Roach | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Far afield

28 10 2008

Stop.

If you’re expecting news of the new girls, stop reading now. Though I searched high and low and found all the horses but Bounce’s band and Seven’s band – and, well, the girls – I didn’t find the girls. At all. Not hide nor hair. I’ll tell you who they’re for sure NOT with (as of Sunday): not Steeldust’s band, not Traveler’s band, not Cinch and Bruiser, not the pintos, not Poco, Bones and Roach, not David and Shadow.

Maybe they’re wandering far afield, testing their new boundaries, walking new paths, learning the landscape of their new home. Maybe they’re looking for something familiar – a hill, a smell, something that reminds them of home that used to be. Maybe they’ll stay together; maybe they’ll split up and go their separate ways. Maybe I’ll find them next weekend.

It was a gorgeous weekend, but it’s so, so dry. We need rain. The horses seem to be wandering quite a bit. My human eyes don’t see much vegetation that looks scrumptious, but the horses look pretty good – even fat in some cases.

First up Saturday was the big band: Steeldust and the Bachelor 7. Right around the corner: Cinch and Bruiser. Hollywood is still hoarding his small harem but basically part of the band.

Object of interest

She’s hard to see in this photo, but the doe the horses are looking at is maybe the first deer I’ve seen in the area since early spring. She caught the attention of all the horses, who stood looking … until Storm suddenly bolted down the hill, which sent all the horses galloping.

Gallop

They ran right down to the pond – the same one the new girls drank from Friday – drank, then wandered out into the open to the south and east.

Drink break

Cinch and Bruiser followed them to the pond and had a little chat with some of the Bachelor 7, not visible here.

I drove on into the basin and around the loop and up toward the north, and kept the binoculars practically glued to my eyeballs. From Round Top, I saw David and Shadow, who have been elusive lately. They were at a little puddle – the one Grey and the youngsters and Bruiser were playing in last Sunday, I think – but a little separate. David waited for Shadow, who had wandered east. His patience won; she finally wandered back at a mosey, maybe an amble, and followed him across the trail and down to the little “valley” below (westish of) Flat Top and Round Top and out of sight.

From a hill in the north, I could see that Grey/Traveler was up by the water catchment – along with Steeldust’s band. I didn’t see any other horses that day.

Grey and his band were up by Filly Peak in the shade by the time I drove around to see them. Steeldust and the big band were nearby but east of the road and still in the light. Hanging out close to the bachelors were the pinto boys.

Bruiser and Cinch

I took this picture of the boys from the Jeep. You can still see some mud on Bruiser, but he has shaken off most of what had him looking like a dark boy last weekend.

Family within the family

Hollywood with his girls, Baylee and Piedra, who was taking a cat nap in the late sunshine.

What about me?

Last fall, I don’t remember seeing any of the foals nursing this late, but this year’s babies are still nursing. Ember, nursing in the photo above, is the oldest of this year’s foals. Pinon is the curious youngster at left.

Seemed like a good idea

And there’s little Storm, youngest baby in the basin.

All the babies – and big babies, too! – are getting fuzzy. The days are practically perfect, but sunset comes early, sunrise comes late, and it gets chilly under that endless night sky over Spring Creek Basin.

Late sunrises are good for a non-early-riser like me. Sunday, Steeldust and his entourage were down in the broad “valley” east of the water catchment. They stayed out there – generally speaking – most of the day. I drove around the loop and spotted Bones’ white face from the roller-coaster ridge road. I hiked down to make sure they were all there.

Spring Creek

They were lounging by Spring Creek, which actually has flowing water! Not much, and shallow, but it has to be better than drinking from puddles.

On guard

These guys are pretty easy going, but I was lucky again to find them across an arroyo (Spring Creek).

Poco and Roach

It’s nice when they’re so worried they get a little shut-eye while I hang out with them. 😉

I headed on out, passing Steeldust again on my way, and drove down the county road to hike in and look for the pintos – and see if the new girls were with them. They weren’t, but the pintos, still with Copper and the boys, were back in the vicinity of their “favorite” hill. The weirdest thing was that they moved between my first sighting of them and when I actually found them, so it took a little looking. So close, so hard to find. Probably more to that than I even know.

When I did find them, they were on a hill across a gap from where I was. As careful as I am with all the horses, I’m especially careful with this group because Kiowa has been so protective of Spook, this year’s baby. I’ve been trying to get her to know I can share their environment without being a danger to them. The weirdest thing about this encounter with them was that I “snuck” up on them in the open. I stood on my hill, occasionally taking a step or two forward, waiting for one of the eight to notice me. I finally got to the edge of my hill where it started to slope down to the arroyo between “my” hill and “their” hill and sat down, and hung out, and enjoyed watching them graze across the hill.

The horses were pretty well spread out, and I tried to look at them with fresh eyes: If I didn’t know them, what would be my first impression of the eight horses on the far hill? On the left side of the hill: Mesa and Copper. To the right of them: Chipeta and Corazon. Sort of in the middle: sisters Reya and Spook. On the right side of the hill: Kiowa and Ty. Because of their size, yearling Reya and baby Spook would be easy to identify. At one point, Spook marched over to Kiowa and started nursing. Pretty obvious relationship there.

Two bay boys

Both the above are stallions; one I have identified as more in the band stallion position than any of the others. Which one do you think is most likely that stallion? The stallion on the left is bigger, his coat is sleek and shiny; he’s in good condition. The stallion on the left is smaller, he looks scrawnier; he may be a bit muddy, but he’s definitely scruffier. Fifty-fifty chance … guess? OK, it’s kind of a trick question. The stallion that looks like the king is at the bottom of the heap. What can I say? Mesa at left; Copper at right.

Corazon and Chipeta

Here’s Corazon, left, and Chipeta, not far up the hill from Mesa and Copper. Copper wasn’t worried.

Back to the what-if-I-didn’t-know-them question. My first thought probably wouldn’t be a mare and a foal and a yearling with a bunch of stallions – or even another mare. Maybe I’d think most of the others also were mares. But which one was the stallion?

Of all things, I think it was my camera shutter that gave me away, and it was Mesa’s little fox ears that heard it. He’s the one that finally saw me. That led to Copper, Corazon and Chipeta becoming aware of me. They started walking toward Kiowa and the others, and finally, a little “stallion” behavior:

Snaky

Once they were all together, they settled down again. At this point, neither Kiowa, Ty nor the babies had looked up or seemed to notice me.

On a mission

This pic of the sisters was taken before the above photo, and Spook walked right over to mama to nurse. She was so funny afterward – almost “drunk” on her mother’s milk, she immediately fell asleep on her feet!

I watched for a few minutes longer, then got up to leave.

Later, ponies!

And this is what I saw when I turned for a last look. Only Mesa is missing from this family portrait.

The glam big band was still out in the open when I returned to the main part of the basin for another trip around the loop. Guess who I found out for a Sunday drive? Photographer Claude Steelman, his wife, Katie, and friends Steve and Lisa Mackey. They were excited to see Steeldust and company, and they reported seeing “your boy” (Grey/Traveler), drinking at the pond below the roller-coaster ridge, and Poco, Bones and Roach! I was happy they saw all those ponies. But they hadn’t seen anybody else, either.

Traveler and the fam were napping between the pond and Round Top when I got around to that area. Northish from the twin ponds, I spotted Bones again, with Roach or Poco under a nearby tree. I looked especially hard back in the east pocket for Bounce and/or Seven, but those ponies had other ideas this weekend.

On the way out, Steeldust and groupies again.

Wild and beautiful

There’s my last glimpse of the wild beauties before I headed out of the basin around 5 p.m. To the far left, you can see Bruiser and Cinch.

Better luck next time! But how can you go wrong seeing so many horses? I did see Bounce, Alegre and Gaia last Sunday, but it’s been a few weeks now – since the tour – since I’ve seen Seven, Molly and Roja. I’d like to see Molly to check her condition.

If you didn’t stop reading, thank you on behalf of the horses. 🙂 I can’t even say I’m disappointed, not seeing the new girls – I had anything but a disappointing weekend! They are elusive, but maybe it makes finding them all the more wonderful … and full of wonder. And there’s always next weekend!

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Categories : Bones, Bruiser, Cinch, Corazon, Grey, Hollywood, Mesa, pintos, Poco, Roach, Steeldust, Storm

Guess who!

20 10 2008

Roach and Poco

Although I hadn’t seen this little band for several weeks, it was worth the wait. Poco, Bones and Roach all look great. After the past year of getting to know my ponies, I’m close to a guarantee: The harder I look for particular horses, the more likely it will be that when I find them they’ll be right out in the open.

Last weekend, I hiked to the top of Round Top – always enjoyable to get a unique, almost “from-the-air” perspective of the basin – and still didn’t spot Roach’s distinctive red coat (he’s one of only two sorrels in the basin). This weekend, I hiked out between Flat Top and Round Top (and saw horses, but you’ll have to read on to find out who) and down to the south side of Round Top. Then I hiked south from the “twin ponds” and walked a narrow spiny ridge. Nada. Then north of the ponds. Nichts. Fun hiking, but where on Earth were those crazy equines? (You know the saying “God only knows”? Every time I ask myself where the horses are, I remind myself that THEY know where they are!)

A little after those hikes, in the Jeep, on the road, sun inching closer to the horizon hills, badda-bing: Through the binoculars, I saw a dark spot that turned out to be Poco’s back. Very close: Bones. They were in that little valley between Knife Edge and Lizard Mesa. I drove on and scanned; drove on, stopped to scan … Hello! Steeldust’s band just a short distance off the road in a grove of pinons. I interrupted the hunt for Poco’s band to take some pix of Steeldust’s group.

But before I get to them, here are a couple more of the “found” girl and boys:

Rear view

Here’s a pic of Bones’ healed fractured pelvis that probably shows it better than any other pic I’ve taken. But don’t just look at that – look at her little belly! She’s not what I’d call a fat girl, but she looks WAY better than she did at this time last year, and I’m encouraged to see her going into this winter with some fat on her, err, bones.

Poco and Bones

Poco was all shy and spent most of his time napping at the far edge of the little “island” they were on. I shot from various points on the other side of the not-so-deep, fairly broad arroyo that curved around their little island/oxbow. Bones was closest to Roach when I approached, then she wandered over to Poco to feast on that greasewood bush.

Bye-bye

One last look from Bones before I left these wanderers to their grazing and naps.

So where was I? Before I get back to Steeldust’s band, let me go back to Round Top. It’s hunting season, of course, and it’s Colorado, and we have a high percentage of out-of-state plates in the areas with drivers and passengers sporting blaze orange. So far, like last year, I’ve seen plenty of traffic along the Dolores-Norwood Road and the Disappointment Road but not too much in the basin. Based on tire-track evidence, a few vehicles have been through since I was there last. I did pass a pickup Sunday with a man and woman, but I think they might have been looking for horses more than deer or elk.

I drove the loop counter-clockwise again, and from the road, I spotted a shiny spot and a horse shape that eventually moved right between Flat Top and Round Top. During the tour with Kathe and Bob a couple of weeks ago, we saw Seven’s band there. So I thought it might be him again, with Molly or Roja as the “horse shape,” and the other one in the trees. And another surprise: Cinch and Bruiser farther west.

I parked at Round Top’s base and took the trail around the west side. There were some faint signs of horse traffic and a few coyote prints – and one sadly deflated and worse-for-wear “Happy Birthday” balloon (which made its way into my ever-present trash bag back in the Jeep) – but it didn’t look like it has seen much use lately.

When I got farther around the hill on the trail, I could see that there were a couple of horses toward Flat Top, but they were blocked by trees and I couldn’t make an ID. Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear but Grey/Traveler! He was following Jif and the yearlings toward the horses in the trees. Whoa. So the tree horses were Houdini and Iya, but it was still a slight mystery why they were separated by such a distance … Until I saw through the binocs that Jif’s entire right side was dark glistening, and wait, had Grey suddenly gone pinto?? Now I know you moms out there are thinking it should have been mama Houdini taking advantage of the mud spa, but in this case, she was spending some alone time with baby Iya while Daddy took the youngsters to play in the, ahem, mud bath. 🙂

Iya and Houdini

Looks like Iya had done a little splashing in the mud. They were waiting for the other horses to reach them.

Daddy and the gang

Clearing the coast before returning to Mama. Disclaimer: Houdini is Two Boots’ and Iya’s dam, but Grey/Traveler is not the actual sire of any of these horses.

Once they reunited, they walked closer to Flat Top, where they drank from a pretty yucky, white-salty, muddy little puddle.

Have thirst, will drink

Grey got there first, and he left last. I guess the boy was thirsty. This pic doesn’t show them well, but notice the black splotch on his shoulder. He had another one on his chest.

Yucky!

Houdini shows what she thinks of the water puddle.

Somebody’s been playing with the finger (hoof?) paints! Notice the little streak on his face.

Tender touch

Iya and Houdini

The next time I saw the band, I was on the spiny ridge and the horses were on the road heading toward the water catchment for some rainwater-pure, fresh H2O.

Two other horses were beyond Traveler’s band, but from the distance and light glare, although one looked like pinto bachelor Cinch and the other one was very dark, and I wondered if Cinch had stolen yearling filly Shadow from David and ditched Bruiser for family life. It was a good lesson in what our BLM guy, Bob Ball, has to deal with in terms of identifying horses. The other horse was, in fact, Bruiser. See for yourself:

Bruiser and Cinch

Cinch is at right, and Bruiser is the dark mudball on the left, demonstrating the wild horse version of “look! what’s that over there?!” Too bad for the ponies, I have eyes only for them.

Compare that photo of Bruiser with this one (taken last fall) from the “Find a horse” page:

Bruiser

Yes! I promise that’s the same horse! Apparently he found the same tar-baby pit Grey/Traveler and the youngsters were playing in.

After the boys went back to grazing, I went around the south side of Round Top a short distance to check on the still-dry water hole. No more horses.

So now we’re back to the point where I “found” Steeldust’s band, “hiding” in the trees right by the road.

Peek-a-boo

This photo was taken right from the driver’s seat. Look at my long-legged little Storm-boy at right, with the light turning his spiky mane to gold. Can you believe he’s just a few days shy of three months in our Spring Creek Basin on this beautiful planet? And over on the left, his head just sticking out of the trees is Mouse, standing just in front of Hollywood’s girls, Piedra and Baylee. They and Hollywood seem to have reached a comfortable balance of friendship lately, and Holls doesn’t seem too worried about keeping them apart.

Bachelor boys

The wayward boys are all “home.” Duke, Hook, Kreacher and Chrome had split away from the band for a few weeks. Last weekend, Duke was back with the band, and now all the boys are back. From bottom to top: Duke, Kreacher, Chrome, Hook and Aspen. Am I alone in being glad that the boys are back? Ha! I spent all summer wondering when they were going to strike out on their own – again – and now I like seeing them with the family. A side note to this photo: The boys were working their way up to the band (I was out of the Jeep by this point), but curious Kreacher was either determined to get another last bite or was so focused on me that he didn’t notice when all the other boys disappeared over the top of the hill. He finally did when I walked back toward the Jeep, then trotted away after his pals. Wait for me!

I drove on a short way, through another arroyo, then got out again and walked out to Poco, Bones and Roach’s “island” and took pix of them. Boy was I glad to see them! Not worried about them, particularly, but I miss them when too many weeks go by without seeing any of the horses.

When I got back to the Jeep, I looked over toward the water hole that sits back to the east off the unmarked doubletrack, wondering if Bounce and his girls were still back in the east “pocket,” where they were last Sunday. When I was beside Lizard Mesa, I stopped and looked again – bingo! Bounce, Alegre and Gaia had just walked up on the edge of the pond! They started walking farther east on the doubletrack, so I sat in the Jeep and watched them through the binoculars. I hadn’t been close to them since the tour, but it was getting late, and I didn’t want to pursue them. But while I was watching them, guess who was walking out of the trees and making their way toward the water hole? While I was googling over Poco, Bones and Roach, Alpha marched her company around toward the pond. See the progression? Nap time, chow time, pub time! I have to say, the pond “pub” has a wonderful ambiance.

Steeldust’s band has become pretty used to me over the months, do I decided to park and walk down to the pond (which is in the wilderness study area, I think?) and wait for the horses to come drink. If the horses walking toward the water had been Bounce’s band, say, I might not have risked being at the water when they came to drink. Bounce is pretty tolerant, and young Alegre takes cues from him pretty well, but I wouldn’t want to risk them not drinking because I was there. Steeldust’s band, on the other hand, would drink even if I was there, I figured, and I was right.

Thirst abatement

I sat on the end of the pond opposite the way the horses approached and was glad the light was from behind me. I sat in full view, and they knew I was there. They waded right in, and drank and drank. I was glad of the opportunity to see them wade into the water because it gave me an idea how deep the pond is – almost up to their elbows! This pond dried up over the summer and refilled a couple of months ago after at least two intense cloudbursts in that eastern area. From left: Piedra, Baylee, Hollywood, Aspen and Chrome. Another couple of bachelors were to the right (including Duke), but the two young stallions, Luna, Alpha, Mahogany, Ember, Kestrel and Steeldust were around to the left and closer to me.

Wind drinker?

Steeldust drinking alone while his band spread along the banks of the pond to the right.

Play time

In the “progression” I wrote about earlier, I forgot one very important element: play time! Storm doesn’t seem to be drinking water much yet, but the older foals are drinking water as well as their mothers’ milk.

Three musketeers

Don’t these boys make ya smile? From left: Aspen, Mouse and Comanche.

By then it was about 6:15 p.m., and the sun was below the far-west ridge, a reminder of the quickly changing seasons. It was a gorgeous day – a light-jacket morning but a short-sleeve afternoon. Just after the sun had gilded the clouds in the western sky, I was driving past Filly Peak and Grey’s band. Most of the band was on the mesa side of the road, but Houdini was below the road, so I waited for her to cross the road – because Iya was there! – then headed out and home.

“If you’re lucky enough” to spend the day in Spring Creek Basin … you’re (I’m) lucky enough. Eh? For sure.

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Categories : Bones, Bounce, Bruiser, Cinch, Grey, Houdini, Roach, Steeldust

Glorious rain – Aug. 31, 2008

31 08 2008

Spring Creek running

We start this weekend’s story in the middle of the story. From the wilderness study area in the southern part of the herd area, I got chased out twice by monstrous black clouds and threatening thunder. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen clouds that downright ugly. Walking around with a personalized lightning-bolt-attractor in the form of a metal monopod … not the smartest thing I’ve been accused of. The storms dropped rain in a very localized area – they came in sort of stationary “waves” and never passed out of the very east “pocket” of the basin, right inside the boundary ridgeline.

Fast forward to my drive into the main part of the basin. So far so good – until I hit the Spring Creek crossing! OK, so it’s not exactly clear, but it has to be indicative of more and possibly better water upstream (the point of this is that I think Spring Creek originates in the east). Any water in the basin is a good thing. All that grass in the east is going to benefit from the rain, too, and that benefits the ponies! So I got out of the Jeep and did a happy dance before I took some pix for documentation purposes.

No cross here

This photo, like the one above, was taken from about the same spot – about mid-stream just downstream of the crossing. This one isn’t as dramatic as the first, but from the two pictures, you can tell that water is running in two “streams.” What you might not be able to tell is how gushy the mud gets when it becomes mud!

In the first photo, the darker soil right above the water is the high-water mark! It was about 2.5-3 feet above the arroyo. The water went about 8-10 feet away from the flat of the crossing, which is at the top of the photo. Before I went to the basin this weekend, I decided to take my mountain bike. I walked through the creek in my sandals, carrying my bike, and rode from there. Awesome!

But … I’m getting ahead of myself.

My weekend visit to the horses started at the county road across from the south meadow, where I spotted Cinch, then Bruiser. Hoping to find the others (band and bachelors) also in the meadow, I parked and hiked in. (A quick re-cap: David Glynn alerted me to the change in status of the pinto band and the “southside boys” bachelor band. I found them all last weekend, and Bruiser – band stallion – was definitely out, but it was hard to tell who had become king of the hill, err, band.) This Saturday, Cinch and Bruiser were on the south side of the arroyo that runs out to the road and just at the base of a little hill the horses pass to get into the meadow. So I hiked in on the north side of the arroyo, which provides more tree cover. My main goal was more observation of the new combined band, not photography, so I stayed out of their view until I reached the discreet little deer trail that leads up to the top of the hill north of the meadow. The rest of the horses were not in the meadow, so I went on up.

When I didn’t see the other horses from up top, I headed back down on one of at least two routes that takes the horses to the meadow – the “high” route that crosses the arroyo earlier (farther east) and skirts the hill on the south side of that arroyo. (Both trails take the horses to the better grazing on the south side of the arroyo.) The trail I took has a heights-defying spot that seems in imminent danger of eroding into oblivion. Any fall from there – maybe 15 feet? – would hurt horse or human.

At the edge of the trees above the meadow, I stopped to ready my camera in case the boys were still there. Ready to go and looked up to see two curious dark faces – Cinch and Bruiser. 🙂 Cinch pranced around a little, but Bruiser was so calm, Cinch calmed down as well, and they posed for some pretty pictures. I took pix as I walked around them, and the thunder chased me back to the road.

Sweet boys

It does help the more wary horses to have a calm compadre nearby. Bruiser walks OK, but I noted last weekend that he limps on his left front if he tries to trot. Cinch is sporting a “roached” look here. It’s longer and wispier than Roach’s was when his was roached, probably caused by his pals chewing on it.

My next likely area to search for horses is a big open area just south of the San Miguel/Dolores County line, also right off the county road. On first pass, I didn’t see any horses. But on the hillside just north of the big open: Seven’s band. They’ve done some traveling since the loss of the filly, from the east to the southwest part of the herd area.

Seven's band

Seven with Molly, center, and Roja. Old Molly is still a thin girl, but she’s sure to gain some weight without the filly nursing.

From where I stopped to see them, I spotted Corazon back in the big open (which does have hills and trees and arroyos). Perfect. Another big cloud was brewing in the east, but I was covered in sunshine, and the rain from the previous cloud hadn’t made it to my part of the herd area. So in I walked.

David and Shadow

Hello! It’s always nice when the ponies find you! I was glad to see that once-bachelor David has been able to hold on to yearling filly Shadow, but I was a little worried about them being so close to the other band. And I worried that he’d tip my presence to the band. Not to fear on either account. They must have skirted past the band because I later saw them farther east, and the “new band” was still where I had originally spotted them.

All in the family

Left to right noses at top: Spook, Kiowa, Reya, Chipeta and … drum roll, please … Copper, the mud-encrusted new king. Then Corazon (pinto), Mesa (bay) and Ty.

New family

With top-of-the-heap status comes great responsibility. Copper’s guarding his new family from the bachelors, out of frame to the left.

Pinto girls

Girls with spots. From left, mama Kiowa, her 2008 filly, Spook, 3-year-old Chipeta and Kiowa’s yearling filly, Reya. Very calm; very cool. And it was time to beat the thunder, so I walked away, leaving them very calm and very cool.

And that brings us back to raging Spring Creek.

I had spotted Steeldust’s band and the Bachelor 7 way around in the east at about the curve where the road heads south, so I headed that way by bike. It was way cool to get out of the Jeep and on the bike in the basin. I got off the bike at the washout. You could definitely see by the soil that it had rained hard back there. The horses didn’t seem to see me ride up, so I stood on the road on the other side of the washout until the bachelors saw me and alerted the band, then walked on down the road. They were up the hill away from the road … checked me out, then went back to grazing. A good problem to have, I guess!

Baby Storm was hammin’ it up, though, so I got some good pictures of the little boy.

Pinon nursing

Storm nursing

By the time I got out to them, it was around 7ish – dinner time!

Baby boys

Pinon, left, is about 3 and a half months old, and Storm is about a month and a week old. Pinon has gotten a lot darker in the past few weeks.

Posin'

No words necessary. 🙂

What kind of flowers?

I thought I figured out what kind of flowers these are when they were blooming earlier this summer, but now I can’t remember and can’t find them in my wildflower book(s). They’re blooming – again – all over. (Notice the flowers in the previous pic with Storm. The flowers in this pic were at the edge of the little wash that leads out to the road washout. My bike was just on the other side of them.)

While I was watching Steeldust’s band grazing on the hillside, I spotted Bones, Poco and Bounce farther to the south. And that was Saturday. Really a fabulous day. The loss of the filly still bothers me, but humans who watch wild horses must adapt as they do. Always more to learn.

Sunday’s story is all about rain! I slept in the Jeep right inside the herd area boundary. Woke up around 1 a.m. after a dream that I woke up in the Jeep the next morning and it had snowed and a guy was skiing up the road into the basin! Reality: At 1 a.m., lightning was flashing sporadically to the west, but the sky was filled with stars (you really haven’t lived till you’ve seen that night sky – phenomenal), so I went back to sleep.

Woke up at 3:15 to rain tapping on the Jeep’s roof. I don’t recommend this, but I spent the rest of the night at the intersection at the county road … and woke up just before daylight to steady rain. If I hadn’t wanted to see my Grey-boy so badly, I’d have called it a day at 7 a.m. and headed for home. Yeah …

Long story short, I inched my way back into the basin but got stopped before the first “V” arroyo. The road was good till that point, but it took me awhile because I kept stopping to scan for horses. I stopped for good above that arroyo. By then, I had already spotted Steeldust’s band and the B7, and I had found Bounce, Alegre and Gaia way back in east park. So I had seen all but the one horse (and band) I wanted to see. It had stopped raining, and the sun had peeked through the clouds a couple of times, but huge dark clouds still loomed over the east ridge of the basin and back to the west. The length of looming almost had me convinced I could bike from there to see if I could find Grey/Traveler’s band around the far side of Lizard Mesa (east of Knife Ridge). Then I happened to spot something white far to the north.

Nine times out of 10, a white spot is a rock. The 10th time, you get lucky, and it’s Alpha, Houdini or Traveler. I grabbed the binoculars, and bingo, baby; there was my boy … and Houdini and Jif and Twister, and Two Boots and Iya, standing together under a tree. Did I say far to the north? I mean WAY far to the north. I mean way far northeastish of last August’s trap site. I mean so way far away I couldn’t see a way to get to them without a (really) long (long) hike.

About three minutes after I took some reference pictures, I checked the west clouds – uh oh. Big black cloud had become a grey sheet of rain. I really can’t stress enough to visitors that if it rains, you do NOT want to be in the basin OR on the road across private land that leads to the basin. You want to be on the good county road. I wouldn’t have so totally ignored my own advice – and believe me that it made me really nervous to be in the basin. But today is my birthday, and my birthday wish was to see my favorite boy. Wish granted. 🙂

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Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Houdini, Molly, Pinon, Poco, Roach, Roja, Seven, Steeldust, Storm, Ty

Up, ponies

19 08 2008

I attended the big Pony Up extravaganza tonight at the Durango Arts Center where folks learned about our Spring Creek Basin horses and bid on cool art items like a Claude Steelman print, bronzes by Veryl Goodnight, jewelry by Rachelle Davis, a headstall, pairs of spurs and other things with proceeds going to benefit various projects in the herd area.

Claude also entertained a packed house with his slideshow, an illustrated life journey from young buckaroo to dogsledder to mountain man to wildlife and nature photographer and back full circle to horses: He uses his images to increase awareness and educate people about wild horses. Images he has taken in all four of Colorado’s herd areas grace his newest book, Colorado’s Wild Horses, which you can find at most local bookstores or order from his Web site, www.wildshots.com.

The event was organized by the San Juan Mountains Association’s Kathe Hayes, who organizes volunteer efforts in partnership with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management on San Juan Public Lands – of which Spring Creek Basin is a part.

It was awesome to see so many people there, and I hope they raised a lot of money for the horses! That money will go to various projects in the basin, including but not limited to fence maintenance and repair and tamarisk removal. Kathe organizes the “alternative spring break” program every year, which in our case brings some enthusiastic University of Missouri students to the great wild West, where mustangs still roam free, to work on projects in the basin and elsewhere in the Dolores District of San Juan Public Lands.

In addition to the money raised tonight, local pub Steamworks Brewing Co. has pledged a percentage of its proceeds raised from beer-at-the-bar sales for the whole month of August! I’m not a beer drinker, but I have to think that would amount to some serious cabbage, as a friend and former co-worker would say.

So kudos to Kathe and Claude and everyone involved in this effort to get the word out about our ponies!

This post also marks my return to Colorado from vacation with my family in Texas. I had a super-wonderful-fabulous time helping my dad celebrate his 60th birthday and my folks celebrate their 39th anniversary just six days later! All our ponies at home are doing well, and it was great to smell, touch and ride my big grey mare and a couple of others and do some groundwork with the youngsters. I may not like crowds of people, but I’m nowhere more comfortable or happy than surrounded by horses.

I got in at 1:30 a.m. (after a 15-hour drive), and by 9 a.m. was on the road to the basin. Can’t keep a woman away from her horses?!

Karen Keene Day is an artist who spends summers in Ouray and the rest of the year in South Carolina. She has an excellent, bold, beautiful, bright, full-of-life style, and wild horses are the subject of her heart and her paintbrush. She has been to Spring Creek Basin several times and was present at the roundup last August. I met up with her and we drove around the loop looking for horses. The weather cooperated beautifully, but the evidence of past rain is obvious in the deeper ruts and washes across the road. Some of those little washes on the east side of the loop road are creeping in toward where the Jeep’s tires really need to go. Time to start carrying the shovel along. Be careful, and especially watch that washout a little past the road to Klondike Basin; it has come in at least a foot since I was there last.

The horses still showed signs of being chased (two weeks ago!), unfortunately. We saw Steeldust’s band and the Bachelor 7 over by the northwest end of Knife Ridge. Everybody was there, and I saw little Storm through the binoculars. Straight east of them, around the loop and on the other side of Knife Ridge and Lizard Mesa were Poco (we saw him first), Bones and Roach. Closer to the road just around a curve were Bounce, Gaia and Alegre. While we were focused on beautiful Gaia, Poco, Bones and Roach silently disappeared into the trees and over the saddle – there’s a trail right there that leads down into that little valley between the ridges. It made me so sad to see them disappear like that because they’re usually the most relaxed around visitors, and we were pretty far from them in the first place. They were chased off by the guy back in early August, but they weren’t part of the groups he chased with his truck. In contrast, Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were pretty relaxed. Bounce watched us while Alegre grazed calmly behind him! She is such a good new mother, but she has gotten to where, with just a little patience, she’ll stand in the presence of vehicles and not immediately run away. I don’t think the guy saw or bothered them that day.

Ham

🙂 Too cute for words! She stood like that for several seconds while Karen and I took pictures of her from inside the Jeep.

Guardian

Bounce, looking very relaxed and calm while Alegre grazed just behind him.

Gaia and Alegre

Notice that Alegre, grazing, is paying full attention to us. And look how big is baby Gaia! She’s such a big, stocky girl and full of life. They finally moved off, following Poco’s band, and we sat in the parked Jeep until they disappeared over the saddle so they wouldn’t feel at all like we were coming after them. They paused on the far side of the arroyo at the base of Lizard Mesa, and Gaia reared up and danced on her hind legs in front of Alegre, clearly asking Mama to play. Didn’t get any pictures of that, but it was awesome to see!

On around the road, the landscape opens up to the north with a good view of that area between the northeast hills and the east-west hill, so I stopped and scanned with the binoculars. Finally caught a swish of tail up in the trees – grey horse, but she was tail-to-us, so I couldn’t tell at that point if it was Houdini or Grey/Traveler. They were up on the hillside in the trees just slightly south of the area where Poco, Bones and Roach and Seven’s band were on Aug. 2 before the guy chased them off.

There’s grass in them thar’ hills! And that little water hole right by the road is still full of water, so it’s a great place for the ponies to be. Karen and I checked the water hole off the doubletrack at “east park,” but it’s still dry and cracked. There’s still water in the pond below the roller-coaster ridge road, and because of Traveler’s location, I’m guessing there’s still water in Wildcat Spring. There are short little ribbons of water and pockets and seeps in places in the arroyos, but it looks pretty dry out there. Karen said she thinks it looks a lot more dry this August than last. What I know is that the horses look fabulous; they were pretty lean last August, all competing for forage before the roundup. I love to see Alegre (all the mares) looking in such good condition – feeding her baby very well and still finding enough to eat to look so good. Excellent!

While I watched through the binocs, another grey head popped up – Grey! But that was a signal to Houdini, and she started trotting downhill, out of the trees, leading Iya, Jif, Two Boots and Twister behind her. Oh, that really unnerved me. We were parked on the road, a LONG way away from them. It is EXTREMELY uncharacteristic for them to run at the sight of a (my?) vehicle, but they were traveling toward us when that guy drove on down the road, stopped their direction of travel, turned them around and chased them back the way they had come. STILL afraid of vehicles?! 😦 Not happy.

So we waited and watched while Houdini led them into the open toward the road. I wish I was good with distances, but I’m not. They were a long way away; hard to see except through the binoculars. They eventually got strung out: Houdini was making a beeline toward the open, across the road and down toward the east-west hill, but Grey/Traveler, Jif, Twister and Two Boots were lagging behind. Iya caught up to her mother, but then she stopped (on or near the road, it looked like) and stood facing Daddy Grey, Big Sis Two Boots, Big Bro Twister and Auntie Jif (she’s really related only to 2B) with Mama behind her. I was worried about them being so strung out like that. Grey/Traveler had started grazing, and Jif and the yearlings did the same – above the road. Grey finally marched out to have a chat with Houdini, and the others finally followed him down so they were all together. Then it was nap time. I inched the Jeep around the road to where they were, but out in the open, with a clear view of anything coming, Houdini was finally pretty calm.

Catching some zzzz's

Left to right: Jif, Grey/Traveler and Two Boots.

Meanwhile, a little to the right …

Baby love

… Iya appeared to watch over Twister while he napped lying down. (I just happened to catch her as she nipped a fly or buggy bug away from her chest.) Houdini was just a little farther to the right from them, grazing.

These two photos were taken from the Jeep, from the road, straight up from them. I was so relieved that not only did they relax enough to stop moving away but actually eventually turned their hindquarters to us as they napped – a sign they were comfortable where they were and with where we were. A good time to leave them be.

We drove on, and I showed Karen the little entrance to Wildcat Spring. We turned around there and slipped back past Grey’s band to go back clockwise around the loop road. They never moved. Happiness. 🙂

Steeldust’s band had come over the hill south of there but still quite a distance away, so we got to see them again but not Poco’s or Bounce’s bands. And we never saw Seven’s band. We didn’t go into the south, so we never saw the pintos, but an email from David Glynn of Ophir said he found some of the southside boys with Bruiser’s band Sunday. I’ve been wondering if the Bachelor 7 will ever leave Steeldust alone, and now some of the other little boys are trying to hook up with the pintos! Ha! I haven’t seen those guys for a while, so one of my missions this coming weekend will be to hike in and get the low-down on their situation. David said Spook looks great.

To end a rather long post, I want to recount something else David said in his email. He got to the basin late Saturday and rode out but didn’t see any horses. He called it “spooky” and said, “Made me understand how terrible it would be if we ever lost this herd.”

True. But they’re there, and they’re well and healthy and mysterious and magical – and free.

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Categories : Bachelor 7, Bounce, Grey, Houdini, Jif, Roach, Steeldust

Before and after

3 08 2008

Friday was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in the basin – up there with not finding Slate after the winter, worrying about Duke when he was lame and I couldn’t find him and wondering about Jif when she went missing. Read the next post for more information, but suffice to say I had the misfortune to come across a guy so clueless about wild horses he not only chased away the two bands (Poco’s and Seven’s) I was photographing by approaching them too close on foot with a short lens and a cell phone (a cell phone!!), but later I watched through binoculars as he chased Seven’s band, Grey/Traveler’s band, Steeldust’s band AND the Bachelor 7 down the road ahead of his pickup.

Before he chased them away, I did get some nice pictures of Seven’s band, and particularly Molly’s filly. Although I waited almost an hour before I drove on after the guy left, I saw only Steeldust’s band and the B7 from a distance – and they ran as soon as I stopped to look at them with the binoculars – and Seven’s hiding under some trees way back past the dry water hole east of “east park.”

Roach, Poco and Bones

Roach, Poco and Bones watching the guy approach them. At this point, he hadn’t gone back yet for his cell phone. I thought about including pictures of him but decided not to. I did send photos to the BLM herd area manager.

Seven's band

Seven, the filly, Molly and Roja, who apparently has been to the Wildcat Springs Spa for her mud bath! The filly doesn’t have a name yet; I’m waiting to see if David Glynn, who saw her first, wants to name her. Isn’t she a cutie? They all are, I know. 🙂

Until the guy showed up, I was counting my blessings to see Seven’s band like this. Molly, bless her old heart, is a very protective mama, and I haven’t had very many chances to take some good identification photos of her baby. This day, they were very calm, and I stayed a good distance away from them across the road and an arroyo – I’ve learned that in a lot of cases, the horses seem to regard arroyos as protective barriers. You can see Molly’s very prominent withers in the picture, but I think a lot of that is her basic conformation. She does seem to have gained a little weight, and she’s obviously feeding her filly well.

Running

Poco, Roach and Bones after they ran past me and on south (behind me as I had been taking pictures). They paused momentarily, and I told Roach how sorry I was, then they galloped on down to the arroyo that runs along the base of that long hill. I never saw them again Friday or Saturday; at least they didn’t end up on the road with Seven’s and the others.

Chased away

This is Seven’s band a few minutes later. After the guy chased Roach and Co. away, he turned his attention on Seven’s band, but those horses are not NEARLY as accommodating as Roach, and they immediately ran away. Unfortunately, they ran down farther to the road, and the guy ended up chasing them with his truck.

I didn’t see Bounce, Alegre or Gaia that day, so I hope they escaped. It has taken a long time to gain Alegre’s trust that I can drive by her without making her run. I did see them Saturday, up in the low hills a little farther south from where I photographed Seven’s and Poco’s on Friday.

Threatening skies and rumbles chased me back around and out of the basin, and as I was leaving, I saw a single column of dark smoke away to the west outside the herd area. By the time I got to the county road, it was raining nicely, and I had a cell signal, so I called the public lands office. How cool are those guys?! The woman I talked to was pretty sure they (Forest Service, BLM, etc.(?)) were already on it.

Based on the tracks I saw leaving, I’m pretty sure he went out ahead of me (his tracks in, my tracks in; a third set as I was leaving).

One of my biggest disappointments – aside from the obvious – was that I still didn’t see Grey except from a very far distance. That’s two weeks I’ve gone without seeing him close enough to check his condition and that of his mares, the yearlings and Iya. I’m leaving the end of the week for vacation, so it will be a month of weekends before I see him again, and that’s hoping I see him when I go back out after I get back! I don’t worry too much when I don’t see the pintos or the southside boys, but it surely helps my soul to see my favorite boy regularly and know he’s OK.

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Categories : Bones, Molly, Poco, Roach, Roja, Seven

Well …

20 07 2008

Somebody's pregnant ...

… I think? Our girl’s still holding on. Here’s something weird for ya: Today is 11 months to the day from the first day of the roundup last year. Alpha was gathered Aug. 21. Even if she’s not pregnant, the basin is never a bad place to spend the weekend (unless it rains and the road turns to slime).

Luna, the buckskin butterball in the photo above, has a filly that’s 3 months old now. She should be pregnant for next year.

Most of the ponies look really good. Jif still seems thin; I wouldn’t say she’s 100 percent sound. Molly’s also thin as an older mama nursing a baby, but she’s doing OK. I didn’t see Seven and the girls this weekend except from a distance. I had the good fortune to come across Poco, Bones and Roach both days, and despite her weird hip, she has filled out and looks pretty good.

Bones

She’s really a cutie, but it’s hard to get a flattering photo of her.

Poco and Bones

Here she’s looking better. Both times I saw the band, Bones was closer to Roach than to Poco, but Poco is definitely the leader of the pack.

Poco

That prominent outcropping in the background can be seen from almost everywhere in the basin. I’ve never been sure if that’s McKenna Peak or if another, sort of flat-topped “peak” nearby is McKenna. I probably ought to look at a map sometime – who needs a map when you know where you’re going or how to get where you want to go on the wild pony super-highways? McKenna Peak also lends its name to the wilderness study area that fills the southernmost end of the herd area. Poco got rid of most of his spines, it looks like – most importantly, the one right below his eye.

Roach

I love this guy. He just never gets ruffled. I’m always happy to spot his copper coat against the sage green of some distant hill.

Sundance

Mr. Sundance, just off the road between the two intersections. The ponies were easier to find this weekend and were in the same general area both days. Sundance and Butch look very similar with just subtle differences. The dapples are a dead give-away that identify this rose-grey boy as Sundance.

Steeldust and Ember

Daddy’s little girl – Steeldust and Ember. Steeldust is a pretty good band sire. Even though he’s had to be constantly vigilant since April or so, when the bachelors started hanging around, he seems to take it all in stride. He doesn’t hound his mares, but he’s quick to discourage a bachelor that may get too close to his girls.

Peek-a-boo

Pinon, down for a nap, seen through Mouse’s legs. Mouse was waiting his turn at a water seep (being hogged by Butch, Sundance and Luna), and I sneaked this photo from just off the road.

Say cheese!

Family is the most important thing to wild horses. Sure, they have their disagreements – when Luna thought Butch and Sundance had had enough from the seep, she pawed at them to move them along – but what I love the most is that the youngsters – yearlings Baylee and Kestrel and babies Ember and Pinon – are as comfortable with any horse in the band as with their own mothers.

Grey/Traveler and his band are roaming around his old home territory, and they seem to keep the water catchment at the center of their wanderings. Bounce and Alegre were elusive Saturday, but they were out in the open today back in the east. The pintos were down in the meadow by the county road near dark, and at least a couple of the bachelors – Ty and Mesa? – were nearby.

No rain yesterday, but it was crazy-windy last night. Lightning flashed sporadically to the west and south, but nary a drop of rain did we receive in the basin. Today, I stood in the sunshine while random drops of rain fell from a huge dark cloud directly above us! By around 2, the clouds were building, and I judged it might be time to head out. I was going to go the back way – to the Dolores-Norwood Road to Dolores – but it looked pretty wicked that way, so I went the highway instead. I mention this because as I was driving up the switchbacks from Slickrock and the Dolores River canyon, I looked back toward the basin. In the middle of a vast purple curtain of rain, a giant spotlight beamed through the clouds – right onto my beloved Spring Creek Basin. God must love the wild ones as much as I do. As if I needed such a blatant sign.

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Categories : Alpha, Bones, Grey, Poco, Roach, Seven, Steeldust

The wait goes on – Sunday, July 6, 2008

6 07 2008

Any month now …

Alpha with Steeldust, Luna, Butch and Ember

Hey, check it out – automatic captions now below the pix. Cool.

So there’s the big girl, looking like she could hold out until August (hopefully not!).

As the Fourth of July approached, I was hoping, hoping, hoping Alpha would do us all the honor of foaling on or near Independence Day. I’ve already – just recently – named her foal … though if it turns out she’s really just monstrously fat, the joke will be on me. I’m going to keep you waiting on that name.

When I first got out to the band Saturday, three things hit me in quick succession, in the space of about three seconds: Where are the bachelors? Where’s Sundance? Where’s Hollywood?

But before I could panic unnecessarily, Hollywood strolled up out of a nearby draw, which contained, you guessed it, Sundance hanging out with the bachelors – minus Mouse, who followed hot on Hollywood’s heels, and minus Chrome and Hook, who were still hanging out close to Wildcat Spring, off to the east. I wondered if Sundance had been kicked out of the band or if he had wandered over to the boy band of his own accord … but there will be plenty of time to speculate about the young man because when I saw the band later – after I had gone partially around the loop, he was back and secure with the family band.

Let me go off on a partially related tangent: Butch was hanging out close to Luna, but he and Sundance hang out – at various times – close to all the other horses. I’ve tried to pay attention and see if I noticed them hanging out more with Luna or Mahogany, but they’re family. Even Pinon and Ember don’t stick right to their mothers’ sides anymore. In the past, I’ve wondered if Luna and Mahogany were the mothers of Butch and/or Sundance. It seemed weird that two mares would produce such twin-type colts in one year. But how about this for a new working theory: What if Sundance is 3, Butch is 2 (they’re almost identical in size), Kestrel is 1 (she really is), and Ember, of course, is the baby. What if both Sundance and Butch are Luna’s? Maybe they were born sorrel – like Ember.

It was partly sunny – mostly sunny – when I got out to them, around noon, which becomes important to the story later.

$Steeldust\'s band in big country$

Steeldust

Home sweet home on the range. The above photo was taken from the road just up from the dugout intersection, looking eastish.

$Grey/Traveler\'s band$

Grey/Traveler

Jif is still with Traveler’s band … I suppose I’ll keep looking for her for a while, given her recent disappearance. She walked slowly, but she didn’t seem to be limping.

Alegre and Gaia

Gaia stamped a foot just as I took this photo. The gnats are still buzzing, but they seem to be *less.* I stamped and swatted and fidgeted, too, but I was never driven so insane that I had to go for the head net.

Bounce

Bounce, trotting after Alegre and Gaia. When I first saw them as I was driving, Alegre and Gaia trotted away, so I stopped, turned off the Jeep and made some notes about Steeldust’s and Grey’s bands and Chrome and Hook. Then I drove on, where, just around the next curve, there they were. She must like me; she used to go a lot farther than that! 🙂 I snapped the above pic of her and Gaia and drove on to the split where the doubletrack goes back to the water hole. I checked it – totally dry – then drove on south. But when I looked back, I saw Bounce leading Alegre and Gaia toward the water hole. Didn’t he know it was dry? The horses – all the northern bands – had been in the area, but they had seemed to move on in the past couple of weeks as the pond became a stinky puddle. As I watched, Bounce led the little procession, then stopped, dropped and rolled on his right side, got up, dropped and rolled on his left side, then got up and TROTTED to the dry pond! Oh, mister. He obviously didn’t know it was dry and was anticipating a drink. If there’s so much as a puddle of water in any of the arroyos that cut through there just south of that pond, I certainly don’t know about them. I wondered if he (or Alegre) knows about Wildcat Spring … I’ve never seen him up in that area, but Steeldust’s, Grey’s, Seven’s and the bachelors know it’s there because they’ve been frequenting that area recently. When I went back past that area later, they were gone. I hope they found water. The pond below the roller-coaster ridge road is the only *pond* now with water.

Not too far away, guess who found me? My boy Roach and company. I was happy to see them because I hadn’t for a few visits. But my happiness at seeing them turned into concern. Poco managed to find himself a prickly pear patch, and I guess they had a close encounter. I’m sure the cactus got the better end of that deal – it left at least three spines in Poco’s face (including one directly below his right eye) and a small cluster under his right jaw. ARGH. Didn’t his mama teach him about cacti!?

Poco and Bones

This photo may be too small to pick out the spine under his eye. Of all the pricklers he’s stuck with, that one’s the longest – naturally. When he’d shake his head to ward off the gnats, he’d do so gently, so I know it was bothering him. I haven’t seen them for a while, so I have no idea how long he’s been stuck. And I have no idea how he’s going to rid himself of the spines. Too bad I can’t just walk right up and help him out!

Dear, sweet boy Roach snuck up on me behind a tree (in front of me) while I was photographing Poco’s spines, then casually came out from behind it, just grazing. He never seemed surprised, and even though I was stamping and swatting, he never spooked. He went around the tree, and I thought he was heading back to Poco and Bones, who had gone back to grazing, but then he turned around broadside and decided to take a nap under the tree. Guess he’s not too worried … or he figured now that he’d successfully snuck up on me, he was in perfect position to keep a close eye on me. He’s one of my favorites; personality plus.

Thunder was rumbling, and I was about as far away from the basin entrance as possible at that point, so I bid farewell to the boys and girl – I hope Poco sheds those spines soon?! – and headed back around. This is a good time to note that the basin has been getting rain, somewhere between enough to dampen the dust and enough to change a bit of geography in the first major arroyo crossing (Spring Creek) before the first intersection. If it rained, I didn’t want to be on the interior side of that arroyo. (And here’s an interesting side-note to this note: The horses don’t seem to be down in that area at all for water – it’s there, however thin a trickle.)

Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were gone from the dry pond when I passed … Grey was still hanging out near the road with his family. Twister must have rolled in the spring just before I saw them the first time because he was as dark as Two Boots, but when I came back around, he had dried into his (muddy) rosy grey color again. Chrome and Hook were still guarding the trail to the spring.

When I got back around to where Steeldust’s band and the other bachelors had been, they weren’t anywhere to be found. I walked off the road in both directions in case they were just below the drops – nope. I had been gone for about three hours, so I figured they might have gone to water … but where? The spring or the arroyo?

The sky didn’t look terribly threatening (but it was completely cloudy by then), and I hadn’t been on the middle part of the loop road in a while since the horses had been back in the east, so I decided to go that way and see what I could see.

Note to self: Voice of intuition not always right. As I drove, I kept thinking, they’re not down here; no way they’re down here. Damned if they didn’t show up on top of the finger hills almost directly across from me! They grazed their way up from an unseen-to-me draw in the hilltop and into the open, then gradually made their way to the top and over. The skies didn’t look threatening, remember, so I wasn’t too worried. Besides, I was still pretty close to the intersection. I hung out there for a while, actually enjoying the wind that kept the gnats away, then went back to the intersection and north. The horses were at the base of the northeast side of the hill and not very visible. I decided it might be OK to call it a day and head back across Spring Creek for the evening.

It started sprinkling. Nothing to worry about.

The sprinkling got steady. I crossed the arroyo and headed – slowly – toward the entrance, trying to decide whether to just stop somewhere and wait it out or call it a day.

Another note to self: Voice of intuition not always loud but sometimes right on the money. I kept going, and about halfway out on the road through private land, my tires started kicking up mud. Uh oh. By the time I got to the curve by the dilapidated cattle corral, I could barely steer, and braking wasn’t much better. I made it around that curve and put it in four-wheel-low. The Jeep doesn’t like it when I don’t come to a complete stop before putting it in low, but I didn’t dare stop. My heart has pounded that hard during mountain bike races but never while sitting still.

Note to readers: If it starts to sprinkle in the basin, get out. Now.

I’ve never been so happy to make it to the county road – an all-weather, graveled road. I came home via the highway, and when I got to the highway, the rain had stopped there, but behind me, the basin was a single curtain of grey shroud. I couldn’t see so much as a single landform.

Gotta be happy about that – for the ponies’ sake!

(Other horses: I also saw three of the “southside boys”: David, Cinch and Mesa. They were just inside the herd area from the county road. And a couple of days ago, I saw Seven’s band by the spring.)

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Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Grey, Hollywood, Poco, Roach, Steeldust

Back in the basin

18 06 2008

Yep.

Nope.

And no sign of Duke.

Ms. Molly had her foal between June 3 and June 7. David Glynn, who visits the herd area frequently, provided news about the new foal while I was on vacation. He also emailed that he saw Duke this past weekend, not limping, and that he was interacting with some of the bands. Good news.

Molly is thinner than the other mares, but given her estimated age (older than 20!), that’s to be expected. This might be her last foal; she was gathered and released, and she got the immunocontraceptive. In her case, I think it might be beneficial for her overall health. I didn’t get very close to her, but her foal is a sorrel with the “muley” coloring around its muzzle. No telling yet if it’s a colt or a filly.

Alpha might be going for a world record gestation … or I have another theory. Last April, she was with Grey/Traveler, but she was gathered with a stallion I called Junior. She has always been one of the last to foal, and although I didn’t follow her (or the other horses) as closely in the past as I do now, I didn’t think it was quite this late when she foaled previously. So, what if, between Grey and Junior, she missed her heat and was bred a month “late”? She looks like she’s bagging up, so I hope she’s close.

The “other” bachelor group was down in the southwestern part of the herd area when I saw them, right from the county road. This photo shows all the boys but Ty, who was a short distance to the left. Here, from left: Cinch, Corazon, David, Copper and Mesa. I stopped and took pictures from over the roof of the Jeep until they “hid” behind some juniper trees. I moved down the fence until they moved into the open. They ran back and forth some as their wariness vied with their natural curiosity.

David (bay with the blaze), Mesa (solid bay) and Cinch.

Copper, Corazon and Mesa. Copper is a slight muley bay with left front and hind pasterns; his mane falls mostly on the right side of his neck. Mesa is solid bay; his mane falls on the left side of his neck.

Copper and Ty (black). Such sweet boys.

With such a fortunate encounter for my first sighting of the horses since my return from vacation, I knew it was going to be a great day. I used four memory cards (of various storage) and *saved* almost 800 photos (I probably culled at least that many). I don’t know why I took so many pictures this particular day, but a friend suggested that maybe it was because I really missed the horses. 🙂 She might be right.

The northern bands were all up in the northeastern part of the basin again … which is really, truly the eastern part. I tend to think of it as northeastern because it’s “in the back” as far as the loop road goes, and tucked under the natural boundary hills. But I looked at a map recently (who needs a map when you know where you’re going?), and realized it’s pretty well centrally east. In this photo, Alegre and Gaia are in the foreground, and Molly, her foal, Roja and Seven are in the background. You can see the road in the foreground.

Sweet baby Ember and mama Luna.

$Grey\'s band, minus Jif$

Grey/Traveler and his family also were in the area, closest to the water hole – what’s keeping all the bands in this area, I think. Jif was just a little apart from them.

A picture like this is my favorite to take because it’s my favorite thing to see: interaction and evidence of affection among the horses. That’s Two Boots with her head over Twister’s back. They’re about shed out now. Two Boots shed out a lot lighter, even though she’s still dark grey. Last fall, she was *really* dark. And Twister is showing his pretty rosy grey color. Stepdaddy Grey in the background.

Too cute! Pinon here, standing up nice and straight for the camera. Definitely a colt. His little dark patch is clearly visible here. I’ve noticed something similar on a couple of other horses: Luna has an ever-so-slightly-darker spot on her right barrel, behind her shoulder, and Comanche has a dark spot that’s maybe about the size of a baseball on his right barrel. Luna’s spot is bigger but almost unnoticeable.

Back to front: Aspen, Chrome and Hook. While I was thinking about Duke, I realized the Bachelor 7 (six without Duke) have been dogging Steeldust’s band since just after I realized he was limping, around April 15.

Aspen and Hook decided to relieve the monotony by play fighting – with an audience. In the immediate vicinity were the other bachelors, Grey’s band, Steeldust’s band (of course) and Bounce’s family. Hook initiated the whole thing (tattle tale), and at one point, he got one foreleg up over Aspen’s back, and they went around in a full circle before Aspen was able to shake him off. Notice Mouse and Comanche snoozing in the background. That’s Kreacher at upper left, and in the middle ground is Grey and his band.

I had walked out from the road, over a hill, through a couple of arroyos and up another hill to try to get a better look at Molly and her new foal and was returning to the Jeep when I saw Bounce, Alegre and Gaia closest to me and the other horses a little farther out. I took the above pix of Aspen and Hook, wishing I was closer to them, but then I had an opportunity to get a little closer to where Gaia had just laid down and Alegre was grazing. A juniper shielded me from Alegre, but Bounce had me in full view. Conspirator? I’m pretty sure that even Grey and some of the other horses also knew I was there, but I don’t think Alegre ever did. She grazed farther away from me and closer to the other horses (which were back toward the water hole), and I waited until they were gone before moseying on back to the road.

Alegre and Gaia near sunset, taken from the road.

I drove around the loop road twice, looking hard for Duke. Never did see him, but on my way out, I saw Poco, Bones and Roach at the water hole below the roller-coaster ridge road.

He’s in the (obviously) dry part of the water hole – photo taken from the ridge road. Poco and Bones were just behind him to the east. This water hole and the one in the east, off the doubletrack, are the only water holes I know of that still have water. Spring Creek has water in places. No sign of the horses anywhere near the water catchment.

Not quite full … but pretty cool.

It’s good to be back.

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Cinch, Corazon, David, Grey, Luna, Molly, Roach, Seven, Steeldust, Ty

After the storm – Saturday, May 24, 2008

25 05 2008

The basin is a magical place, but who knew we had unicorns!?

It snowed Thursday. (It’s May.) It snowed Friday. (It’s May in Colorado.)

I met photographer Pam Nickoles this weekend. She and her husband, Tom, came down from Golden to see our Spring Creek Basin horses. They’ve visited a lot of wild horses in places ranging from the Pryors to the Little Book Cliffs to the White Mountains in Wyoming to Corolla, Outer Banks, North Carolina. But they had never been to Spring Creek Basin. I had seen her Web site (http://www.nickolesphotography.com/index.html), and I contacted Pam and invited her to visit.

Despite the crazy weather, they were game to drive out to the basin this weekend, and I learned we have a lot in common in our philosophies about wild horses and photographing them. Pam has an awesome DVD out that pairs her gorgeous photography with music that celebrates our wild horses. Shameless plug, but, like with Claude, I like to celebrate the people who are using their photography to raise awareness of wild horses and lend their special talents toward their protection.

The basin got some rain out of the weather system, but it wasn’t enough to a) make the roads muddy or b) fill any of the water holes. In fact, the first one, down by the trap site, looks to be all but dry now, and another one up in the northeastern part of the herd area is bone dry. Good news, the fresh water from the catchment is now flowing into the water troughs! The horses just have to find it …

Pam and Tom got to see all the horses but the pinto family. Steeldust, lean and scarred and dogged by bachelors, was accommodating to visitors by being often by the road up in the northeastern area. Duke still is limping and alone, staying very near the northern-most intersection. The light wasn’t particularly nice to us, but with the horses so close to the road, we were able to get photos without bothering them much.

$Bounce\'s family$

Bounce, Alegre and Gaia were in an area I call “north park.” A small pond behind them does still have water.

Right after we saw them, a law-enforcement officer for the BLM drove around and greeted us. I was happy to see him out there patrolling during the holiday weekend. He alerted us to Steeldust’s band farther around the loop. He had seen another vehicle, but we never saw another soul.

Grey/Traveler and his family were near Steeldust’s band and the bachelors. Here, he was preening after a little chat with Mouse before he returned to his band.

$Grey\'s band$

His family. It seems like Twister is growing right before my eyes. He’s still small, and his knee is still wonky.

$Steeldust\'s mares and foals$

Alpha’s still pregnant. Luna and baby Ember and yearling Kestrel.

Mama, baby, sister and half-sister.

Luna and Ember – she’s a month old!

Mahogany and Pinon in some of the rare sunshine we had. Pinon is a week old! Still haven’t definitively determined his (?) gender.

I hope this is a PG-enough photo of Hollywood breeding Piedra. She’s in Steeldust’s band, but Steeldust was completely, totally, absolutely UN-interested in these goings-on. However, the two young rose-grey stallions, Butch and Sundance, were completely, totally, absolutely jealous. However … Piedra would have nothing to do with them. That’s Sundance above, showing what HE thinks about the goings-on! So, my theory: Piedra must be Steeldust’s daughter?

$Mama\'s love$

Mama’s love.

Ember tried to get Pinon to play, but check out Mahogany. She walked over, and when she got close enough, gave a little ears-back flip of her head to Ember that sent her away. For you sharp-eyed folks, that’s just mud on Ember’s face.

From the road, Steeldust chased one of the bachelors up a hill and into the trees.

We also saw Poco, Bones and Roach, and they also were right – literally – on the road. There was a new comment about Bones’ hip when I got back this weekend – likely a fractured pelvis. Read it under the “Basin as world” post.

Roach isn’t usually this animated!

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Alpha, Bounce, Grey, Hollywood, Roach, Steeldust

Welcome, No. 5 – Thursday, May 15, 2008

18 05 2008

Aww, Mom! Not in front of company!

If you placed your bet for Mahogany to foal this week, you hit it right on the money. The bay girl has this beautiful “bay” foal (maybe a colt). Legs aren’t black, so I’m kinda expecting him to turn grey like Comanche, Mouse and Piedra … although all of them have black legs …? His left hock is slightly swollen, but he’s already dancing, so it doesn’t seem to bother him. Based on his level of balance, I’m guessing him to be about two days old here, which gives him a birthday of May 13.

The Four Corners Back Country Horsemen’s annual spring count was this weekend, and I drove out Thursday to see the horses, participate in the count and write a story, both for my paper and for The Durango Herald. Durango photographer Claude Steelman was there already with Durango videographer Rich Fletcher, with Inside Durango TV, and they were photographing/filming the horses, who were grazing high up on the north side of the “finger hills” (just northeast of the dugout intersection).

$Steeldust\'s band$

This pic was taken from the road, just north of the dugout intersection. I had seen Claude’s vehicle from way back at the entrance to the herd area, and I had spotted Grey/Traveler and Houdini, shining like spotlights farther east on the north hills. I figured Claude’s vehicle was close to horses, but they were tucked away on this hillside, so it wasn’t until I was around the west side that I spotted them. Claude and Rich were below the road filming, and I didn’t want to risk causing the horses to move away from them, so I drove on around to where Grey’s band was grazing. I asked Claude to name the baby, as he was the first one to see him!

A note: I got to preview Claude’s new book, which I’ve mentioned before on the blog. It comes out in August, and it’s just gorgeous. I cried, OK? Got to the first pic of my boy Grey inside and just burst out bawling with pride. (He’s also on the back cover! And there are several pix inside of him, too, including the glowing photo Claude took on the day he was released back into the wild.) The book is titled Colorado’s Wild Horses, and it features photos of horses from every one of Colorado’s four wild horse herds. It also includes sections about gathers and adoptions, the training facility at the Canon City correctional facility where inmates train mustangs for the BLM, and interviews and portraits of people who have strong connections to wild horses. A Telluride poet contributed a spiritual poem, trainer Leslie Neuman contributed one that is sure to bring the tears and touch everyone’s heart, whether you’ve been privileged to touch a mustang or not, and Claude even overflows with verse in a wonderful poem at the end of the book. Consider this a shameless plug for my friend Claude and our magnificent wild horses, which he captures so beautifully with his camera! Check out his Web site – Wildshots – by clicking the link to the right under the blogroll.

Rich left that evening, but Claude was out all weekend, and even rode a borrowed horse during the count!

This pic was actually taken Saturday morning, as Claude and Tanglefoot, Kathe Hayes’ big Tennessee Walking Horse, were whizzing around the parking area at the corrals ready to go!

Grey/Traveler had his band way to the eastern side of the north hills. He has been migrating ever farther that direction. Until this spring, I had never seen him that far east. There’s grass up there, though, and I think they’re still going back to the arroyo north of the finger hills for water.

Here, he’s looking back at Jif, Houdini and Iya and Twister. Check out who’s playing peek-a-boo in the background.

I drove on around the loop road and saw Alegre and Gaia and Bounce. Alegre’s being a great mama. They ran at the sight of the Jeep – she’s one of the ones that doesn’t like vehicles – so I waited for a little while, then went on. They had gone into the canyon north of the ridge I just learned the name of this weekend: Knife Ridge. Farther south, near the dry double ponds, Roach was standing in the middle of the road. Poco and Bones were just on the east side of the road. Bones was between Roach and Poco, and everything was calm until Roach nickered at Bones, which brought Poco flying. They scattered behind some trees, and I drove on.

It had poured rain in Cortez earlier in the day, and the day was what I’d call mostly cloudy. Clear sky was waiting under the cloud bank to the west, though, and I figured it was just a matter of time before we got the gorgeous light (it was around 7-ish by then).

Seven and the girls were back in old stomping grounds south of the southeast loop road, and they stood quietly as I rolled past. The *other* bachelor band was on the east end of the east-west hill that starts in the west with the finger hills: Corazon and Cinch, Ty and Mesa and David and the muley bay. Muley has a name, as of Saturday. Rachelle Davis, a member of the 4CBCH, said he looked copper. We were in the group of “walkers” on Round Top helping to spot horses, and the bachelors were right below us south of Round Top. So the muley bay is now Copper.

I drove back around to Steeldust’s band. They were all up just to the west of the second intersection – with Duke. Duke has been by himself for three weekends now, and when I saw him on my first trip around, he was limping on his right hind. People who saw him Saturday said he was NOT limping or BARELY limping. He has been in the same place, so I guess he has food and water within easy reach. Steeldust’s band seems to come and go from his location. I hope his forced rest will heal whatever ails him and that he’s following after the band soon.

The sun did fall out of the clouds, but the timing and location didn’t help me. But it also didn’t stop me from leaving the basin with a Cheshire-Cat-grin. What a beautiful day!

Curious Ember doesn’t seem to be bothered by much. In the background, you can see the new foal just dancing out of the frame …

This little guy is going to be a handful for mama, I think.

I’m not sure if Mahogany was walking away or she was just following after baby, but Steeldust eventually went after them and “asked” them to return to the band.

He doesn’t have any problem with balance! That’s Piedra and Alpha at left.

Alpha, left, is still pregnant (bets?!), and Ember, right, is the oldest foal in the basin – now a month old.

When the band headed down toward the intersection to go back out into the big valley, the bachelors went running. This is Aspen.

And this is Hook.

Wonderful day.

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Categories : Alpha, Bachelor 7, Bounce, Grey, Houdini, Mahogany, Poco, Roach, Seven, Steeldust

Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Far afield

Guess who!

Glorious rain – Aug. 31, 2008

Up, ponies

Before and after

Well …

The wait goes on – Sunday, July 6, 2008

Back in the basin

After the storm – Saturday, May 24, 2008

Welcome, No. 5 – Thursday, May 15, 2008

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