Some friends – two couples – recently celebrated anniversaries. Same day. Twenty-six years and 18 years.
Couldn’t help but think of them when I caught this quick moment between Kootenai and Sundance.
Happy (belated) anniversary, friends!
Commitment
21 12 2012Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Kootenai, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Sundance
-8 and be there
20 12 2012Not 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.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Aurora, Hayden, Kootenai, Mona, Mysterium, Piedra, Seven, Shane, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple, Tenaz
Daddy’s little girl
20 12 2012From last week:
Daddies love their babies, too. Ty and Seneca (mama Chipeta is leading just to the left).
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Seneca, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Ty
Two with spots
19 12 2012On a cold, windy day devoid of snow and sunshine, these two brightened my day:
Maiku, right, is both S’aka’s older brother (same sire, Copper) and uncle (brother of S’aka’s mother, Reya, through their mother, Kiowa). They look like their sister/mother/grandmother. She left her stamp.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Maiku, S'aka, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Mustangs at the edge of the world
18 12 2012Seen any “Pirates” lately? Seems a good reference for this shot:
Or was it “end” of the world? Ah well. That’s a mix of Comanche’s and Hollywood’s bands on the “edge” of the second saddle of what I call Lizard Mesa. Young bachelors Hayden, Tenaz and Apollo “ran into them” at the double ponds and sent them running north. I thought maybe they’d end up at Sorrel Flats for a drink, but only the boys were there when I arrived. West of the east pocket, I finally spotted the bands on the yonder ridge, all in a line, silhouetted by the sun just before it dropped into a snow-cloud bank, which has been stalled at the west/southwest ridgeline (the top of the very far tree-covered hill you can see in the background of the above pic) for the last two or more days.
Notice, if you will, the complete and utter lack of snow on the ground.
Gentle admonition to folks within 200 miles who got a foot-plus of the white stuff: Don’t be greedy!
How does EVERYBODY get snow but Disappointment Valley!? Not a speck; not a drop. It’s not even damp.
Weatherman says another wave is coming … Cross yer fingers ‘n toes. We sure need the moisture.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Aurora, Kestrel, Madison, Mona, Piedra, Shane, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple
Storm
17 12 2012Ask and ye shall receive!
Here are a couple of pix of Storm from the day I visited his band.
He was not easily distracted from his grazing.
This handsome young mister – he’s only 4 – is ambitious with his two mares (and their foal/yearling). But he’s also one of the most laid-back guys in the basin.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Storm
‘Puzzle’ – solved
16 12 2012It happened awhile ago that David acquired Puzzle, but I hadn’t seen them close enough for pix until this week. I was visiting Ty’s merry little band – with Copper, who, earlier in the week, was with Corazon’s band – when I spied Puzzle away off yonder. I bid grateful fare-thee-well to Ty, Chipeta and Seneca and beat feet for a visit with David.
A slow and cautious approach enabled some photos before Ty’s group followed me down the hill and sent the wary band in search of quieter environs.
Puzzle – the pretty pinto pony – is the big sister of Asher and Seneca (same dam: Chipeta; different sire: Copper). David, left, has had Shadow since she was a long yearling. They’ve had two colts: Wind and Coal. Both were adopted last year.
Puzzle was 2 on Sept. 1. Shadow was born in 2007 and orphaned that winter when her dam, Ceal, died. She returnd to the company of Bruiser’s band until the late summer / early fall of 2008, when the “southside boys” bachelor band stole the band; that’s when David stole Shadow and started his own band. He has had her almost continuously since then (Storm stole her after the roundup; David stole her back; Storm stole her back; David stole her back – and kept her).
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : David, Puzzle, Shadow, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
From tragedy …
15 12 2012
Tragic, senseless heartbreak. Unimaginable to think about what drove anyone to do something so horrific.
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Categories : Advocacy, Seneca, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Sweet and dark
15 12 2012Our herd manager, Kiley Whited, has moved on from BLM to a job with NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
He leaves big shoes to fill, as we valued his management style and always-positive demeanor. We couldn’t have been happier with his friendliness, level of professionalism and genuine interest in the Spring Creek Basin mustangs. We were able to get the fertility control program started with his involvement. It will continue in no small part because of his encouragement. He also championed the future use of bait trapping as a safer method of gathering horses in this small herd.
Our Cassidy Rain – possibly a great-granddaughter of Traveler – was named in tribute to Kiley’s baby daughter, Cassidy. These photos were taken earlier this week.
She’s as dark as her sire, Cinch, with none of his spots.
With “auntie” Roja.
Sassy girl flirting with the afternoon light. On the hill behind her is some of the snow we got Sunday.
Lovely girl.
We wish Kiley and his family well, though we will miss him!
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Cassidy Rain, Roja, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Of horses and mountains
14 12 2012
You can’t imagine this land without them, can you?
That’s Asher’s mama, Chipeta, and his little sister, Seneca. In the background: Filly Peak (within Spring Creek Basin, Colorado) and the La Sal Mountains (Utah). The snow on the mountains is from the last snowfall that left just an inch in Disappointment Valley. More coming – today?! Our fingers and hooves are crossed!
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Chipeta, La Sal Mountains, Seneca, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
