Hurrricane's Band

Well it has been almost 2 years since I have done any documentation of the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses. I would like to continue my work and join forces with the other photographers to make sure we are supplying accurate numbers to The BLM.  It is good to be back with my friends, the wild horses. This is Hurricane's Band.

The first thing that catches my eye is a new foal for Pablina, the elder grey/white mare who I first met in 2009 when she was with Lightning. She joined Hurricane, along with her bay friend, Floriano, a couple of yesrs ago. The band has added two additional mares, Dusty and Rudi, both I recognize.

This is Dusty's 2014 filly. She was named Allie. Now a days the photographer who spots the foal first gets to put a name on it. It is then added to a spreadsheet, given a number and reported to The BLM. The link between the documentation and The BLM is a group called SWAT. They came on to the scene a couple of years ago. They mostly focus on PZP and counting foals, much like The HSUS did when they were here.  They have put  our herd over AML (appropriate management level) of 363 wild horses. I believe this number is high as their is no way to determine a death/escape rate. Many of us continue to advocate on The Sand Wash Basin Wild Horse face book page where we are biased towards the horses.

This is my first look at Hurricane's "Twins". I had heard a lot about them through face book and have seen them grow up through other people's photos. They are not actual twins. One is from Dusty , the other from Pablina. They are both colts, have stripes on their legs and are a handful for Hurricane! Please check The SWBWH page under 2013 foal albums for their names. They are just stunning!

Our main documenter is from New Zealand. I took these photos for her and others so we can tell the two apart. The BLM is talking of "chemical vastectomies" for our stallions. I am against this.  

The bay is Floriano. She does not have many foals of her own. She had a beautiful colt in 2010, Cabellero, he stayed with the family for a long time, but has now left. I have not seen a photo of him for a long time. I am more concerned with keeping track of the ones gone missing.  Maybe this winter we can focus on that.

After the round up of 2008 Hurricane was young and ran with the bachelors, but it did not take him long to steal a couple of mares. We have many dun stallions here. Hurricane has a snub nose, a trait admired by mustang lovers like myself.

Dusty is a 2009 mare out of Prince's band. I remember when she left her family band. She was briefly with Picasso before settling in with Hurricane. Back then we tried "sponsor a wild horse" for fun on face book. A person got paired up with a horse and was going to keep track of him and her.

Some folks say we are too emotionally attached to these animals, that from a management point of view that makes no sense. The BLM asked me time and time again "How does the social structure affect the way we mange these wild horses"?
I think it matters a lot and we should interfere as little as possible. I think we should have a say in which mare receives PZP and their should be a public album where we can see which of our mares have been darted.

This beautiful band displays primitive markings.

What does the future hold for this filly?