Raven and Terra nap on a sunny, mostly-blue-sky day in Spring Creek Basin. There’s still a hint of smoke in the sky, but it’s getting better all the time. 🙂
Under the peak
28 08 2021Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
An ode to rain
27 08 2021
It’s our lifeblood, and it keeps us in the *green* of health!
This pic is from a week or so ago. We’ve had some blue-sky days again with smoke just on the edges.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Dessert
26 08 2021
A happy and cheerful bonus from the recent rains: sunflowers!
Corazon thinks so, too!
When any of the horses encounters one of the yellow-petaled beauties, they’re quick to eat them.
Comments : 7 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Wild flowers
I see you
25 08 2021
You’re impossible to ignore, gorgeous. 🙂
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Reflection perfection
24 08 2021
There might be too much muckety muck along the “shoreline” to truly reflect “perfection,” but how many times could I use that rhyme in a blog-post title?!
And Sundance? Of course, he puts the perfect in perfection, so really, it IS truth in advertising!
Comments : 7 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Earthly beauty
23 08 2021
The day after our full day of rain, we had some blue back in our sky. In other directions, the smoke was only too noticeable (it wasn’t missable, unfortunately), but coppery red Gaia against the blue sky with Temple Butte in the background is – smooch! – perfection!
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte
Alert to all who go there
22 08 2021
It’s been a little while since Sundance has graced this blog. That’s because he likes to wander the far eastern side of Spring Creek Basin, and with the monsoon rains a few weeks ago and resultant erosion in places, it’s been a bit more difficult to access the farthest areas of the basin.
The couple of days before this image was taken, we got an amazing drenching of rain! It’s hard to see, but that’s the Spring Creek arroyo below Sundance, and it was still pretty muddy and mushy from the running water. All of the ponds I saw on my route were FULL. Not just “they have water now” but literally full to the brim. If the initial sightings of the ponds with water was an immense joy, this recent sighting of them all FULL was just incredible!
Sundance and his mare had already made their way to the pond behind me, and in this image, he’s catching sight of another band making their way to their evening drink. Such a seemingly simple thing … which hasn’t been simple at all during our ongoing drought. We are so amazingly grateful for the rain and for the mustangs to have relatively “easy” access to ponds again!
Comments : 7 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
The green from rain
21 08 2021
This particular day wasn’t as smoky as some others have been, but in lieu of rain clouds, we’ve been missing our clear Colorado skies. Reya makes up for the distant dinge with her lovely mustang self as she hoofs it back toward her band as another band approaches.
Most of the green in this image is greasewood and four-wing saltbush; both types of vegetation provide valuable browse for the mustangs.
As of this post, we’ve had some really lovely rain again, so hopefully our blue, smoke-free skies aren’t far away!
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte
No mystery about her beauty
20 08 2021
Mysterium-mare joins the ranks of mustangs with mystery mane clippings. Being one of the loveliest of mares, however, she kept a feminine touch with the three little fairy braids, which only accentuate her wild beauty. 🙂
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Water from fire
19 08 2021In remote Disappointment Valley, partnerships not only are valuable, they can be life-saving.
Our Spring Creek Basin mustangs got a boost in the water department from three different “departments” of wildfire-fighting crews recently. They had water left over from fighting a small fire (thank you!), and they very graciously offered the remaining water in two engines to the horses, pumping about 900 gallons of water onto one of the aprons at the main catchment.
On behalf of our mustangs, thank you VERY MUCH for your firefighting and for the gift of water for our mustangs!
From Cortez Fire Protection District: Matt and Brad.
From the Angelina, Sabine and Davy Crockett national forests and National Forests and Grasslands in Texas: Paul, Aurora, Danny, James and Jonesy – and Tracy (sp?), who’s working here as a dispatcher. They’re “on loan” to the Forest Service here in Colorado (Dolores Public Lands Office), replacing the previous crew (hi also to Matt, David and Marie!). Their connection is a firefighter named Bear, who came with a small crew to tackle a small fire I reported a few years ago. Bear now is serving in Texas with the U.S. Forest Service. Small world!
From the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control: Chris, Jim and Cory.
Big shout out to all of these fine men and women who work long hours in back-of-beyond places. … I bet they don’t often get to see (and help!) wild horses while out on assignment! Thank you, thank you, thank you … from all of us who love the mustangs!
Comments : 12 Comments »
Categories : Advocacy, McKenna Peak, Partnership, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte, Water, Water catchment, Wildfire, Work projects
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 