pintos | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Bad news first

25 08 2009

Because there’s more good news, and I want to get this out and move on.

After a truly marvelous weekend, the very last thing I saw – that I didn’t see, more accurately – put a damper on the whole thing.

Low visibility

On my first pass down the Disappointment Road, showing our visitors the herd area boundary, I saw Cinch and Bruiser, then what looked like the pinto band walking away out of some trees … except that as they got into a more open area, I could see that Chipeta, her colt, Ty and Mesa were not right with the band. It became apparent that they weren’t just lagging behind, either.

We got to the cattle guard where the boundary ends, turned around and went back. I stopped at dysfunction junction to hike up a hill overlooking the road to see if I could see Kiowa’s group better and get a broader look downward.

Kiowa, Milagro and Spook

They were heading up this ridge when I caught up with them, and yes, that is a stormy sky in the background. I’m hopeful the basin got more rain (part of the good news). Milagro got his name this weekend, simply by being a tiny, minor, extraordinary miracle. They all are, of course … Spook is Kiowa’s yearling daughter. Also with this band is Kiowa’s 2-year-old daughter, Reya, bay band stallion Copper and black-and-white pinto bachelor Corazon.

At the top, they disappeared into the trees. Chipeta and her beau “appeared” close to Cinch and Bruiser – who had wisely moved up a hillside on the other side of the arroyo to watch the goings-on from a safe position – and David and Shadow … and finally Mesa. The first picture is how I first saw them, mostly obscured by greasewood and other brush. So I still didn’t know at this point where her colt was …

Then David, in the background of that picture, crossed the arroyo, and when he came up, Chipeta spooked … and I could see that the foal was not immediately at her side. And then it was just a matter of confirming he was not there at all.

Chipeta

And that confirmed it; her colt is missing, presumed dead. Now I know I didn’t see him last weekend in the one quick flash of open ground they crossed because he wasn’t there to see.

Chipeta and her colt

He was likely 2-3 weeks old; this photo was from my only sighting of him, on Aug. 2. Chipeta got the PZP; she wasn’t supposed to have a foal. But she did, and so his was a life to be valued as much as any of them. Posthumously, I named him Joven, which simply means “young.” Rest in wild peace, little one.

Honeymoons over

Ty chased David away – and Mesa – then “urged” Chipeta away across the hillside. Moments later, Mesa was with them, and they were perfectly calm. My gut feeling is that with all the stallions around, little Joven may have been accidentally trampled. As far as I know, he was Chipeta’s first. She’s a terrible flirt anyway, and she probably couldn’t protect the youngster in the chaos. Now she seems to be in heat.

As you can also see from the first pic, Ty is definitely grey in the face, but his body is still remarkably dark.

Cinch and Bruiser

The spotted pair were back in the south – they’re on the hill, watching the action below. All the horses were in this area because of a tiny seep in a corner of the arroyo that is part of the drainage down from the (dry) pond behind Round Top. Never much water in that area – WSA – of the herd area.

David and Shadow

These two followed Ty and Chipeta and Mesa, and in this pic, they’re looking on while Ty drank at the seep, guarded by Mesa. Chipeta stayed in the arroyo next to Ty after she drank first.

So we’re back to 10 foals … and I’m spoiling the next post.

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Categories : Bruiser, Chipeta, Cinch, David, Joven, Kiowa, Milagro, pintos, Shadow, Spook, Ty

Long time no see

4 08 2009

And a not-so-surprising (for the last couple of months, anyway) delivery.

The time just gets away from me trying to keep up with these ponies. There were a couple of highlights that came Sunday. Seven’s band made an appearance! They were at a distance, so I hiked in to them. It was so great to see Ze and Liberty – and their mamas and daddy, of course.

Liberty and Molly, Roja and Ze

Look how tall Ze is. He’s almost as big as Roja. He’s almost 4 months old.

Seven

They drank from a wet spot in the arroyo between Lizard Mesa and Knife Edge, and then they were headed over the south-ish end of the east-west hill.

Ze, Raja and Seven

Ze looked a little “light” to me, and I wonder if he’s going to end up grey like daddy. He’s looking back at Molly and Liberty.

Molly and Liberty

Old Molly doesn’t look too bad for an old gal, and Liberty looks just fine.

Are you wondering how our mamas-to-be are getting along? I’ll end your suspense; we’re waiting only for Jif now.

Chipeta and colt

He’s a colt and pinto and cute as a button! Can’t be unhappy about a new life when you see all the long-legged cuteness right in front of you, but I’m pretty disappointed by whatever happened with the PZP in our “trial.”

Hey, little you

As far as I know, this is Chipeta’s first foal.

Guardians

Mesa, looking very scarred these days, Ty and the new mama and baby.

Kiowa and colt

Here’s a look at Kiowa and her little mister – yep, confirmed as a colt. That’s Corazon at right and Copper in front of him. Speaking of scars, the boy with the heart on his side had some fresh wounds on his neck and inside his right hock. When I saw them, they were all peaceful under the trees. Spook and Reya stayed mostly out of sight.

I got to them by hiking out around the east side of Round Top, then out to the hill southish of the dry pond. They must be drinking from some little seep somewhere. There hasn’t been water in that pond since early last spring.

This was a great weekend for seeing horses; Sunday, I saw all but Chrome and David and Shadow. Chrome was with Traveler’s band Friday, but Aspen (alone Friday) was with them Sunday, and Chrome was nowhere to be found. Not great for water, of course. Still waiting on some ponds to get dug out in the hopes that they’ll actually hold water when it rains, but it might happen before the end of the month.

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Categories : Chipeta, Copper, Corazon, Kiowa, Mesa, Molly, pintos, PZP, Roja, Seven, Ty

Baby girl hurt

15 07 2009

Don’t panic. But it’s been on my mind and will be till I see her again. Terra-love was limping on her right hind leg this weekend. I couldn’t see any obvious injuries or swelling, but binoculars never give you a close-enough view when that’s what you want to see.

Stiff

Not a good image, of course, but can you see how “humped” she looks? Think good thoughts for our little girl, people. Thanks-a-bunch.

Artist Karen Keene Day was back in the basin to visit the horses. While she was inspired by the wild ones for future artwork, her husband put inspiration to canvas during our weekend trip.

It was another good day for seeing horses. We even saw David and Shadow! The horses are staying close to the water, in this case Wildcat Spring. The small pond off the road to the old trap site still has water from the latest rains, but I haven’t seen horses drinking there. Kreacher and the girls are taking full advantage of the catchment, but they seem to be the only ones. Wildcat Spring is the current “neighborhood watering hole.” Bruiser and Cinch are still up with the northern gang.

It’s warm, and afternoon rain is always something to be aware of. The bugs are out – but not as bad as last year. They seem worse in the south than in the north. The cheat grass also doesn’t seem as sticky. Something to look forward to, I guess!

Corona

Isn’t she a stunning little girl?

Most of the bands were east of the section of road between the intersections. We came first to Duke, Raven and the beauty above. Then Steeldust’s band strolled by us like a wave.

Daddy and baby

Steeldust and Hannah.

Mama and baby

Mahogany and Sable.

Buckskin and bay

Luna and 2-year-old Kestrel and Mahogany and yearling pinon.

Mamas and babies

Luna and Hannah, Mahogany and Sable.

Ember

How she’s changed. She actually looks quite a bit like her big sister, Kestrel, except for her color, of course!

Coupla boys

Aspen and Chrome following the big band.

Wait for me!

Hook-at-the-trot. While we were watching Steeldust’s band walk past – and Aspen and Chrome follow – we looked over to see Hook, apparently forlorn at having been left behind.

Horses and hills

Still le petite Jif hides her treasure from the world. Terra is lying down by Houdini.

The misters

Daddy and Sage. Aren’t they handsome fellows!

Family bonds

Daddy Hollywood stands very nearby as Sage takes an afternoon snack from mama Piedra.

Admiring the scenery

What does he see out there? Does he see something faraway? What’s on his mind? Lizard mesa in the middle distance; the east pocket beyond.

As we drove out, not only were purple clouds rising over the western hills but thunder was rolling, and lightning was striking – not near(ish). We were privileged to see David and Shadow off the county road near dysfunction junction. I left Karen at our lodging and went back to look for the pintos.

Kiowa and baby

Did I say I thought the foal was a filly? Then I thought it was a colt. But as it turns out, none of my pictures were close or clear enough to really determine, so baby’s gender remains a mystery. And a little more research into the timing of Copper’s take-over makes it very possible – and given the foal’s color, likely – that he is baby’s daddy.

Surrounded by spots

The little holds his or her own.

Mama-to-be?

Wouldja lookit the size o’ dat belly, la! Time will tell.

And such was the day. We didn’t see Bounce’s or Seven’s. I hope to not see Terra limping this weekend.

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Categories : Aspen, Chipeta, Chrome, Corona, Cuatro, Ember, Grey, Hannah, Hollywood, Houdini, Iya, Jif, Kestrel, Kiowa, Luna, Mahogany, Piedra, Pinon, pintos, Roach, Spook, Steeldust, Terra, Twister, 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.

051509sagebend

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

Dust bowl basin

25 03 2009

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes and it will change.”

I’ve heard that phrase spoken by locals in different states, and it’s true in all of them. Weather is especially changeable at the cusp of seasons, and as Friday was the first day of this year’s spring, was it any wonder that although March purred into beginning as a pussycat, by the second day after the beginning of a new season, the winds were roaring like a lion?

Sunday started with blue skies and fluffy white clouds and a wind howling like a … what howls with more power than a banshee? I’d never felt it so terrible. The wind was rude and pushy – literally. I do believe it carried and deposited half of Arizona into (at least) Southwest Colorado. By mid-afternoon, there was about 300 pounds of dirt per square air inch. One of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen.

Within minutes of driving into the basin, I spied Kreacher and his multi-color girls in their current favorite haunt along Spring Creek north of the first crossing. Compared with the wind, I was a creature not worthy of much attention.

Into the wind

Raven, Mona and Kreacher at ease. Is that a belly I spy …?

Napsters

Kootenai snuck up behind Raven, but she didn’t seem to mind.

Outward bound

Not even when Kootenai drove Mona away did Raven get involved.

Wind in her hair

The epitome of innocence (not).

Do you notice the abundance of sunshine? The blue sky?

I headed out toward Round Top, having seen many of the northern horses in that area in recent visits. Bounce and his lovely girls were at the east end of the (south)east-(north)west hill, open to the punishment of the wind. No one else was exposed to the fury. I kept driving.

By the time I got to the double ponds, I hadn’t see another horse. The wind was howling. It was – obviously – dry. The road was amazingly dry.

I thought I might find horses back in the east pocket. Nope. I did check the pond there. Water? Check. I thought I might find horses around every bend. Nope. The road was never bad enough to turn back. Dry. So dry. Where on Earth were the horses??

Finally, almost to the cutoff road to Horse Park, I spied Steeldust and his band and hangers-on below the long east-west hill, maybe somewhat protected from the worst of the wind. I turned around and headed back to a place closer to hike out.

The wind was enough to actually push me backward when I stopped to look around when I topped a hill farther south than where I had thought the horses would be. I thought I caught a glimpse of them around the bend, below the hill, but I decided to cross the little valley and see if Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were still in the same place I had previously seen them. When I topped the next hill, I found Bounce facing into the wind, watching … Steeldust’s band heading down the hill toward the far road.

Bounce at attention

I sat down in the wind (the better to be steady in the gale) to watch Steeldust’s horses through the binocs, and when I looked back at Bounce’s band, he was bouncing up to me, trying to figure out where the heck I had appeared from.

Alegre and Gaia

Let me tell you, shooting with the barrel of my lens straight into the jaws of the howling beast was, uh, not impossible but difficult as hell. Pretty, pretty girls.

I didn’t stay with them long. It’s hard to even describe the power of that wind, so I’ll let the next couple of pictures illustrate it.

Dust bowl

Do you recognize Filly Peak? Do you even see the outline of Filly Peak? I promise, it’s out there like a whale beached in the fog of the sea.

Brumley in the dust

The wind was out of the south, so (I guess) that’s why there was still some visibility to that direction. Meanwhile, it was all settling in the north of the bowl, err, basin.

Exit plan

You might be able to barely pick out the road down to the trap site in the upper middle part of this photo. Straight out is the first hill you drive in past the cattle guard and interpretive sign.

The road to oblivion

Filly Peak again, a little later but a little more visible – at that moment in time.

Renegades

The (at least) two cows and calves still in the basin. Their time was up the end of February. At least two other trucks were in the basin Sunday, but I don’t know whether they were related to the bovines.

Not in Oz anymore

This photo of Mona, Raven, Kootenai and Kreacher was taken about four-ish hours after the blue-sky pictures of Mona, Raven, Kootenai and Kreacher. Don’t adjust your monitors. These pictures were sharpened only – no other tweaking for contrast or color (I usually only boost contrast and sharpen anyway). That’s what it looked like. Spooky as all get out. This is from the road in the “flats” just below the water catchment looking north.

My Grey/Traveler boy and his family were down in the valley south of the catchment where it opens to the valley that runs southeast between what I called “bachelor ridge” last year and the hill above (east of) the hill above the corral off the county road. Did you get all that? They were hunkered down finding their own protection from the wind.

It was still daylight – sort of, in an eerie, horror-film kind of strange Hollywood-film way – so I headed out of the herd area and south on the county road with the idea that I’d park and hike back into the basin to look for the pintos and/or David and Shadow and/or Cinch and Bruiser – whichever came first and/or at all! This brings up another question for photographers: What white balance setting do you use when it’s not cloudy or shady or sunlit? Or otherwise? When it’s like looking through dusted rose-colored glasses – except the only reason you’re still wearing your shades is because your eyeball sockets are now the repositories of about 13,000 pounds of grit – each. I set white balance to auto. I never set white balance to auto.

Guess who I found right beside the road??

Painted ponies

And Copper, who suffers from being boringly solid (but shhh, don’t tell him!). Bonus points: Can you pick out the other boy in this image? Right to left: Spook, Reya, Kiowa and … Corazon … BETWEEN Copper and the girls?! As far as I know, Copper-nicus is still king among the spots, but he wasn’t at all worried about Corazon there. In fact, while I was watching them, it occured to me that no one passing by on the road who stopped to watch would know that this modern, dysfunctional family contains four boys, two mature ladies and two young ladies, let alone who was who or which or what. It works for them, eh?

Mesa

Auto white balance in a rose-dust world. Weeeeeird.

Girl between boys

Stallion Corazon, left, Chipeta-girl and stallion Ty.

Flirty girl

Chipeta chooses Ty.

Rejected girl

What is he, nuts?!

Copper and Kiowa

Easy-going.

Kiowa and Spook

The trouble with weaning your babies is that you then have to compete with them for every blade of chow on the ground.

I’d like to interrupt the progression of photos for just one minute and say that this was my best visit ever – bar none – with the pinto band (and their boys). For whatever reason, alpha-Kiowa-girl was cool as steel in the face of that blustering howler, and so was everyone else. Crazy wind isn’t usually the kind of weather where you expect your horse to be calm as a cucumber – am I right? Thank you, painted ponies!

Sissies

As in “sisters.” As in ain’t scairt of a huffy little wind that hides the sky and tangles the hair. Reya, big girl of almost 2, nuzzles baby sister Spook, who has a first of May birthday coming up.

Lookin-good girl

I wanted to include this pic of Kiowa because she’s looking good with baby weaned and winter (almost) over. She has some fat over her ribs, which were visible just a few weeks ago when last I saw her.

So it took a little longer than 10 minutes for the weather to change from blue to rose, but by the time Monday morning rolled around, it would change again – to white. 🙂 Stay tuned.

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Alegre, Bounce, Corazon, Kootenai, Kreacher, Mesa, Mona, New girls, pintos, Raven, Ty

A living prayer

6 03 2009

Words are useless to describe my experiences with the horses last weekend. So I’m not going to try. It has taken me several days to even get to where I could look at the photos I took because the memories – and the emotions they evoked – are so vivid, the photos really are just aids to remember.

It’s about the horses. Always about the horses …

Reya, Copper, Spook, Ty, Kiowa

Spook and Kiowa

David and Shadow

Shadow, David and Mesa

Shadow and David watch Corazon and Mesa

Corazon, Chipeta and Mesa

Shadow and David leaving

Pinto band settling down

Bruiser and Cinch nearby

Shadow and David later

Hook, Chrome and Duke

Duke and Chrome

Steeldusts band in front of McKenna Peak

Ember and family

Mouse and Comanche in front of Brumley Point

Steeldust and Comanche

Steeldust and Hook

Mahogany

Pinon under a juniper

Luna

Ember

Storm and Alpha

7-month-old Storm

Poco

Roach

Bones

Bones and Roach

Gaia and Bounce

Alegre

Gaia and Alegre

Two Boots, Iya and Twister

Houdini

Houdini and Two Boots

Jif

Jif, Iya, Houdini and Grey/Traveler

Grey, Houdini and Two Boots

Twister and Iya

Two Boots, Grey/Traveler and Iya

Although not everyone is pictured above, only Seven’s band did not make an appearance Saturday. The pictures of the pintos, David and Shadow and Bruiser and Cinch were taken early in the morning, and the pictures of Grey’s band were taken with the last bit of sunlight and after the sun had gone behind Filly Peak. A full day of horses.

Pictures from Sunday to come …

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Alegre, Alpha, Bones, Bounce, Bruiser, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Houdini, Jif, Luna, Mahogany, Mesa, Pinon, pintos, Poco, Roach, Steeldust, Storm, Ty

Mountain magic

22 01 2009

Go never to the wild with an agenda … If you’re silly enough to go with an agenda, be prepared to abandon it immediately.

That is a lesson I learned early on, and it continues to hold true. As late as driving along the herd area on the county road Sunday morning, I had one mission but no agenda. I had an idea where I wanted to park and hike in – not my favorite hike-in spot – but that idea was quickly abandoned when I happened to spot a white spot among white snow spots: the pintos. Hit reverse, back to my spot, through the fence and onward.

When you’re given horses, never ignore the gift.

Sharing snow

The pinto girls and boy and their solid pals were below the bench that runs around the west side of their hill, grazing lazily in the sunshine. In this photo, Kiowa and Copper shared a patch of snow. Check out Copper’s expression.

Chipeta and admirers

Front to back: Corazon, Chipeta and Ty. I don’t quite understand the dynamics of this non-traditional family, but it makes for fun watching. Copper definitely seems to be back in charge, but he tends to leave Chipeta to her own devices. She’s a bit of a coquette, I think. If they get too close, she pins her ears warns them away. It’s a little dance they do.

Mesa and the girls

We scared up some deer, and the horses walked on up to the top of the hill. Chipeta caught up to Kiowa, and Mesa paused to check me out before moseying out to lead the line.

I headed toward Round Top with the particularly vague idea of hiking to the summit to survey the area. At 10 a.m., the ground was still frozen. By at least 10:45 a.m., the thaw was well under way. Good thing I didn’t really want to march up the Top because I spotted horses out on the hill where the pinto band was last weekend.

Four horses total. Two together, Bruiser a little farther away and … David? By himself? Uh oh. The two horses together were Cinch and Shadow. Luckily, they waited until I hiked out to them to start the fireworks. (David saw me, but the others didn’t until after the show.)

I said no!

Cinch got frisky, but yearling (actually, she’ll be 2 this spring) Shadow wasn’t willing to accept him, so she ran from him, occasionally firing a half-hearted kick at his chest.

Go away!

Right after this, they suddenly stopped and started grazing (as best they could through the snow). David was right above them, watching them and me, and I thought Shadow might walk right up to him. But she didn’t. He finally turned around and went back down his side of the hill. Finally Bruiser noticed me, then Cinch, then Shadow. THEN she walked up the hill to David, and normalcy was restored.

Some magic

They trotted down the hill toward an arroyo, then up the other side toward Round Top.

Another sort of chase

David finally had enough of Cinch being close to his girl and lunged at him. This was across the arroyo. They all trotted away together.

I continued on up toward Round Top, hiking past the pond on the way. Dry. Not even any snow in the bed of the pond. There’s a trail that goes up to the ridge on the southwest side of the saddle between the two Tops, which I’m starting to call the saddle trail. From there, I spotted, way off yonder in the amazingly far distance, what looked like Grey/Traveler’s band. I could pick out a grey – him or Houdini – and what looked like Twister.

Sleepy Seven

Look who I found napping in the sunshine closest to Round Top. He was sort of uncharacteristically calm; I couldn’t believe he watched me while lying down. At first, I saw just him and Roja – grazing nearby – and was really looking around for old-girl Molly.

Sleepy Molly

When I finally saw her, I realized that while focusing on Seven and Roja, I had walked right by Molly, who was napping under a tree, one of her habits. She looked at me for a minute, then seemed to realize that I was closer to her family than she was and trotted on back to them. Seven got to his feet and stretched, then started nickering to Molly, but it was a little odd – more like a colt nickering to his mother than a stallion nickering to his mare. I know that sounds weird, and it was.

Roja and Molly

These girls are close. I think Molly could be Roja’s dam.

Seven and his girls

Once they reunited, they didn’t go far, but I headed back up to the trail. I was glad to see these ponies.

After I saw Seven and the girls, I was pretty sure the far horses were, indeed, Traveler’s band, but they were way up to the northwest, and my Jeep was way back to the southwest. Because of the snow and mud and what promised to be a long walk not only to where the band was but then back to the Jeep, I decided to walk back to the Jeep, then drive up to the corral and hike from there.

Under the mountains

The horses ended up being even farther along the hill above the corral than I thought. That’s Filly Peak sloping up to the right. Two Boots looking at me, Twister behind her, Houdini grazing, and Iya in front of her.

Houdini

Mama Houdini. Random thought from the day: She should be about three months from foaling.

Traveler

Handsome boy.

Horses, mountains

See the fence in the background? Behind the horses. That’s the boundary fence that eventually runs down to the county road. I’ve never been that close to that fence.

Bliss

The promised image of Traveler enjoying a bite of snow. He really seemed to enjoy it!

Backside of Filly Peak

Twister, Traveler and Jif with the southwest side of Filly Peak in the background.

Jif

Jif should have Traveler’s foal this spring, too.

Family

A final look of the day at the ponies.

I took my time walking back across the hill and down to the Jeep, savoring the day and letting my tiredness catch up to me. The weather was particularly gorgeous; for January, it was nothing less than amazing. My mission of the day, by the way, was to find Grey. Fabulous day.

We’re supposed to get some snow in the next few days, so I won’t be making a trip to the basin this weekend. But I will be taking a trip to the Browning Ranch in Farmington, N.M., which acts as a holding facility for wild horses rounded up and removed from (at least) the Carson National Forest. Claude Steelman, photographer and author of the excellent book Colorado’s Wild Horses, adopted a yearling colt from the Carson and took him home last Thanksgiving. I’m going to meet up with Claude there and see what’s what.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Bruiser, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Houdini, Jif, Mesa, Molly, pintos, Seven, Ty

Welcome home

12 01 2009

Mesa invitation

Sunday was my first trip to the basin since I returned from my holiday vacation, and it was a good one. I saw all but three bands (Traveler’s, Seven’s and Poco, Bones and Roach), though most of the horses were pretty far away and viewed through binoculars. I hiked in and found the pinto band at the end of the day and took this photo of Mesa. It seems like he’s inviting me to follow him into his home – and what a beautiful home it is.

I wasn’t at all sure what to expect on the roads, but the road from the county road to the herd area boundary and a short way into the herd area was mostly dry. It was partly sunny when I got there, but then it turned cloudy. Later in the afternoon: full sunshine. I stopped just uphill from the first curve inside the herd area to take a look. Before I got my binoculars, I saw cattle way out in the area northeastish of the finger hills, then some shapes back to the north … one of them a familiar and non-cowy color. I thought, based on where I last saw the new mares and their new beau (down on the east side of Round Top), if I didn’t know better, I’d think that was the apricot dun mare. Damned if it wasn’t Kreacher and the girls!

Tres amigas

I was psyched to see them. Again, based on where I saw them last (yes, it was four weeks ago), I really didn’t expect to see them today.

The new girls have new names this new year. Thanks to Lynn and Kathy in New Mexico for “Raven” for the black pinto mare. As they so astutely pointed out, the mare’s color is exactly the lustrous black of the ubiquitous ravens that call the basin home. And thanks to Karen of South Carolina and Ouray for “Mona” for the “regular” dun. She noticed that I’m always commenting on how cute she is, “que mona” – how cute! It was right as soon as I read it. And for the apricot dun, in honor of her Sand Wash Basin “cousin” who patrols the U.S.-Canada border with the U.S. Border Patrol and is one of two Colorado mustangs going to the inaugural parade Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., I named her “Kootenai” (“kooten-ee”).

Raven, Mona and Kootenai

And Kreacher following.

Kreacher

My guess is that the girls didn’t like the direction their new relationship was going, so they turned tail and headed back to their familiar (north) hills. What’s a boy to do? Of course he followed. Still not acting at all “stallion-like,” just very calm and laid back. So I started thinking back to when he had Molly and Roja, and I think he was about the same way. The very first time I saw them, I thought he was a mare, as a matter of fact; he wasn’t at all aggressive or protective or otherwise displaying the usual “protection” behaviors. But apparently he has the cajones to keep a few mares – at least for now. Maybe it’s a matter of sheer coincidence, but consider that – in addition to Kreacher now – only Steeldust has as many as three mares. None of the other horses are anywhere close (that I saw) to them, location-wise, so it stands to reason that he’ll keep the girls for a while (maybe until the bachelors start wandering again).

Alert

The girls were up on a hill that gave me a good vantage point to scan the basin. From there, I saw Bounce, Alegre and Gaia, Steeldust’s band and Hollywood’s band with at least one bachelor nearby and three bachelors together just slightly farther away. But rather than try to hike out through the snow and mud to get to them, I decided to drive out and on down the county road to see how far I could get. I thought if I could get at least to the corrals, I’d hike in from there.

But the road was good all the way down to Black Snag Road. Some snow, but earlier traffic was obvious. I turned around there and went back up to my favorite hike-in spot, a little southeast of the county line. I hadn’t seen any horses from there, but the clouds had gone away, the sky was blue, it was a great day for a hike, I hadn’t seen the pintos for a while, and I didn’t want the day to end. I walked in and up on top of the hill where I often found the pintos last year. There was a lot more snow in the southern part of the herd area.

The pinto ponies and their suitors weren’t on their hill, though. I stopped on the trail when I got high enough to see back toward Round Top and scanned with the binoculars. Then I saw them, up on the hill on the north side of the little valley I hike through to get to their hill – actually closer to the road! Ha. Well, it was a great day for a hike.

Mesa

This boy is kind of the behavioral opposite of Kreacher – and he doesn’t even have his own mares! Copper should feel (!) lucky to have him act as protector while Copper sticks close to his mares from Corazon and Ty, all the boys still acting as one big family.

King of the hill

The last time I saw the pintos, right from the county road, Copper was not acting like the lead stallion; Corazon was. But things seem to be back to “normal” with Copper sticking close – even though Kiowa kept pinning her ears and snapping her teeth at him.

By the time I walked up to their hill, they had moved out into the open and were headed slightly downhill toward Round Top. It coincidentally put them right in the middle of a spectacular background – the La Sal Mountains in Utah.

Kiowa and her girls

Kiowa seems mostly passive from a distance, a benign mother and alpha mare. But don’t let appearances fool you. I think she rules with an iron, er, hoof, when she needs to! From left, Reya (yearling filly), Kiowa, Spook (2008 filly) and Chipeta.

Still nursing

But she’s still a mama above all else. She wasn’t happy about it, but she eventually stood still for Spook to nurse. Copper at right.

Family

Just Mesa is missing from the band above – he had already moved farther to the right, trying to lead the band away. From left, Ty, Corazon, Kiowa, Spook and Reya, Chipeta and Copper. That’s Round Top in the background. It looks different from this perspective, doesn’t it? This was the last shot I took of them as I started back toward the Jeep.

Almost forgot to say that I saw David and Shadow and Cinch south of Flat Top from the hill. I didn’t see Bruiser, but I hope he was nearby; he and Cinch have been together almost since the bachelors kicked him out of the pinto band.

A few more random photos:

Winter day

Kreacher and Kootenai with McKenna Peak in the background.

Close-up

Kreacher and the mares went around the little hill they were on and down to graze. I went around the other side of the hill and caught this shot of Kreacher as he followed Kootenai down into the little valley. I took some pix that really didn’t show him at his best (he really doesn’t have the best conformation), but I just couldn’t bring myself to show them. 🙂 He looks pretty decent here.

On guard

Mr. Mesa takes his protection duties seriously. Always be aware of your surroundings: I was photographing the other horses against the mountains when a look or posture of one of them made me look away from the camera. Tough guy Mesa had come out to say “hi,” all puffed up, and I hadn’t even noticed! He’s really not as close as he appears; I had my lens zoomed out to take the pix of the other horses, and when I saw Mesa, I just pointed and shot. This is one of just two shots like this before he trotted back to the band.

Deer central

The deer are back. Wow. I hadn’t seen this many deer since, well, this time last year. I took this shot right from the Jeep on the county road – the deer are inside the herd area. There were at least a dozen other deer just in this group, and this was one of probably a dozen groups I saw today.

It’s good to be back!

Comments : 2 Comments »

Categories : Kreacher, Mesa, New girls, pintos

Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Bad news first

Long time no see

Baby girl hurt

Some lovelies, some fun

Anticipation

Before the count, part 2

Dust bowl basin

A living prayer

Mountain magic

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