I’ve been keeping a secret that I know will shock the most steadfast readers of this blog.
I am lost to the filly Winona.
Wait, you’re NOT shocked about that?! 🙂
With her outside genetics making her valuable to the Spring Creek Basin herd, I allow myself to dream she will stay wild.
Now and then, I’ve seen the foals entertain themselves with tumbleweeds, prickly big beach balls they seem to me. They entertain themselves with each other and all manner of exciting toys, such as sticks and stakes, branches of saltbush shrub … When I saw C/G’s photos from her New Year’s Day visit, her photo of Winona playing with a tumbleweed delighted me (with permission, I’ll post a link?), and I admit I hoped to get as lucky during a future visit.
Sure enough, toward the end of my visit with Comanche’s and Hollywood’s bands, after mama Kestrel had given young Tenaz a rather forceful “nudge” toward his own family – and after which, he (apparently) waited (?) in vain just a few feet away for Winona to rejoin him – ‘Nona found a small tumbleweed (Russian thistle, and it is the prickliest thing in the basin after the cacti and saltbush and woody parts of the greasewood) and started playing with it – completely ignoring and/or oblivious to the little guy.
The find
She has an audience
Starting to play ...
(Can you see the prickles?)
Play invitation
Sorry, lovely little, too prickly for me!
Undeterred, she continues to mouth it – against a stunning backdrop of McKenna Peak and the unnamed promontory!
Clearly enjoying … something! She was mouthing it, but she didn’t seem to have been chewing it yet.
This was my favorite – when she flipped it in the air!
Picked it up again (check out her now-snowy schnoz!) and started walking toward me.
Sure you don't want to play?
Psych - keep-away!
And here you can see she’s mostly devoured it! She really did eat the whole thing. It brought to mind the Assateague Island ponies eating poison ivy and greenbrier. (Southern/southeastern folks probably know greenbrier? We have it in Texas – green vines that can grow and drape so thick as to be impassable – with thorns, of course!) She walked past me and then came toward my back, decided, apparently, that I was no entertainment of any good kind and continued on her way …
… joined eventually by mama Kestrel. I’ve turned around now in my seat in the snow, so this is taken in the opposite direction of the above photos – gorgeous scenery in every direction!
Babies are growing in the mamas’ bellies … This year will bring Kestrel’s second and Comanche’s first (as far as I know)! It has been warm (30s F) since my last visit to the basin, snow melting. More in the forecast. It’s only January! March is typically our snowiest month. This has been a fairly odd La Nina year … but we’re apparently right in the middle (geographically) of the “streams” that bring whichever weather, so we’ve had warm and dry AND cold and snow!
Either way, the horses are doing just fine!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
Ah, the pleasures of pony playtime!
I watched two horses remove eachother’s flymasks and proceed to play tug-o-war with one of them. I guess they didn’t have enough fun tearing off and RE-APPLYING the velcro strips a few minutes before! Rescued both masks before they were ripped to shreds.
Maybe pretty Winona was inviting you to play, but have you considered she might have been offering you a delicious snack?
Do you realize how many wonderful shots you have for December of next year’s calendar?!? WOW! I think I’m learning some of the tricks to getting these kinds of shots – walk, blend in, be silent, watch, watch, and watch. Of course, you can grin as much as you want! 🙂
I send prayers to the horse gods (yes, I believe in them) every day for some certain horses to be allowed to stay. That’s all we can do…
Linda – Ha – it’s entirely possible – maybe both, considering she played for quite a while with it before she devoured it!
Lynn (and fam) – Thank goodness I have all of you to help me choose! I do a lot of praying, too … and marshalling the “whys” behind what will be my suggestions.
I am SHOCKED!! I had no idea you were at all interested in Winona! LOL What’s not to fall in love with. She certainly captured my heart the from the first photo you posted!
Grey sniffs- “wait… I thought I was the one! I was cuter as a foal anyway!” :]
I see why you love her so much- she’s adorable! I must say… I have a thing for Tenaz, his little face makes my heart just melt!
Great pictures. She is a sweetheart for sure. I totally understand how she stole your heart. I nominated your blog for an award – it’s posted at my site.
Oh, she’s so beautiful, TJ–I see why you love her. There’s something in her eyes–gentle, calm–it’s nice to see.
TJ, your photos of Winona have captured her spirit perfectly (as always, of course). Her wild spirit and blatant enjoyment of life is hard to resist indeed!
i am jsut so amazed at what wonderful conformation this little girl has. who do you think is her sire??
Billie – Ha! I thought you of all people would have seen right through me! 😉
Rochlia – I’d love to have seen Grey as a foal. I bet he was a handful, err, hoof-ful! I love them all, of course. Tenaz is a shy but uber-curious sweetheart – like the huge heart on his forehead!
Annette – Wow – thank you so much! I appreciate that! Wonderful blogs that will shortly end up in my bookmarks – and I recently became a reader of “Just Another Day on the Prairie,” so I can’t help but second that nomination! Annette’s blog is http://aspenmeadows.blogspot.com/
Linda – Oh, I do love her expressive eyes. She’s always had this … expression, sense of herself … Confidence, too. It’s wonderful to see!
C/G – Excellently said! She does always seem so full of joy and spirit … It makes her irresistible! Would you mind if I post the link to your beautiful photos of Spring Creek Basin horses?
Nicole – I think Winona’s sire is Mouse, the bachelor who looks so much like Comanche but always outranked him … who is still with Steeldust’s band. I think Mouse also is likely Fierro’s sire (Ember’s colt; Ember is Kestrel’s little sister, Winona’s aunt!). I never saw him breed either of them, but the interest was definitely there. Interestingly, in our herd at least, I’ve noticed that the low-ranking bachelors (Kreacher, Comanche, Hook) are the ones getting the girls. Mouse has always been at or near the top of the bachelor rankings, but in his current case, he was thwarted by young stallions that had band-rank (apparently). Why he stays on, I don’t know (and I could say the same of Aspen, who also is with the band – outranked by Mouse). I would love to see him with a band of his own.
TJ, Feel free to post a link to the photos I have taken of the horses of Spring Creek. The site isn’t a professional one by any means and was created to share my love of the wild mustangs with my family, all of whom live on the East Coast and don’t have the access I do out here to such amazing beings. So it would be great to share the images with other folks interested in the horses as well . Thanks
I so agree about sharing! I love to see – and help share if I can – all the wonderful photos people have taken of the horses – and your photos are beautiful, indeed!
Here’s the link: http://mustengo.shutterfly.com/
winona has the eyes of an ahkal-teke, doesn’t she? and the coloring.
thank you for continuing to educate the world about the state of american mustangs.
~lytha in germany
Her eyes are a little “hazel-y,” perhaps, though she doesn’t have the metallic shine for which the Akhal-Teke horses are famous. I have noticed some interesting eye colors, particularly in some foals, and most seemed to darken a bit as they’ve aged. Not blue, exactly, but bluer than brown – hard to describe. Unique!
This is a page from my Akhal-Teke file:
http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/idahonatives/nez/horse.html
The Nez Perce highly value the breed in their attempt to replicate the “Nez Perce Horse” by crossing Akhal-Tekes with Appaloosas.
I think more folks should consider the value of cross-breeding mustangs (in limited numbers, of course) with breeds that have suffered from too much “selectivity”. Put some health, stamina, and “easy keeping” into those weakened bloodlines.
When I was researching the Pony Express earlier this year, I read that the operators and riders credited much of their success to mustang crossbreds. There was even a “toast” to the mustang’s contributions delivered at a Pony Express banquet “back in the day”!