Storm's Band

We spot a large group of horses in the valley below. We decide it is worth the hike to get up close and personal with the mustangs. I was most interested in this small band. I do not see them that often and worry about the development of the colt, RainDance.

A couple of months ago a friend had seen him with bachelor stallions. I am glad he is now back with his parents and hopefully getting some milk from his dam, Blue Sky.

Storm is a wonderful roman nosed dun with no white on him. One could get him confused with Hurricane. He put up a huge fight to get this lovely little mare spring of 2010 when Lightning's band went down. RainDance is most likely Lightning's son.

Here is the handsome dun having a word with Tashunka, the roan. The horses were in a group composed of about 5 bands. For the most part, they were are getting along.

It is hard to mistake Sky with her little lightning splash and great big blaze. I like her white eye lashes.

Storm loves her too...This is a very shy pair. This is one of the best encounters I have had with them.

RainDance reminds me of a little Cowboy or Ranger. He was born late last summer. I know the mare never got darted last fall, she evaded the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) and their darts and PZP. I never saw this foal until this summer. Very elusive indeed.

Happy Mustang!

I hope RainDance makes it through the winter. He looks a bit thin and not as robust as some. Time will tell.

Blue, Destiny and Friends

Here is a photo of Blue and Destiny. Blue is the hansome stallion and Destiny is the little medicine hat filly from Viggo's band. She is a yearling who somehow got seperated from her family last spring. At first she was with a group of youn bachelor stallions, but then Blue came along and has really claimed her as his own. He is very possevive of her and will fight hard to keep other stallions away.

On this day he had a large possee of young colts (mostly 2 year olds) that are not a threat to him. He even lets some of them interact with his filly. This was quite a sight. I am never ceased to be amazed how colorful these mustangs are. This was such a handsome group...I will try to explain who they are..

Blue on the right with two, two year old colts, Ziggy and Snip. Ziggy is from Bugs band (dam is Rita) and Snip, the black, is a Picasso baby. His dam is Olga, who is now with Vegas.

These colorful pinto are both 2 year old colts. Tango and Flash. Tango, on the left, is from Picasso and Mingo and Flash is Pablina's son, the most likely sire is Lightning. Aren't they gorgeous?

The palomino, Nick, is a bit of a mystery. I do not know what band he came from. He might be a 3 year old, but can't confirm. If he is a three year old he was not rounded up in 2008 as all weanlings were removed from the herd. Anyway, Nick is a nice mustang who is very social. He is usually with a large group of "boys".

Close up of Nick.

Blue stands out with his wonderful coloring. A blue roan at its finest! Destiny is safe with this guy.

The grey is Tonka, who was near by and came to have a word with Blue....nothing became of it. Tonka is a band stallion with a good size harem.

Picasso's 2 year old colts, Tango and Snip. It is nice to see them together. They are best of friends and half brothers.

Blue comes to get a closer look at me.

Miss Destiny otherwise known as "Miss America".

She has half a bonnet and a very nice shield. I don't know if she is a true medicine hat, but she sure is special.

Off they go!

All of these wild horses looked great and this was a really fun encounter!

Storm's Shy Band

I wanted to show you this little Sand Wash family that are very leery of people.

The lined back dun is Storm, he has no white on him. He stole this mare from Lightning when his band broke up the spring of 2010. We call her Blue Sky. She had a foal late last summer which I never saw until this year, he is Rain Dance, a colt.

It was nice to get a close look at this shy wild horse that sneaks around The Basin.

Little Rain Dance is not the chunkiest of mustangs, but is wirey and wiley and has wonderful pinto markings. A real momma's boy, being an only foal.

The handsome stallion from another angle. He put up quite a fight to get his one mare. He seems to adore her.

Blue Sky was one of the first mustangs I met in the fall of 2009. She was in Lightning's band, but Haze was also in there, another stallion, who is now a bachelor. She was usually near him which makes him the likely sire of Rain Dance.

I think Blue Sky may be pregnant. I know the HSUS was not able to dart her with PZP last year. I guess that wouldn't make much of a difference this year, but it will for next year... Their experimental study has not been very successful. That's because there is no science behind it and they do not have enough people in the field.

Mysteries

Here is an elusive little family. This is the first time I have seen this foal that is with the dun, Storm, and his mare, Blue Sky. Sky came from Lightnings band. She ran off with Storm last June. He keeps her well hidden. We need a name on the yearling. I don't know if it is a filly or colt.

Destiny is now with this black stallion who I believe to be Harlan. Destiny is Viggo's and Kira's yearling filly who ended up seperated from her family coming out of winter.

I am pretty confused about this band...I wonder if one is Tuscarora's 2 yr old filly, Dolly? Tuscarora was near by. I think the yearling is the one we called Slate? We need to do some research to ID this little band. I think the black stallion is Slick, who I need to get in an album.

This is a band I am slowly learning about. They have two crazy looking pinto mares, who look like they could be sisters. We named them Splash  and Luna. Splash has the 2 yr old sorrel colt, Roosevelt. He is easy to tell apart as he has a pinto marking on the side of his neck. The band stallion is one of the duns, I always forget which one. Both duns need ID's along with a yearling chestnut filly we have not recorded. I do not know who her mom is. I will add the duns along with the filly to our albums. I am going to do a whole post about this encounter. Please be patient!

Wow, this band was spooky with their new foal. I think the sorrel stallion is Solaris, who had a large band last year. The grey mare is Frosty, the roan yearling is her colt, Flare. The other horses are the bays Sedona and Mesa. Hope to see more of this band.

It was good to see Silverado, the white/grey, with his band. Nothing has changed here except for the mare's (Celeste's) new foal. I did not get a gender. The yearling filly is Bird. The black is a stallion we call Skerik. I don't know how he fits in. Satellite stallion? Aragon was dogging this band.

This is the white stallions, Warrior, band, minus Warrior. The mare and her 2 yr old colt (Shiva and Shane) are pintos. The new filly we call Diva. Bojangles is a satellite stallion for these guys. Cortez had this mare and her colt last year.

Cortez, the dun with the hour glass blaze, with his two mares, The white mare is Asha, she is nose to nose with her son, Aspen. The bay mare (Athena) was with Solaris last year. She does not seem to have foals.

I was lucky to find Vegas with PJ and Olga (from Picasso's band). This mare had joined them with her newborn.  I have better photos of this mare and will do some more research. I just want to make sure we don't count horses twice.  

I finally saw Tuscarora (another grey/white stallion) and his two mares, the yearling palo, Goldie, and the two new foals. This one belongs to Gaia, we named her Arctic. Talia's is younger and is also a filly . So nothing has changed too much here (phew) except his 2 yr old filly, Dolly is missing. These mustangs were not into being photographed on this day ....Talia (the grey mare) was very shy with the new filly.

Lightning's band

Sand Wash Basin American Mustangs through and through. Lightning's Band.

The little family makes sure that the only foal is safe from harm. I call him Flash. He is a little pinto colt.

Flash.... his mom, Pablina, is the white mare. The bay mare does not have a foal.

The family unit minus Blue Sky and Pablina.

The awesome band stallion, Lightning. This is just amazing to see. He looks so healthy and conditioned...I am in awe!

Lightning and his daughter?  I call her Blue Sky. I am so glad she got spared being rounded up in 2008. She likes to be wild, I know. They seem to thrive in these extreme conditions with no humans interfering.

The one and only, Blue Sky. She has a nice pinto splash, a great big blaze and white eye lashes. A real American Beauty.

She blends in so well! The Sand Wash has so many grey/white ponies. Love it! I call her grey boots. (Later her name was changed to Pablina).

Beauty in motion.

Lightning takes care of his family. He is wary of me .... the way they move through the snow is incredible.

I think she is a 2 year old, one blue eye one brown, stunning little filly. One of the few young females I have seen. The mustangs must have gotten all mixed up when they were rounded up. No thought was given to bands. The mares were put in one area and the stallions in another. Every single weanling (2008 foal) was removed. We can do better. Seems like the system needs to be changed.

These two got separated from the herd, major drama. They like to stick together, that is for sure! The chestnut is a stallion.

Family portrait minus two horses.

Finding plenty to eat, looking very healthy for the middle of winter.

I call this chestnut beauty, Haze. He is like Blue Sky, one brown eye, one blue. He is a wild thang! This is a satellite stallion.

Little Flash, the lone 2009 foal, he is special.

Here is Lightning showing off his unusual facial markings.

These pictures are from back in November. I met this handsome stallion and his lovely harem near Two Bar Spring. His pinto markings are so much like Benson's, but they look nothing alike! He has 2 of the whitest mares I've ever seen. One of the foals looks a lot like Lightning, but is sorrel. I call him  Flash. This is a very stunning looking family of horses. I have a video posted of this group earlier on this blog. Also try Micahflash channel on You Tube for this and a few more videos of Sand Wash Mustangs.