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.

Tuscarora's Band

On the hill we see Tuscarora's little band. I am curious to see how they are doing as the grey stallion has lost both of his mature mares. Gaia was found dead at Lake Draw of unknown causes and Talia is MIA. Now Tuscarora is left with 2 year olds and under.

He has added a two year old filly from Centauro's band, Tierra. She is a beautiful filly, she reminds me a bit of Sugar, the grulla/pinto mare in WildWind's band.

That is Tasca, she is a yearling filly out of Talia. I am so curious to know what happened to Talia. She was very bonded with her daughter and it is unusual she left her. Hopefully she will show up.

The strawberry roan is Lucky. Tuscarora added her after she gave birth to the little sorrel colt, Mike.

Comet is doing good even though she lost her dam at such a young age. Luckily she was born earlier this spring and can survive on grasses.

Tuscarora with his very young family band.

This is Comet's full , yearling sister, Arctic. I am amazed how white she still is. I believe she will be a palomino.

Tuscarora

Mike plops down and takes a short nap. He has a long winter in front of him.

Casper's Band

There's Casper, the grey, nudging his band along. We get a quick look before they vanish into their high desert Colorado home. The marker horse for me here is the white, lead mare...Eleganza.

There is Eleganza in the foreround...between her and her dk grey daughter, Gretchen, they shield little Mississippi, Gretchen's 2012 colt. He greyed out quick and is a handsome, healthy looking fellow. Eleganza has not had a foal for a couple of years and will help her daughter raise this little wild guy.

Eleganza! The essence of a wild mare. She is usually leading the way. Last summer she took her time choosing a stallion. She had about five stallions courting her and it was hard to determine who was band stallion. I called them "The Unsetttled Bunch" It would be hard to know who Mississsipi's sire is...Sancho, Rooibos, Half Moon, Casper? In the end she chose Casper. This summer they have been a settled band.

The bay mare in Casper's band we call Lady. She did not foal this year.. nor last. She had a gorgeous stawberry roan filly, Lucky, in 2010. Lucky is now with Tuscarora (who I will post about next). Before Lady ended up here she was with Vegas and  Casino.

Sancho continues to dog Casper.

Closer look at Sancho. It is always a pleasure seeing this elusive band. They all look healthy and ready for the winter ahead.

Bugs Band (With Feather and Nomad)

I got a quick glimpse of Bug's Band up on The Ridge at daybreak. I had not seen this band since early last summer. They were all there joined by Nomad and his only mare, Feather. The buckskin stud on the right (with the socks) is Nomad and the one on the left is Bugs. I had never seen these two side by side, they actually look quite similar.

Bugs and Nomad side by side. Look at that natural collection!

No new foals for this band this year, but these mares have been prolific since the 2008 gather. The sorrel, Hazel has had three colts... all palominos. Two of them are still with her..Sundance (2 yr old) and Titanium (yearling) . The third one, Nick, is a 3 year old who is currently MIA. The dun, Rita had a colt in 2009 (Ziggy) and has her 2010 colt by her side, Butch.

All of these wild horses looked fantastic! You would never know they have been through one of the worst droughts in Northwest Colorado history. This is what earns them the title "mustang".

Bug's two loyal mares.... the dun, Rita, and Hazel. Since I met Bugs early spring 2010 he has had these two mares.

Bugs keeps a close eye on us while Hazel leads her colt, Sundance, across the land she knows so well.

The yearling colt, Titanium.

The little grey horse is Madeline. Bugs got her the spring of 2011 when Prince's band broke up. She seemed content with this band from the start. She is a two year old out of Mystic.

Here you can see Nomad's mare, Feather, take the lead and the other horses follow her for a run. It is so beautiful to watch.

Oops, almost forgot Buddy, the black horse who dogs Bugs. He was there too... you can tell him by his two front pastern socks.