‘Twas a charmed visit, my friends! Three glorious days with my beloved mustangs … transcended to heaven, was I. Let me show you what I mean (prepare ye for extreme cuteness overload):
Meet Boreas, son of Two Boots and Chrome. I didn’t expect to meet him this week … in fact, of the mares due, Two Boots was pushing the edge of that. In another fact, she’s about a week early with this little mister – not that I’m complaining! I found them almost as soon as I drove into the basin. I’m sure the little was born earlier that morning. Boreas is the Greek god of the north wind, and there’s some interesting equine mythology associated with him.
No name yet for this little girl, the daughter of Mahogany and Sundance. As it turns out, Sundance finally lost Mahogany to Aspen between the time I took this pic and the next morning. He’s cut and bruised and sore, but he’ll be OK. She looks a lot like Briosa. A long-time theory I held was that Piedra was possibly Mahogany’s daughter … like daughter, like granddaughter? (I have to say, though, that neither Sage nor Tenaz look anything like any of Mahogany’s other offspring). As last year seemed to be the year for bay babies, so far we have two sorrels (that I think will stay sorrel), a silver buckskin and a few brownish to darkish foals that will turn grey, one black that I think is true black – oh yeah, and this next big boy! – our first bay of this year:
This strapping big boy is Raven’s and Kreacher’s son – his second-born (Shane (dam: Mona) is his firstborn), but it appears he’ll be the first Kreacher will raise in his band (Mona and Shane have been with Seven since Shane was born; Corona, who is not Kreacher’s daughter, was with Duke the first six months of her life). Raven is extremely protective of this big guy, but she allowed me to spend a wonderful evening with the family soaking in the gorgeous sunshine.
Meet Kestrel’s and Comanche’s daughter. Comanchero got a lot of practice with his adored stepdaughter, Winona, but this little angel-girl is his firstborn. Claude Steelman saw her Monday, the day of her birth, and let me know, so I was eagerly anticipating meeting her! I’ll tell you something, this baby is a genuine tree-hugging earth muffin! She apparently LOVES trees! Nearly every time I saw her, she was checking out some tree or other, whether it was green and alive or dead and fallen. In the pix to come, check out how often she’s surrounded by trees.
Are they fantastic?! Of course they are!!!!!!!!
They were all born between Monday and Thursday (which I know thanks to visits and reports by Claude and a group from Telluride that included four children on Mother’s Day!). Names and more photos are coming!
The Four Corners Back Country Horsemen held their annual wild horse count this weekend, and we were blessed with mostly gorgeous weather. Saturday saw the advance of slightly stormy skies, but it was really beautiful. The count is one way the 4CBCH helps managers of San Juan Public Lands with observances and projects to benefit the vast geography we call home here in Southwest Colorado. We were fortunate to welcome Tom Rice, associate manager of the Dolores Public Lands Office, and his wife, Kelly, to ride with the group of horsemen who set out Saturday in search of horses. We are most grateful for their involvement.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 