And blessed.
Kootenai and Mysterium near sunset. Riches come in quiet moments that last far longer than gold. But every night – golden colors and healthy horses. Love.
Riches
25 11 2012Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Happy Thanksgiving!
22 11 2012This year, as every year, I am so thankful for the people in my life. For my family, above all, and for my friends who are like family.
I am grateful for one of the best years of my life and everything that came together that allows me to spend so much time with the mustangs that mean the world to me.
I am grateful for our Spring Creek Basin mustangs, these magical animals that make my heart sing every time I see them.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Be grateful for all the joys in your lives!
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Raven, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Kootenai & Mysterium
24 09 2012Another mama and daughter:
Mysterium has been playing in the mud, most likely the pond behind Round Top. She’s a big, healthy girl!
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Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Next
12 08 2012And here’s the followup pic that prompts the “is she pregnant” question:
I’ve been amazed that Mysterium has still been nursing. My experience with the mares is that they start kicking off their babies about three months or so before they’re due to foal again.
So maybe pregnant … but not by her due date!? Mysterium will be 1 year old on Aug. 21!
Makes ya go hmm.
Terra update to come.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Skywalker, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Kooten-ooten-anny
11 08 2012I have nicknames for the horses. As if “Kootenai” weren’t enough, I have to make it longer, with more vowels and syllables. She’s way too cute for one “simple” name, though, don’t you agree? (For newcomers and/or forgetful types, I named her in honor of Kootenai, a mustang from Sand Wash Basin (Koot’s original home range), who marched with nine of his Border Patrol mustang buddies (including Justice, from Spring Creek Basin) at Obama’s inauguration parade in January 2009. Also cuz I used to live in Montana and loved the northwestern corner of the state.)
But on to the post. Time for some class participation. I’m going to flash a pic and ask a question that requires comment participation – because I really don’t know. She should be, but she might not be. And then I’m going to have a follow-up pic, which will require more discussion – because I don’t know the answer there, either – even though that follow-up pic will be more of a statement that perhaps *prompts* a question – at least it has for me: This one:
Is she pregnant?
Hint to newcomers and/or forgetful types: She’s due in 10 days.
Go!
Update: Two additional photo angles.
From the front.
From the back.
Didn’t have any from straight on, either front or back.
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Categories : Kootenai, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Sweet daughter
2 07 2012Not so much time to put together long, narrative posts, or even to go through photos from visits. So that’s the reason for the single-photo posts; something in my recent files catches my eye, and I tweak it and share it as a snapshot into the horses’ lives. It is hot and dry, too, and that is draining for humans, if not the horses, who seem to go on, life as usual.
Kinda funny at the same time that it’s a sweet moment between Mysterium and Kootenai. Two faces … and two butts. 🙂
I’m loving Myst’s “beauty spot.” It’s just a little scar, but it’s perfectly placed, eh? She carries it off.
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Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Raven, Skywalker, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Mysterium & Kootenai
29 06 2012Kootenai is less than two months from her due date.
And Mysterium is still nursing.
And the baby girl shows no sign of stopping – nor Kootenai of weaning her.
She looks healthy and glowing with good health, doesn’t she?
Am I biased, or is she really as stunning as I think she is? Maybe it’s her color (dun), maybe it’s their shared Sand Wash Basin heritage, but she and Winona (buckskin) remind me quite a bit of each other.
Tell me the little miss isn’t just exquisite! Such refined, pretty faces and kind eyes.
I love Skywalker’s funny little look at “auntie” Kootenai over his shoulder. Raven is grazing just in front of him.
I had the most peaceful visit with this colorful family at sunset. I went out and sat, and Raven calmly and surely grazed her way toward me, and then they were all around. Like a laidback introduction of baby to “society.” So sweet about it.
Grey/Traveler’s family also were in Wildcat Valley; they’ve been hanging out there for weeks now, with water in a rough triangle between the trickle (which is doing well after our work), Wildcat Spring and the main arroyo at the base of the east-west hill.
Kootenai’s due date is a surer thing than our next rain! How weird that is to contemplate.
Thank you to all who have expressed care and concern for those in Southwest Colorado who have been evacuated from their homes and/or are fighting the fires. Most of the smaller, lightning-strike fires have been stopped in their tracks, apparently. The Weber Fire just southeast of Mancos is now estimated at 9,279 acres with 45 percent containment. Unfortunately, a juvenile is a “person of interest” in connection with starting that fire.
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Skywalker, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Contrast
23 05 2012Maybe it’s the angle, but I didn’t realize how much bigger Mona is than little Roja. But I do very often have the impression of Roja as a Thelwell pony. 🙂
Here’s something: We watched Aspen breed Mona – twice – on Sunday. Mona, who should have been due to foal in four months. Mona, you may remember, who was due to foal the day the roundup started last fall. Mona lost that foal at some point, but it took me until October to realize it. Her only baby to date is Shane, a year and a half old, who is now with Hollywood’s band.
Contrast Mona with Kootenai, due in August, about a month before Mona was due:
Looking very round.
Mona, giving a reluctant Roja some lovin’. 🙂 Roja moved her head about as far as she could without actually moving her feet. That’s Killian at left, looking at bachelor Duke. The two girls have been together since right after Shane was born, and they seem to be fairly well bonded.
Interesting contrast, eh.
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Categories : Killian, Kootenai, Mona, Roja, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Peek-a-baby, take 2
16 05 2012The thrill of anticipation, surpassed only by the joy of arrival!
With a face like that, it can only be …
Raven’s little blackbird!
Baby and the family. They gifted me with the most gorgeous visit … I can’t begin to tell you how my heart sings just to sit with them in their world, on a hilltop surrounded by hills and valleys and open sky. It’s a place so full of magic, wild life, you can’t help but be touched by world’s grace.
One bit of distressing news: Apollo is missing from the band. I’m hoping he shows up with youngsters Hayden and Tenaz. I haven’t posted pix of them yet, but they’re together.
Sundance, baby’s stepdaddy, snoozing with the band. Kreacher is the colt’s sire; he lost the band to Sundance just before the roundup last fall. Apollo is baby’s full brother, and Mysterium is his half-sister.
One little teeny spot marks him a pinto like mama. I had wondered whether she would eventually pass on her spots … but I’m not sure baby will stay black like her. He’s sort of “faded” in the middle, and I’m guessing he will go grey like daddy.
Showing off more white, preparing to lie down near sister.
Speaking of Mysterium, isn’t she growing up gorgeous?
Do you not love that face?!
And the big mustang walk already. 🙂
Let’s hear it: Awwwwwww!
Welcome to your wild world, little one!
Comments : 14 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Raven, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Sundance
I love my mama
20 04 2012
Mysterium gives mama Kootenai a nuzzle. Who can resist that sweet baby?!
I hung out with these ponies for a while – it was mostly sunny, and it was warm – just enjoying being in the basin with them. Then I walked on around Round Top to look for the pintos. I didn’t find them, but I did see David and Shadow. The last time I was in that area, the last time I saw David and Shadow, it was snowing! Spring is here, and it is wonderful!
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Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 