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.

Cherokee's Band (Feat Cherokee's Mystery) First Foal!

Well, as I was watching these bachelor stallions play, I notice a horse in the background. Do you see him? I start to walk towards him..

....and he starts walking towards me..It is Cherokee! I am so excited, I have not seen this stallion and his lovely band of wild horses for a very long time.

My heart starts racing...there is a new foal! The first foal I have seen this season and it is a beaut!

There are three other mares with Cherokee. I am confused. I know the grey and white pinto is Bonita and the big chestnut with the diamond star is Mandalay.

The other two sorrel mares I am not so sure about. I just can't seeem to place them. I did not see this band enough last year to have accurate records. I think Miracle, who is with Vegas, was Bonita's 2009 filly. The sorrel with the new foal might be Mirage?

This is Dolly, Tuscarora's and Talia's 2009 filly. Thank you Felicia for researching this!! Dolly was last seen with Copper last fall.

Here are the youngsters... all colts. The pintos are yearlings and the grey is a 2 year old.

Zander, the grey, is Bonita's.

This is Zander's little brother, Marty. He has turned out fantasitic! He has lovely blue eyes and a very curious personality.

Finally! I get to see the 2011 sorrel pinto foal up close, this is Pico. We have him recorded and named, but this is the first close shot. Looks a lot like his handsome sire.

The new guy (I am pretty sue his is a colt) has been named Cherokee's Mystery by facebook friends. He will also be put on a spreadsheet and be assigned a number for our public documentation (thanks Aleta).

He is a healthy little fellow and carries the genes of his proud ancesters before him. All of these mares look pregnant. We are trying to get the ID's of the mares the HSUS darted in 2010 with PZP (50), but  are being ignored. It would be in the horses' best interest to work together. I wonder if they are looking at my data for their experimental PZP study. I wouldn't care if they shared their data too!

Centauro's, Jet's and Cherokee's Bands

I briefly saw Centauro's large band. I confirmed they are all still there...all 11 of them. This is the only band that I know of that has four 2011 foals. The bay mare, Reyna, was very flighty and, as usual, led them off. All membes looked sound and healthy.

Wow was I ever happy to see the black, Jet, streak by with his one mare, Zephyr, and her new foal who we named Zepplin on face book. We have not confirmed the gender. Jet had the largest band when he was rounded up in Oct 2008. He seemed to get his mares back and had quite a large band (9) until this spring when something totally disbanded them. Jet ended up alone. Femur got 2 of his mares and all of his 2009 and 2010 fillies and colt. The white mare (Sunspot...lost foal) is with Centauro and this grulla found her way back to Jet. Look for him to get more mares. He is extremely athletic. Go Jet! I love this stallion, I have seen him race across the desert at turbo speed. I will never forget the power of Jet.

Cherokees Band.... I have only got a close up view of them a few times. Earlier this spring I recorded the grey/white pinto lead mare (Bonita) gave birth to a pinto colt, also a grey. There he (Marty) is running second behind his mom (she looks just white here). The horse behind that 2011 colt is Zander (grey), Bonita's yearling colt. The next horse in line is the only mustang that needs a name in my project "Photo Documentation of the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses". The HSUS worker told me he is a colt. He is marked very much like the stallion, Cherokee, who is not shown in this photo. The brown mare is Mandalay. I don't know much about her and even less about the horse behind her (also brown). I know it is a filly we named Mirage. I am pretty sure Miracle, who is now with Vegas, is the 2 yr old filly from this mystery sorrel mare..