working right at the moment (since about last Thursday). I can sort of get email (sometimes), but I can’t log on to send it (most of the time). So my apologies to those of you I told I’d send the link!
I spent the weekend – glorious, glorious, glorious! – in the basin and saw all the horses but Bounce’s band and Poco, Bones and Roach. That means Poco, Bones and Roach are the only horses I haven’t seen yet this year (I saw Bounce’s band from a distance last Sunday). Everybody else looks great. Kiowa seems to be showing some ribs, but she shouldn’t foal this year (she got the PZP), so hopefully she’ll have the coming year to bounce back. Spook is still nursing.
There is at least one change in band dynamics to report, but you’ll have to wait for the full report to find out which band! I thought there was going to be a second case of change, but I watched them long enough to see order re-established, and all seems to be well. I watched the first band for quite a while, too, but it just confirmed the change.
I could get used to Januarys like this one, but the basin needs snow now so it doesn’t dry up in the summer and just blow away, so I’m hopeful for more winter yet to come. I hiked past the dry water hole on the back side (southwest) of Round Top, and not only is it still dry, there’s not even any snow in/on the bed. It has all melted except the far edge that faces north and a little in the north flats. But it’s still early, and I hope water will collect again for at least the first part of the spring.
It’s cool to be out in the basin during all seasons. It was warm enough to hike without a coat but still cold enough (and with enough snow) to know it’s winter!
Justice as renegade
This photo was taken in early June 2008 by BLM herd area manager Bob Ball. Justice is outside the west boundary fence, and the picture is taken looking east. You can see the green storage tank at the water catchment in the background.
This photo, taken by Fran Ackley, Wild Horse and Burro Program leader for the BLM in Colorado, shows Justice with the inmate who trained him. He started training Justice to carry a flag when they thought he might be a candidate for the Border Patrol. The inmate’s face has been darkened to protect his privacy.
Mesa invitation
Sunday was my first trip to the basin since I returned from my holiday vacation, and it was a good one. I saw all but three bands (Traveler’s, Seven’s and Poco, Bones and Roach), though most of the horses were pretty far away and viewed through binoculars. I hiked in and found the pinto band at the end of the day and took this photo of Mesa. It seems like he’s inviting me to follow him into his home – and what a beautiful home it is.
I wasn’t at all sure what to expect on the roads, but the road from the county road to the herd area boundary and a short way into the herd area was mostly dry. It was partly sunny when I got there, but then it turned cloudy. Later in the afternoon: full sunshine. I stopped just uphill from the first curve inside the herd area to take a look. Before I got my binoculars, I saw cattle way out in the area northeastish of the finger hills, then some shapes back to the north … one of them a familiar and non-cowy color. I thought, based on where I last saw the new mares and their new beau (down on the east side of Round Top), if I didn’t know better, I’d think that was the apricot dun mare. Damned if it wasn’t Kreacher and the girls!
Tres amigas
I was psyched to see them. Again, based on where I saw them last (yes, it was four weeks ago), I really didn’t expect to see them today.
The new girls have new names this new year. Thanks to Lynn and Kathy in New Mexico for “Raven” for the black pinto mare. As they so astutely pointed out, the mare’s color is exactly the lustrous black of the ubiquitous ravens that call the basin home. And thanks to Karen of South Carolina and Ouray for “Mona” for the “regular” dun. She noticed that I’m always commenting on how cute she is, “que mona” – how cute! It was right as soon as I read it. And for the apricot dun, in honor of her Sand Wash Basin “cousin” who patrols the U.S.-Canada border with the U.S. Border Patrol and is one of two Colorado mustangs going to the inaugural parade Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., I named her “Kootenai” (“kooten-ee”).
Raven, Mona and Kootenai
And Kreacher following.
Kreacher
My guess is that the girls didn’t like the direction their new relationship was going, so they turned tail and headed back to their familiar (north) hills. What’s a boy to do? Of course he followed. Still not acting at all “stallion-like,” just very calm and laid back. So I started thinking back to when he had Molly and Roja, and I think he was about the same way. The very first time I saw them, I thought he was a mare, as a matter of fact; he wasn’t at all aggressive or protective or otherwise displaying the usual “protection” behaviors. But apparently he has the cajones to keep a few mares – at least for now. Maybe it’s a matter of sheer coincidence, but consider that – in addition to Kreacher now – only Steeldust has as many as three mares. None of the other horses are anywhere close (that I saw) to them, location-wise, so it stands to reason that he’ll keep the girls for a while (maybe until the bachelors start wandering again).
Alert
The girls were up on a hill that gave me a good vantage point to scan the basin. From there, I saw Bounce, Alegre and Gaia, Steeldust’s band and Hollywood’s band with at least one bachelor nearby and three bachelors together just slightly farther away. But rather than try to hike out through the snow and mud to get to them, I decided to drive out and on down the county road to see how far I could get. I thought if I could get at least to the corrals, I’d hike in from there.
But the road was good all the way down to Black Snag Road. Some snow, but earlier traffic was obvious. I turned around there and went back up to my favorite hike-in spot, a little southeast of the county line. I hadn’t seen any horses from there, but the clouds had gone away, the sky was blue, it was a great day for a hike, I hadn’t seen the pintos for a while, and I didn’t want the day to end. I walked in and up on top of the hill where I often found the pintos last year. There was a lot more snow in the southern part of the herd area.
The pinto ponies and their suitors weren’t on their hill, though. I stopped on the trail when I got high enough to see back toward Round Top and scanned with the binoculars. Then I saw them, up on the hill on the north side of the little valley I hike through to get to their hill – actually closer to the road! Ha. Well, it was a great day for a hike.
Mesa
This boy is kind of the behavioral opposite of Kreacher – and he doesn’t even have his own mares! Copper should feel (!) lucky to have him act as protector while Copper sticks close to his mares from Corazon and Ty, all the boys still acting as one big family.
King of the hill
The last time I saw the pintos, right from the county road, Copper was not acting like the lead stallion; Corazon was. But things seem to be back to “normal” with Copper sticking close – even though Kiowa kept pinning her ears and snapping her teeth at him.
By the time I walked up to their hill, they had moved out into the open and were headed slightly downhill toward Round Top. It coincidentally put them right in the middle of a spectacular background – the La Sal Mountains in Utah.
Kiowa and her girls
Kiowa seems mostly passive from a distance, a benign mother and alpha mare. But don’t let appearances fool you. I think she rules with an iron, er, hoof, when she needs to! From left, Reya (yearling filly), Kiowa, Spook (2008 filly) and Chipeta.
Still nursing
But she’s still a mama above all else. She wasn’t happy about it, but she eventually stood still for Spook to nurse. Copper at right.
Family
Just Mesa is missing from the band above – he had already moved farther to the right, trying to lead the band away. From left, Ty, Corazon, Kiowa, Spook and Reya, Chipeta and Copper. That’s Round Top in the background. It looks different from this perspective, doesn’t it? This was the last shot I took of them as I started back toward the Jeep.
Almost forgot to say that I saw David and Shadow and Cinch south of Flat Top from the hill. I didn’t see Bruiser, but I hope he was nearby; he and Cinch have been together almost since the bachelors kicked him out of the pinto band.
A few more random photos:
Winter day
Kreacher and Kootenai with McKenna Peak in the background.
Close-up
Kreacher and the mares went around the little hill they were on and down to graze. I went around the other side of the hill and caught this shot of Kreacher as he followed Kootenai down into the little valley. I took some pix that really didn’t show him at his best (he really doesn’t have the best conformation), but I just couldn’t bring myself to show them. 🙂 He looks pretty decent here.
On guard
Mr. Mesa takes his protection duties seriously. Always be aware of your surroundings: I was photographing the other horses against the mountains when a look or posture of one of them made me look away from the camera. Tough guy Mesa had come out to say “hi,” all puffed up, and I hadn’t even noticed! He’s really not as close as he appears; I had my lens zoomed out to take the pix of the other horses, and when I saw Mesa, I just pointed and shot. This is one of just two shots like this before he trotted back to the band.
Deer central
The deer are back. Wow. I hadn’t seen this many deer since, well, this time last year. I took this shot right from the Jeep on the county road – the deer are inside the herd area. There were at least a dozen other deer just in this group, and this was one of probably a dozen groups I saw today.
It’s good to be back!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 