Mister Poco is looking pretty well after the winter.
He has some old-man aches and pains, but it’s good to see him hale and hearty and moving into spring.
Short stuff
9 03 2013Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Bay beauty
23 11 2012Had a welcome sighting of this handsome bay boy:
Poco, sporting his fuzzy winter coat!
While I was taking pix of him, I hiked over to look at the double ponds to check the water status.
Good news!
The pond that was dug out in 2009 has good water! The second double pond – which was not dug out – has no water, but the center is muddy.
Interestingly, some of the ground between the road and the good pond was moist on the surface. Given that we haven’t had any moisture for a couple of weeks (and that, not much), that’s just something to “make ya go hmm.” Most of the ponds do still have water, and as noted in a couple of previous posts, there are some water-producing seeps in arroyos.
Keep dancing. Mother Nature, like BLM, moves at her own pace. 🙂
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Poco, Ponds, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Water
Below Knife Edge
14 10 2012What a beautiful place, our world.
Poco. Not always seen, but expected!
Near the double ponds in the eastern part of the basin. And the ponds still have water, however shallow.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Poco!
28 09 2012
Look who we found!
Friends Barbara and John visited the basin and proved to be good luck charms when it came to finding horses. This was the first time I’d seen Poco since the end of June.
He’s always had the swollen knee, but his injured leg is his left hind. It is much improved, but it’s still more swollen than the other.
He still has a bit of a hitch in his giddy-up, but all things considered, he’s not doing too bad. He’s a little leaner than I’d like to see, but that’s not too bad, either. We also saw Bounce, and he looks really good and also is moving well.
Handsome bay boy. So glad and relieved to see him!
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Poco
8 06 2012He’s … OK.
He’s alone, and his left hock is pretty stocked up.
He has a small, healing wound inside that hock. A puncture, perhaps … or perhaps something else.
He gets around well, and based on the smaller hoof prints in the area, I think he has had visitors (Apollo, with Tenaz and Hayden and possibly Storm, all four of whom I saw with Kiley).
He’s in good shape.
His right knee has been enlarged for quite a while. While he favors it slightly, it doesn’t slow him down. You can see the small wound right about in the middle of his left hock. The protrusion just below the point of his hock is his chestnut.
Poco at home. That’s McKenna Peak (namesake of the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, part of which is included within Spring Creek Basin’s boundaries) in the background, one of our most prominent and identifiable landmarks.
He seems to be doing OK, and he’s moving … if not well, well, he’s moving. It’s not awful, but it’s not normal; he has a definite hitch in his giddy-up.
But I’m awfully glad to see the boy.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
RIP Roach
1 06 2012
I’ve been worried about Roach for weeks. He’s usually with Poco, and they usually split briefly in the spring, then reunite.
It’s never unusual to go weeks without seeing these boys, but something was different this time. I saw Poco several times … but not Roach.
Earlier this spring, I had had a couple of possible sightings of Roach, but I hadn’t seen him for certain since the top photo was taken – April 23. I haven’t seen Poco now since early May. As much as he grieved for Bones …
Yesterday, I found Roach, at the bottom of a steep, narrow arroyo. The best I can hope is that it was quick.
The first time I saw Roach was in about 2004, with Poco, a dark bay mare I later documented as Ceal and her then-yearling colt. Roach was young, full of fire, with a roached mane and forelock and a skimpy, almost-nothing tail.
That was in the double ponds area, and since then, I saw him with Poco, almost always in that area, except these recent springs, when they’d split to go wandering. As far as I know, Roach never had a band/mare of his own, though he stayed with Poco when he had Bones and, later, Iya and Cougar.
I think he was 11-12 years old.
Oh, Roach. Spring Creek Basin has been and will be less without your presence.
Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Roach, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Signs of spring
4 04 2012These signs of spring bring me joy: grass greening, robins, phlox blooming, water flowing, Poco and Roach sightings.
I’ve seen them previously, but this was my first photo opportunity with these boys this spring. Such handsome misters.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Poco, Roach, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
All ready
25 11 2011While you’re all getting ready for serious voting, here are some pix from the last two days in the basin …
From my visit with Poco and Roach … the La Sal Mountains seen above the northwest valley of the basin.
Roach and Poco
Roach
Poco
Poco and Roach. Not very often does Poco stand closer to me than Roach.
I had watched them (and Bounce, Tenaz and Seven, and Chrome’s – different directions) from a distance for quite a while as they napped. They both laid down – Poco flat out like a colt. I imagine that sunshine felt terrific (it did).
Poco against the mountains …
Roach against the mountains.
Aspen’s and Sundance’s bands were sharing the roller-coaster ridge pond for their midday drink, and the babies were enjoying some play time.
Killian at left and Apollo.
Coupla things going on here: Mona walked all the way around the pond to drink here, right under the noses of her former pals, Raven and Kootenai – not to mention Sundance. Aspen eventually escorted Roja as she also walked over to drink just there (and *why* just there??). And check out feisty little Mysterium, who has finally gotten fed up with her brother and the new little boy and is chasing him away.
One last pause before he follows mama …
See ya later, alligators! 🙂
Mysterium on the berm of the pond.
Sundance and Raven napping on the berm.
Sundance watching Aspen’s band move off to graze.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Apollo, Aspen, Killian, Mysterium, Poco, Raven, Roach, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Sundance
Poco & Roach
20 11 2011
Promise. 🙂
I first thought Roach was one of the big orange boulders scattered about … he was lying down. Minute changes convinced me it was him, and then Poco finally came into view on the ridge above him. He napped for quite a while, and I enjoyed the view as the sunshine shook the chill from the morning air.
See the shadowed hill face at lower center, and the two trees at the base of that hill but lit by sunlight in contrast to the shade? Roach is just below those trees, and Poco is the dark speck straight to the left. I’m sitting on the north side of Flat Top, and those are the eastern hills above which is the basin’s eastern boundary.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Poco, Roach, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
The Found Boys
3 11 2011Yeah, I cried. For joy. For coming around a curve, and there was Poco … and as I inched a bit on, Roach … for finding them just as I knew I would … again …
Roach and Poco
Poco
Roach
Yes, those white bits in the backgrounds of the above photos are patches of snow!
Discussing a newly christened stud pile.
And where were the wayward wanderers?
Home, sweet home.
Where else? 🙂
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Poco, Roach, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 