Maybe …

8 01 2011

… I should do it like this …

Winona and Tenaz

… get pix up to share …

Kestrel pawing through snow

… because they’re the ones that have caught my eye …

Tenaz and daddy Hollywood

… on my first trip through the images.

To me, they speak volumes … but I started wondering, what do they mean to you?

And that led to remembering something I think one of you touched on in a recent question … that led me to wonder, just what DO you all wonder about?

What questions do you have about the horses, their home, their relationships, their history, the future I (at least) hope for them … what else?

Winona and Kestrel

What can I tell you, share with you, increase your understanding of?

Sharing winter grazing

For example, Winona and Kestrel are finding something yummy here under the snow that occupied them for a few minutes … Baby learning from mama; mama ever-so-patiently sharing whatever she had found …

… until Hollywood’s band, down the hill, caught ‘Nona’s attention, leaving mama Kestrel to finish the morsel.

Some of the horses pawed – almost all of Hollywood’s band members – but some seemed to just snuffle along with their muzzles in the snow and barely pawed at all – those in Steeldust’s band. Why?

Disclaimer: I still have as many questions as I may have answers! 🙂

But I’d like to know your thoughts and questions and topics you’d like to see addressed here. This is going to be a big year of education for us, and what better place to start than the blog? I do plan to talk more about fertility control, but feel free to ask anything.


Comments : 25 Comments »

Categories : Hollywood, Kestrel, Tenaz, Winona

Skyline

8 01 2011

“I just look at the skyline …

“A million lights are lookin’ back at me…

“And when they shine …

“I see a place …

“I know I’ll find some peace …

“I just look at the skyline”

~”Skyline,” Court Yard Hounds (two-thirds (the sisters) of the former Dixie Chicks)

The first two photos are of snow covering a small boulder in the bottom of Spring Creek arroyo. The blue background is the bank, which was a few feet away. The other photos are of ice crystals – ice flakes?! – on ice and snow a few feet opposite the boulder right at a wild-pony super-highway crossing. Water trickling below the snow and ice (a thick slab of it). Do you see the rainbows reflecting? I had just my long lens, and all but the top two photos are major crops of the originals. They’re not as sharp as I wish they could be, but …

This song started running through my head when I saw the snowflake crystals on the boulder as a “hill” against the “blue-sky” background. The rest of the chorus seemed appropriate. I did find much peace there, on my belly in the snow in the bottom of the arroyo (and yes, it went up my shirt because I had to keep scooching back to get the lens to focus!), the horses grazing above me, deep in the heart of the basin, surrounded by winter’s mantle, warm as could be, under Colorado-blue skies, listening to the snow (you CAN hear it, you know) and the horses talking above, buoyed by magic and the wonder of life.

Impossibly beautiful. Yet there it was. Gloriously beautiful.


Comments : 7 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

Brilliance

7 01 2011

Really, I have no time and fewer words for the incredible beauty and magic that is the basin and its inhabitants right now.

“I am blessed” “I am blessed” “How blessed am I?”

Kept running through my head all day(s) long.

I’m working on more.

Winona

Alpha

Baylee, Sage and Hollywood

Hollywood

Winona (buckskin and blue and white)

Ice flake crystal


Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Alpha, Baylee, Hollywood, Sage, Winona

“Urgent for Coloradans”

7 01 2011

News item:

Here’s a little blurb we came across from Hilary Wood of Front Range Equine Rescue. While this pertains to Colorado, this may start cropping up in other states.

Urgent for Coloradans!

Your 2011 Colorado income tax form provides a check-off category for the “unwanted horse fund”. The organization receiving the donated funds is not a horse rescue, takes no stand against horse slaughter, and many of their Board members are pro slaughter (they support bringing horse slaughter plants back to the U.S.). We strongly encourage you to give your hard-earned tax donations directly to legitimate equine rescues instead. The tough economy has already hurt many rescues; giving your tax dollars to the “unwanted horse fund” means less for the rescues. If you are not in Colorado, we appreciate your relaying this information to your friends or relatives who live in Colorado.


Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy

What we want to know

6 01 2011

Today, I was so honored to spend some time with three smart, beautiful young ladies at a local elementary school, talking about horses – specifically, wild horses – more specifically, the wild horses of Spring Creek Basin. They wowed me from the start, with the list of things they knew about horses and then a list they had compiled that they wanted to know.

A, M and M, thank you for sharing part of your day with me! I hope I contributed to your excitement about wild horses, and I can’t wait to see you next week!

With permission from K at the school, these are their questions:

WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW:

1. Is there a first aid for horses?

2. Is there a cure for horses that break their leg?

3. Measuring horses by hands.

4. How fast does a wild horse run?

5. What are the symptoms of colic?

6. What is founder?  Do you wild horses get founder?

7. Since wild horses aren’t shoed, does that have an impact on them?

8. Why is it called “Disappointment Valley” where the wild horses live?

9. How do you find the wild horses?

10. How many wild horse herds are in Colorado?

11. What diseases do wild horses get?

12. Are the wild horses affected by car crashes?

13. How long is a horse pregnant?

14. How long before a colt stands?

15. How many breeds of horses are there?  What are they called?

16. How do you transport rescued horses?

17. How do you train a horse that’s been abused?

18. Can you feed a horse chocolate?

Can you believe those fabulous questions?! (I love the last one!) Also next week, the girls will meet a local couple that rescues abused and unwanted horses. They’re getting quite an education!

This is the list they had come up with of things they know:

1. Different horses have different tempers.

2. Horses have no nerves in their manes.

3. Some horses need you to click and say trot if you want them to trot.

4. In order to make a horse canter, you have to slap their rumps – hard.

5. You pull on the reins very softly to make horses slow down.

6. Horses have a muscle in their hooves called a frog that makes them able to trot and canter at amazing speeds.

7. If a horse has a broken leg, you have to kill it.

8. Horses like apples and carrots.

(Note that the second to last thing they “know” in this list becomes the second question they “want to know.”)

Check out how many of their questions have to do with the horses’ health and well-being. Are you as impressed as I am? A and M are in second grade; M is in fourth grade.

Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful.


Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Kids & Horses

Belated … but right on time

6 01 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vC8Hffm9BE

Beautiful. Look for the horses. You’ll see them twice!  🙂


Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

Somebunny loves snowbunnies

6 01 2011

Snow-white Alpha at home in the snow.

What a super visit to kick off the new year! It was a visit of some firsts: first visit of the year, first visit ever to see wild horses … I had a special visitor today! We had tried a couple of times last year to get out to see the horses but were stymied by bad weather each time. Today proved worth waiting for with bright sunshine, pristine snow and freezing conditions perfect enough to drive right in!

She’ll be back for sure … C, I hope you enjoyed your first visit!

We saw lots of horses – very far away – and visited with just Steeldust’s and Kreacher’s bands. We helped a fellow in need, who was performing ice-breaking duty for the horses and for the cattle that are in through February. Always nice to have a set of eyes out there – and the ice-breaking is awesome! Thank you, B! All around, a wonderful day!

Aspen

Mahogany

Gideon, Steeldust, Alpha and Storm

Gideon

Storm and mama Alpha

Mahogany and her boys

Sundance

Steeldust

Very cold – in the mid-teens – but it didn’t feel that cold in the sunshine … until the sun was very low on the horizon. The snow is just amazing – pristine, glittering like infinite rainbows … and when the sun hit low and orange – WOW! Unbelievable gorgeousity!

Special thanks to another C, who gave the thumbs-up on driving in after her lovely visit on New Year’s Day!


Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Alpha, Aspen, Gideon, Mahogany, Mouse, Steeldust, Storm, Sundance

A boy and a girl

4 01 2011

After spending time with Chrome’s band during my last visit, I headed back to the Jeep, and found Hollywood’s and Comanche’s bands just over the hill on the other side of the road, so I mosey out to see what they were up to. As it turned out, I visited during their visit. Oh, if they could talk in language we could understand (true in many ways, eh?)!

What caught my eye was Tenaz and Winona, the 2010 babies in each band, disregarding band boundaries, playing together while their respective bands grazed – respectfully – a short distance from each other. Babies are absolutely neutral ground, and I’ve seen this again and again.

Comanche and Kestrel – Winona’s dam and stepdaddy – were up the hill to my left; Hollywood (Tenaz’s daddy), Piedra (Tenaz’s mama), Baylee (aunt), Sage (big brother) and Iya (soon-to-be producer of Sage and Tenaz’s half-brother or -sister in the spring) were down to the right. The fence you see is part of an “exclosure,” designed to help BLM monitor forage. The horses (nor cattle) can get at the forage inside, so it gives a sample of what ungrazed vegetation looks like. I’m not sure how often (or if at all?) BLM monitors the exclosures (there are a few in the basin). I like this picture – stand by for anthropomorphization: Isn’t it just like a girl to be focused elsewhere (mama and stepdaddy), and isn’t it just like a boy to be focused on the girl? 🙂

I took a seat, and pretty soon, Tenaz came trotting past on his way to mama-security …

… and ‘Nona came by for a look after checking in with her own mama.

Eventually, Comanche came to “collect” his little girl, and she walked back toward mama (grazing up the hill) … Tenaz in tow.

Oh, little boy. Oh, stallion-to-be.

Either of these foals would be a candidate to stay in the basin … Winona definitely represents outside genetics: Her grandma Luna came from Sand Wash Basin in 2001. Tenaz might represent outside genetics; I think his sire, Hollywood, is a son of grulla mare Slate, who was brought with Luna and another mare (she died the winter after the roundup – unknown cause).

We got a major Arctic blast just as I traveled back from Texas – lots of snow and subzero temperatures. A visitor to the basin New Year’s Day reports lots and lots of snow – which represents summer water. I can’t wait to get out there. From her pictures, the scenery of the basin is vastly different than when I took these pictures three weeks ago!


Comments : 6 Comments »

Categories : Tenaz, Winona

Calendar notes

3 01 2011

This is how it turned out!

Cover

January

October

Thank you so much to all who voted on photos for the calendar. It turned out beautifully.

The first batch of orders are ready to send out, and I’ll make more as there’s demand. They’re $15, and $5 of that goes to the Colorado chapter of the National Mustang Association as a donation. If you would like to order one, contact me at:

mtbgrrl (at) fone (dot) net

Again, thank you all! This was such a fun project this year … though I should have started it earlier!


Comments : 9 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

What about the numbers?

3 01 2011

Please take the time to listen to this documentary by Amy Hadden Marsh about how BLM conducts census reports of wild horses and burros in the West: http://www.kdnk.org/article.cfm?mode=detail&id=1293643372755. Follow that link, then click the arrow under “Documentary; Wild horses caught in the crossfire” to the right to play. It’s not too long, and it’s very informative.

One of the best things I’ve done since starting my mustang advocacy was to grab onto the idea of documenting each horse in my herd, which I learned in short order after witnessing the first day of the Little Book Cliffs roundup in September 2007 (and later meeting documenters and darters for that herd, including Marty Felix and Billie Hutchings) and then meeting Matt Dillon, director of the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center and writer and photographer of the Pryor Wild blog, later that same month. I knew a good thing when I saw it! In 22,000-acre Spring Creek Basin, it took me about 2.5-3 months of weekend visits to document the 43 horses left after the 2007 roundup and be sure I had seen them all.

Amy is a master’s degree candidate in wild horse management (where do I sign up??), and she has put together this oral documentary that touches on a lot of interesting points, including how BLM counts and estimates populations. The documentation of Spring Creek Basin’s and Little Book Cliffs’ herds are mentioned, as well as counting flights over Piceance Basin.

Follow Amy’s blog at From Western Colorado.


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Categories : Advocacy

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