PZP | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

About PZP …

10 02 2011

To offer during the educational programs I plan to do this year ahead of the Spring Creek Basin roundup (scheduled for Sept. 17-21), I created a “brochure” about PZP/PZP-22, and I wanted to share it here, “for more information” as we say in the news biz. I didn’t come up with this information out of thin air. It’s a compilation of the bare surface of what I’ve learned about PZP/PZP-22, and yes, I have offered it for critique and correction to people I think all will agree are experts on the subject: Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, director of the Science and Conservation Center; Dr. Patricia Fazio, statewide coordinator of the Wyoming Wild Horse Coalition; and Matt Dillon, director of the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center.

I keep pushing these links:

http://pryorwild.wordpress.com/category/pzp/ – extremely informative series about PZP written by Matt –

and

http://pryorwild.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/pzp-qa-third-edition-june-1-2010.pdf – PZP Q&A contributed to by Dr. Kirkpatrick, Dr. Allen Rutberg and Linda Coates-Markle, and compiled and edited by Dr. Fazio. (Matt is working to make this a linkable document on the Pryor Wild blog and the PMWMC website.)

Tonight, I have a big date: my first public education program about the coming roundup and adoption and, hopefully, fertility control program in Spring Creek Basin. I’m nervous. I’m hopeful. I think I’m well-prepared. I’m terrified I’ll freeze (a skilled public speaker, I am not). I’m sure I’ll say something about the roundup, answer a question about the horses to be offered for adoption or sent to Canon City … and crumple, like I did last night in a much smaller meeting.

More information: A scoping notice is to be completed this month for our upcoming EA. I’ll inform you all about that when it’s available, and I hope you’ll comment.

I also hope you’re getting those comments out about McCullough Peaks’ fertility control EA. More information here and here.

There’s a lot going on right now … There are still horror stories about roundups … Here, we’re trying to encourage something workable, something sustainable, something with a better “happy ending” for more wild horses. I think by now, it’s pretty well known how I feel, my background, where I’m coming from. Someone apparently called the president of the Four Corners Back Country Horsemen, the group I’m speaking with tonight, and said, “I know all about that TJ Holmes.” I hope so. Because “TJ Holmes” = “mustang advocate.” Everyone who knows me knows that. 😉

Here’s the “brochure”: PZP-FAQcard-FORBLOG

I prepared this to be used as a jump-start for conversation. Like one of our Wild Bunch members noted last night, sterility after six or seven years of consecutive PZP treatments is not necessarily a con (especially for older mares), and I’ve talked about that here. I hope this proves helpful – the links on the last page lead to much more information about PZP (and many thanks to Pat Fazio for pointing out to me that the links are, indeed, live in the PDF document).

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Categories : Advocacy, PZP

Gearing up for 2011

2 01 2011

With the holidays fast approaching and my Christmas trip to Texas, I never stood a chance of posting some more pix from my last visit to the horses last year. Although it was a cloudy, grey day, I spent quite a bit of time with Chrome’s, Hollywood’s and Comanche’s bands – heaven. So I’m going to try to get some more photos up of various horses before I hopefully head out again this week for my first visit of 2011!

Something I’m tremendously excited about is a two-part visit, starting this week and ending next week, to a local elementary school to talk to three students for a project they’re doing about horses! I’m talking about wild horses – of course! They’ll learn more about horses from other people involved in different aspects, including a local equine rescue group, throughout the month. I’ve been speculating about ways to get local kids involved with our mustangs for a couple of years now, so I hope this is the start of something we can continue annually. Later in the spring, I’ll take the students out to Spring Creek Basin for an up-close look at OUR mustangs in the wild. I can’t wait to learn about the students and find out what they’re most interested in regarding horses. I bet they have some super questions!

I’m also excited about being a tour leader for the third year (stymied last year because of rain) to the Spring Creek Basin mustangs during the Ute Mountain Mesa Verde Birding Festival. The link is to last year’s information, but they should be updating it soon. My tour will be Thursday, May 12. If you’re local, sign up! I think the cost is about $60, and it includes travel, some birding along the way to the basin and back, and lunch. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this year! About a dozen people on the tour meet in Cortez and drive out to the basin, where I meet them, and we drive in to look for horses, talking about all kinds of things related to the horses along the way. The Forest Service, a partner in the festival, always has a couple of people along to answer questions about San Juan Public Lands. The year before rain put a damper (sorry) on our plans, we saw almost all the horses.

Our NMA/CO group also plans to do some educational presentations around the region this year. I’ll have more information as we make those plans.

Chrome and Hayden

Now for some heavy stuff. This year, Spring Creek Basin will see another roundup. It’s on the BLM schedule for Sept. 17-21. It hasn’t taken that long in the past, but I plan to be there for every day of it this year, and my fervent hope is that BLM will give the go-ahead for a fertility control program using native (annual) PZP and volunteer darters. We (NMA/CO) have been encouraging fertility control since the last roundup, and we made a formal proposal last year to use PZP (not PZP-22) and volunteer darters. In light of that, with my growing feeling of responsibility to provide as much information as I can as I learn and observe, I will be writing some posts this year that I hope are, in fact, educational and informative. My opinion (and it is an opinion) varies a bit from some of the “mainstream advocacy groups.” I do HATE roundups, but I DO support fertility control, and I do NOT support “let nature take its course,” aka starvation, and even with fertility control, I foresee roundups (we hope for bait trapping over helicopters) in the future, hopefully lessened.

Chrome and Rio

The horses are in great shape. Five water holes have been dug out in the last two years. We got rain last summer (a lot of rain).

Do I want to stop the roundup? No.

Yes, we will say goodbye to many horses this fall. Will it break my heart? It has been breaking a little every day for the last few years in anticipation.

Does this seem contradictory?

The basin is fenced. It is finite. It cannot support an infinite number of horses. I would rather see fewer horses removed WHILE THEY ARE HEALTHY than many, many horses removed in the very lean condition they were in during the 2007 roundup and before the basin’s grazing and water resources are so taxed. And I want to see fertility control started as soon as possible … so that the next roundup may be years and years and years away. And it is also my hope that by saving such an incredible amount of money by reducing the frequency of roundups, as well as fewer Spring Creek Basin horses going to interminably long-term holding, we might set BLM’s sights on bait trapping – rather than helicopter-driven roundups – in the future.

Could we stop roundups altogether? I’m sure we could. Assateague Island did it. But I’m not sure we’re ready to go there just yet. That is a very intensive program – of necessity.

Chrome and Hayden and Rio

Linda on her Beautiful Mustang blog asked me a great series of questions about PZP, and has posted some of my answers, along with photos. Linda adopted a beautiful filly born in 2007 from Beatty’s Butte, Ore., and named her Beautiful Girl. And is she beautiful! (Really, she’s gorgeous!) More answers and photos to come. I’m really grateful to her for giving me another venue. My disclaimer: I am certified to handle and mix PZP and to dart, but I do NOT consider myself an expert. So I continue to read all I can and talk to people who ARE experts.

It was never my intention to use this blog as a political platform, rather I want it to be about the HORSES. Mustangs are an incredibly emotionally charged subject – and rightly so. I still don’t intend this blog to be political. Rather, I’d like it to be educational – both about the horses themselves and what they do for us – emotionally and otherwise – and what we can do for them. I want to encourage discussion and questions and come up with answers. As stated above, I don’t have all the answers, and lots of people have been working on this longer than I have! But after all this time – this year will be the 40th anniversary of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act – we have enough information *to* CHANGE.

Chrome

I highly recommend at least these books:

Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths

Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West by Deanne Stillman

America’s Last Wild Horses by Hope Ryden

Please recommend others, if you like, but I found these books to tell an amazing and not always happy history of horses and humankind. I read Mustang first, about two years ago; it was published in 2008 . Last winter, I read America’s Last Wild Horses for the first time, first published in 1970, and I was struck by one major thought: Nothing has changed. I read Wild Horse Annie right after Christmas, and I thought again: Why has nothing changed? It’s not for lack of letters. Not for lack of schoolchildren – and adults – writing and writing and writing, talking and cajoling and pleading and demanding and insisting that wild horses be protected and managed in the wild.

Why has nothing changed?!

Hayden

I don’t know, but I share the conviction of many, many people that it has to and will.

I joined this fight – and it obviously is one – just a few years ago. I know people who have been fighting for 30 years. Best science is available, and many people are willing to carry it out for the benefit of our mustangs.

Rio

On my little blog, I’ll put out my opinion (what a scary proposition) and try to be a little more detailed about what we’re trying to do in our little corner of the wild horse world. And I’ll always – always – keep it about the horses.

Rio, Two Boots and Jif

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Categories : Advocacy, Chrome, Hayden, PZP, Rio

PZP practicum

21 01 2010

If you have questions about PZP, I would encourage you to trot on over to Matt Dillon’s Pryor Wild blog and read his excellent series about this fertility control. To read it from the beginning, scroll down and click “older posts” to get to the start, which has a schedule of topics, or there’s a new schedule on the home page with links to each topic. I think you’ll find it an extremely informative series with practical information.

Involved advocates are in favor of a PZP program in Spring Creek Basin, but despite the fact that BLM is pushing PZP in seemingly every other herd area, BLM is resistant to its use here. As small as our herd is, and with 100 percent documentation, and the fact that it will keep costs down in the long run – and keep wild horses wild – I can’t figure out why, so we continue to push. With all the practical information available and the fact that Salazar himself says it can be used “responsibly and at a reasonable cost,” there’s no reason we shouldn’t be using it to prevent what I hope we all want prevented – loss of our horses in the wild.

Thanks, Matt, for putting the information together in a logical, easy-to-read way!

Meanwhile, we’re under blizzard conditions in Southwest Colorado, so while you’re cozy in your homes, think about our fuzzy mustangs hunkered down in the wind and snow … and think about all that great snow as spring runoff right into our newly dug-out ponds! BLM did get those ponds dug out last year and has promised more ponds to be dug out this year. Every little bit helps. 🙂

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Categories : Advocacy, Pryor Mountain, PZP

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

Wild about mustangs

4 09 2009

This post, from a visit to the basin two weeks ago, has been a long time coming, but before I get to my horses, I’d like to offer a little prayer for the Pryor Mountain mustangs and all those who love and cherish those horses in particular.

Two weeks ago, our Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners were anticipating a visit with Dan Elkins and Karen Herman from New Mexico. Dan has been doing a technique of gathering wild horses called bait trapping for the past six years. Recently in the Carson National Forest in New Mexico, they implemented that state’s first PZP program. By using his unique mineral and salt mix, Dan is able to bring horses to a trap site by band, calmly. He can then corral an entire group of horses by family band or single out particular horses for removal. Since I visited the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in September 2007 and learned about this alternative to helicopter-driven roundups, and realized documentation of a band could help, I’ve been working toward this goal for our next gather.

Dan and Karen also are certified to administer PZP, a fertility control drug that can reduce birth rates and thus the need for frequent gathers. With Dan and Karen offering both a humane option for gathering and removing horses (with just 22,000 acres of less-than-ideal habitat, it has to be done) AND the ability to implement a program designed to remove horses less often (which incidentally means the horses now in the basin may have the opportunity to live free and wild longer (forever?) on their home range), it seems to be a win-win project for us! Our fingers are collectively crossed that the BLM sees the logic here as well!

I went out early to scout the horses and spend some extra time with them alone. It was the first time I’d been out for an overnight trip since the almost-end of foaling season. And we come to the reason for such a long wait between horse stories: I saw every band but Seven’s, and I was able to spend some time with each of them – a nice change from the never-long-enough day trips. But it made for a LOT of photos, which just took a long time to go through. I do have a day job, ya know!

It was another one of those weekends that make it to the “amazing visit” category. The horses were pretty calm for the most part. Traveler’s band was the most unsettled, with both Chrome and Aspen swirling around them. And no, Jif still has not foaled, which you saw in the previous post.

Kreacher’s band was out past the Spring Creek canyon area when I first drove into the basin.

Hollywood’s band was first up at a close distance. Poco and Roach are still with the band, and they seem to have a relationship that works for all involved.

Mama, Daddy, baby

Piedra, Hollywood and Sage.

Baylee and Hollywood

Oh, that Hollywood; such a lover. 🙂

Perfect scratching post

Sage was very solid while Mama satisfied an itch.

Like begets like

Couldn’t tell these two are related, eh …??

Sage

I dare you to look at this pic and not burst into a spontaneous chuckle! 🙂

Poco

Being the lieutenant has its perks. Poco has clearly been a visitor to the Wildcat Spring and Day Spa!

Roach

Isn’t he in great shape?

Hollywood

Thanks for a terrific visit, pal!

Steeldust’s band was lounging up the hill in the shade east of Wildcat. The usual cast of characters were in attendance, including these two misters:

Twister and Hook

I was glad to see these boys still together. I don’t know that you can say Hook is really taking care of 2-year-old Twister, but at least they’re staying together.

Mahogany and Sable

While I was watching Twister and Hook, who were on a hill across a little drainage from where Steeldust’s band was, Mahogany came walking behind me, followed by baby Sable and yearling Pinon … followed by Lt. Mouse. Hmm. What’s this? I wondered whether Mouse had sort of selected them out … but they went a little farther down the hill past me, then around some trees and back to the band. Like that’s what they had intended to do all along.

Mouse

Sable

A closer look at Mahogany’s little girl.

Alpha and Luna

The queens of Steeldust’s heart, err, band.

Shady boys

Storm and Steeldust and Alpha and others hanging out under the trees. It was warm – up to 92 degrees – but not unbearable.

Had just a short visit with them that time because I got a late start to the basin, and I hadn’t yet seen Grey/Traveler and his band, which meant I hadn’t seen Jif. I got a wonderful surprise when I got around to the formerly (!) dry pond right beside the road …

Water in a dry land

Yay! We’re unfortunately still waiting for just two of the five originally identified ponds to be dug out in the hopes that they will hold water when it rains enough. I’ll say here that my idea of quality and quantity of water don’t match the BLM’s idea for what the horses need, but I’ll also say that we’re working on that issue.

Next, I had the most amazing visit with Bounce’s band.

Gaia, Whisper and Alegre

Beautiful mama with her gorgeous babies. That little Whisper is so cute I can hardly stand it! And Gaia, who has been such a mama’s girl (and step-daddy’s, too), is finding her courage to indulge her curiosity.

Bounce and family

Alegre and Whisper

Whisper

Isn’t he just handsome? Clearly going grey.

Family backyard

Bounce

Coming to say hello.

It was an amazing visit I can’t do justice to with pictures.

Then Grey/Traveler’s band was back in the east pocket beyond the pond – Chrome and Aspen both with the band. And another great surprise! That pond was full, too! Among other things, this might tell you where the rain is falling in the basin.

Little Miss Friendly

I wonder whether Daddy knows his baby girl (Terra) is fraternizing with the enemy (Chrome).

Aspen in the lead

As you can see, Traveler had other concerns. That’s Jif behind him.

Speaking of Jif, let’s show off the belly again:

Jif

She’s in good condition.

Iya and Two Boots

So … Iya, front/left, is a yearling, and Two Boots (named with a nod to Pryor stallion Two Boots, by the way) is her 2-year-old “big” sister. They don’t look much alike, besides the size comparison, do they? But as far as I know (???), they have the same sire, a grey stallion I called Junior who was gathered and removed in 2007.

Cuatro

Little man following Mama. You can see his grey-ness, too.

Terra

Big, beautiful sister! No sign of a limp.

Grandma and grandbaby

Houdini and her baby Two Boots’ baby Cuatro!

Traveler

Chrome

He is persistent …

Git

Traveler going after Aspen.

Leaving it to the lieutenant

Here, he’s letting Chrome take care of Aspen …

Airs above ground

Quite a show, but they didn’t come to blows (sorry).

Traveler had to keep Chrome away, too, and at one point, they came around the band to where I was.

One grey

Chrome

Chrome was surprised enough to find himself close to me that he was distracted, and Traveler went confidently back to his band. Sorry, pal. 🙂

As if that wasn’t enough, Bounce came trotting over to get the low-down.

Wind in his mane

Defiant

Bounce and Aspen. My goodness, check out that kick!

Dominance

There was a great deal of sniffing and posturing, but in the end, neither Aspen nor Chrome really challenged elder Bounce.

Belly view

Another view of our girl.

Jif and Iya and band

The band was remarkably calm, given what was going on, but they didn’t stay in one place very long.

So I left them to their evening and decided to try to find Duke’s merry little band. They proved not very hard to find, right by the road near the northwestern entrance.

Duke

Maybe you know my penchant for dark bay horses, but don’t tell me he doesn’t just glow in that lovely light! The sun was very low, and the shadow from the hill on the boundary was creeping steadily toward the horses.

Corona and Raven

Love these lovely girls! Corona seems another “old-soul” girl, a lot like Ember. She doesn’t emote much, but she watches everything.

Overtaken by shade

Duke, Corona and Raven

To end the day, I headed back into the sunshine, looking for horses glowing in the light.

On the move

Alpha leads boys Storm, Butch and Sundance through a shallow little draw to a meadow right by the road back near Wildcat Spring.

Year mates

Yearlings Pinon and Ember, followed by 2-year-old Kestrel.

Comanche

Bringing up the rear.

Three girls

Ember, right, grazes with “aunt” Mahogany and Sable.

Satellites

First Sgt. Comanche, right/foreground, and Lt. Mouse grazing toward the band.

Last light

It was a simply gorgeous evening. That’s Comanche.

End o the day

At some point, you just have to put down the camera and enjoy the scenery … and the company.

A beautiful, beautiful, wonderful day.

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Categories : Alegre, Alpha, Aspen, Baylee, Bounce, Chrome, Comanche, Corona, Cuatro, Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners, Duke, Ember, Gaia, Grey, Hollywood, Hook, Houdini, Iya, Jif, Kestrel, Luna, Mahogany, Piedra, Pinon, Poco, PZP, Raven, Roach, Sable, Sage, Steeldust, Storm, Terra, Twister, Two Boots, Whisper

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

Checkup and another surprise

3 06 2009

Rain kept me from visiting the basin as much as usual the past couple of weeks, and life has kept me from posting recently.

I made a very quick, short trip to the basin last-last weekend – almost got stuck but didn’t (and no, those ruts by the V arroyo aren’t mine) – and took pix only of Roach, which probably sets some kind of record. My main objective was to check on Two Boots’ baby, but as it turned out, rained chased me away before I could find them. Did see Steeldust’s band with Mouse and Comanche, Aspen, Chrome and Hook nearby, Bounce’s band (only Whisper appeared to see me, but he didn’t give me away), Hollywood’s band – with Poco and Roach – and Kreacher and the girls.

Fast forward to this past weekend. Rain again so I waited then hiked. Far. Long. Sunshine appeared between waves of rain, then dark skies again. Saw Duke, Raven and Corona up in the north hills and Kreacher and the dunnies by the water catchment. All the other ponies were back in the east pocket … including the surprise.

Some pix in random order:

Three generations

Houdini and her baby and her OTHER baby and HER baby.

Two Boots and her colt

Just for fun …

Before names

I dug this photo out of my 2007 archives. That’s Houdini and Two Boots from April 22, 2007, when they were with Junior, before the roundup. Two Boots was just a day or two old there, I figured.

2Bs boy

Two weeks old.

Hello, silver

Jif, ever-expanding, was playing mountain goat up on the hill in front of Grey/Traveler. He came around the hill and looked up – before I knew she was there – and that’s how I knew she was there. She didn’t come down, though, so a little later, he went around the other side and up, and pretty soon, here she came, back down to the meadow with the others.

Piedra and Sage

Pretty girl and her little boy.

Gaia and Whisper

Pretty girl and her little brother.

When did my babies grow up into yearlings?! They all look so big … and more than one young lady was being investigated by the stallion of her band, who is NOT her daddy, biologically. How do they know?!

Did you notice the shift from sunshine to shade? Clouds moving in, thunder booming; time for the long walk back.

Another day, and I was back. Lotsa clouds early gave way – without raindrops – to lotsa blue sky over paradise. I didn’t find Grey/Traveler and his band, but the news was that Jif still hadn’t foaled. But it turned out to be better luck for getting pictures of our newest herd member.

Pied piper

Test your knowledge. The surprise is the wee-est in the middle.

Studly Seven

Have you made the ID now? Molly was VERY disinterested, but she finally stood for him.

Almost 2 months old now; what a handsome little bugger!

Baby makes nine

I was in stealth mode because this band is one of the most wary (and rightfully so). Based on my feeling that the baby – a filly – was about a week old and basically confirmed by Seven breeding Molly on her foaling heat, I’m giving the foal a Memorial Day (May 25) birthday (which also happens to be the birthday of one of my uncles!). So I asked my dad, a 20-year Army veteran, to name her. Welcome to the world, Liberty. 🙂 (Is that not perfect?? Thanks, Dad!)

Sky ranger

Seven could hear my camera shutter but wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from. Molly and Roja and the foals were down in a wide arroyo, browsing on greasewood.

By the way, Molly’s surprise comes from the fact that she got the PZP in 2007. Her foal Starla died in August 2008 (after the band was chased by that moron, but there’s no proof he had anything to do with it); she should not have had a foal this year. Ninety-percent effective, I believe?

Roach

Looking toward the band.

Poco

Round Top in the background.

Sage

He’s standing on the road; the Round Top intersection is to the left.

And that’s all I have for now. Haven’t had a close sighting of Duke, Raven and Corona for a while, so I’ll be looking for them. We’re down to just one pond holding water – east pocket. It’s very shallow, and it was clear Sunday, so the horses hadn’t been there recently.

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Categories : Gaia, Grey, Houdini, Piedra, Poco, PZP, Roach, Sage, Seven, Terra, Two Boots, Whisper, Ze

PZP partnership in the Carson National Forest (NM)

2 06 2009

http://www.skymountainwild.org/PZP.html

The above link is to information about PZP being used for wild horses in the Carson National Forest, our neighbors to the south. The below link is to an article linked at the bottom of the above Web page.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/carson-national-forest-Forest-first-to-use-contraceptive-on-wil

This is what it’s all about, from Sky Mountain Wild’s Web site: “The use of PZP represents a vast shift in the management of wild horses in New Mexico, as the previous method used to control population numbers has been the round-up and removal of wild horses from their territories.”

Note the photo by Claude Steelman, who was in Farmington to document the PZP administration.

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Categories : Advocacy, PZP, Wild horses in the news

Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

About PZP …

Gearing up for 2011

PZP practicum

Visiting dignitaries

Wild about mustangs

Long time no see

Checkup and another surprise

PZP partnership in the Carson National Forest (NM)

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