Kootenai | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Visiting dignitaries

6 09 2009

That’s certainly what I consider them: Dan Elkins and Karen Herman, who visited Spring Creek Basin in mid-August to tour the herd area and meet some Wild Bunch members and our BLM herd area manager and answer questions we had about gathering horses via bait trapping and about PZP.

In June, I wrote about Dan and Karen administering the first PZP doses to mares from the Carson National Forest: https://springcreekwild.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/pzp-partnership-in-the-carson-national-forest-nm/

Learn more about Karen’s Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary here: http://skymountainwild.org/

Direct link to a story about Dan and Karen using PZP (also linked from Karen’s Web site): http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/carson-national-forest-Forest-first-to-use-contraceptive-on-wil

We learned that Karen was able to get a grant to fund the PZP program for the Carson NF mares, and that set our wheels in motion. Now we have to write a proposal asking the BLM to allow us to pursue funding to implement a PZP program – which could start as soon as this coming spring! – and agree to have Dan and Karen come back to administer it. This is the good news I alluded to when I broke the bad news about Chipeta’s colt, Joven. Best of all, Dan and Karen get their PZP doses directly from ZooMontana in Billings, so we won’t have to worry about the PZP changing hands and freezing and thawing and re-freezing and re-thawing so many times during BLM transport.

Also, our herd population stands at 49 horses (BLM does not count foals till they’re a year old), we’re still well within our AML (35-65), and so we were told the next gather likely will not be until at least 2011. In the meantime, I hope our BLM is watching the goings-on at Pryor Mountain. One thing I’m happy about there is that bands are being kept together. Also, with Matt Dillon’s documentation of the horses and MOU between the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center and BLM that they provide herd information, I’m hoping we can duplicate that partnership when it comes time to round up and remove some of our horses. I’ll never be happy about that, but I also will never condone horses starving on an overgrazed range when it could be prevented. A PZP program here will hopefully slow the population growth of the herd, allowing more horses to stay wild longer. And knowing about Dan and his method, I hope we’ll never again hear helicopter blades churning over Spring Creek Basin.

Dan and Karen are awesome. Extremely knowledgeable and friendly – it was like meeting old friends from our first handshake. My hope is that someday every herd manager in the country will know Dan and Karen. I hope a contract between them and our BLM is in our immediate future, for the horses’ sake.

Here are some random pix from that day, taken in the morning before everyone arrived:

Hannah and Sable

Butch and Storm

Pinon

Mouse and Steeldust

Sage

Hollywood

Mona, Kootenai and Kreacher

Kootenai and Kreacher

Kootenai

Mona and Kreacher

As soon as I say this, they’ll leave, but if you’re in the area to visit Spring Creek Basin, I would be surprised if, out of all those 49-plus (with foals) horses, you did NOT see this little threesome. They have been hanging out in the area surrounding the water catchment for months now. The grazing is not the best, but the water is. The other bands seem to have been going for forage over quality of water, and the only other horses I’m pretty sure have used the catchment recently are Traveler’s band and the bachelors Cinch and Bruiser. Hollywood’s band has been in that general area the past two weekends; I have not seen them at the catchment. Most recently, I saw Hollywood trying to drink from the pond area off the road to the old trap site. I did not see any water from the road, and I did not go closer … Poco and Roach followed the band past the “pond” without even stopping to try to drink.

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Categories : Advocacy, Butch, Hannah, Hollywood, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, Mouse, New girls, Pinon, PZP, Sable, Sage, Steeldust, Storm, Wild horses in the news, Work projects

Family visit

20 08 2009

In this case, the family was mine – literally. My mom and dad’s 40th anniversary (!) was last weekend, so they decided to come to Colorado for their first summer visit ever. My uncle T and cousin K also came – for their first visit to Colorado ever! Naturally, a visit to my four-legged family was high on the list.

It would have been top of the list but for the rain the visitors pushed into Colorado ahead of their visits from points southeast and west. We waited a day to allow the basin to dry out, and except for the washes across the Disappointment Road as we drove there, all was otherwise dry …

But almost immediately we saw the most beloved horse – of this family, anyway! – in the basin: Grey/Traveler’s band, still shadowed by Chrome. They were very near the road to the old trap site, and Kreacher and the girls were also close by, closer to the shallow pond – the only pond that has water currently.

All at ease

The boy with his girls and one little boy. Yes, yes, you see only two little bodies; our dear Jif is taking her own sweet time.

Shadow-Chrome

There’s Chrome at right, looking pretty worn out. I guess his plan isn’t working against the old man of the basin. The horses were considerably calmer than the first time I saw Chrome with them. Ahh … the young men, always thinking their youth is more than a match for wisdom – usually wrongly.

Away, the girls

After we had watched the horses for a few minutes, Kootenai decided to leave, so she turned and led the horses toward the pond. They paused there but didn’t drink. They ended up at the catchment, followed by Traveler’s band.

Keepin-up Kreacher

This is one young man who knows who the boss is! He followed his girls, lickety split.

Traveler’s band looked quite calm, so we headed on to see who else we could see.

Steeldust’s band was up on the northeast hills – we could see them through the binoculars. All was looking good for us getting to where they were … until we came down the hill and around the curve and stopped dead at the wash of mud and boulders where the road had previously gone over the first Spring Creek crossing. Uh oh. To be sure, there were only four boulders, and none were very big – except the first one, closest to the Jeep side of the crossing – but the whole situation stopped us as if we’d been facing a raging river. There was a bit of water still flowing from previous rains, which is always good for the horses, so it was hard to be totally upset that I’ve been able to take everyone else out to the basin to see the horses, but then when my very own family comes, I get stymied at the first major arroyo! 🙂

I do have to mention the bet my uncle lost. He bet that the dry pond by Flat Top would have water in it from the recent rain. Unfortunately, I won.

But of course, all was not lost. Grey/Traveler and his band and Chrome and Kreacher and the girls were calmly grazing west of the catchment, so we got to see them again as we drove out. (Oh, and Cinch and Bruiser were up on the hill with Steeldust’s band.)

We headed down the Disappointment Road with the high hopes of seeing the pintos. Not too far into Dolores County, my dad sounded the horse alert: David and Shadow RIGHT inside the fence RIGHT off the road! So we had a nice little visit with them while they grazed and browsed on greasewood. Shadow barely looked up, and they eventually let us slide on by while they kept on doing what they were doing! Cool!

Unfazed Shadow and David

This was our view – David looking at us and Shadow … well, not.

Two faces

Ah, and there they are, both looking at us calmly. You can see the fencepost at right. We didn’t get out of the Jeep – just shot right out the windows.

Just a little farther down the road, we had the other great good fortune to spot the pintos back in the “valley” below their old favorite hill. Mesa was on the east side of the arroyo, and the rest of the band was on the west side. We couldn’t see everyone because of hills and trees, even when they crossed to the east side of the arroyo, so I wasn’t able to get a good look at the as-yet-unnamed colts, but it was good to be able to point out those ponies that are seldom within view.

Mom and Dad, T and K, thanks so much for “meeting in the middle” and allowing me to show off my “other” family. 🙂

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Categories : Chrome, Cuatro, David, Grey, Houdini, Iya, Jif, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, New girls, Shadow, Terra, Two Boots

Earlier

4 08 2009

So … I should have posted these pix before the ones of Seven’s band and Chipeta’s new colt, but I wasn’t going to post these until I could relate the story of the whole day … and it looks like it might be awhile before I can get to all the pix, so I hope you enjoy the teasers from last Friday until I can get to the rest. I have some really lovely images of stunning Corona and her mama, so I promise it will be worth the wait.

The water situation continues to depress me, especially after seeing all the nice ponds in Sand Wash Basin – with water, not just cracked, dry depressions in the ground where water should be. Grey/Traveler was being harassed, but the fact that it was by bachelor Chrome was just something I couldn’t do anything about. Kreacher picked up the chase at the end of the day, even leaving Mona and Kootenai far behind to keep up with Grey’s band and Chrome. Maybe they didn’t want any part of it, but they always followed. When Aspen was with his band Sunday, it was at a respectful distance, and the horses were relaxed and not moving too far.

But on to happiness. When I checked Wildcat Spring – yes, water – I spied Hollywood on a hill above me, just watching me. Ha. I haven’t spent much time exploring the hills in that area, so I walked on up. The ponies have a good network of trails up there. Poco and Roach are still with them; I did take pix but didn’t tweak any of them yet. It started sprinkling out of the clear blue sky – have you ever looked straight up and had rain falling into your eyeballs, looking silver against turquoise? There was a big cloud, but it wasn’t directly above me … and I learned something new a little later: It’s hard to plan for rain coming when you can’t see it coming. I found a seat under a juniper to hang out with the ponies for a bit.

Hollywood and girls and boy

The theme of “do you think you could stand just so” kinda started with Piedra acting shy behind this little bush. This was taken from one of their trails on the side of a hill looking across a sharp drainage. The spring is basically downhill and to my left. Poco and Roach were in the trees not too far up their hill.

Photos of the babies with their mamas are lovely and aww-inspiring, but I love to see the daddies interacting with their offspring.

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Sage walked over and stopped at a respectful distance. Piedra did comply with my photo direction here; she had just walked out of the frame to the left.

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Then Sage made his approach. At first, Hollywood acted a little annoyed and flattened his ears.

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Now look at his ears. He thinks there might be something interesting about the little mister.

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Then Hollywood decided Sage was quite sturdy enough to use him as a rubbing post!

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Sniffing him again. Check out the ears.

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Synchronicity of tails.

Do you love those misters?? 🙂

Edge of the world

Piedra, Sage and Baylee. You can see part of the road in the distance and part of Filly Peak at far back right.

All together

Including Hollywood in the shot, and you can see more of Filly Peak in the background … which should maybe more appropriately be called Humpback Hill?

Hollywood and Baylee

This is looking almost west … like west-west-southwest-west … and the other end of Filly Peak.

Elder mister

He’s not very good at hide-n-seek. But he’s awfully cute. 🙂

It did rain then a bit later – heavier – but it was also still sort of sunny in most places. I could see the “haze” against the western hills outside the herd area that said rain, but it was weird. But the road was also starting to get gummy already by the time I got to the catchment! When I first got there, I saw Kreacher’s band and Cinch and Bruiser (as not-good as the water is, it’s better in the north than in the south, apparently), then Grey/Traveler’s out on the corral hill. Wouldn’t you know it, by the time I got to the flats below the catchment on my way out – in the rain – and did I mention the road was getting gummy and a hit to the brakes meant a bit of a slide in the wet before actual stoppage – they were right off the road? Confirmed that it was Chrome with them – and so Twister still away (and he’s with Hook, at least) – and no foal for le petite dun Jif. OK, OK, I’m leaving already. I went down the county road to see if I could catch enough of a glimpse of the pintos to see Chipeta and/or walk in to them – nada. A couple of hours later, it was sunny and warm and breezy enough, I decided to try the road into the basin again – no problem-o.

Horses and hills and sunshine and shadows

Left to right: Cuatro, Two Boots, Iya, Grey/Traveler, Jif. Houdini and Terra (still OK) were to the right. Chrome was to the left … and now for a wider view …

Love that after-rain light

I know the horses are small, the land large, but can you make out who’s there? I love the graphic quality of these photos, by the way. This is looking sort of east-east-northeast-east. I don’t think there’s ever an easy single direction anywhere out there! They’re up in the area by the catchment – I think I took this from some point alongside Filly Peak – but although I have confirmed Kreacher and the mares drinking from the catchment troughs, I haven’t yet seen Grey’s band drinking there (and to go slightly off-topic for a minute, I did see Cinch and Bruiser very close to the troughs Sunday). Chrome was (mostly) dogging them pretty hard – he’s the grey at far left in these seemingly quiet moments – so they kept moving and moving – they went down off the “edge” south of the catchment to the flats, then ended up moving toward Spring Creek – north-northeastish. And in the foreground? Left to right: Kootenai, Kreacher and Mona. Just “above” Kootenai are Terra and Jif, and then Houdini out to the right. Horses to the left of Jif same as in the picture above this one.

From here I also spotted Steeldust’s band up in the north hills above the northwest road. Those ponies think they’re mountain goats lately. Driving out to see them, I found Duke, Raven and Corona! Now that was a hoped-for treat, having just seen Raven’s former band stallion and Corona’s likely daddy in Sand Wash Basin!

I hate to leave ya’ll hanging, but as of now, I have just one tweaked photo. Time … it’s all a matter of time. A full-time job, a taking-its-sweet-time computer. I’ll put up more soon; I promise.

Duke

This might be one of my favorite pix of the boy. Isn’t he handsome? They were watching Steeldust’s band in the trees up on the hill, so I walked way out around them to get better light.

And it’s late again …

I must have been happy to see my ponies – I took lots and lots of photos – I was on my second memory card before I left. Always great to visit other horses, but it’s great to be home. 🙂

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Categories : Baylee, Chrome, Cuatro, Grey, Hollywood, Houdini, Iya, Jif, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, New girls, Piedra, Sage, Terra, Two Boots

Some lovelies, some fun

3 07 2009

Agendas. Who needs ’em? Experience has taught me to chuck out any idea of an agenda when visiting the wild ones, and my latest visit was no exception. I had two goals: Find Jif (belly watch) and find the pintos (check the mares). Well, I found the pintos!

Lovelies

First pony sighting (I drove in the herd area first) was Duke, Raven and Corona up on a hill by the second intersection, but first close pony sighting was Kreacher and the girls, right by Filly Peak.

Dun and grey and blue

From the road, looking southeastish.

Earth and sky

Mona, Kootenai and Kreacher – always love to see them!

Spotted Steeldust’s band – with Aspen, Hook and Chrome – way up in the northwest valley by the road. Hollywood and his mob were on the flats north of the first Spring Creek crossing (dry as a bone). (Pond by the road to the old trap site still has a bit of water.) Duke and the girls a little higher on the hill beyond the second intersection.

Closing in on the Wildcat Spring area, I looked over to find Bounce and family near the road – coming from water there?

Alegre, Whisper and Gaia

Prepare yourselves for an overabundance of cute-Whisper images.

Daddy and his boy

Look how light his face is already becoming.

Little brother, big sister

The youngsters.

Now, prepare thee for chuckles!

Silly face

Whisper trying to get Gaia’s attention – caught in mid-bite.

Nya nya

Whisper shows what he thinks of the photographer. 🙂 What a personality this little mister has!

Shade tree

Daddy used this tree for shade and to get away from the gnats (beware: they’re back), and Whisper kept going back to see what Daddy found so interesting about it.

More lovelies

Only sweet bright-penny Gaia missing from this shot.

Sleepy

Cropped in – sorry Bounce.

How much cuteness can you stand? I finally left the ponies and continued on.

Seven and his family were very calm back beyond the east-pocket pond. Darkish clouds were rising to the west, so I didn’t stop to check the status of that pond; presume it still dry. No Grey, nowhere. Cinch and Bruiser (!) on the crest on the eastern end of the east-west hill. Kreacher and the gals had moved to the very slope at the middle of Filly Peak as I drove out. There were two “columns” of rain up in the Disappointment, but what really looked threatening was coming over the western hills. As it turned out, those columns – which looked so innocent and were not my main incentive to driving out of the basin – turned to full waves of rain all along the northwestern, northern, eastern and southeastern length of the basin!

Shut out on my goal of finding Grey/Traveler, I was hoping to see the pintos from the road to have a better shot at hiking in right to them as opposed to hiking in and wandering around trying to find them. I was thinking about last year, when I could almost always count on them being on or near their “favorite” hill, and how that hasn’t been the case this year … when I found them on the slope of their favorite hill! I saw the baby right away through the binoculars, so I parked at dysfunction junction and hit the dirt, rain jacket in my backpack (I remembered), just in case. I never needed it, but it did sprinkle on us while I was waiting for Mesa to pick his one spot clean and join the others. I never knew whether they saw me … have to think they did? Took some long shots and headed back to the Jeep – in full sunshine.

In line

Kiowa and the baby leading, Spook, then Chipeta (check out that belly), Copper and Corazon. Reya was right behind them, and Ty and Mesa brought up the rear.

Wide-angle zig zag

Same basic composition as in the previous post, but baby is so little, she kinda gets lost in this shot.

Happy Independence Day, everyone. Hope you all have a safe weekend!

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Categories : Alegre, Bounce, Chipeta, Corazon, Gaia, Kiowa, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, New girls, pintos, Spook, Ty, Whisper

Anticipation

25 06 2009

Almost three weeks ago, I was in the basin. Almost on the eve of returning, here are some photos from that last trip to whet your apetite – and mine!

Sharing a scratch

Mona and Kootenai and their dashing beau were right by Filly Peak – again.

Kreacher

The dashing beau.

Ladies and the lad

Looking sort of east-northeast from the north side of Filly Peak and the road.

Spots in a sea of green

Cinch and Bruiser came up to the north country to have a chat with the bachelor 3 – Aspen, Chrome and Hook – and possibly to get some water from the last pond on the place (which is now dry).

Bachelor 3

Cheeky boys: Chrome, Hook and Aspen

Friendly

Aspen and Hook

Looking out

From beyond the pond – which is unseen in the foreground – looking westward toward the heart of the basin. Hollywood’s band – with Poco and Roach – are at left, and Steeldust’s are at right. They’ve left the pond and are heading back toward the road and the open areas to graze. You can see the doubletrack that leads from the road to the pond.

Once red, now grey

Storm-chaser has mostly shed into manly grey. That’s Comanche at left.

Storm spots

On the way home, the spotted ponies were visible from the county road. Visible above are all the critters save the two bay solids: Copper and Mesa

Spotted lasses

Reya (2) and Spook (1) and Copper in the background.

Dark or darker

Ty of the unknown color.

Can’t wait to get back.

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Categories : Aspen, Bruiser, Chrome, Cinch, Comanche, Hollywood, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, Piedra, pintos, Poco, Roach, Spook, Steeldust, Storm, Ty, Uncategorized

Before the count, part 2

21 05 2009

The pintos had gone unvisited (seen from a distance a couple of times from Round Top) for quite a while – since the start of foaling season – so I decided to check in with them Friday morning. I hiked in at dysfunction junction, but they weren’t on “their” hill. They were quite a bit farther southwest, on a hill kind of above the road, as it turned out.

They’re all still together, and Copper still seems to be the dominant stallion. Mesa is still low man on the totem pole, so he gets the duty of being first contact, while Ty and Corazon freely (mostly) wander with the band and bug Copper.

Hmm. WordPress doesn’t seem to like my first picture. Moving on …

Mesa

Look at his face. Does he remind you of anyone? Same color and same lack of markings, but the similar faces have had me thinking for a while that Mesa is Poco’s son.

Spook and Kiowa

Spook’s birthday was May 1, and Kiowa hasn’t had a foal this year (and shouldn’t). I love how shiny and healthy she looks.

Kiowa and Chipeta

Kiowa again (Spook behind her) and Chipeta. This is Chipeta’s second season without a foal; so far, the PZP is doing its job.

All but one

This was the first one I tried to post. Only Ty is missing from this picture. From left, Reya, Spook with Kiowa’s back just visible over hers, Chipeta being followed by Copper, Corazon with the heart on his side and Mesa at right.

Ty and Corazon

My black boy Ty has a grey tail and mane, and his face is getting pretty “grizzled” as well. I’ve been calling him black, but he’s always had this not-quite-black look. He’s surely the darkest grey I’ve ever seen at this age – and I don’t know how old he is, just that I’ve never seen a grey horse this mature still this dark! They’re shiny, healthy boys, though, huh?

After I left the pintos, I stopped at the corrals to visit with the Back Country Horsemen early arrivers. As my visit stretched on past noon, the place started filling up with trucks and trailers, people and horses! The small contingent from the Mesa Verde Back Country Horsemen, based in Montezuma County, arrived, and it was great to see them. I never know how much human info to reveal on this blog, but T with MVBCH and P with 4CBCH are representatives to our Wild Bunch group. P and her husband, F, started the wild horse count partnership with the BLM about 11 years ago, and they continue to organize the annual outing. T really came up with the idea of all our groups getting together for the horses and has been a source of great information and ideas. She let me ride her fantastic pinto Curly horse last spring during a camping trip to the basin!

K with our group also came for the day. I think she’s a member of each group represented, and she organized work projects Friday. She brought her husband and a friend, and they and I and P and Claude Steelman (he’s already famous!) dug post holes and set posts (husband B and friend D), and we put our backs and McLeods to some illegal routes people have driven in. Claude pounded in three new carsonite signs, and K attached the “No Motor Vehicles” stickers. We also had more fun than should be allowed with such work, rolling rocks and pulling old tree trunks down the hill and making a former trashed “campsite” look as inhospitable to setting up a tent as possible. That was back in the Wildcat Spring area. The reclaimed road – work done by fabulous University of Missouri students back in March – still looks awesome.

Not a bad bit of work for a couple of hours in the sunshine and company of wild horses! On our way to Wildcat Spring, we were treated to an up-close and personal view of Raven and baby Corona when they popped up from below the road between the two intersections! K and P were with me, and we got the best view! Yes, Duke is still with them. I’d say he was “leading” the band, but mostly he just follows wherever Raven goes – ha! Hollywood and his band, with Poco and Roach (!), were up in the meadow by the second intersection. Baby Sage is such a darling, and I’ll have more pix of him later in the program.

There is quite a bit of water at Wildcat Spring (relatively speaking), and while it smells less than stellar as usual, there is water trickling through, although the actual stream bed is dry from just below the spring.

We split after our work; I continued on east, and the other workers went back to the corrals. Steeldust’s and Bounce’s bands were still in the area of the east-pocket pond, but Grey/Traveler’s band was out toward the gap between Knife Edge and Lizard Mesa, so I went toward them. This becomes fairly important later on (that I saw them), but at the time, I just parked the Jeep to watch (no pix). Ahh, the sunshine was so warm and lovely. There was just enough breeze to keep the bugs away – I didn’t think they were bad yet this year? (I did remember, though, the next day at Round Top that we were battling them last year.) I snoozed right there in the Jeep, and by the time the back buckle of my visor was digging into my head too much to ignore, the ponies had crossed over to the greenery of “sorrel flats,” one of the pond areas to be dug out this spring in the hopes that it will fill with water when the monsoons come. That’s on track to happen; we just don’t know exactly when.

So I went back to visit with the other horses and see how week-old Whisper and Sage were getting along.

Whisper and Alegre

Just a handsome bugger!

Charmer!

Daddy Bounce

And no wonder! This is Whisper’s handsome daddy!

Gaia

Baby girl seems to have gotten over her shock at not being Mama’s one-and-only anymore. Here she’s giving me the weird-eye. In color and markings, she does look like J and V’s Spring Creek Basin mustangs – which they bring back and ride during the count weekends! – but her “look” and conformation are different.

Nourishment

In this pic, you can see his not-quite-black sheen.

In-bound

What had their attention? Steeldust’s band was heading toward the pond for their evening drink.

Shades of ... grey

I guess Mahogany wanted to be part of the “in” crowd, so she gave herself a coloring! I didn’t really think about it until I looked at this picture on the computer and realized they were all “grey”! That’s Alpha beside her and Steeldust at right.

Mouse

Lt. Mouse was actually first to drink, as the band milled around between the pond and Bounce’s band still just up on the little hill.

Family?

Those boys – that’s Sundance at right and Butch second from right – do stick close to Luna … The shorty red trying to squeeze in is actually Storm, not Ember. Hannah was pawing at the water – everybaby (!) knows it tastes better when you splash it a few times!

Storm

Here’s Stormy Jones trying his best to impersonate a shedding bison! But under that curly winter hair and mud, look how grey he has become.

Hannah

Super model girl. 🙂

Size comparison

Check out the green grass, and check out the size/angles of Sable and Hannah. Sable was a week and a day old here; Hannah was about a month and a week old.

Brother, sister, Mama

See, I don’t *forget* to take pix of Pinon … he’s just always around other horses! He had just celebrated his 1-year birthday.

Awwwww

Sable discovered mud.

Horseplay I

Storm and Pinon. You can see Storm still has his red shade in the sunlight, but check out how grey his face is.

Horseplay II

I saw this sign in a science lab this week at a local school … I smiled and wondered, when did “horseplay” become a bad thing? 😉

Mystery belly

I’ve been ignoring this little bulge on 2-year-old Kestrel for the past few weeks, hoping she takes after her mother – butterball buckskin Luna – and/or that she’s really getting a lot to eat this spring.

Kestrel

Something happened Saturday to make me REALLY start to wonder …

All in good time.

Dust to dust

After they drank, they followed the doubletrack right back the way they had come, back out to open meadows of green.

I headed out as well and thought I might get to see Hollywood’s family again on my way out. (Sorry, Aspen, but I’m glad he got his girls back!)

Just past Wildcat, I saw movement up on the hill that turned out to be Kreacher and the girls. Kreacher-feature was trying to snake them toward the trail to the spring, and the girls were oh-so-politely and resolutely refusing.

Kreacher

Taking a break under the scrutinizing eye of the photographer.

Mona and Kootenai

Love that soft light? The girls were fixated on *something* out of sight, and there are a lot of pinon-juniper in that area, so I wondered if maybe Hollywood had already brought his group to that area to drink at the spring. So I walked back and up the hill we rolled the rocks down and looked down at the spring, but there was nary a horse to be seen. I walked over and looked to the southeast, too – nada.

When I got back to the Jeep, the girls and the boy had resumed their dance. Boy insistent; girls refusing!

I found Hollywood and his lot down to the east of that section of road between the intersections. Poco and Roach still with them. The boys had a little tat for about two seconds, then settled. Far different cry than the frantic running, running, running when Roach was temporarily with Steeldust.

Poco

He’s looking at the band. This isn’t a good angle to compare him to Mesa, but I’m telling you, it’s there.

Roach

Looking at … something else? Poco and the band were behind him.

Sage, Mama and Daddy

Invitation to play, but they weren’t buying.

Baylee was back to the left, so he went back to show off for Auntie.

And hes off!

To set the scene, Baylee was to the left, and Piedra and Hollywood were about the same distance to the right. Baylee was the start/finish line.

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And he rounds the bend, looking for the home stretch!

051509sageleap

And it’s a leap over four-wing saltbush on his way to the finish line! Can he keep his momentum?!

051509sagerunbaylee

And the winnah is Sage by a mile!

Too bad I don’t have a video camera – he was fantastic! 🙂

Baylee and Sage

Bayles is a super auntie and babysitter for the young mister. He has just finished his race, and now he’s taking her back to Mama and Daddy so he can be congratulated.

Need-a-snack

Of course, racehorses need good nutrition …

Nap time

… and plenty of rest. 🙂

Check out his dorsal stripe. He has faint little leg stripes, too, mostly visible on his front legs now. I’m kinda holding my peace on what might be his actual color …

Hollywood

Terribly concerned, the elder mister would raise his head to look at me for about 2.7 seconds – long enough for me to straighten my camera but not enough to do that and focus, too – then go back to grazing. So what you see is (mostly) what he did!

Such a peaceful visit – and entertaining!

Sweet boy

Just the sweetest little heart!

And with that, I left the ponies and called it another beautiful day in the basin. My oh my. How can you not believe in the absolute magic gift of life seeing a colt so overjoyed just to RUN?! I do love these ponies. 🙂 I smiled all the way back to camp.

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Categories : Alegre, Alpha, Bounce, Corazon, Gaia, Hannah, Hollywood, Kestrel, Kootenai, Kreacher, Luna, Mahogany, Mesa, Mona, Piedra, Pinon, pintos, Poco, Roach, Sage, Spook, Steeldust, Storm, Ty, Whisper, Work projects

Before the count, part 1

18 05 2009

Every year, the Four Corners Back Country Horsemen, a group based in Durango, hosts a wild horse count in Spring Creek Basin. I think this was their 11th year. They partner with the BLM to ride out – and hike to the top of Round Top – to check on the horses and report numbers and descriptions. It’s a testament to their dedication to the horses – and to the fun they have with the wild ones – that they’ve been doing this so long!

This was the second year I’ve joined them, and like last year, it was a beautiful weekend. The count itself happened Saturday, but a few people were out as early as Thursday, and by Friday afternoon, the trailer traffic to the corral campsite was unlike that seen any other time of the year. Lots of folks this year, and I think everyone had a wonderful time. There were four groups of riders this year (three groups last year), six of us up on Round Top (including Jamie Seller-Baker with the BLM, who made a point of attending even though she was in Denver – thanks, Jamie!), a group of BCH members who drove into the area and a group of folks on a tour of the area as part of the Ute Mountain Mesa Verde Birding Festival.

In spite of the major increase in visitors to the area, the horses were completely at ease (with the exception of some stallion- and spring-influenced behavior). Everyone was so respectful, and the horses took it all in stride! Wonderful experience! Not all the rider groups saw horses, but collectively, all the horses were seen this year! The people I talked to couldn’t stop talking about the horses – who they saw, their behavior, how great they looked, etc. Music to my ears to hear people so excited about visiting the wild horses! Maybe it’s a simple thing … but it’s not. It’s huge.

I hope everyone did have a fantastic weekend in Spring Creek Basin! I look forward to seeing you all again next year!

Here are some photos from Thursday:

Kreacher and the girls

Kreacher, Mona and Kootenai were conveniently visible near Filly Peak. Have I mentioned the traveling these ponies have been doing? By Saturday, they’d be in the east pocket.

All together

I had a report from last weekend that Duke had been seen alone, and Raven and Corona were with another stallion. Worried? Me? Nah. (Total lie; of course I was.) When I first drove in, I spotted a single bay horse up in the north hills – dark … looked like Duke. By the time I got around to the catchment and stopped to scan again, I spotted Raven as well. So I headed up that way. Corona was napping in a bed of globe mallow when I got up to their little meadow, and I watched them from behind a tree until she got up to nurse and follow Raven as she grazed. Oh, sure, I had confirmed Duke by then. It was just nice to watch them for a little while. This was taken as I walked away. Glad to see them all together.

Pro view

Durango photographer Claude Steelman was in the basin for the weekend, and it’s always good to see him. Claude published the wonderful book Colorado’s Wild Horses last summer, which showcases all of Colorado’s wild horse herds (surely Spring Creek Basin is his favorite!). Late last year, he adopted a mustang colt, Pancho, from the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. “I’m not a photographer anymore; I’m a horse trainer,” he kept saying. I think the wild horses have spun their magic around dear Mr. Steelman … Pancho certainly has him wrapped around his hoof. 😉

Many of the northern bands were in the east pocket, enjoying the good grass and water source, and that’s where Claude and I met up. From the road, we could see Hollywood’s band – with Roach and Poco nearby! – Steeldust’s band, Grey/Traveler’s band, Seven’s band and Bounce’s band. Aspen and Chrome were in the area as well. The horses were fairly close to each other – Seven had his band the farthest away – beyond the pond, so Claude and I walked out to see what we could see.

We got out to an open area and stopped to watch the horses. Steeldust’s were in a fairly tight group, probably because of Aspen and Chrome (Hook?). When they started moving, Grey/Traveler’s band came around from behind them and toward us. We just stayed where we were and snapped some of the action.

Defense

At the same time, Steeldust’s band started to move toward them. This is Traveler posturing toward Mouse and Comanche from Steeldust’s band while the mares and youngsters stopped then went back the other way. (People from the Back Country Horsemen remember when he was so dark grey he looked “blue.” How silver is he now!)

Two grey make one red

Traveler, Houdini and Terra going the other way – other horses behind them.

Meanwhile, Steeldust’s band walked across right in front of us.

Mahogany and Sable - and Hannah

Hannah is about a month and a half old now; Sable was just a week old this day!

Mmmm - tail hair!

Cheeky Hannah is bold and fearless. She has a completely different personality than big sisters Ember and Kestrel. She’s very outgoing; they’re very calm and laid back. She’s chewing on Butch’s tail here, and he was completely obliging.

Mouse

Who couldn’t love that face?

We waited until the horses had moved on before we even moved from our spot. We thought they might go to the pond to drink, but they were just looking for a place of their own, a little farther from the other bands. The horses don’t typically gather together so close like this, but they’ve all figured out the good grass and water in that area right now. The surface area of the pond has shrunk some, but it will probably hold out longer than the cheat grass, especially if we don’t get rain soon.

More to come.

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Categories : Corona, Grey, Hannah, Houdini, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mahogany, Mona, Raven, Uncategorized

‘Its meaning is Earth’

5 05 2009

Houdini and Terra

A name for Houdini and Grey/Traveler’s daughter didn’t come easily.

Mama and baby

She’s a stunning little girl and Traveler’s first baby since his return to Spring Creek Basin. In fact, she’s the only (so far) foal I can confirm is his offspring. I kinda stumbled on the name Terra, but when I read the definition – “its meaning is Earth” – I knew it was the one.

Mama and daughters

New big sister Iya looked like she didn’t quite know what to think of this little creature that suddenly appeared with the family.

Curious

Twister was very curious, too.

Two Boots and Jif were content to stay close to Traveler – as was I.

Twister

Cute ‘n’ curious.

Roach was still circling Steeldust’s band. I came upon Kootenai and Mona … and Kreacher … and Poco?! just off the road by the double ponds a little later while I was looking for Bounce, Alegre and Gaia.

Together ... alone

There’s a wide but fairly shallow arroyo between Kreacher and the girls and Poco. The girls eventually crossed the arroyo back to the left, which Kreacher wasn’t particularly wild about.

Wait for me

Poco trotted after them, but soon he’d come back.

Git

Kreacher hot on Poco’s heels. If it looks like he was running flat out, he was.

Fightin over little ol us?

The girls watched for a couple of minutes before they took off.

Coming

Followed by Kreacher …

Me, too

… followed by Poco – again.

I continued on down and up onto the roller-coaster ridge, where I spotted Seven, his girls and his baby boy just below the ridge on the northwestern end.

Nap

Ze naps while Seven grazes nearby. Baby picked his head up for just a moment, but otherwise, he was flat out.

Roja might have thought Seven was too close to her baby because she moseyed over between them. Seven didn’t seem concerned. Molly was a little farther to the right, and boy is she shedding. I took a couple of pix of her, too, but she hardly lifted her head from her grazing. I was sitting up on the ridge.

Roja suddenly got really nervous, which made ME nervous because she knew I was up there in plain sight … She ran away from Seven and Molly – Ze right at her side – and crossed the arroyo. Seven went after her, but Molly ignored both of them. Then I realized what was bothering them: Here came Mona and Kootenai, racing west along the base of Knife Edge, followed by Kreacher, followed by Poco! They totally ignored Seven’s band and kept right on going. They eventually ended up over on the east-west hill, where they passed below Grey/Traveler. At some point even later, Comanche and Mouse got Roach cornered down in the arroyo, and he decided enough was enough. He and Poco ended up back together up on the crest of the hill.

I eventually found Bounce and the girls – no foal – so I went on around to where I had seen Duke, Raven and Corona north of the second intersection, and found Lynn and Kathy watching them! We talked a bit, they went back to the west-side road to watch the bands, and I headed out to take pix of baby Corona. But by the time I got going, the horses had moved out of sight. I ended up on a trail through the trees above the road, but then I saw them down below the road, quite a bit farther away. We had talked about where they were getting water; it turned out they went all the way back down to Spring Creek to drink. By the time I got down there, they were coming back from the arroyo.

Mama kisses

Raven, as all the mares – even the first-timers – is proving to be an excellent mother.

Baby kisses

The light was pretty high and harsh by this time.

What a sweetheart!

Pretty big girl. I’m going to go with a Sunday, April 26, birthday for the girl.

Instant family

Did Duke find Raven before or after she had her foal?

Corona

She’s a cutie, all right. Still not one hundred percent sure of her color, and we may have to wait a little bit to know more. Maybe roan (?). Maybe dun … maybe palomino. My family has a 24-year-old mare at home that is dusky palomino in her summer coat and almost white in her winter coat.

The rest of the day was just watching. Some of the stallion drama calmed down toward the end of the day. Hollywood chased Aspen away, but then he had to squabble with Chrome and Hook (which involved a funny little twist on “ring around Piedra, Sage and Baylee” with Hook) to assert his position.

Saturday – rain. It stopped raining long enough for me to slip into the basin and find Alegre – spoiler again – no foal. The girl has to be close. She has a great big belly and for about the first time is looking uncomfortable lugging around that weight.

Bounce

They were back by Lizard Mesa.

Alegre and Gaia

They followed Bounce out of the trees to graze on the yummy grass back in that area.

A good roll

What must that baby think?

Rest

She had to rest between rolls, poor thing.

Up we go

Gaia seems to be intrigued by how hard it is for Mama to get up.

Heave!

Oh … one last oomph, and the girl was back on her feet.

The spot

Then Alegre patiently waited (rested) while Gaia rolled in the exact same spot.

And shes up!

When Gaia got to her feet – after she rolled all the way over, then all the way back over, then all the way BACK over – she immediately went to bucking and rearing and kicking.

Airborn

Mama is not supremely impressed … but I was!

And that’s the last I know. I saw Grey/Traveler’s band, Hollywood’s band (and Aspen, Chrome and Hook were back with them) and Seven’s band on my way out – oh, and I had seen Duke, Raven and Corona again in a green meadow by the second intersection on my way in. I made it to the county road in the rain. Not following my own advice, I know, but it was worth it to get a glimpse of the most-close-to-due girl. Surely by next weekend??

Just Alegre, Jif (due date unknown) and Mahogany (mid-May) to go.

Comments : 7 Comments »

Categories : Corona, Grey, Houdini, Iya, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mona, Raven, Roja, Seven, Ze

Getting caught up

3 05 2009

That’s the bait, but the truth is, so much has happened, I don’t think I can possibly catch up on all the details. So I’ll hit the highs, and at this time of year, that means babies. It also means the stallions are restless. Everybody’s on the move.

Roja and Ze

How far behind am I? This was taken three weekends ago.

Seven, Roja and Ze, Molly

Proud papa stands guard.

Ze and Daddy

Are they cute or what? Look how stout Ze is. This was taken the day after the first two photos.

Last weekend was mostly a visit of observation. I fully expected new foals, and the horses proved once again that I am not privy to “pony time.” But here are a couple of glimpses.

Bounce

Ever-photogenic black beauty.

Gaia and Alegre

Look at the tummy on mama. Spoiler: Not yet.

Kreacher and girls

They’re at the pond below the roller-coaster ridge; I was up on the ridge. Who’s missing? This was my second sighting of the band that weekend, but I hadn’t been able to find them at all the previous weekend. I think I wrote in an earlier post that they went to the saddle between Round Top and Flat Top, where they eventually met up with David and Shadow. I tried to find them to see if they’d lead me to Raven, but they disappeared. The day before this I had seen Duke. A couple of days later, Lynn and Kathy spotted him with Raven and her baby, Corona.

I posted the pic of Raven and Corona from a quick after-work trip last week, but I didn’t get too close to ’em, and I’ll have some better pix from this past weekend. So moving on, here’s your first look at Piedra and her baby, born last Wednesday and first spotted by Lynn and Kathy, here on their vacation!

Piedra and Sage

What an upstanding young man! Lynn and Kathy gave him the appropriate name Sage, and first-time mom Piedra is proving an excellent mother. She’s going to have to be – this youngster is going to keep her on her toes! His little tail was constantly twitching, swishing, switching.

Together again

Two for one: Guess who persevered? At some point, Hollywood managed to get rid of Aspen and get Piedra and Baylee back. Hollywood is Sage’s daddy.

Baby and Mama

To take the first two pictures in this series, I was sitting on the edge of the arroyo across from the finger hills, not far down from the road. Piedra wanted to come back up onto a flat area out of the arroyo, but Hollywood was quite insistent against that idea. He was oddly agitated even before this, when I first saw them and chatted with Lynn and Kathy about the day’s goings-on – some of which I’ll get to in a minute. So Piedra finally started walking the other way, in the bottom of the arroyo, toward Steeldust’s band but also toward the bachelors Aspen, Chrome and Hook. I went back up to the road to get a broader look, and the next thing I knew, Piedra and baby Sage were walking right toward me. Aspen and the boys were coming, but closer was …

Hollywood and Roach

Your eyes don’t deceive you; that’s Roach. He was wreaking havoc running around and around Steeldust’s band – and had been all day, Lynn and Kathy said. He wasn’t all that far out of his home territory, but considering that I’ve only rarely seen him out of his home territory, he may as well have been on the moon.

Chrome and Aspen

But these boys and Hook were on the way, and when they got close, Roach went back to his vigil around Steeldust’s band.

Jumble

There’s a lot going on here. Roach – background – circling Steeldust’s band. First Sgt. Comanche – broadside at right – is circling between him and the band. Lt. Mouse – facing me at right – is moving Kestrel, Mahogany and Pinon back to the main band.

Roach and Comanche

My experience with Roach has been with a very calm, laid-back boy. I’ve never seen him so frantic. Poco hadn’t yet left their home territory, but he would the next day.

Roach

I was sitting on the ground at a sort of confluence of arroyos while all this was going on. The band was across a wide-ish arroyo to my right, and there was a smaller arroyo in front of me as I took this picture. Comanche had chased Roach across the main arroyo but not followed him, and at this point, Roach was coming toward me, then went to my left, where he stopped … then turned around and went back the way he had come. I hated to see him so wound up.

End of day

And with this image, I’ll end this post, though it wasn’t quite the end of the day. When Roach went back around, he crossed the arroyo and ran between me and the band, which effectively sent the band swirling around in the other direction. They crossed that arroyo and went up toward the road. Then they came back to me. Then they swirled around away again. Roach was still with them the next morning, but Poco ended up following Kreacher, Mona and Kootenai to the area from near the double ponds (!) … and after some more chaos, they reunited. They were together up on the east-west hill the last I saw them.

To come, I’ll have images of Duke, Raven and Corona, as well as the newest member of the Spring Creek Basin family: Houdini and Grey/Traveler’s stunning daughter, Terra.

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Categories : Alegre, Aspen, Bounce, Chrome, Comanche, Gaia, Hollywood, Kestrel, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mahogany, Mona, Piedra, Roach, Roja, Sage, Seven, Uncategorized, Ze

Spring in the wind

11 04 2009

Tis the season of deja vu. Work obligations Saturday sent me to the basin Friday, and glad am I that I went, for what I found and for the fact that it snowed again most of the day today!

The horses had a few human visitors Friday, including some on horseback. Grey/Traveler was standing guard against a truck and trailer parked up on the road to Flat Top while his band grazed down in the valley below the water catchment. Kreacher and the girls were out on the northeast side of the finger hills watching riders who gave them wide berth. Bounce and his girls were out on the southeast end of the “east-west hill,” close to Knife Edge. One dark horse was back to the northwest, sort of north of Spring Creek at the trap site. Duke? That was all within my first 15 minutes in the basin.

Because of hills and distance, I couldn’t quite tell if the single dark horse I saw was Duke, so there was nothing else to do but take a walk. The wind was at about mid-throttle – very tolerable given the insanity of the past few weekends.

Very happy surprise to walk up over a modest saddle to find not only our bay boy Duke but Chrome and Hook back with him! And an unexpected visitor.

Prongs

It’s not uncommon to see pronghorn antelope in the basin, not even alone, but this guy figures into the tale, so I’ll include his portrait. He was lying down when I first saw him, on a hill above the horses, protected from the wind, but his back was to me. He got up, and I turned my attention back to the horses. When I looked back at him, he had laid back down as you see in the pic! I wondered if he was hurt, but he didn’t seem to be.

Hook and Duke

Chrome

Chrome kept looking over his shoulder like he expected another pronghorn to pop up and run by.

Pronghorn saunter

When the buck walked down off his hill, the boys watched him very carefully.

Spooky boys

And it gave them an excuse to gallop.

Watching

But then they circled back to just below the hill to watch the buck cross an arroyo and continue up a far hill and out of sight.

Hearts

Do you see the way their heads and bodies seem to form a heart?

Hmph

Duke was sound and seemed well, if a bit grouchy. I couldn’t find any outward sign of why he might have been missing last week. I was glad to find him, and glad to find him with his pals. Something interesting: They were quite a distance from the big band, something Aspen may want to consider …

When I got back to the Jeep, another truck and trailer was visible with visitors. I never did see the original three riders again. I stayed north at the dugout intersection, intending to look for Kreacher and the girls where I had seen them last, but from the road you can look down to the south and see the bottom land you can’t see from up on the west-side road. If I’ve cautioned against having an agenda in the basin once, I’ve done it a thousand times, eh? Guess who I spotted? So I turned around and took the fork to cross Spring Creek again, headed south. The first crossing is wet, but the second is completely dry.

Kreacher and the girls were looking toward the east-west hill (can I just say and call it done that the hill really runs sort of northwest-southeast, but it’s easier to type “east-west”?) but not really toward Bounce, Alegre and Gaia, who were up higher at the end of Knife Edge toward the crest where they could have dropped into the valley between that ridge and Lizard Mesa. I watched Alegre quite intently through the binoculars for several minutes because I couldn’t quite tell if she was sporting an extra set of legs – ha. Call me expectant. She wasn’t – sporting extra legs. She should be within two weeks, give or take.

I decided to continue driving because I hadn’t yet spotted Steeldust’s band, and I also wanted to look for Poco, Bones and Roach to check Bones’ progress.

Ah ha! Poco, Bones and Roach, way out on the southwestish side of the far end of the roller-coaster ridge (past where the road goes over to the east side). And then another nice surprise: the big band, napping right at the intersection to Round Top. I parked short of them and took a closer look through the binoculars.

I always make sure all the ponies are accounted for … and they were … but wait a minute …

Do you see what I see?

Steeldust at left, and Luna. You can’t see him very well, but Sundance is on the other side of them. Butch in the middle, Storm at right (such a handsome boy!), and Mahogany behind him. Also over there were Alpha, Pinon and Ember and Kestrel. Farther out was Mouse. To the left were Aspen and Co., but let me wait a minute before we get to them. What’s that at Luna’s feet?

Holy baby!!!!!!! I have to say, I didn’t quite expect to see a foal this weekend. Luna was first to foal last year, too, but Ember was born April 18 or 19 (I like to pin it to April 18). Friday was a full week earlier than that.

I started to walk out on the road, trying to decide if I could drop down off the ridge and skirt around them without worrying them. Then I heard the truck and trailer coming behind me. I decided the best course of action was to walk back, tell the people in the truck there was a brand new baby with the band and ask if they would wait until the horses finished their nap and moved away from the road.

As it turned out, the man driving the truck was born in Telluride and knew the country quite well. We had a great conversation – though it was sometimes hard to hear him over the wind. He lives in California now and has worked on Thoroughbred racehorse farms most of his adult life (he’s now “nearly 70”). He brought his cousin and two horses, which they rode later. It was pretty cool to hear him talk about some of the history of the land and the horses and roundups past, horses he has ridden and rodeos at which he has competed. I hope I get this right: He won the calf roping at the Norwood rodeo seven times! They ended up turning around there and drove back toward the dugout, then parked along the road to unload their horses and enjoy a ride in the basin.

While we were talking, the horses woke up, and the stallions started messing around. It seems like Butch and Sundance are finally starting to feel their oats – are they 3 this year? Four? Three and 4? The “pink” boys are silly boys. They started moving, and I’m still somewhat surprised to report that after I visited them, and after I visited Poco and Co., and after I drove away … at least an hour and a half after I first saw them? … they were still moving, heading to Round Top from Flat Top! Those rowdy boys.

But let’s back up. You’ve been waiting, and … but of course I have baby pix! 🙂

Oh, wait; first, the promised pic of Hollywood, guarding “his” band, which just so happens to contain the stallion that stole “his” mares.

The breakaways

Hollywood at left; Aspen with Baylee, barely visible behind him, and Piedra.

Welcome to your family

Little Hannah girl. Such a little thing and now famous! Mama Luna at left, and big sister Kestrel, now 2, at right. I’ve been wondering for a while whether the pink boys are descended from Luna. They did stay rather close … or was it my imagination?

Snuggly

Luna-dear is an old hand at mothering. If she’s 10 – I suspect she’s close, one way or ‘tother – this is possibly her eighth foal! She did not seem at all concerned with me, focusing instead on eating everything palatable within reach.

Baby, meet baby

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Storm is no longer the baby of the family! I love his expression; I can’t imagine what he’s thinking.

Keeping up

Luna didn’t exactly ignore her baby, but she didn’t coddle her, either. This might be a good place to say I think Hannah is at least a couple of days old (I put her birthday at Wednesday, April 8). She doesn’t have that newborn look anymore, and she wasn’t so new that Luna was constantly checking and nuzzling her. She expected baby to follow, and baby did!

Hannah

Isn’t she a doll?!

Peace

Welcome to your world, sweet baby girl!

All calm

Meanwhile, Aspen and Co. were following the band at a respectful distance.

Beeline

Piedra started walking toward me, and Baylee was not quite sure that was the wisest move.

Making a run for it

Apparently, Baylee dawdled too long because Comanche came calling. The butt straight out is Mouse’s, and he’s directing Steeldust’s horses away from the fray.

Get lost, buddy

Then Aspen, who had been trying to protect Piedra from Hollywood, came running back to the rescue. The grey in the background at right is Steeldust.

Eye of the storm

Piedra tried to ignore the chaos swirling around her (but note the ear). Baylee is just happy to be back at her side. Aspen – you can see his head just over Piedra’s hindquarters – cut Comanche off … but Hollywood was about to make his move.

Around and around

Now see what I meant earlier when I said Aspen would do well to put some distance between himself and the band (again)? Personally (and not-so secretly), I’d love to see Holls get the mares back, but if Aspen stays in the vicinity of the big band, I’d wager that the dynamics of this little band are going to change, or Aspen is going to be run ragged – or both.

Comanche

This guy is pretty burly. It’s only a matter of time before he starts to collect a harem, I think, though there are only so many to go around.

Pinon and Ember

Pinon is a month from his first birthday; Ember is just a week away!

Keeping the girls in line

Steeldust had his hooves full trying to keep his ladies together, but Mouse seems to be pulling his weight.

Still a baby

Don’t grow up too fast, little man. Pinon with Mouse.

The ponies moseyed on, and I sat awhile longer, marveling at the horses and all the behaviors and interactions I’m privileged to witness. Really amazing. They crossed the arroyo I was sitting at the edge of, and I waited until they had dropped out of sight over the next little ridge, then went on back to the intersection.

Poco, Bones and Roach had gone out of sight from that side of the roller-coaster ridge, so I drove on that way to see if they’d gone to the other side. Sure enough, they were down by the squishy arroyo on the east side of the ridge. I watched them from the Jeep for a while, then turned around and headed back. Bones looks like she could foal at any time … Fingers crossed she safely delivers a healthy foal.

Mountain majesty

Looking northwest, look who I spotted right on the west-side road! I stopped to scan for Bounce and the girls toward Knife Edge or down toward the arroyo below the road, but I didn’t see them. By the time I got moving again, Kreacher and the girls had dropped out of sight – again.

I decided to go down and see if any water had collected in the pond by Flat Top. Hook was a short distance west of the road, acting as lookout. I caught a glimpse of Duke but didn’t see all three of them until later, on my way out. And I got another surprise because Kreacher and the girls had gone slightly southwest and up toward that north-south road that goes between the Flat Top pond and the main road. After them disappearing and re-appearing all day, I finally had the chance to see them from a closer vantage, which gave me the chance to check on Raven.

Three girls

Kootenai, left, Raven and Mona right on the north-south road.

Kreacher

I think the ponies aren’t so used to a lot of visitors like they had Friday, so they seemed a little more nervous than usual.

Kootenai

Mona

Raven

Compare the bellies

I’m just sayin’ … Maybe she’s just an easy keeper …

They went on up the road, so I decided to turn around rather than follow them and have them feel pushed. Once back out on the main road, guess who else I found? Only my very favorite boy!

Lowlanders

Between them, Grey/Traveler and Houdini-mare are wise, wise ponies. They were down in this shallow arroyo, at least semi-protected from the wind. It did turn out to be another very windy day, but the moisture we’ve gotten recently (snow last Saturday) seems to have glued some of the dirt to the ground, so we didn’t have the major dust storms we’ve had lately.

All at attention

Well, except Mr. Twister, snoozing in the protection of the ladies. You can’t see their whole bodies here, but look how big Iya’s face (center, bald face/big blaze) is compared with older sister Two Boots’, next to Twister, behind Jif. Maybe it’s the marking, and maybe it’s that Iya has a big Roman nose and Two Boots is quite a bit more refined, but Iya is one big girl (and her first birthday is coming up in about two weeks!).

Is it summer yet?

I noticed that some of the horses didn’t seem quite as fuzzy as they had even last weekend, but check it out: Jif is shedding!

Testing her limits

Where have you seen this before? Cheeky Jif tries to outrun her stallion …

Ducklings

… while the youngsters crowded around mama Houdini, who went the opposite direction. I thought that was funny. 🙂

Pied piper

Traveler, of course, brought his wayward young mare back to the fold, but how she ended up at the head of the line, only she knows. She has just a little belly, but Houdini is bulging at the seams.

And there you have it. Duke and his pals were all visible in the “flats” east of the catchment. I think I didn’t stop smiling all the way home. 🙂 A beautiful new baby, a missing boy found, a day in the wild. Could it have been a better day? I can’t quite see how.

One down, eight to go? We shall see!

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Categories : Alpha, Grey, Hannah, Hollywood, Houdini, Jif, Kootenai, Kreacher, Luna, Mahogany, Mona, New girls, Pinon, Raven, Steeldust, Storm

Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

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Some lovelies, some fun

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Before the count, part 2

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‘Its meaning is Earth’

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Spring in the wind

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