Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

This portrait of handsome Maiku was taken a couple of weeks ago in the northwestern part of Spring Creek Basin. There are more trees in that area of the basin than many other parts, being a bit higher and getting more moisture. … I don’t spend a lot of time in that area because the horses aren’t there frequently, but it’s beautiful, and I love it when they ARE there.

While roaming around with them, I was kinda shocked at the sheer number of dead trees … like the one behind Maiku.

Not to belabor the point, but if we don’t get some winter soon (snow? please?!), we’re going to see a lot more trees succumb to drought. They’re kind of a big red flag.

Maiku’s name comes from the Ute language, as these are ancestral lands of the Ute people in addition to others such as the Navajo (Diné). I try to keep in mind that these lands have an extraordinarily long history intertwined with Native people, and hopefully we can protect at least some of them as much as possible and as their original stewards did and would.

On this website citing facts about Ute people, written mainly for school-age youngsters, I found this information about the Ute language: “maiku (pronounced similar to “my-kuh”) is a friendly greeting.” And I thought that was a great name for him as a uniquely patterned foal. I’ve since learned that it might be pronounced a bit closer to the name “Mike,” but I still pronounce it “my-kuh” when referring to our handsome little pinto stallion with the single white slash across his withers. 🙂 I wouldn’t say that he delivers especially friendly greetings to other bands – or visiting stallions! But he’s still very unique!

Sleepy Sundance enjoys a nap in the warm sunshine, with his band nearby, and I do mean warm. The temp has been in the 60s since about Sunday, I think. Terribly unseasonable. And very unreasonable for February in Colorado! I mean, it’s nice to see the ice melting on the ponds that have water and letting go of the water in the arroyos at the seeps … but it’s also too early, and what we really need is snow.

I read today that “Colorado is experiencing one of the driest winters of last 30 years” this winter.

Usually, articles about Colorado weather leave out Southwest Colorado entirely (hello, we ARE part of Colorado), but this one gives us a mention: “Southwest Colorado lags behind the typical snowpack for the date the most, at just 69 percent of what’s normal for February 4.” Ugh. When we’re finally mentioned, it would be nice if it was something positive.

Snow dances all welcome. 🙂

Oh, and Sundance’s name (it was a good suggestion, and I’m trying to keep up with it!): I named him and his “brother” (I’m not sure, but they seemed to be brothers) when I first starting documenting the Spring Creek Basin herd in 2007. They were very “pink” as youngsters (likely born sorrel, which is interesting because we don’t have many even actual sorrels anymore), and initially, I thought one or both of them might have been a filly or fillies because they were so *pretty*! Then I realized they were both colts/young stallions, maybe still with their family band, and I called them “the pink brothers” before I named them: Butch and Sundance. And I’m sure you all know the “wild bunch” outlaws behind those names. 🙂

The horses of a band rarely get far enough away from each other to be out of sight, so you’ll rarely hear them whinnying for each other.

But it so happened the other day that while Madison and her band were grazing, about half the band meandered away from the other half in search of water, and they ended up not only fairly far away from each other but out of sight of each other. As it turned out, the bachelor with them was upset about the separation, so he stood between them, where *he* could see each group, and started whinnying.

Eventually, Temple seemed to realize that she and two others were cut off from the others, and she couldn’t see them!

After a few calls back and forth (I’d love to be able to translate, but I imagine the conversation went something like this: “Where are you?” “We’re here!” “I don’t see you!” “I don’t see you, either!” “Come here!” “You come here!”), Temple and her pals (which included the band stallion) joined their lieutenant and followed him to the rest of the band, where I later found them (after I visited with another nearby band), all together and content. 🙂

Flash and his mares in the wind at last lovely light.

Days are getting noticeably longer. We could do without the ultra-drying wind.

Oh, and the temp when I took this, yesterday, was at least 61 degrees Fahrenheit. In January. In Colorado.

We could do with a lot more snow. 🙂

Yesterday (of course) was a much different weather story in Spring Creek Basin: Sunshine and a high temp probably in the 40s. I didn’t venture into the basin’s interior but drove up alongside the southwest boundary to see the snow on the interior buttes and ridges and peaks and points. The contrast between snow there and still-brown ground down-valley was kinda crazy.

Above, Bia pauses her grazing while Dundee grazes in the background.

And the focus on Dundee beyond Bia. Part of Spring Creek canyon is still visible in the background, and the big-flake snow was just starting to stick. Not long after this, visibility dropped to just our own little circle of the world. The horses were never very bothered by either the wind or the snow blowing on the wind. They continued their grazing up the slight hill and across the road, at which point I took the road back to my buggy and headed for shelter. 🙂