Cinch | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Glorious rain – Aug. 31, 2008

31 08 2008

Spring Creek running

We start this weekend’s story in the middle of the story. From the wilderness study area in the southern part of the herd area, I got chased out twice by monstrous black clouds and threatening thunder. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen clouds that downright ugly. Walking around with a personalized lightning-bolt-attractor in the form of a metal monopod … not the smartest thing I’ve been accused of. The storms dropped rain in a very localized area – they came in sort of stationary “waves” and never passed out of the very east “pocket” of the basin, right inside the boundary ridgeline.

Fast forward to my drive into the main part of the basin. So far so good – until I hit the Spring Creek crossing! OK, so it’s not exactly clear, but it has to be indicative of more and possibly better water upstream (the point of this is that I think Spring Creek originates in the east). Any water in the basin is a good thing. All that grass in the east is going to benefit from the rain, too, and that benefits the ponies! So I got out of the Jeep and did a happy dance before I took some pix for documentation purposes.

No cross here

This photo, like the one above, was taken from about the same spot – about mid-stream just downstream of the crossing. This one isn’t as dramatic as the first, but from the two pictures, you can tell that water is running in two “streams.” What you might not be able to tell is how gushy the mud gets when it becomes mud!

In the first photo, the darker soil right above the water is the high-water mark! It was about 2.5-3 feet above the arroyo. The water went about 8-10 feet away from the flat of the crossing, which is at the top of the photo. Before I went to the basin this weekend, I decided to take my mountain bike. I walked through the creek in my sandals, carrying my bike, and rode from there. Awesome!

But … I’m getting ahead of myself.

My weekend visit to the horses started at the county road across from the south meadow, where I spotted Cinch, then Bruiser. Hoping to find the others (band and bachelors) also in the meadow, I parked and hiked in. (A quick re-cap: David Glynn alerted me to the change in status of the pinto band and the “southside boys” bachelor band. I found them all last weekend, and Bruiser – band stallion – was definitely out, but it was hard to tell who had become king of the hill, err, band.) This Saturday, Cinch and Bruiser were on the south side of the arroyo that runs out to the road and just at the base of a little hill the horses pass to get into the meadow. So I hiked in on the north side of the arroyo, which provides more tree cover. My main goal was more observation of the new combined band, not photography, so I stayed out of their view until I reached the discreet little deer trail that leads up to the top of the hill north of the meadow. The rest of the horses were not in the meadow, so I went on up.

When I didn’t see the other horses from up top, I headed back down on one of at least two routes that takes the horses to the meadow – the “high” route that crosses the arroyo earlier (farther east) and skirts the hill on the south side of that arroyo. (Both trails take the horses to the better grazing on the south side of the arroyo.) The trail I took has a heights-defying spot that seems in imminent danger of eroding into oblivion. Any fall from there – maybe 15 feet? – would hurt horse or human.

At the edge of the trees above the meadow, I stopped to ready my camera in case the boys were still there. Ready to go and looked up to see two curious dark faces – Cinch and Bruiser. 🙂 Cinch pranced around a little, but Bruiser was so calm, Cinch calmed down as well, and they posed for some pretty pictures. I took pix as I walked around them, and the thunder chased me back to the road.

Sweet boys

It does help the more wary horses to have a calm compadre nearby. Bruiser walks OK, but I noted last weekend that he limps on his left front if he tries to trot. Cinch is sporting a “roached” look here. It’s longer and wispier than Roach’s was when his was roached, probably caused by his pals chewing on it.

My next likely area to search for horses is a big open area just south of the San Miguel/Dolores County line, also right off the county road. On first pass, I didn’t see any horses. But on the hillside just north of the big open: Seven’s band. They’ve done some traveling since the loss of the filly, from the east to the southwest part of the herd area.

Seven's band

Seven with Molly, center, and Roja. Old Molly is still a thin girl, but she’s sure to gain some weight without the filly nursing.

From where I stopped to see them, I spotted Corazon back in the big open (which does have hills and trees and arroyos). Perfect. Another big cloud was brewing in the east, but I was covered in sunshine, and the rain from the previous cloud hadn’t made it to my part of the herd area. So in I walked.

David and Shadow

Hello! It’s always nice when the ponies find you! I was glad to see that once-bachelor David has been able to hold on to yearling filly Shadow, but I was a little worried about them being so close to the other band. And I worried that he’d tip my presence to the band. Not to fear on either account. They must have skirted past the band because I later saw them farther east, and the “new band” was still where I had originally spotted them.

All in the family

Left to right noses at top: Spook, Kiowa, Reya, Chipeta and … drum roll, please … Copper, the mud-encrusted new king. Then Corazon (pinto), Mesa (bay) and Ty.

New family

With top-of-the-heap status comes great responsibility. Copper’s guarding his new family from the bachelors, out of frame to the left.

Pinto girls

Girls with spots. From left, mama Kiowa, her 2008 filly, Spook, 3-year-old Chipeta and Kiowa’s yearling filly, Reya. Very calm; very cool. And it was time to beat the thunder, so I walked away, leaving them very calm and very cool.

And that brings us back to raging Spring Creek.

I had spotted Steeldust’s band and the Bachelor 7 way around in the east at about the curve where the road heads south, so I headed that way by bike. It was way cool to get out of the Jeep and on the bike in the basin. I got off the bike at the washout. You could definitely see by the soil that it had rained hard back there. The horses didn’t seem to see me ride up, so I stood on the road on the other side of the washout until the bachelors saw me and alerted the band, then walked on down the road. They were up the hill away from the road … checked me out, then went back to grazing. A good problem to have, I guess!

Baby Storm was hammin’ it up, though, so I got some good pictures of the little boy.

Pinon nursing

Storm nursing

By the time I got out to them, it was around 7ish – dinner time!

Baby boys

Pinon, left, is about 3 and a half months old, and Storm is about a month and a week old. Pinon has gotten a lot darker in the past few weeks.

Posin'

No words necessary. 🙂

What kind of flowers?

I thought I figured out what kind of flowers these are when they were blooming earlier this summer, but now I can’t remember and can’t find them in my wildflower book(s). They’re blooming – again – all over. (Notice the flowers in the previous pic with Storm. The flowers in this pic were at the edge of the little wash that leads out to the road washout. My bike was just on the other side of them.)

While I was watching Steeldust’s band grazing on the hillside, I spotted Bones, Poco and Bounce farther to the south. And that was Saturday. Really a fabulous day. The loss of the filly still bothers me, but humans who watch wild horses must adapt as they do. Always more to learn.

Sunday’s story is all about rain! I slept in the Jeep right inside the herd area boundary. Woke up around 1 a.m. after a dream that I woke up in the Jeep the next morning and it had snowed and a guy was skiing up the road into the basin! Reality: At 1 a.m., lightning was flashing sporadically to the west, but the sky was filled with stars (you really haven’t lived till you’ve seen that night sky – phenomenal), so I went back to sleep.

Woke up at 3:15 to rain tapping on the Jeep’s roof. I don’t recommend this, but I spent the rest of the night at the intersection at the county road … and woke up just before daylight to steady rain. If I hadn’t wanted to see my Grey-boy so badly, I’d have called it a day at 7 a.m. and headed for home. Yeah …

Long story short, I inched my way back into the basin but got stopped before the first “V” arroyo. The road was good till that point, but it took me awhile because I kept stopping to scan for horses. I stopped for good above that arroyo. By then, I had already spotted Steeldust’s band and the B7, and I had found Bounce, Alegre and Gaia way back in east park. So I had seen all but the one horse (and band) I wanted to see. It had stopped raining, and the sun had peeked through the clouds a couple of times, but huge dark clouds still loomed over the east ridge of the basin and back to the west. The length of looming almost had me convinced I could bike from there to see if I could find Grey/Traveler’s band around the far side of Lizard Mesa (east of Knife Ridge). Then I happened to spot something white far to the north.

Nine times out of 10, a white spot is a rock. The 10th time, you get lucky, and it’s Alpha, Houdini or Traveler. I grabbed the binoculars, and bingo, baby; there was my boy … and Houdini and Jif and Twister, and Two Boots and Iya, standing together under a tree. Did I say far to the north? I mean WAY far to the north. I mean way far northeastish of last August’s trap site. I mean so way far away I couldn’t see a way to get to them without a (really) long (long) hike.

About three minutes after I took some reference pictures, I checked the west clouds – uh oh. Big black cloud had become a grey sheet of rain. I really can’t stress enough to visitors that if it rains, you do NOT want to be in the basin OR on the road across private land that leads to the basin. You want to be on the good county road. I wouldn’t have so totally ignored my own advice – and believe me that it made me really nervous to be in the basin. But today is my birthday, and my birthday wish was to see my favorite boy. Wish granted. 🙂

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Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Houdini, Molly, Pinon, Poco, Roach, Roja, Seven, Steeldust, Storm, Ty

Summer solstice – June 20, 2008

21 06 2008

Friday was summer solstice – shortest night and longest day of the year. It did seem like the shortest night – I got up at 5 a.m. and was hiking by 5:20. Here’s a timeline of my morning hike, trying to illustrate the horses in the light – and shadow – of their home range:

5:58 a.m.: Sun not yet risen. I saw a flash of white and a couple of the bachelors (Aspen and Hook) nearby and thought I’d found Alpha and Steeldust’s band. Nope. It was the “southside boys,” who range far and wide throughout Spring Creek Basin. Above is Ty and Copper.

6:03 a.m.: From left: Cinch, Copper, Corazon and David. You can just barely see Copper’s markings on his left front and hind pasterns.

$Grey\'s family, Round Top$

6:23 a.m.: Grey/Traveler and his band – still missing Jif (see next post) – in the shadow of “lizard mesa,” northeast of Knife Ridge – with Round Top in the light in the background.

$Seven\'s band$

6:25 a.m.: Seven’s band on the edge of night and day …

6:32 a.m.: Iya, Houdini and Grey/Traveler (and the yearlings following) ran through the light over the saddle on the edge of Knife Ridge to the shade on the other side, following Steeldust’s band.

$Moonset over Steeldust\'s band$

6:44 a.m.: The just-past-full moon took a long time to set over the far ridge on the west side of Spring Creek Basin. That’s Mahogany and Steeldust’s band.

7:06 a.m.: Almost full light. Grey and Twister looking back at Cinch and David and the other bachelors. I was still in the shade of Knife Ridge when I took this photo.

7:06 a.m.: The objects of Grey’s interest: Cinch and David. The rest of the boys are down the little slope behind the trees.

No bugs until 8-ish. No breeze until 9-ish. Simply gorgeous.

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Categories : Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Houdini, Mahogany, Seven, Steeldust, Ty

Back in the basin

18 06 2008

Yep.

Nope.

And no sign of Duke.

Ms. Molly had her foal between June 3 and June 7. David Glynn, who visits the herd area frequently, provided news about the new foal while I was on vacation. He also emailed that he saw Duke this past weekend, not limping, and that he was interacting with some of the bands. Good news.

Molly is thinner than the other mares, but given her estimated age (older than 20!), that’s to be expected. This might be her last foal; she was gathered and released, and she got the immunocontraceptive. In her case, I think it might be beneficial for her overall health. I didn’t get very close to her, but her foal is a sorrel with the “muley” coloring around its muzzle. No telling yet if it’s a colt or a filly.

Alpha might be going for a world record gestation … or I have another theory. Last April, she was with Grey/Traveler, but she was gathered with a stallion I called Junior. She has always been one of the last to foal, and although I didn’t follow her (or the other horses) as closely in the past as I do now, I didn’t think it was quite this late when she foaled previously. So, what if, between Grey and Junior, she missed her heat and was bred a month “late”? She looks like she’s bagging up, so I hope she’s close.

The “other” bachelor group was down in the southwestern part of the herd area when I saw them, right from the county road. This photo shows all the boys but Ty, who was a short distance to the left. Here, from left: Cinch, Corazon, David, Copper and Mesa. I stopped and took pictures from over the roof of the Jeep until they “hid” behind some juniper trees. I moved down the fence until they moved into the open. They ran back and forth some as their wariness vied with their natural curiosity.

David (bay with the blaze), Mesa (solid bay) and Cinch.

Copper, Corazon and Mesa. Copper is a slight muley bay with left front and hind pasterns; his mane falls mostly on the right side of his neck. Mesa is solid bay; his mane falls on the left side of his neck.

Copper and Ty (black). Such sweet boys.

With such a fortunate encounter for my first sighting of the horses since my return from vacation, I knew it was going to be a great day. I used four memory cards (of various storage) and *saved* almost 800 photos (I probably culled at least that many). I don’t know why I took so many pictures this particular day, but a friend suggested that maybe it was because I really missed the horses. 🙂 She might be right.

The northern bands were all up in the northeastern part of the basin again … which is really, truly the eastern part. I tend to think of it as northeastern because it’s “in the back” as far as the loop road goes, and tucked under the natural boundary hills. But I looked at a map recently (who needs a map when you know where you’re going?), and realized it’s pretty well centrally east. In this photo, Alegre and Gaia are in the foreground, and Molly, her foal, Roja and Seven are in the background. You can see the road in the foreground.

Sweet baby Ember and mama Luna.

$Grey\'s band, minus Jif$

Grey/Traveler and his family also were in the area, closest to the water hole – what’s keeping all the bands in this area, I think. Jif was just a little apart from them.

A picture like this is my favorite to take because it’s my favorite thing to see: interaction and evidence of affection among the horses. That’s Two Boots with her head over Twister’s back. They’re about shed out now. Two Boots shed out a lot lighter, even though she’s still dark grey. Last fall, she was *really* dark. And Twister is showing his pretty rosy grey color. Stepdaddy Grey in the background.

Too cute! Pinon here, standing up nice and straight for the camera. Definitely a colt. His little dark patch is clearly visible here. I’ve noticed something similar on a couple of other horses: Luna has an ever-so-slightly-darker spot on her right barrel, behind her shoulder, and Comanche has a dark spot that’s maybe about the size of a baseball on his right barrel. Luna’s spot is bigger but almost unnoticeable.

Back to front: Aspen, Chrome and Hook. While I was thinking about Duke, I realized the Bachelor 7 (six without Duke) have been dogging Steeldust’s band since just after I realized he was limping, around April 15.

Aspen and Hook decided to relieve the monotony by play fighting – with an audience. In the immediate vicinity were the other bachelors, Grey’s band, Steeldust’s band (of course) and Bounce’s family. Hook initiated the whole thing (tattle tale), and at one point, he got one foreleg up over Aspen’s back, and they went around in a full circle before Aspen was able to shake him off. Notice Mouse and Comanche snoozing in the background. That’s Kreacher at upper left, and in the middle ground is Grey and his band.

I had walked out from the road, over a hill, through a couple of arroyos and up another hill to try to get a better look at Molly and her new foal and was returning to the Jeep when I saw Bounce, Alegre and Gaia closest to me and the other horses a little farther out. I took the above pix of Aspen and Hook, wishing I was closer to them, but then I had an opportunity to get a little closer to where Gaia had just laid down and Alegre was grazing. A juniper shielded me from Alegre, but Bounce had me in full view. Conspirator? I’m pretty sure that even Grey and some of the other horses also knew I was there, but I don’t think Alegre ever did. She grazed farther away from me and closer to the other horses (which were back toward the water hole), and I waited until they were gone before moseying on back to the road.

Alegre and Gaia near sunset, taken from the road.

I drove around the loop road twice, looking hard for Duke. Never did see him, but on my way out, I saw Poco, Bones and Roach at the water hole below the roller-coaster ridge road.

He’s in the (obviously) dry part of the water hole – photo taken from the ridge road. Poco and Bones were just behind him to the east. This water hole and the one in the east, off the doubletrack, are the only water holes I know of that still have water. Spring Creek has water in places. No sign of the horses anywhere near the water catchment.

Not quite full … but pretty cool.

It’s good to be back.

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Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Luna, Molly, Roach, Seven, Steeldust, Ty

Bones lives – March 7, 2008

8 03 2008

Bones, the little grey mare with Roach and Poco who was so skinny last fall, has made it through the winter! And maybe it’s just her winter coat, but she looks like she may have gained some weight. She’s still thin, but I don’t think she’s quite as skinny.

Today was a gorgeous day in Spring Creek Basin: sunny and, well, not as cold as last Sunday! I had the good fortune to confirm sightings of everyone but Kreacher, Molly and Roja, the pinto family Bruiser, Chipeta, Kiowa and Reya, and the grulla mare Slate.

I saw the Bachelor 7 napping on a ridge as I drove in – minus Grey (Traveler). Then I found him, grazing by himself just down from the ridge in a little valley. The roads are in pretty good shape after last weekend’s snowfall, and I made it through the two arroyos before the first road split and, a little later, through the two heading down the south loop road.

From a distance, I saw Hollywood and Jif with Steeldust’s band. Seven, Houdini, Two Boots and Twister were a little farther away. I saw Hollywood, Jif and Steeldust again throughout the day, but I saw only Seven again later.

Finding Bones alive was the biggest news of the day, but guess what else I found out? “Rosa,” in Steeldust’s band, is a boy. At first I thought I must have confused her with the rose-grey stallion – they look very similar – but nope. They’re both young stallions! In the photo above, they’re second and third from left. Steeldust is very tolerant, I guess.

Luna, the buckskin mare, still looks very pregnant, but the bay mare doesn’t look as pregnant as I thought last fall, and I just can’t tell about Alpha. We’ll see!

I had a rare sighting of the pinto bachelors Corazon and Cinch with Ty and Mesa. Mesa and Cinch were play fighting when I first saw them, but once they saw me, they were perfectly behaved. Just like little boys in the presence of an adult! They were hanging out by a water hole north of Round Top.

From left: Mesa, Ty, Cinch and Corazon.

The boys trotted away across an arroyo, but they returned to the water hole.

I went from watching them to the top of Round Top, my first time to the top! On the way up (the east side), I saw David and the muley bay bachelor napping under a tree just on the very south side. Three elk were heading up to the top. They disappeared, and I never saw them again. On the north side of the top of Round Top, I spied on the four bachelors … and was ecstatic to spy Bounce and one of his mares … and Roach, Bones and Poco! The horse with Bounce looked like Alegre from one spot but like Slate from another spot. I couldn’t spot a third horse. Bones and Poco were lying down with Roach on guard when I first saw them, so I was unsure of her status – until they stood up! Wow! As skinny as she was in November, I really wasn’t expecting to see her this spring. The five horses were fairly close to each other, on the northeast side of a ridge blocking them from the view of the bachelors.

Over on the south side of Round Top, I saw four horses that I thought at the time were Grey, Chrome and two of the other Bachelor 7. But I saw just their heads and the tops of their backs, and they disappeared behind a ridge before I could get my backpack off and my camera out.

I went down the same way I went up and drove around to the arroyo past the intersection with the loop road. It was wide and muddy, and water was running, so I decided to park and walk. When I found Bounce, etc., I walked down to a hill across a wide, shallow arroyo from them and sat down to watch. The horse with Bounce turned out to be Alegre, and I thought some patience might produce Slate.

But it didn’t.

Alegre, left, and Bounce.

I hope she was off having her foal. I didn’t see her with any other bands.

Roach, Bones and Poco.

I headed out after I saw those five horses. I saw Steeldust’s band again – with Hollywood and Jif still tagging along.

Almost out, I saw three more elk … and the Bachelor 7. But they were north of the water catchment. They could have gotten from south of Round Top to north of the catchment in the time I was hanging out watching Bounce and the others, but it just doesn’t jive.

However, I saw my beloved boy Grey. Couldn’t have asked for a better end to the day.