A cloud passed over the sun, then lifted just enough to light Seven against the still-shadowed background. Isn’t he handsome? His mane and tail have grown out again, and he’s so light … so much lighter than a few years ago. It happens with the greys, but I remember when he was much darker. 🙂
Look who lost his girls:
OK, technically, David isn’t in this pic, but it’s implied, right? Poor David is the los*er*, and the los*ees* now are with Seven!
Little Shadow girl is sporting a belly. She – 6 this year – really is smaller/shorter than 2.5-year-old Puzzle.
I saw this new band last week in a snow squall, but I didn’t go close enough to take pix (the Jeep was a long way away, and I didn’t know at the time that the blowing snow wouldn’t turn to sticking snow).
Puzzle looks a lot like her mama Chipeta.
Not quite as iconic as Galen Rowell’s oft-quoted “f8 and be there” – nor, I suspect, will it become as universal. But at minus 8 degrees this morning, I was there, in the basin, in paradise turned white.
Seven in winter’s wonderland.
Kootenai and Mysterium
Hayden and Tenaz
Hollywood’s band walking away from the noise of a truck. What kind of crazy person would be out here on a minus-8-degree morning?
Oh, right. 🙂
Aurora with her band. For extra credit, name the horse in the background attached to those gorgeous stripes! (Aurora’s daddy, Bounce, whom she resembles so strikingly, is following the bands.)
The temperature didn’t get above about 22 degrees today. Snow-lasting temps. I love it.
No, this isn’t a post about an expectant mama.
It’s about stallions going into winter with happy bellies! Look at these pudgy boys: Aspen (right) and Seven!
They were hanging out with youngsters Hayden, Tenaz and Apollo. Always nice to see the older boys guiding the younger generation.
Handsome misters. 🙂
These boys were moving across Wildcat Valley the other night while I was visiting Comanche’s and Hollywood’s bands.
Seven, Bounce, Kreacher, Aspen, Apollo, Tenaz and Hayden at sunset.
The more I learn … the more I learn. There aren’t always conclusions to draw from the observations I make of the horses. Sometimes, things I see come back a year or more later.
And sometimes, I see things that just make me smile.
Nothing special about this image. They’re all stallions. Seven (back grey) is 12. Kreacher is probably close. Tenaz (right) is 2.5. Apollo (with Kreacher) is 1.5.
So why did I take it, let alone post it? Why am I being all sentimental?
Right before last year’s roundup, Kreacher lost his band to Sundance, who still has the band. This spring, right around the time Skywalker was born, Apollo left or was kicked out of the band (their mother is Raven), and I finally found him with Hayden (almost 3) and Tenaz, and they’ve been wandering around, hanging out briefly with various other bachelors: Bounce, Poco, Duke, Aspen, Kreacher and Seven.
Apollo is Kreacher’s son. Now a young bachelor, Apollo – and his pals, Hayden and Tenaz – have hooked up, however briefly, with sire Kreacher and Kreacher’s new pal, Seven, who stole his (Kreacher’s) band back in 2008 after Grey/Traveler stole Seven’s band.
See how it all comes back around? 🙂
Around a bend came I, and there they were, like ghosts made real.
Kreacher, left, and Seven. And … do you see the ghost in the background?
Who? Why … Hou……dini!
Grey/Traveler’s band.
Up the hill – way up – Sundance’s band.
Out on the edge of the valley, Aspen and Bounce – and the younger misters.
Already visited below the trickle: Comanche’s and Hollywood’s.
Oh, the magic of the evening. No words. Not many, anyway. 🙂
Haven’t posted much of the boy recently, though he’s always around.
This was from a couple of weeks ago:
In Spring Creek Canyon.
And this was from last week:
So elegant in the dark storm light. He was trotting out to meet with Aspen.
A while back, I promised more pix of Seven and the horses with him, but then came the distraction of baby Mariah! And now Aspen is – or was recently – alone. I haven’t seen Mona – or Storm. Bounce and Tenaz had left the bands, too.
He doesn’t lack for handsomeness, does he? 🙂 Mr. Muscle!
He definitely has Roja (and their son Killian) back, and he chased Mona back to Aspen at least a couple of times. Roja is definitely pregnant!
Mona with Aspen.
Better light on the pretty girl.
Storm, growing up and shedding out! When I confirm his whereabouts – and Mona’s – you’ll be the first to know!
In a word: Hand…….some!
They went behind a hill, and I went around, thinking they’d graze their way on down the other side, but they were RIGHT on the other side.
Handsome Seven, who looks so much like Grey/Traveler (I’m sure he’s his sire), is 12 this year. After a few months of bachelorhood, he has his mare Roja back, as well as their son Killian, who will be a yearling in May. Seven also is the sire of Ze, star of the last post, and Miss Liberty, adopted by artist Alice in Ridgway.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 