Warrior's Band

It was nice to bump into Warrior and his small band. I had not seen them for quite awhile. Warrior is the grey here shown with his one mare, Shiva, her 2 yr old son, Shane and her 2011 filly, Diva.

That's Bojangles. their satellite stallion.

I did not meet this stallion until this spring. Last summer Shiva and Shane were with Cortez and Bojangles was a bachelor stallion.

Diva

The wild horses get their nerve up and do a trot by. I love it when they do this.

They get a good look (and smell) of me.

OK that was enough! Let's go!

The pretty mare, Shiva. She has real classic Sand Wash good looks.

I like Diva's funny little stripe. I think she will live up to her name!

Bojangles gets right in there and mingles with this band.

Jibs Band

Good Morning Jib!

If you see Jib you will also see his lead mare, Crazy Horse.

There's Crazy's new foal, Riddler. I thought for sure this was a colt, but now unsure. Her stripe looks like a question mark.
Later...I have confirmed Riddler is a filly.

Jib has another mare, Jill. She is very shy and has passed on this trait to her new filly, Dash.

Here is Dash sneaking by...I notice Jill's yearling filly, Jewel, is missing.

Riddler...this band is pretty territorial. They like to live in the monster sage.

This is a very elusive band. My visit was short...They were hanging out near Warrior's band...I will blog about them next.

Centauro's Band

Centauro's band! I was very excited to see this band of wild horses come streaking across the desert. I just hoped they stopped so I could get a good look at them.

The beautiful dappled grey stallion.

He stops and gives me a big snort. He sees me as no threat and gives me a quick look at his very special family. Centauro has the most 2011 foals on the range....four. They are all beauties.

This is the youngest of the four foals....he is a colt we call Kona.

This little filly, Isis, was born just a week before her brother. She will be a stunning palomino like her mom.

This mare, Sunspot, joined Centauro this spring. She came from Jet's band when they "dismantled". Sunspot loves Centauro. It shows. She was pregnant, but somehow lost her foal.

Here is Sunspot from her "mane" side. She had a foal last year....a colt, Nimbus. He is  with Femur and that gang. I have no idea why she left hm behind, but he is doing OK. He is a beautiful grey like her.

Reyna is a cool mare. She is part of the PZP study, but keeps having foals anyway. This is the first time I have seen her without her 2 yr old filly, Ramona...I wonder if she is alive and who has her? Reyna had the most gorgeous filly early this spring....Her 2 yr old colt, Hawk, is a strong bachelor stallion.

...Tierra. I just love the looks of this filly! I wonder if she will be a rare grulla pinto? Maybe just a grey? She and her brother, Terora, were the first wild foals I saw this spring. They were born a good 3 months before Kona and Isis.

Sofia, the other bay mare, but youn can easily tell her a part from Reyna. She is the most wily and will usually lead the band away.

Centauro's foals.

All four of them together.

The two fillies...Isis and Tierra.

Love her!

Sofia having a roll.

The two palominos are mother/daughter.

This stallion really shows his Spanish ancestory.

Phantom's Band

I spot a white stallion look out....he is quite a ways off, but I decided to proceed slowly. Who is it?

The mustangs are quite spooky. I wonder if this is Renegade's missing mare with her youngsters?

I can not confirm this, but the last time I saw Renegade he was missing his mare and her foal (Mia and Kitty). He just had the 2 yr old (Tia). I will have to do some research and ask some fellow friends.

I do not recognize this white stallion. I can't believe it...there was a stallion we called Phantom last year that has not been seen....for now I am going to assume it is him. I will not add another horse as so many are MIA from last year..

Has the Phantom returned?

Well, this is about all the shots I got of this wily bunch. The HSUS worker said Harlan had Mia and Kitty (Renegade's), but I just can't think who else this could be. If any one knows speak up!

Copper's Band (The Dark Ones)

Not a lot of white in Copper's band.

The bay band stallion. This band is very elusive and not real tolerant of people.

There are 2 2011 colts in this band, Boomer and Red. This is Boomer.

This is Red.

Two very shy wild horses...yet curious. I have these all ID'd and genders confirmed, but I am getting to the point I would have to go back and look at my records. This place is huge! No one person could ever document a range this big. It would have to be a GROUP EFFORT. Time to unite and not be "Johnny come lately" if they decide to round up our friends...I am advocating for bait trapping, enlarging the HMA to the east. Feeding some of the horses and get them used to corrals..... PZP select mares....To me the most important thing is getting accurate numbers and record what it going on. For the modern day mustang, documentation is key to their management. My dream would be to never use helicopters again out at SWB. We could humanely bait trap a few youngsters if we need to adopt any out...For now I am concerned with them making it through the winter...

I just love this big, solid bay mare...she has no offspring off her own, but is an excellent "auntie" horse to the youngsters. We call her Scarlett.

Copper with his yearling colt, Coal.

The black mare, Evita, looks pregnant again. She is a prolific mare, but many out here are not.

After a mud bath.

It is always special when I see "the dark band". They are really difficult to document because of the lack of white markings, but I think I have got it down (for now)!