These are the hardest posts to write, and we’ve had maybe more than our fair share now.
Kiowa was put down at Canon City because of rapidly deteriorating condition from an infection that started with a leg injury. I spoke with Lona at Canon City for quite a while. Don’t know how the original injury occurred. Hacho is doing fine, and she is soon to be on her way back to the area with most of the other horses that are being adopted or bought (according to age).
Kiowa was an excellent mother and alpha mare. She’s one of three mares that had a surviving foal each year between 2007 and 2011, and at least two of her foals (Reya and Maiku) carry on her legacy in Spring Creek Basin.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
What an absolutly beautiful mare. Im sorry with you at her passing. It is indeed a great loss. Thank you for sharing so much with us. ~Linda
TJ, how old are Reya and Maiku? What a travesty that this older (and wiser) mare couldn’t have been released. What will become of the other two, presumably older, mares?
I’m so sorry for your loss. So sorry for our loss. So sorry for Kiowa.
Reya is 4. She was released with Kiowa after the 2007 roundup. Maiku is a yearling. They’re both with Chipeta, Puzzle and Ty.
They couldn’t all be released … and fewer were removed than would have been if the roundup had been stopped/delayed. And if not for the plane scattering horses … if we’d been able to find and bring in more horses, different choices could have been made about who to remove and who to release. Lots of “ifs” … all the way around.
The three older mares (and the others) are being adopted/bought and are being brought back to the area because of the efforts of some folks near Telluride.
How sad about Kiowa. She was such a pretty mare. May she rest in peace.
TJ, you are too kind. The disruptive behaviors at the gather by folks who chose to be “Johnny come lately’s” are directly related to many negative situations. Tif and other volunteers are out tomorrow fixing fence that was deliberately cut by the disruptors as you know. The ramifications of the plane, negative reporting and general false information is yet to unfold. Thank you for always telling the unbiased story of our wonderful herd.
KH
so are these horses that the people from telluride being put back into the herd or what do u mean by brought back to the area
No horses that were removed from the herd at the end of the roundup have been returned/released back to the herd area. These are horses that were originally sent to Canon City from the roundup and the four that were not adopted at the adoption event held Sept. 24. They have been bought/adopted at Canon City and are coming with the people who adopted/bought them, who are from this area.
oh ok I was wondering about that. Just wasn’t sure
So sorry to hear of another loss. She’s beautiful. To me she looks like the quintessential Indian pony