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?

Hurricane's Band

There is Hurricane's band sneaking across their high desert home. Hurricane is the dun. The white mare, Pablina, shares duties as lead mare with the bay, Floriano. The two mares have been together since the 2008 round up. They were with Lightning first, then Rounder....last fall they took up with this young stallion. We call him Hurricane. Before this he was a bachelor stallion. I remember he used to hang out with his buddy Chrome, harrassing the older stallions.

The bay guy with the big blaze is Cabellero. He is a real momma's boy. He was born in 2010.

Lozania is Pablina's yearling filly. She is the youngest horse in this band. Pablina looks a little lean. I wish we could put some hay out for them and get them used to being in a corral.

Dusty is the odd ball here. She is a 3 year old filly from Prince's band who joined these guys last fall (2011). She is an easy keeper and looks good. I am glad she does not look pregnant. Sure wish The HSUS had PZP'd our younger horses while they were out here....

It was really nice to see as these horses as I have not seen them for a long time. This place is VAST.

Hurricane's Band

On the way out of the range I spot Hurricane's band on a small ridge. They have moved about 10 miles south since the last time I saw the (;ast week). They are looking for food...it is sparce. The sheep are thick towards the entrance and have been parked there for quite a while.

Originally I thought the new grey filly in this band was White Sage, but now I am pretty sure it is Dusty, out of Moonlight, from Prince's band. Dusty has has  quite an adventuresome life for a 2 yr old filly......When Prince's band broke up this spring she and her mom ended up with Blazer, then they were with Rounder.....then Prince got both his mares back along with their 2 yr old fillies (Dusty and Oda). This didn't last long (for Dusty)....Dusty was seen with Greesewood, Picaaso and now, Hurricane....all during the last couple of months! She seems happy here...she likes the 2011 filly Lozaniza. They seem to always be together (for the brief glimpses I get)
I know of no other filly that has been with that many stallions in such a short time. Most of the 2009 fillies are still with their moms.

The ever elegant, Pablina. She is a prolific mare. Lozania is her 2011 baby. She also had the 2009 colt, Flash, and the 2010 colt, Diego. Diego got kicked out at an early age (as a weanling) late this summer. He has been seen with bachelors. Flash is a big strong, social 2 yr old. He is a pinto....I believe the son of Lightning.

The only colt in the band...Cabellero. He is unique in that he has a flaxen mane and dark tail and this stand out blaze. He is the bay mares (Floriana's) yearling colt. Floriana is not as prolific as her grey "sister", Pablina. She did not have a foal in 2009 (to my knowledge) nor this year. She is a wary mare and always on the alert.

There's Hurricane out front (the dun). He is a young, inexperienced band stallion and it shows. He is losing weight and does not have full respect from the mares. They seem a little doubtful about his leadership. It will be interesting to see if he can hold on to all these mares. Notice the ever alert bay mare, she has been really spooky lately.

It's fun to see these young stallions with mares. It really "fluffs their feathers" and makes them happy mustangs! Good luck Hurricane!

Off they go....I also saw Prince's, Yellowman's and Greasewood's bands from the binoculars. It seemed like the domestic mare, Demi was missing. Yarrow is still hanging in there!

Prince and Picasso's Bands

Well, it is confirmed...Prince, the elegant white stallion, got his chestnut mares back along with their 2 year old daughters. Last week I caught a glimpse of them sneaking across the desert, then I saw Rounder without them. It took Prince all summer, but he has his girls back. It is great to see.

 This was one of the first bands I saw when I began observing the herd the autumn of 2009. They were just like this with the fillies being little weanlings. Then Prince added the ghost pinto, Mystic, and her newborn daughter, Madeleine spring of 2010 (they came from Lightning's band). He came out of winter with his band intact, but all hell broke loose (I have no idea what happened), but  Rounder ended up with Sunshine and Blazer got Mystic and Moonlight, the other mare. Prince ended up alone... Then Moonlight found her way back to Sunshine and joined Rounder's band. Just recently Prince got them back...So now things are how they started. The dynamics out here are complex and fascinating.

I hiked over a mile to get these shots. I really wanted to see Prince back with his mares. He did not look so good when he was alone. To me he is an old friend.

This is the grey 2 year old filly. She was the one that was with Blazer, then ended up joining Rounder. They never seemed to mix in Rounder's band. Rounder's mares never seemed to accept them.

I call them "the twin chestnut mares"...Sunshine and Moonlight. Named after Steamboat ski runs. I really think they are sisters. They have not had foals since 2009.

The other two year old filly, Oda. She really takes after her mom in the good looks and color departments. She is best friends with Dusty, that is for sure! Such mama's girls. I wonder how long they will stay with their dams? The mother/daughter relationships are some of the strongest out here.

So I'm looking at Prince and his family and look who appears? Picasso! He looks great and seems to be chasing Prince's band. Does he have his eye on Dusty and Oda? I was worried about the Icon as a fellow photographer had shots of a banged up knee, probably from when Vegas stole his yearling daughter, but on this day he was 100% sound and "feeling his oats"!

Picasso's loyal mares...Mingo and Monet.

Picasso's band.....a band with no youngsters.

A fine looking pair!

While I was watching Prince and Picasso, Greasewood came from a mile away to say hi. I could see his mare Yarrow through my binoculars and I saw her run! This is good news...the little mare has been very lame for most of the summer, but I saw her leading her band. More proof how tough these mustangs are!

It was well worth the hike to see this beautiful band of mustangs reunited with each other. And seeing Picasso was a bonus!

Rounder's Band

Lucky me....on this day I am fortunate enough to run into Rounder's band. I had heard there were some changes to his harem and it was nice to see for myself.

Pablina, the flea bitten mare, has lost her yearling son, Diego. Hopefully he has struck off on his own and has found some bachelor stallions to roam the range with. This is about the time of the year the first yearling colts leave their families. Diego was born early last spring so he would have been old enough to strike off on his own.

Rounder now has both of Prince's chestnut mares plus both of their 2 year old fillies. For awhile the mares got seperated when Prince's band got "disbanded". Moonlight was with Blazer for a short while, but found her way back to her "twin sister" and best friend, Sunshine. They have a very tight bond. Here you see the mares with their fillies.

Rounder, the impressive liver chestnut band stallion.

That's Juniper, she joined this band sometime between last fall and this spring. She is a 2 year old filly from Cosmo's band.

The only 2011 foal in this band, little Lozania. She is growing healthy and strong and is well taken care of by her family band.

Here are Rounder's original mares, Pablina and her bay friend, Floriano. They came from Lightning's band. They have a very tight bond and are not real accepting of Moonlight and Sunshine yet.

I love this sweet little colt. We call him Cabellero. He is Floriano's yearling. He was born later then his brother, Diego, the one that is missing. Often the colts will leave when their dams have their new foal. I don't think Floriano was bred this year, but I could be wrong. If she doesn't have a 2011 foal, most likely Cabellero will stay with his dam, but nothing is certain out here.

Cabellero is getting to know his new sister, Dusty. She is Moonlight's 2 yr old filly.

Dusty, most likely Prince is her sire.

That's Oda, Sunshine's daughter and Dusty's best friend. I am so glad they somehow got reunited.

The family bonds between these mustangs are strong. We should take this into consideraton if we have a "gather". It is inhumane to chase them with helicopters and rip the families apart. In this day and age we can do better. We should be working on a bait system where we could pull out a few adoptable youngsters if there is a population problem.

Juniper, Cosmo's daughter, Rounder's young mare. She seems content here.

Rounder with his new mares.

Kiowa, the pinto bachelor stallion is challenging Rounder, he would like some mares of his own. He has been "babysitting" two 2 year old colts all summer, but seems ready to have mares. He is strong and fit and it giving Rounder a real threat.

Rounder is a lean machine. He is off to face off with Corona, who is near by.

Nothing much becomes of it and he backs down from the dunalino. Rounder will have to work hard to keep all these mares. He has no satellite stallion to help him. We will have to wait and see what happens.