Dan's Band (Feat Cash)

I couldn't believe my eyes when we came upon Dan's band and they had this awesome new colt... a dun Pinto! I also couldn't believe the mare did not take off. She let us observe her new foal for a short while while keeping a watchful eye on us. The mare is Splash. She has not had a foal since 2009 (Noble).

Here is his other side. This is so late for a a new foal. I hope he can survive the winter! He sure looks healthy and is keeping up with his band.

Dan seems proud of his new son. There is also an awesome satellite stallion, Spyder, that I forgot to take photos of as I was so excited about seeing the little guy.

We call the new colt Cash. The little black horse is Fury, who was born this summer. She is very curious about her new brother. I am sad to see her mom, Britta, looks thin. She is only three years old.

Dan has kept one of his three year old colts, Clay. He belongs to the other mare in this band, Luna. Fury looks so little next to her big brother!

Luna... she is not skinny. She will easily survive any winter nature throws at her. We wondered if maybe she is pregnant... hard to tell. I know one or both of these mares are part of The HSUS PZP study as I saw them darting them in 2010.

Clay

Here you can see how little Cash is. What a gorgeous wild foal!

As we drive away I think "good luck little guy." 

Tuscarora band

We saw Tuscarora's band today. He has a few new horses and one that came back... let me explain.

A couple of months ago one of Tuscarora's mature mares (Gaia) was found dead by Lake Draw. About the same time his other lead mare, this one, Talia, dissapeared leaving the grey stud with all young fillies and a 2012 colt. Anyway, today I see Talia has returned and she has a beautiful, vivacious greying out colt by her side. We'll call him Tokio. It is a mystery where she went. I am so glad she has come back to help Tuscarora with this large band.

Isn't he cute? Maybe some stallion stole Talia when she went to have this little guy, but no reports of anyone seeing her with another band.

The little red roan filly is Lucky. She joined Tuscarora with her little colt, Mike. Lucky is only 2 years old!

There's Mike. He is small, but looks super healthy and has three other foals to play with in his family band.

This is Arctic. Her mom was Gaia, the one who died. She is doing good along with her little sister Comet who was born early this spring.

Not a great photo but wanted to show you Comet's body condition. This is pretty amazing considering we are in severe drought and she is getting by without any milk.

Tuscarora now has both of Centauro's yearling fillies. Actually this is Arctic again, but Isis, from Centauro's band, is also a palomino. The grey pinto behind is Tierra, the other Centauro filly. No one has seen Centauro's band for awhile so wonder what is going on with that band.

Tierra, she was one of the first foals born spring of 2011 to Reyna from centauro's band. . I love her exquisite coloring.

I can't tell you how glad I was to see this mare, Talia! She has been with Tuscarora since the 2008 gather. It was so strange how she vanished when the other mare died.

So there they all are...twelve horses all together. Ten of them are three years or younger. The other new horses here are Makani and her colt Watson. Makani is out of Sunspot and Jet. Watson was most likely sired by Femur.

Cody Band

Lucky, lucky us....Cody and his little band are just off the road and do not seem to flighty. We get out briefly and snap a few shots of this roan's gorgeous family band.

Cody's new adittion, Goldie,  the palomino three year old filly from Tuscarora's band, she seems to be getting along great!

... she has buddied up with Chikala, from Tashunka's band. She is a 2 year old Cody stole last year. These two seem to be the best of friends. It is great to see.

Cody's mare who stripe goes right we call Hope. She was a little lame today and was taking it easy with her new 2012 filly, Question. Look how healthy they look going into winter!

The mare whos stripe goes left is Cosima. She is tightly bonded with her 3 (?...maybe 2) year old filly, Rosie. Thank goodness Aleta has the horses all organized on a spread sheet. There are too many horses here for one person to remember.
 Do they look alike or what?

Cody did a pass by us to check out the new breed of mustanger..." us"... the modern day wild horse advocate... people who admire their beauty, grace, pride and family structure. We do not believe in helicopter round ups. These horses would be easy to bait trap if some needed removing. PZP has been effective here and people are willing to continue to do this.

We should be working toward making this a National Wild Horse Preserve, but I think other people (not many, but they have strong voices) have other plans for our friends ... like removing 200 by helicopter September 2013 (not confirmed).

Let's work towards more humane management here and work together to Preserve our herd! Please email jwfox@blm.gov. He is the man in charge of the next "gather". Please be nice! Tell him we would like to work together to make sure these Colorado wild horses are saved for generations to come!




 

Willie Nelson Band

We saw Willie from a distance and decided to hike out and see how he and band are doing. As usual, they were right near Ohitika's band and also close by was Storm's band.
Willie is the grey ( blue roany)/ pinto.
This band is confusing because Willie's two mature mares are a grey and a bay and the two stallions that dog him are a bay and a grey! I'll explain.

There's a proud looking Willie N. with his mature mares Frosty and Sedona.... Frosty is the grey, Sedona is the bay.

These are the young filllies in the band. The bay, Fancy, was born last year to Sedona. The roan is Flare, Frosty's 2 year old.

The yearlings , Satin (Frosty) and Fancy (Sedona). I have Satin ID'd as a colt.

I don't have a lot of photos of Frosty. She is people shy.

The rosy grey is Aragon. He has been dogging this band along with his buddy Solaris (behind him). Solaris once had these mares. He lost them to Willie late last summer (2011) and has been following them ever since.

I was surprised how good Solaris looked. The last time I saw him he had half his face torn off. The mustangs never amaze me with their ability to heal.

L to Right Sedona, Frosty, Flare, Mesa (Sedona's 2 yr old filly), Satin and Willie.

The Save

Well, we were up north driving around looking for Coffee Pot Springs... I know this sounds unbelievable, but after three years of exploring The Basin I could not tell you which hole is Coffee Pot. Anyway we are driving down CR 67 and come upon this scene. It is Destiny and Ohyhee (Blue's fillies) on the wrong side of the fence and a group of bachelor stallions and colts on the other side.

My first thought is where is Blue? Blue is their band stallion. I think it might be the horse on the right, but can't confirm. He looks too little and not roany enough? I know in the winter he turns a solid color... maybe it is him?? My next thought is how could I help? They clearly wanted out!

Destiny (the pinto) is the clear leader of the two , 2 yr old fillies. Blue got her as a yearling. It is very rare for a yearling filly to get separated from her family band at such a young age, but not unheard of. That was back in 2010, the other little bay came from Cobalt's band (dam Mahogany). Blue got her this spring.

I had to come home to ID these stallions but here we have from L to R Shane, Pete (the guy who had the rope around his neck), Renegade, Half Moon and ?? Is it Blue?
These are some horses I had on the MIA list, so good to see Renegade especially (the grulla). It looked like he had been with a foal as his tail was chewed off...
Also good to see the rope is no longer around Pete's neck
One could mistake Shane, the sorrel pinto for Falcon, but he is out of Shiva from Warrior's band (3 yr old colt).

The fillies stay on the fence line, the studs on the road.

Blue (?) and Half Moon, the beautiful red roan who I think is a 3 year old, but could be wrong. He could be older...Look at how good their feet look! That is a trait of an American mustang.

The fillies turn the other way and head towards a gate we have opened for them. They seem to be asking for help. These young horses have seen plenty of people, this helps in a situation like this. They do not panic.

I slowly herd the fillies down the fence line. All of the other horses take off except for Half Moon. He comes charging down the road and sets himself in position to push the fillies. We work together to herd the young mustangs to the opened gate. It seemed like eternity... maybe a quarter of as mile? We keep them at a walk. My biggest fear is they will take off to the right, but they don't. I cross my fingers and hope they will go through the waiting opened gate! I see the gate....When Half Moon hits that spot he runs left and the fillies follow!
I am smiling ear to ear as I close that gate.

I can't tell you how happy I was to see them gallop away, back into the HMA (Herd Management Area)! They are safer here where we can keep track of them and help them if needed (wishes).  

Cherokee's Band

front to back: Mirage, Mystery, Bonita, Cayenne, Mandalay, Freedom, Zander, Pico, Marty, Cherokee, Cayenne 

It is not often I see Cherokee's band and when I do they usually do  not stick around for long. Other people see them too and between us we have ID'd four, 2012 foals in  this elusive band of wild horses that reside in The Sand Wash Basin.

The grey/pinto mare, Bonita, has an unknown gender foal we call Cayenne.

The three year old filly on the right, Dolly, has this also unknown gender foal, Mica. Dolly originally came from Tuscarora's band. Her dam is Gaia. Gaia was the mare that was found dead by Lake Draw a couple of months ago. Mica will carry on her genes.

The little pinto foal we call Freedom. His dam is Mandalay...I believe Mandalay shares the duties of lead mare with  Bonita.

There is the band stallion, Cherokee, on the right with his two yearling colts out of Bonita and Mandalay...Marty and Pico. Marty is the grey and Pico is the sorrel. Marty has blue eyes. These two yearling colts are the best of friends!



Cherokee and his son, Freedom. No other band of horses out here has four foals! I would not be surprised if The HSUS had a hard time darting these mares in 2010.

Pico really inherited the good looks of his sire. Usually you can not say with certainty, but in this case I think we know for sure where Pico's genes came from!



There's Cayenne, Bonita's new foal! Other people have better photos of this band then I. By working together we are establishing an accurate public documentation. The BLM tryed to do an aerial count and once again concluded the only way to count this herd is from the ground.

Off they go! I love the wildness about this band. It's always a treat to see Cherokee's band! Long may they run.