Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Ze and Asher update

18 10 2011

I’m loving these updates! And I’m wondering how some of our other mustangs are doing, so if you’re willing to share, please do email me (mtbgrrl (at) fone (dot) net).

Tif reports: “Ze is doing remarkably well. I was able to get a halter on and off him twice today. He leads very well, still a bit touchy here and there, but wow, what he lets me do. He’s starting to get very comfortable, which can be a problem at times, always coming into my space, so I have to send him away and remind him who’s boss! I’m so proud of how far he’s come and how brave he is. He amazes me each and every day. How did I get so lucky? :-)”

Getting him used to a string over his head and neck.

Getting him used to how a halter will feel in anticipation of this …

Look at that!

Love them! This boy, at 2.5, is a study in patience. He has come a long way and is clearly bonded to Tif. I soooooo love to see them together!

She lights up like a star when she talks about her boys, and the updates I get lots of are balms to my heart.

Little Asher also is awesome and growing like a weed!

“He’s doing great. Still loves milk and drinks it like crazy. Obviously he’s halter broke and does okay with it. The blanket is new and he’s not too fond of that yet. I explained to him he’ll appreciate it when it gets into the 20s again! He’s a sweetheart, learning that I’m not a horse and he can’t jump on me. 😉 He still hangs out with my gelding Quest, who just adores him, and my mare Pepper, although mostly it’s the ‘boys’ hangin’ in the upper pasture. He’s grown a ton, he’s had his first month old shots, which he took like a trooper, and all in all seems to be in excellent health. The mornings are his favorite time, when he gets let out to run around like a crazy kid. This morning, he got running so fast, right to the gate, and did a sliding stop about 6 inches from it. Heart attack! Man, he’s so athletic at almost 7 weeks old.”

We’ve already had snow here in Colorado, but lately the weather has been gorgeous, typical beautiful autumn.

Asher, Tif, Selene (sp?) and shadow of 10-year-old Madison! Saintly Mr. Quest in the background.

My beautiful, beautiful friend and hunka baby Asher!

How did she get so lucky? The universe returns what we put into it, and this lady has put so much of her heart and soul into advocating for our Spring Creek Basin mustangs, her “luck” amazes me not one bit. 🙂

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Adoption, Asher, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Ze

Mona belly update

17 10 2011

I’m fairly sure Mona is still pregnant … but she’s sure not huge (Roja looks more pregnant (after three babies), and she’s not due till May!), and so we’re really just in wait mode (when are we not?!).

Shane, Killian and Roja with a great view of the basin behind them.

Curious critters – Shane, Killian and Roja.

Pretty girl Shane. And she has some size – her first birthday was Sept. 15.

Baby hunk Killian with mama Roja.

And Mona walking into my photo. 🙂

Mona. I’d love to hear opinions …

Seven moving Roja and Killian away from Aspen.

Seven

Aspen with the quintessential Spring Creek Basin background – McKenna Peak and the unnamed promontory.

Working hard to keep Aspen at bay. I love this boy!

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Aspen, Killian, Mona, Roja, Seven, Shane, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Varoujan – now named Banjo

17 10 2011

A great update from Melissa, who adopted Varoujan, now named Banjo.

In her words: “As for the horses that have made their way into new homes, it sounds like there ARE a lot of happy ponies & people. We are definitely one of those happy families. Here are some pics of Varoujan (Banjo). He is really doing well. In these pics, you can see the things we have been working on, leading, bathing, the big soccer ball, trailer loading, picking up his feet and getting loved all over. He gets his exercise by ‘free following’ us when we go for rides. I was gone for 10 days doing the Tevis Cup 100 mile endurance cup race and so really didn’t start a consistent training regimen till I got back, and Geeze Louise, he was ‘doing it all’ in 48 hours. He is very level headed and brave. Not skittish at all and loves to be scratched. It is amazing how much he like the HOSE! Too funny. His color is constantly changing but when he is having his baths, it looks like he is really going to be a dark steel grey color next. All of his nicks and scrapes from the round-up & his initial trailer ride are coming in with a dark coat. He will be the ‘mystery horse’ for what his FINAL color will be. I will keep you updated on his progress.”

Easy to see that he loves the water!

I’ve heard from a couple of adopters that their mustangs can’t get enough of the clean, fresh water.

With the BIG soccer ball!

Calmly walking right into the trailer.

These ponies are SO smart.

Brushing for extra handsomeness!

I think Melissa takes the cake for “most beautiful location”!

Melissa and Banjo – LOVE the update! Thank you!

Comments : 7 Comments »

Categories : Adoption, Advocacy, Banjo, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Varoujan

All that glitters

14 10 2011

… and shines with golden light …

End of the day … Kootenai and Mysterium.

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Kootenai, Mysterium, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Pati and Sherwood

14 10 2011

Some well-deserved praise after …

and …

How gorgeous are they?

I got to spend some time with them this week (Sherwood is my “godchild,” Pati says, and I couldn’t be more proud!) and am just thrilled at the sight of them. I mentioned before that Sherwood isn’t Pati’s first mustang, but he’s certainly her latest challenge. Smart as the proverbial whip, this boy. Good thing she’s a great teacher!

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Categories : Adoption, National Mustang Association/CO, Rio, Sherwood, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Moved by purpose

9 10 2011

Yesterday, I sent a friend a quote I read on another blog:

“Think of all the beauty still left around us and be happy.” – Anne Frank

Today, I picked up a couple of the magazines that have accumulated in the last few months, that I’ve been too busy to look at, and read a headline about having purpose in your photography. I’ve tried to do that with mine, of the mustangs of Spring Creek Basin. I couldn’t quite read the article.

Then I picked up the latest issue of News Photographer. Though I no longer take photos as part of my job, I keep my subscription. The story was by an American photojournalist embedded at a NATO hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I read most of it. The photos are intense. One small part of the opening photo, spread across two pages, stays with me, a nurse or doctor, looking over her shoulder at something behind the photographer … her hand under that of the man in the bed; he doesn’t seem like he could possibly be aware.

At the end of the article, after a particularly difficult day, the photographer spots James Nachtwey, war photographer, and stops to speak with him, to tell him about his influence, the reason he’s standing there, at a NATO hospital a world away from his home. The article ends with this quote:

“If you go some place for a purpose, you want to fulfill that purpose. It requires you to keep yourself together, and pay attention and concentrate and get the job done – well.” – James Nachtwey.

That’s exactly – exactly – how I felt at the roundup. A dear few, much respected and loved people helped me keep it together; I would have been lost without you. I would have been lost all along without the purpose of the horses. To all of you helping with that purpose … I thank you again and again and again …

Comments : 6 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners, National Mustang Association/CO, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

Rio – now named Sherwood

7 10 2011

Good friend of the mustangs (and adopter of burros!) Ann took these pix last week of NMA/CO’s Pati and the colt she adopted, yearling Rio. She has named him Sherwood. That name has some history, so I’ll let Pati explain it!

“Sherwood is a year-and-a-half-old colt named in honor of Sherwood McGuigan, who was president of the National Mustang Association/Colorado for 10 years.”[Sherwood was one of the founding members of NMA/CO, and we owe a great deal to her for shepherding NMA/CO into the organization it is today.]

Pati is an amazing woman herself. I first met Pati shortly before the 2007 roundup, and from then forward, I have come to rely heavily on her knowledge of mustangs in general and Spring Creek Basin mustangs in particular. She and her husband, David, are my ultimate support pair, anchoring me always on this journey of the horses. They have been involved with NMA/CO from nearly the beginning. Our beautiful Pati is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.

Here’s what she says about her training process with Sherwood: “The first day home, I followed him slowly around the round pen for two hours, stepping back each time he turned toward me and/or approached and being careful to never block his forward movement. The next day, I hand-fed him fresh grass and began brushing his nose, then sides of his face with strands of grass or hay. By the third day, I could reach up and scratch his forehead while feeding him and then introduced a strand of baling twine and moved it up and down his face and ultimately over his ears. By holding the two ends, I encouraged him to come forward to pressure and step over his hindquarters. Later, I replaced the twine with a thick cotton rope and continued to move it about his body, being careful to slowly desensitize him to the new feeling.”

Ann described these photos as a series in the dance between Pati and Sherwood. I think she’s right.

Little guy is doing so well! Mr. Sherwood is just the most recent mustang Pati and David have adopted. He couldn’t be in better hands.

Comments : 8 Comments »

Categories : Adoption, Rio, Sherwood, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

A scene, seen

6 10 2011

A just-because post … because it was the end of a great day, because the ponies were awesome, because the day was filled with them, because they are going to be OK, because they are strong and resilient, because they make me better than I knew I could be.

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Chrome, Hayden, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Terra, Winona

Ze and Asher

5 10 2011

My gorgeous and huge-hearted friend Tif adopted Chipeta’s colt- and has named him Asher (meaning “blessed”) – and Ze.

They are all doing so amazingly well. Every time I listen to Tif talk about them or read about them in an email or SEE her with them and them with her, it just about explodes my heart, it’s so beautiful. I wish this kind of wonderful, loving home for all our mustangs. Things come to us on life’s journey for a reason, and I believe that so firmly in this case, especially.

I visited them the other day with my camera and, with Tif’s permission, am sharing some of the pix here. Clearly, these two mustang boys are adored and loved!

Here’s what she says about them:

“My ‘boys’ are doing great. The foal has been named ‘Asher’ meaning Blessed. He and my paint mare are attached at the hip. They amaze me. She is his surrogate mom, teaching him how to be a horse. She disciplines him, protects him and checks on him constantly. Asher runs in the upper pasture everyday and comes in at night. He is incredibly strong and beautiful. He still gets milk three times a day, he’s eating foal pellets, but is really liking grass/alfalfa hay. He also has an unlimited supply of water on hand. His cuts from the fence are healing nicely and he’s ready for his month old shots. I hate to do that to him, but he’s in a much better place to handle it. I plan to keep him on the milk until he’s at least two months old, then we’ll see where he’s at. He is a regular foal, not wild at all. I have the best of both worlds, the genetics of a mustang, but the taming of a domestic, if that makes sense.

“Ze is likewise incredible. I go in with him several times a day. He joins up with me, follows me everywhere, takes food from my hand, wants to be so close at times that I have to back him away. I have touched him and sometimes still do, but that’s still on his terms. He has the most soulful eyes; he’s curious, inquisitive and so wanting to be with me when I’m out there. He drinks water like crazy and loves food. Go figure!! I have the wonderful native grass hay that I got from the Temples and he loves it. I’m transitioning him to that from the certified grass hay. He’s still wary at times, which is to be expected, but he touches me, nuzzles me, tries to take my hat off, etc. Still on his own terms, but that’s how it’s going to be for awhile and I’m fine with that.”

Asher was taking a nap when I arrived. He’s in a cozy pasture with foster mom Pepper and big stepdaddy Quest. Look how shiny-beautiful he is!

Asher and Pepper, who has never had a foal of her own, bonded almost immediately after Tif brought him home.

Isn’t he just gorgeous?

She’s feeding him the “foal milk” and mashing up foal pellets, and he likes hay …

… and for comfort, sweet-girl Pepper.

Baby loves his two-legged foster mom, too!

Ze is doing amazingly well. There’s a super-obvious thread that connects him to Tif and vice versa, and it’s awesome to see.

Do you SEE it?? I love their expressions looking at each other.

Eating hay from her hand.

Licking her hand.

She does go in the roundpen with him and sits and works with him.

So quiet and patient … and he’s absorbing every bit of it.

Out, out, darn bar! But I love this image, still, because of their bond – so clear. They’re exchanging breaths.

If you would like to update me/readers about the horse or horses you’ve adopted, please drop me a note at mtbgrrl (at) fone (dot) net. I would love to hear from you.

Comments : 9 Comments »

Categories : Adoption, Asher, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Ze

Sage, Cuatro, Hannah and Briosa

5 10 2011

Update about Sage, Cuatro, Hannah and Briosa. They look like they’re settling in and doing very well!

: Briosa

: Hannah

: Hannah

: Briosa and Hannah

: Cuatro and Sage

: Cuatro (left) and Sage

Don’t they all look great? And even some nice fall color from our corner of Colorado.

Photos by Alice (who is going to adopt Liberty). Neighbor Dana adopted these four beauties.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Adoption, Briosa, Cuatro, Hannah, Sage, Spring Creek Basin mustangs