The process of learning

6 03 2011

Relationships matter most …

Duke napping in the early morning sunshine with Hook’s band behind him.

Cuatro with Hook’s in the background. This was the beautiful sunshine we had early in the morning after sunrise before the cloud band came up.

Steeldust’s band – which I’m going to start more appropriately calling Luna’s band henceforth – was off to the northwest – watching Hook’s and Duke’s bands when I first saw them. Another band I wanted to visit was farther east, and I had been thinking about how I was going to visit both (so greedy) when Luna’s started coming toward us. The first evidence of this was Steeldust chasing Mouse.

It caught the attention of all of us:

Hook’s watching Steeldust and Mouse.

Hook’s watching Mouse and Storm bringing up the rear. You can see we’ve now been covered in shade while the east-west hill and north(ish) hills are still glowing in sunlight.

I thought it was particularly interesting that Gideon followed Alpha … mama Luna and Butch were up ahead. Steeldust is most likely his sire, though Butch has claimed Luna since a little before Gideon was born.

Duke and the boys watching Luna and Butch …

… watching Alpha, Gideon and Steeldust.

They came down almost to the bottom of the arroyo … where Luna apparently decided it was time for a nap and everybody stopped.

Then it started to get interesting (!):

Storm caught up and walked down past mama and Luna and the others, crossed the arroyo and headed up toward …

Duke, Twister and Cuatro. Twister waited till Storm was on his side, then walked down to meet him.

Typical first greeting … (and I don’t think this is actually the first time they’ve met) …

Getting right down to business …

Cuatro followed very quickly …

A different greeting with a younger colt …

Twister takes the rear, Cuatro takes the front! From left, Twister is almost 4, Storm will be 3 in July, and Cuatro will be 2 in May.

They started with a little of this …

They know right where to aim, but note their ears – relaxed.

Check out the shoulder-check. This is what I was talking about in an earlier post. Now check these out:

From the shoulder-check, he goes for Storm’s front legs – which causes Storm to “bow” to get away …

Which leaves his back legs vulnerable. Something else interesting – the benefit of just a year or? – Storm doesn’t go for *Twister’s* hind legs – right in front of him – he goes into defensive mode.

Which just allows Twister to come around him …

And get him on the other side! And look how close he stays.

Twister is clearly calling the shots, and Storm is reacting.

Twister comes around again – look how tight. Storm has tucked his hindquarters to avoid bites, but he’s too close to get up the momentum for a kick.

Have you been keeping an eye on young Cuatro?

Now Storm’s going for Twister’s front legs, forcing Twister into defensive posture – but Cuatro’s helping his pal from the rear angle.

Then the action got a little hotter, and Cuatro here is heading back toward big bud Duke.

And yes, there was some of this.

Are you fascinated by the thought process?? Storm is bigger, but Twister is a year older (which means he has a year on Storm in learning these things) and smart – and quick.

Meanwhile, across the arroyo (except Gideon, who’s at the edge) … The only one (actively) paying  attention is Butch, and this is still several minutes before he decided to join the goings-on.

Wondering where Mouse is during all of this? There he is at right – grazing on the edge of the arroyo. Another reason to show this – are you getting a sense of the size difference between these colts, one born in 2007, the other in summer 2008? It’s not great, but it’s enough to acknowledge. If Twister wasn’t an orphan, would it be so noticeable? If Twister wasn’t an orphan AND Storm wasn’t the son of an alpha mare who had no foals since Storm (because PZP-22 worked on her) and has been able to care for him exclusively these last couple of years – opposite ends of the spectrum – would it be so noticeable?

As Storm and Twister learned each others’ moves, there was some of this …

… and some of this …

… and eventually a few moments of this …

… and this. 🙂

They were by no means done. Duke waded in not long after this – followed closely by Cuatro – but his main attention seemed to be on Mouse, and soon after, Twister and Storm had apparently sufficiently rested to start again. Butch eventually joined briefly, too, and Gideon, which you’ve already seen pix of.

SO much more to this than the “obvious.” What significant, subtle conversation(s) am I missing? I’d wager it’s much more than I’m able to “see” and/or interpret.

Fascinating!


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Categories : Cuatro, Duke, Mouse, Storm, Twister

Jumping, Part II

5 03 2011

This was too cute not to share right away (and then I got carried away …). I was looking back for pix of Gideon with the big boys after I did the last post and found these. He came across the arroyo and was sniffing noses with Twister when Mister Mouse came striding up and sent Gideon went scurrying around to the other side of Storm.

I just adore this:

Mouse sniffing Twister, Twister sniffing Gideon over Storm’s back while Storm looks up the ridge at Hook’s!

Talk about jumping around. And this would probably have made for exceptionally interesting video to really tie it all together as I’m obviously failing to do. This, right here, is how I know without a shadow of a doubt the boys’ “fighting” was play – practice for a year or so in the future when it will be for real – to win or keep or add mares – to prove their strength and courage – and intelligence. That really struck me as I watched them spar. There’s definitely *thinking* at work – it’s not just brute strength – there’s craftiness and cunning – and obviously learned behavior. They circle – closely – shove their shoulders into each other … What do we do when walking behind a horse? We give them a LOT of room – or “don’t walk behind the horse,” parents tell children at the fair – or we talk to them, keep a hand on their side, hip, hindquarter, tail, as we walk right around them – close – too close for a kick to land.

Play and learning, youth and exuberance – a little showmanship? They learn their moves, they learn the moves of their peers. Steeldust is the only one I’ve ever seen with his courbette move – charge – rear – vertical leap. How did he learn that one? Fighting against bigger stallions? It certainly seemed to have helped him (and the chaos of the last roundup, too?). He had the biggest – by far – band after the last roundup.

The “before” pic to the top pic … Mouse approaching while Twister greets Gideon during a break in his play with Storm (behind).

Mouse is the lone bachelor left following Steeldust’s band – which is really Luna’s band. Spoiler: Mahogany, Sundance and Aspen are together – separate. (Only distance pix for documentation.) Mouse has been with the band since before Gideon was born. Gideon has never not known Mouse, though he’s always been on the outskirts – and always protective.

When Mouse got closer, Gideon spooked and ducked behind Storm (who is family) – and then the top photo. I couldn’t tell what sparked that … and what was Mouse’s motive to walk over in the first place? Protection? Curiosity? “Pick on someone your own size”? Though clearly Twister was not threatening the little guy in any way.

A few moments later:

Mouse wandered off again, Storm turned around. Storm and Gideon are the same ages (about) as Pinon and Fierro.

And here comes Mouse again. Isn’t that interesting?

Wide view (how *exquisite* is that light on the far hills!): Mouse and boys in the lower foreground, and above, left to right: Pinon, Fierro, Hook, Sable (Ember and Hannah behind).

I missed the “drama” of Steeldust hustling Fierro back to his band because I was so focused on the interactions of the closer boys, but …

Gideon takes advantage of the action to sneak a sniff of Mouse – they’re watching as Fierro walked past Hook and seemed on his way down the ridge to join the fun … but Luna and Butch and Alpha and Steeldust are at right – Steeldust on duty. Steely Dan put the kibosh to curious George’s track … and then this:

Check out Hook’s look – directly at Steeldust. Is that a “hey, thanks, man, I owe you one”? It appears I wasn’t the only one distracted by the play of boys. 😉

(Again, that light in the background!)

And that’s all I have time for – work calls. More to come!


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Categories : Ember, Fierro, Gideon, Hannah, Hook, Mouse, Sable, Steeldust, Storm, Twister

Jumping

5 03 2011

As I go through the images from the other day, I just want to share them all NOW. It takes longer to tell the stories that go with them … and the stories are what I most love to share. Oh, the dilemma.

Here are some that don’t have a particular story … almost between stories, if you will … just lovely.

Hook’s had been moseying along the top of the arroyo where the boys’ play was happening, and when mama Luna led the way away, Hook’s meandered on away, too. Another band was beyond not too far, so I moseyed along after Hook’s as the trail led – they diverged low, and I continued on the trail high up the spine of the ridge. The other horses are behind me, but there’s something that always gets me about a horse looking – somewhere, at some thing beyond your vision or ken to notice … The cloud was still over us, but stray sheets of light were randomly hitting the far hills. You can’t tell at all, but it was another windy day. 🙂

Taken about the same time. Most of the horses were grazing with their butts to me. Fierro was broadside, gorgeous lit Knife Edge providing a stunning backdrop to his handsome little self.

Looking back as I went on up the trail … Hannah, looking at me, framed by half-siblings Pinon (left) and Hannah – who are (likely) full siblings.

Share now or wait till the play discussion? Hmm. When I came back from visiting the other band (all in good time), Hook’s had wandered lower from the trail that took me back to my destination. Little Fierro, who had watched the play with great interest but not been allowed to join in – by protector Steeldust and then right away by stepdaddy Hook – was practicing his moves with his best bud-“big brother”-favorite Uncle Pinon. 🙂 I wish I’d been close enough for pix of THAT! Cuter ‘n heck! Such a progression … baby to colt to stallion … so much he has to learn.

As I jump from subject to subject, bear with me. It was a full, full, full day!


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Categories : Fierro, Hannah, Hook, Pinon, Sable

Gaia and her new family

5 03 2011

Gaia and Liberty …

Liberty is with:

Cinch

Two weeks ago – when the basin was still covered in snow – I saw three horses way far away. I was sure one was Cinch … and another one Liberty, but the third was unidentified – “reddish” was all I could tell … though I didn’t think it was quite Gaia-red … though it was cloudy and grim, and the distance was far.

The last time I saw Bounce’s band was the end of January – from a distance. So sometime between then and two weeks ago, she ended up with Cinch and Liberty. Based on the way they were acting when I saw them two weeks ago, I’d say it was close to that time.

Gaia will be 3 this spring … about time she left her family band for a band where she takes on a new role. They grow up so fast!


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Categories : Cinch, Gaia, Liberty

Stallion knot

4 03 2011

What’s going on here?

Yesterday was so full and beautiful and amazing I hardly know where to begin.

It started with sunshine and boys, but shortly after sunrise, clouds from the southeast rose and stretched and covered the sky in a single wide band that just so happened to block the sun. What kind of punch would these photos have had otherwise, eh? The good news is that it didn’t last all morning or all day, which turned again nearly clear, very sunny and very basin-beautiful.

You all know – I hope – that I don’t post photos of stallions fighting just to show pictures of stallions fighting. The above photo is to get you in the mood to see photos of stallions – young stallions – play fighting. It was an amazing thing to witness. Three bands were present – two family bands and a bachelor group – and the youngsters played while the elders observed, took care of business and seemed to “referee” (in Duke’s case). Twister, an orphan colt who will be 4 this year, was at the center of it all.

He’s with elder Duke, whom he seems to respect absolutely, and with youngster Cuatro, his bud. Cuatro will be 2 this year, and though he was intensely interested in what was going on and was frequently in the thick of things, he wasn’t the center like Twister was. Just fascinating behavior. (By the way, I didn’t name Twister as any sort of storm or hurricane reference but after Oliver Twist, orphan).

Hook’s band passed on the ridge above, with Hook observing. Steeldust once sent errant Fierro back to him, and Hook jumped in to snake him back to the band. Otherwise SD stayed out of it. Butch left Luna’s side briefly to engage Twister – then right back to Luna’s side. Interestingly, Steeldust gives Alpha plenty of space; Butch seems to need to be right with Luna all the time – talk about not-so-passive “leadership”! It was Luna who finally decided she’d had enough – maybe a long enough nap – and simply walked away, and that was the end of that. Not. I went on to visit another band, and I could hear squeals every now and then from beyond the ridge. Duke’s boys followed Luna, too … and Kreacher’s ended up close by. Hook’s meandered off on their own.

So do you know who’s in the picture above?

Mouse is in front. I’d guess him to be probably 7-8?

Storm is at left. He’ll be 3 this summer.

Duke is in back. He’s probably at least older than 10 (maybe a few years older than 10?).

Cuatro (2 this spring) has his face in Twister’s cheek at left (Twister will be 4).

They’re on uneven ground, moving, moving, moving … but can you get an idea how big Storm is? He was the first to walk out to meet Twister – Twister let him come and met him just in front of where he, Duke and Cuatro had been watching the band come. It’s not a fair comparison, really. Twister is an orphan (as I found him after the roundup), and Storm’s mother is an alpha mare and has been nursing him until fairly recently (I’m not sure whether that continues, but I don’t think so) because PZP-22 worked on her, and she has had only Storm to care for and nurture these past almost-three years. Healthy mom, extremely healthy colt. How will that affect his chances at stealing – and keeping – mares? Just something to make ya go “hmm.” 🙂

Earlier. 🙂


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Categories : Cuatro, Duke, Mouse, Storm, Twister

Mystery, solved

4 03 2011

She’s the answer … anybody remember the mystery? 🙂


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Categories : Gaia

Fullness of wild life

1 03 2011

One more brief batch from that lovely day:

Kootenai and Corona

Corona and mama Raven

Kreacher. I don’t know why, but he seems a thinker more than most …

If I’d been thinking past the euphoria of the day (which obviously affects me still!), I’d have stayed with them, in anticipation of this:

Taken from the road leading away from the basin. The rimrock is part of the basin’s western border. The snowy sliver of a hill beyond is actually above Horse Park, I think, beyond the basin.

Taken closer to the highway, outside the basin, northeastern Disappointment Valley. If I was any kind of Photoshop’r at all, I’d clone in a lovely, detailed moon … but I’m just not. 🙂

What a glowing, glorious end to a glowing, glorious, gorgeous, ginormous day!


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Categories : Corona, Kootenai, Kreacher, Raven

Merry bands of Hook and Hollywood

28 02 2011

Hook’s is an interesting tale (that I know) … young bachelor, bottom of the totem pole, following after his pals and Steeldust’s band. Last spring – early, probably at least this time of year – I started to notice Ember and Pinon together, at the edge of the band, Hook always nearby. And then they were together – separate from the band. Shortly, Hannah joined them … then Sable. Both fillies – both yearlings – left their family band before their mothers had even had that year’s foals (Mahogany lost hers; Luna’s Gideon is quite robust). Hook is an admirable band stallion, much more cautious of me now that he has a family to protect … except that all these youngsters have known me since the day they were born (Sable) or soon after, and the mother of two of them (Luna, dam of Ember and Hannah) is the most patient and tolerant mare in the basin, and in fact, was the first to use me to shed her pesky stallion. So Hook keeps a watchful eye, and the girls and Pinon treat my presence as acceptable.

Hollywood also has an interesting tale (OK, who doesn’t!). When I first started documenting the horses, the day Grey/Traveler was brought back to the basin after the roundup and his trip to Canon City and his three weeks in quarantine, Hollywood and Jif were the first other horses I found – close to Steeldust’s band, as they would be until Grey somehow managed to steal Jif right out from under the noses of Steeldust’s band and the closely-following Bachelor 7 the next April. Maybe Hollywood already had his eye on Piedra … in any case, rather than follow Jif (in Grey’s smaller band), he stayed with Steeldust’s bigger band (and still followed by the Bachelor 7 at that time) and wooed Piedra (yes, he really did), and eventually they broke off together into their own little band … followed shortly by Baylee, daughter of Mahogany (and Pinon’s elder sister). I have speculated that Piedra may be Baylee’s elder sister, and that’s why she followed … and that idea seemed strengthened by what happened with the siblings following into Hook’s band … but something has always nagged at me about Piedra’s more graceful appearance than Baylee or Pinon or Sable … and this year, particularly, I really start to doubt a blood-bond there. (Though they do share those ears!)

Ember had Fierro last July – already pregnant before she joined Hook’s band (likely sire, Mouse, though I can’t confirm). Shortly before Hannah left Steeldust’s band for Hook’s (sister Ember’s?), she managed to “stray” into Hollywood’s band. I was visiting Bounce’s (the calendar’s April photo was taken during that visit) and watched the chaos while they ignored it all (or seemed to). Hannah was frantic to get back to her mother’s family; Holls was just as adamant that she stay with him. As young as she was (yearling), I knew what that meant … I don’t know how she ended up with Holls, and I don’t know how long she was with him – running the whole time I watched at least – half an hour? An hour? – but she made it back to mama Luna. Very shortly after that, as I remember, she was with Hook and his little band. And now what do you see in the photo above? Like her sister Ember, she’ll be a mama at 2.

And Sable?

Switching back to Hollywood’s band, although coming-3-year-old Iya looks pregnant at a glance …

…

coming-4-year-old Baylee (elder sister of Pinon and Sable) seems still girlishly slim:

Bay-Baylee-girl

But Kestrel, who had Winona last year as a 3-year-old and elder sister of Ember and Hannah, kept her “condition” quiet until close before she foaled, so that’s just observation at this point.

Normal? Symptom of our small herd size – which is bigger now? Coming-4-year-old Reya’s condition is unknown. Her coming-3-year-old sister, Spook, lost her foal last year … Just something to make us go “hmm”?

Fierro and Ember, Pinon and Hook

Hannah

Baylee, Iya and Hollywood. I liked that I could see all their eyes. Bayles took another couple of steps that made an even better composition, but then she closed her eyes!

Iya and Holls

Pretty Piedra

Mama Piedra and her youngest, Tenaz

How toasty warm he must be in that fuzzy coat!

Tenaz and daddy Hollywood

This one is meant to show a comparison between Iya’s and Baylee’s bellies … Round Top at right, Brumley Point straight back – Tenaz at far right.

Brumley Point. To get your bearings, McKenna Peak and the unnamed promontory are to the left. The far background rimrock hills are outside the herd area.

We’ve talked about how wonderful it is to enjoy horses in their quiet moments. I am incredibly fortunate to spend such time with these horses that I can witness those moments. But they’re wild and ever watchful. Spooks do happen. 🙂

Hollywood initiated a “charge” of maybe 30-50 yards? From in front of me to up the hill a little to my right, into the light …

So unfortunately out of focus …

They didn’t go far …

Calm again. Holls and Bayles … love that light illuminating his eye! Another of my favorite images of the day.

They are wild … sensitive to movement and sounds – and that darn mud made it hard to move in steady motion.

Moments after:

Piedra

Piedra and Sage

Hollywood and Sage … I just liked their shapes in the sunlight.

And bidding farewell when everything was back to calm. Love the little hitch to his nostril.

Of the pix of Holls and his band running – like or dislike? Why? Does it matter that you know “the rest of the story”? It happens … with or without my presence … It’s part of the story thread of the basin …

I still had a decent trek to the Jeep, in the mud … I didn’t know at this point what was waiting for me at the bend … But I knew I was deliriously happy, right then, right in those splendid moments in the wild American outback. Give and take. Still and in motion. Light and shadow. Questions and wonder and mystery. How much will we know? How much do we want – need – to know?


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Categories : Baylee, Ember, Fierro, Hannah, Hollywood, Hook, Iya, Piedra, Pinon, Sable, Sage, Tenaz

Daddy daughter dance

26 02 2011

Some of my favorite moments in visiting the horses come when the adults have close, quiet moments with the youngsters. That these beings are so closely bonded with their family members is obvious in such an intimate way, and I love to witness and share these moments. These are some of my favorite images of that entire remarkable, beautiful day:

Winona peeking around Comanche’s tail.

Comanche and ‘Nona and mama Kestrel.

She loves her mama Kestrel, of course.

She adores stepdaddy Comanche …

…

… and I think it’s pretty plain that he adores her, too.

We have such a romantic vision of these horses … mustangs of the Wild West … How they’re portrayed in novels, in Hollywood movies … Reality is far more powerful, I think. In all their muddy-from-snowmelt glory … this is how they are. This is the life they lead. What would *they* tell us if they could?

These are the phenomenal, close, intimate, beautiful bonds they share. They depend on each other, rely on each other – Kestrel and Winona saw me first, Comanche saw them alert, looked to them, then looked where they looked, saw me a hill away – spend every moment together, eating, napping, playing, fighting, breeding, in curiosity, in fear, in bravery. Their language is richer than we could ever imagine, maybe than we can ever fully comprehend. Much to admire, much to aspire to in their behavior toward each other. We humans have not a fraction of their grace upon this Earth.


Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Comanche, Kestrel, Winona

“BLM to scale back roundups of wild horses”

25 02 2011
BLM link, “BLM acelerates fundamental reforms to wild horse and burro management”: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2011/february/NR_0223_2011.html


AP story that moved today on the wire:
By Matthew Daly

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The government is going to scale back costly roundups of wild horses that some critics contend are inhumane.
The Bureau of Land Management will reduce the number of wild horses removed from the range by about one-quarter – to 7,600 per year. The agency also will expand the use of fertility control and increase the number of animals adopted by individuals or groups. The agency continues to oppose horse slaughter, which some in the West have advocated as a way to thin herds.

The agency’s director, Bob Abbey, said the new plan was intended to ensure that viable herds of wild horses and burros remain on the nation’s public lands for generations to come. To improve the health of both horses and Western lands, officials need the help of private partners and must ensure that management decisions have a scientific foundation, Abbey said.

The changes do not include a proposal that Abbey and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar floated in late 2009 to move thousands of wild horses to preserves in the Midwest and East, where they would graze on land unthreatened by drought and wildfires. The government would have established large horse ranches open to the public for tours and educational visits. The preserves would have cost at least $92 million to buy and build. The plan ran into bipartisan opposition in Congress and among the public.

“It was very evident to us that the public did not like that idea, and so we have dropped that from the strategy we are pursuing now,” Abbey told reporters in a conference call.

The new approach comes a week after the House approved an amendment to cut the agency’s budget by $2 million to protest the roundups. The program’s annual cost has tripled over the last decade to
$66 million. Annual costs are expected to reach at least
$85 million by 2012.

More than 38,000 wild horses and burros roam in Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming and other Western states, the Bureau of Land Management says. An additional 40,000 animals are cared for in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota, it says.

The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed by Congress in 1971. It is intended to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. Under the program, thousands of horses are forced into holding pens, where many are vaccinated or gelded before being placed for adoption or sent to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest.

Animal-rights advocates complain that the roundups – which include the use of helicopters – are inhumane because some animals are traumatized, injured or killed.

Ranchers and other groups say the roundups are needed to protect fragile grazing lands that are used by cattle, bighorn sheep and other wildlife.

Abbey said he knows the changes will not end controversy over the horse management program but said they send an important message: “We will no longer kick the can down the road just because it is challenging.”

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, called the latest plan encouraging but said the Obama administration needs to do more to reduce the number of horses rounded up and removed from public lands.

The current plan “is not economically sustainable, and it is bad policy,” Pacelle said.


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Categories : Wild horses in the news

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