Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

One moment in a day of moments. Comanche the handsome just gets more handsome. 🙂

It would be an amazing world if there was no strife, no war, no tragedy.

Today, we remember those who served in the U.S. armed forces … and never returned home to their families.  We mourn you … and we thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

Because he’s much cuter than the previous pic shows. 🙂

Grey mud doesn’t count. 🙂

Bold big red Hayden wasn’t terribly happy to have to put out so much energy after his spa treatment in pursuit of his band.

They just take your breath – and your words – away, don’t they? 🙂 Pretty redhead Tesora gives us her model pose.

Lovely last light of day, filled with lovely mustangs … filled with love.

Sundance and Hayden have a little chat on a ridge. Mares were kept and dignities remained intact.

Every time a visitor is with me and we spot Corona, I put them on the spot (fair warning to future visitors :)) and ask them to identify her color. Thus far, that question has mostly been met with silence.

The obvious – and wrong – answer is grey. But she’s not grey. She was born the color she is; she hasn’t “greyed out.”

Now and then, we’ll get close enough to see the subtle roaning in her coat (minimal rusty red hairs), and someone will tentatively guess roan. But she’s not roan. She doesn’t have the characteristic dark (sorrel) head and lower legs. Though the shading on her face (sides/cheeks, mostly) and lower legs is faintly darker than elsewhere, she’s just not roan.

So now that we’ve established what colors she’s NOT, any guesses? 🙂 I have a two-word guess, and having spent some time on various color and genetics sites (oh, my scrambled brain), I’ve dropped one word and am going with the second, of which I’m fairly sure, though she doesn’t have one particular characteristic (or doesn’t seem to).

Here’s a closer photo for your enjoyment and guessing pleasure:

See that spot on her neck above her shoulder? That’s permanent … like a birth mark?

Years ago – before the 2007 roundup – we had a mare this color (a bit darker in her shading) that everyone called “the strawberry roan.” I knew then that she wasn’t roan – of the strawberry or any other berry variety – but I didn’t know what the heck color she was, so I called her “the pumpkin mare” (though in reality, she was more pinky than orangey). The mare had at least one offspring the same color, but BLM removed them both. That was before I started documenting the Spring Creek Basin herd, so I don’t know a thing about the source of their color, and we sure haven’t seen it since then.

Corona is the product of our 2008 introduction from Sand Wash Basin. Her mother is Raven, a minimally marked black-and-white pinto. Her sire, as best I can tell from photos given to me by someone who was following the Sand Wash Basin herd at the time, is their famed Corona, a dunalino (look verrrrry closely if you don’t believe me).

Every time I visit Sand Wash Basin, I look for a horse of a similar (or identical) color. But I haven’t seen one yet.

If you can verifiably tell me Corona’s color, you’ll win my undying gratitude. 🙂

While you’re at it, any guesses about Mysterium’s color? She was the napping subject of a blog post a few days ago. I do absolutely know her color, and no, she’s not grey, either. 🙂