February | 2011 | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Messy mud and glorious beauty

18 02 2011

That’s my right boot, covered in mud. It’s hard to see the distinction of mud on my boot and where the ground is, but there’s a thick layer on both sides (and my heel) and up on the toe. (Anyone trying to lose weight? Come quick, while the weights – I mean mud – are/is still plentiful!) I’m not tall enough to be able to focus on the ground with my camera to my face, so I’m holding the camera over my head and aiming at the general direction. Messy mud. 🙂 Every step was a slide backwards of 3 to 6 inches, depending on just how saturated and recently melted the snow was in any given area – not to mention sinking an inch or 2 deep. But it was the best slog I’ve ever had!

Some more pix I’ve tweaked so far, in no particular order … (I am so, so, SO glad I decided to go ahead back out!):

Iya, left, and Baylee. Iya is definitely pregnant … Baylee should be, but it’s hard to tell. Hollywood’s band.

Little Fierro, in Hook’s band. Doesn’t he have the most awesome star with that little comet-tail?

Handsome Comanche, pausing photogenically in front of the La Sals.

Another grey day here today. How thankful am I for yesterday?! I don’t believe I’m going overboard gushing about how gorgeous yesterday was and the visits I had with these horses (three different bands – rare this winter). I’m going to try to get some pix up every day this week; I think I have enough for that!

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Baylee, Comanche, Fierro, Iya

The voice of reason

17 02 2011

Sometimes I hear a voice. Sometimes I listen to it … sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I worry it’s not the voice of intuition but the voice I want to hear and claim it’s intuition.

While that may or may not make sense … today, I heard that voice, and today I listened.

And today was a 180 from yesterday.

Teaser:

This was taken literally moments before the sun disappeared, just a stone’s throw from where the elk were bedded down at the base of Filly Peak yesterday (yes, sunshine – so much for the forecast).

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous day, as gorgeous today as yesterday was grey.

I’m thankful for that voice … I’m thankful for listening … I’m thankful for the ponies that shared part of their gorgeous day with me!

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

Well … elk

16 02 2011

I’m still missing my ponies. The road is not awful – I did get in. The road is not good – I didn’t get very far in. The bands I saw were pretty far … but something caught my eye that I can’t confirm yet but hopefully soon.

The walking was worse than the driving, and wet, saturated, sloppy mud is my weakness. At 9 a.m., the temperature was a whopping 49 degrees! By 11:30, it was 51 … and spitting snow. Not rain. Snow. It was blowing – did I mention it felt like March? – so it wasn’t sticking except for half a second where it landed, where I confirmed they were, in fact, snow flakes. We are looking for snow, according to our forecast. And it’s February – on the west flank of the Rocky Mountains. It’s SUPPOSED to be cold. Snow is SUPPOSED to be on the ground. Still need some dancin’ … 🙂

So I have no pix of horses … Instead, I give you another type of four-leggeds that very briefly, seasonally, migrate through the basin:

The line across the bottom is the road. The elk are at the base of Filly Peak. That’s a northish-facing hill – hence the snow – and the reason I didn’t drive down there (that, and the elk). Very melty. Very soft.

The elk were bedded down when I drove into view and stopped so I could scan across the basin for horses. They all got up (at least one tired girl wasn’t too worried) … but I didn’t drive any closer, and when I turned around to head out, they had mostly all laid back down!

Just outside the basin’s boundary (on private land), I stopped to let a spike bull, yearling and cow across the road … then realized a BIG bunch were heading up a hill from below the level of the road:

Quite a crowd.

Running through Disappointment Creek. (Note how UNFROZEN it is.)

I was shooting through the window of the Jeep. They went up another hill, flowed over the fence like a great brown mass (unfortunately, my view was mostly blocked by willows or tamarisk or some other shrubby trees), across the road in front of me and up the other hill and out of sight. Within a few minutes, they were all gone.

Wider view. (Note the lack of snow on this hill – south-facing.)

We need snow. I like it when mud season comes later, and I like it when it comes after a lot more snow. 🙂

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Disappointment Valley, Elk

Missing them

15 02 2011

Because of my meetings last week, I wasn’t able to get out to visit the horses, and I’ve been missing them. So I went back through photos from the last visit to pull out some more before I hopefully get back out tomorrow.

I see you, beautiful girl! I was sitting on the edge of a shallow arroyo across from where they were grazing.

Sister girls: Gemma, left, and Terra. Gemma will be a year old April 23, and Terra will be 2 on May 1.

Both girls (this is Terra) love their daddy, Grey/Traveler and can often be found grazing close to him. I don’t know where Terra gets her weird and wondrous blaze marking … I’ve always thought it looks like a swan.

Right at the edge of the little arroyo …

He doesn’t very often give me his full attention anymore – I have to be quick to catch it! So handsome and crazy-intelligent!

I especially love to sit with his band and soak up all his wisdom (and Houdini’s). Linda on Beautiful Mustang has been posting about natural horsemanship and observations of her herd, and passive leadership, which her horse Red exhibits. Grey definitely has that quality, and it showed with the big bands he had before the last two roundups. In fact, all the band stallions seem to have it … and I’ve wondered if that might be part of Mouse’s “problem” in getting a mare. He’s the highest ranking bachelor, but he’s a little gruff and grouchy (though he seems to be mellowing). Kreacher and Steeldust are two excellent examples of deferring to their girls, but when need be, they’re incredibly protective.

Can’t wait to see the horses again!

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Gemma, Grey, Terra

Happy day of love

13 02 2011

You may remember this image from January … Jif and Chrome sharing a brief, quiet moment. I thought it was an appropriate image for Valentine’s Day.

Show someone some love today. Every day.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Chrome, Jif

About PZP …

10 02 2011

To offer during the educational programs I plan to do this year ahead of the Spring Creek Basin roundup (scheduled for Sept. 17-21), I created a “brochure” about PZP/PZP-22, and I wanted to share it here, “for more information” as we say in the news biz. I didn’t come up with this information out of thin air. It’s a compilation of the bare surface of what I’ve learned about PZP/PZP-22, and yes, I have offered it for critique and correction to people I think all will agree are experts on the subject: Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, director of the Science and Conservation Center; Dr. Patricia Fazio, statewide coordinator of the Wyoming Wild Horse Coalition; and Matt Dillon, director of the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center.

I keep pushing these links:

http://pryorwild.wordpress.com/category/pzp/ – extremely informative series about PZP written by Matt –

and

http://pryorwild.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/pzp-qa-third-edition-june-1-2010.pdf – PZP Q&A contributed to by Dr. Kirkpatrick, Dr. Allen Rutberg and Linda Coates-Markle, and compiled and edited by Dr. Fazio. (Matt is working to make this a linkable document on the Pryor Wild blog and the PMWMC website.)

Tonight, I have a big date: my first public education program about the coming roundup and adoption and, hopefully, fertility control program in Spring Creek Basin. I’m nervous. I’m hopeful. I think I’m well-prepared. I’m terrified I’ll freeze (a skilled public speaker, I am not). I’m sure I’ll say something about the roundup, answer a question about the horses to be offered for adoption or sent to Canon City … and crumple, like I did last night in a much smaller meeting.

More information: A scoping notice is to be completed this month for our upcoming EA. I’ll inform you all about that when it’s available, and I hope you’ll comment.

I also hope you’re getting those comments out about McCullough Peaks’ fertility control EA. More information here and here.

There’s a lot going on right now … There are still horror stories about roundups … Here, we’re trying to encourage something workable, something sustainable, something with a better “happy ending” for more wild horses. I think by now, it’s pretty well known how I feel, my background, where I’m coming from. Someone apparently called the president of the Four Corners Back Country Horsemen, the group I’m speaking with tonight, and said, “I know all about that TJ Holmes.” I hope so. Because “TJ Holmes” = “mustang advocate.” Everyone who knows me knows that. 😉

Here’s the “brochure”: PZP-FAQcard-FORBLOG

I prepared this to be used as a jump-start for conversation. Like one of our Wild Bunch members noted last night, sterility after six or seven years of consecutive PZP treatments is not necessarily a con (especially for older mares), and I’ve talked about that here. I hope this proves helpful – the links on the last page lead to much more information about PZP (and many thanks to Pat Fazio for pointing out to me that the links are, indeed, live in the PDF document).

Comments : 11 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, PZP

A good roll in the dirt

8 02 2011

Thick, fuzzy winter coats must get itchy, shedding or not. We’ve had a wide range of conditions this winter – from crazy-warm (50s?) to very cold (well below zero), multi-day snow events (around New Year’s) to gaping areas without snow. Winter means survival mode for wild animals … but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for a little fun.

Walking up out of an arroyo, Grey/Traveler surprised me by stopping for a roll. Houdini and the girls went on without him. I thought it looked a little steep, but he made it look so easy, I thought he had found a little “bench.”

About to get up … Hi, big, I’m lookin’ at you!

Terra apparently thought this was a capital idea because she came back to investigate while Grey prepared to lie down on his other side …

He didn’t give up his spot, though, so she had to find a steeper spot above him.

And down they go!

She gave it a good effort but didn’t go all the way over.

It must have felt great to both of them because they leaped up with bucks and hops …

… before heading on up the hill to join Houdini and Gemma.

After they disappeared over the top, I went over to explore and was surprised by the angle of the slope where they had rolled – definitely not flat! I’ve seen a lot of places where they’ve obviously rolled, and some spots look like “habitual” places – places they seem to know and roll on frequently. Some, I think, are just found when the mood strikes them. No doubt Terra will remember this as a good place to roll, right up the hill from what seemed to be a water source in warmer weather.

I should add that between last night and this morning, we got about 3 inches of snow on the southwest flank of the La Platas, so hopefully the basin got some snow … which means water this spring and summer! Thanks for the dances! It adds up in every sparkling flake!

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Grey, Terra

More grey

7 02 2011

But nearly full sunshine and blue!

This Grey(/Traveler) …

… and these greys (yes, Terra is going to be grey) …

… and these greys (Gemma is greying even faster than big sister Terra) …

… mama Houdini … getting to be very Alpha-like in her coloring – or lack thereof (still with grey mane and darker tail) …

… daddy Grey and his grey girls …

… those faces …

… bold grey girl checking me out when I first walked past them to the edge of the ridge to look down on Seven’s and Bruiser and Spring …

… shy Gemma … Almost like daddy – every time she’d look up, I’d be too slow with the camera, and she’d had gone back to grazing by the time I got positioned and focused.

North-facing slopes still have quite enough snow for heavy walking. South-facing have much less – even none. So weird to see such lack of snow … but I also remember Februarys past when I’ve driven around the basin on perfectly dry roads. At least snow is in the forecast: