Apparently, there’s a new “Spirit” movie almost out called “Spirit Untamed.” 🙂
Our little Spirit is living, breathing proof of the untameable spirit of mustangs.
Spirit, untamed
11 05 2021Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte
Stallion seeking mares
10 05 2021
It’s hard keeping one’s ladies in line. They’re independent thinkers, those girls, and though a stallion can mostly get them lined out in the “right” direction, they do like to dawdle here and there and everywhere.
Here, Storm was on the march to collect a couple of wayward grazers as they made their way (I think) toward and in the direction of – eventually – water. He was well aware of a band just leaving the water source, not too far away, and that might have lent a little urgency to his mission. I was with them until the sun did hit the horizon, and though they moved to the other side of a big arroyo, they didn’t seem in too big a hurry to challenge the other band on the path to evening water.
Comments : 14 Comments »
Categories : La Sal Mountains, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Happy Mother’s Day!
9 05 2021
Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms! They birth us, care for us, nurture us, support us – always. Where would we be without them!? 🙂
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Prince’s plume pollination
8 05 2021
Bees and flowers; flowers and bees.
Springtime. 🙂
Comments : 12 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Wild flowers
Besty girls
7 05 2021
Even grazing, Temple and Madison are never far from each other.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Light walker
6 05 2021
The heart of the wild, in glorious sunset light just after the sun dropped under a cloud lingering from rain much earlier. We’ll take all we can get (the rain AND the light!).
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring flamboyance
5 05 2021
Kudos to eagle-(lizard?!-)eyed friend Pat Amthor for spotting this collared lizard on a rock as we drove by on a gorgeous afternoon in Spring Creek Basin! And she didn’t see it from this angle; she saw it from the left (I’ve backed up here when she shouted “lizard”!), where only the head was visible – almost the same color as the rock.
I LOVE these bright, awesome little dinosaurs!
P.S. We got around 0.21 inch of rain early Monday morning. The green is noticeable, and the wildflowers loved the infusion of moisture. 🙂
P.P.S. I’ve been trying to attach the pic to this post for hours without success; hopefully WordPress or my Internet will allow it in the morning, when I’ll try again.
Comments : 12 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Wildlife
Getting the gleam
4 05 2021
The last time Tenaz appeared on the blog, he was looking a bit rough, in the throes of the latter stages of shedding his winter coat for his summer shorts. So when I saw him the other evening and was practically squinting in the glare of his shine from the angle of the setting sun, I set about trying to capture the full gloriousness of his bayness (!).
But while they are looking fabulous as the days warm suddenly into 80-degree territory, they’re also almost frantically hunting the elusive green (it’s not necessarily elusive … there’s just not a lot of it (… yet?)). So there’s kind of a whole lotta domesticity going on in the basin these days while the horses, well, simply graze. (In other words, he wasn’t quite willing to strike a “handsome-mustang” pose!)
This area of the basin is cut by several shallow arroyos that run down to join the Spring Creek arroyo, so thinking I’d try something different, I stepped into it and tried to photograph Tenaz with the band through his legs in the background.
He did seem at least slightly interested to know why I was suddenly half my normal height. 🙂
But it didn’t stop him from seeking the green!
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte
Moving from green to green
3 05 2021
Skywalker was chasing the green this evening.
The mustangs are fairly single-minded about their grazing and foraging. As they’re snipping the good bits, they’re looking for their next spot of green, and on and on. They’re finding it, and most of them are pretty well shed out.
Comments : 11 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
‘Desert Chrome’
2 05 2021‘Water, a Woman, and Wild Horses in the West’
Kathryn Wilder‘s debut book, “Desert Chrome,” will be published in mid-May by Torrey House Press!
Longtime readers will recognize Kat’s name as an advocate for Spring Creek Basin mustangs. In this vulnerable, deeply touching and wide-ranging memoir, she recounts her life’s journey that eventually led her to Disappointment Valley and Spring Creek Basin – among earlier and parallel events that shaped her among heartbreak, water and wilderness. About the mustangs, she writes about getting to know them and the great strides we’ve made in the management of our herd with the use of PZP.
Kirkus Reviews calls it “testimony to the healing power of wildness” and “a spirited and impassioned chronicle.” And it is, without a doubt, all of that.
Suzanne Roy, fierce director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, wrote: “Kat Wilder’s beautifully written memoir takes us on a journey of a life lived on the move, full of love, loss and searching, finally finding peace among a herd of mustangs in Colorado’s magnificent Disappointment Valley. Wilder’s insight into the wild horses, why they’re worth saving and how to save them, will be of interest to anyone concerned with preserving the West’s last remaining wild spaces and the wild animals that inhabit them. A must read.”
Pre-order the book from Torrey House Press, your local independent bookstore or from Amazon.
Kat will be doing numerous readings, both virtual – Garcia Street Books in Santa Fe, and Maria’s Bookshop and Cortez Public Library here in Southwest Colorado – and in person at Sherbino Theater in Ridgway and Entrada Institute in Torrey, Utah.
Here are some particular deets:
Maria’s virtual event for “Desert Chrome” will start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, on Zoom and Facebook Live. Check Maria’s events calendar page for details.
Kat’s first live reading will be from about 6 to about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, May 22, at The Livery in Norwood. This is basically our backyard! Head over to Between the Covers’ Facebook page to find out more.
The Cortez Public Library will have an online reading with Kat starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26.
On Thursday, June 10, Ridgway’s Sherbino Theater will host Kat for a live reading from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Visit the website for tickets, on sale 30 days before the event. Ridgway’s also fairly local to us, and several mustang friends call it home.
If you’re in Torrey, Utah, on Saturday, June 26, stop by the Entrada Institute for a live reading.
Be sure to find and follow Kat on Facebook to keep up with other events as they’re scheduled, and I’ll post reminders about the above readings close to their happening dates.
Comments : 10 Comments »
Categories : Advocacy, Brumley Point, Disappointment Valley, Fertility control, Mustangs, PZP, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 