Here is one of the three chestnuts, she is one of his two, 2 year old daughters. She has a beautiful mane full of braids created by nature. I love her wrap around blaze called an "apron".
Here is the only yearling in Prince's band, Madeleine. She was born into Lightning's band late last April. Her dam moved in with Prince shortly after giving birth to the little "pink" filly.
Here is the other 2 year old, Dusty. She is greying out much slower then little Madeleine.
Here are the "twin" chestnut mares. for the life of me I can not remember who is who. One mare's blaze wraps around a bit while the other one is more of a stripe. Anyway they are ID'd as Sunshine and Moonlight.
Here they are heading out. I can tell they are on their way to somewhere! Maybe the waterhole...
Prince in all of his glory.
At the top of the hill is Bug's band. A band with mostly young stud colts. Here is Butch and his Skip. I have often wondered what would happen if Prince's and Bug's bands were to get together. Prince has all those mares and Bugs has all those studs.....
There's Skip....they decide to move in the same direction as Prince's band. There is no interaction, besides a lot of looks.
As they approach the water hole the two bands split off.
Here they are at the water. They have taken opposite sides..
From this distance they observe each other across the water hole. The boys seem to show off for Prince's "ladies". There are also two mares with Bugs and both of them look pregnant.
Prince's mares seem very interested. It will be interesting to see how long Oda and Dusty stay with their band. I hope a round up doesn't mess everything up. In this day and age we should be more humane and not tear family bands apart. I agree we need to "gather" a few horses, but we could do it in a more humane, respectful manner.
That's the buckskin stallion, Bugs, with his 2 year old Palomino son, Skip. It seems to be cold to be in the water! But the horses seem to be enjoying themselves...brrrr.
Madeleine looks on in awe of Skip. "What a brave stallion he is to be rolling in that water!"
"Brave...or stupid!" says one of the chestnut mares ...Prince's band decides they have had enough and leave, but first pass Bugs and his band.
The "ghost pinto" is Mystic, Madeleine's mom. If you look closely you will see the pinto pattern on her coat. She does not look pregnant, but one of the chestnut mares does.
These horses are so harmonious! You would never think a group of stallions could get so close to these mares (some in heat) and still mind their manners. But they do.
The only one that caused a little bit of trouble was this guy, Butch, but one look by Prince told him to stay away! He was also scolded by his two year old brother, Ziggy. He soon gets back into line next to his wise old mom.
Bugs with his two 2 year old colts, Skip and Ziggy. They act like satellite stallions to him. I believe Bugs to be a more submissive stallion...Prince is a more dominant stallion.
I can never get enough of these two playful half brothers.
Here are the two bands heading out to graze.
Here, Prince decides to go in another direction and turns his beautiful harem of mares in another direction. This was a fun encounter. I don't believe I had ever see these two bands interact before.
1 comment:
Wonderful pictures and love the narrative. I like knowing the horses have someone kind keeping an eye on them. I still firmly believe my mare and Prince are related; they look soooo much alike and must be close to the same age - maybe half siblings? She is 10 yo and came from that area. Thanks for posting such great shots. They look healthy!
Juanita
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