Cosmo's Band

On this day we get lucky and see Cosmo's band at the Lake first thing. Cosmo has bachelors dogging him all summer and the boys look a little run down.

The bachelors all seem to be after the grey three year old filly, Juniper. Kiowa had her at one point last summer and will not accept the fact that she wants to be with her family band. That's Hoot in the middle, Kiowa on the right. Cosmo does not have a lot of fight left in him and seems to allow these stallions to mingle with his band.

That's Tulip...I wanted to show you the nice wind knot that she has grown. She is the dam to the only youngster in the band, Milagro. He is also the only colt. He is a 2011 foal.

There is the little guy, Milagro, on the right. The big grulla is Grace and the grey on the left is her gorgeous 2010 filly, Heidi.

Heidi

Milagro

As you can see the horses are not as fat and plump as they should be this year. The forage is scarce, especially on the southern end of the HMA where Cosmo resides. The sheep were in all last winter and then we never got any rain (or very little) this summer. This is the worst drought year in Northwest Colorado history. In my opinion we should be feeding them and getting them used to bait trapping, but The BLM still is saying they will do a helicopter round up because of cost. There are many people who feel this is inhumane and will fight to see that our wild horses are treated with respect.

Outlaw looked especially thin and a little droopy. It is hard to see. It would not be that hard to drop them some hay. It would be cheaper then rounding them all up and feeding them in pens. Anyway as we drove on further we did not see many skinny horses. Cosmo has been run down all summer due to the dogging bachelors. At least things seem to be calming down. Cosmo's mares are so loyal to him. It is an amazing thing to see!

Cosmo's Band

This is Cosmo's band.

The dappled grey stallion, Cosmo, looks a little beat up and thinner then normal.

....I think it is because these two bachelors, Kiowa and Hoot, are after his three year old filly, Juniper. Juniper just recently returned to her family band after spending the summer with Rounder's family then she spent some time alone with Kiowa, when Hurricane took over Rounder's mares. She seems to tease the young bachelors, but in the end, makes it clear she would like to stay with Cosmo, her mom (Tulip) and the rest of the mustangs she grew up with.

Kiowa has a big scrape on his side, most likely he has gone to the ground fighting over Juniper (can't confirm).

This band has only one 2011 foal, a colt....this little guy, Milagro. These mares are all in the HSUS PZP study...they would have been easy to dart summer of 2010 because they are very tolerant of people.

Look at his mane! It looks like the mares have roached it for him!

Milagro's full brother, Astro (2010 colt) is missing.

Here is one of those mother/daughter combos that are stuck together like glue. The little pinto is the mom...we call her Vogue. The big sorrel is her 2009 filly, Gem These two were with Femur before Cosmo. Gem has Femur's stripe...but we can not know for sure he is her sire. They have an incredible bond.

Gem

The big Grulla, Grace, with her 2010 filly, Heidi. Heidi was born late in the summer, but has grown to be a strong and sturdy little wild horse.

Heidi

The big dun, Cowgirl.

Cowgirl's other side.

We call this pretty mare, Jess. No foals for this mare.

Will Cosmo be able to keep all of his mares?

The bachelors continue to stalk Juniper.

Cosmo's Band

It was really nice to see Cosmo's band. I hadn't seen them for a while. Cosmo is a layed back grey stallion, very much loved and respected by his harem.

Cosmo on the left. The dark grulla is Grace ...next to her is her stunning yearling filly, Heidi. Heidi was born about this time last year. I am wondering if Grace is pregnant again? Hard to tell. She was all over Cosmo on this day.

There is only one 2011 foal in this large band...the little chestnut we call Milagro. He is out of the flea/bitten grey, Tulip. Tulip is the only prolific mare in this band. Last year she had a colt, who is now missing (Astro). I am hoping he is off with the bachelor stallions. The other grey here is Jess, she never seems to have babies.

Jess

Milagro

Cosmo, Grace and Heidi. Isn't Heidi a beautiful shade of grey?

The little pinto mare is Vogue. Before Cosmo she was with Femur. Cosmo acquired her and her 2009 filly (shown here) last spring. The filly we call Gem. She is larger then her dam now, but still a momma's girl.

The dun is Cowgirl...no foals for her. She plays "aunt" to little Milagro.

Cosmo... He is a very nice, loyal stallion. Just love this guy.

Going in for some afternoon milk. The wild horses were lazy on this day and hanging out in a big bunch. There were at least four other bands near by...all getting along.

The lovely Vogue.

Heidi....we will have to wait and see if her mom has another late foal this year.

Cosmo's Band

I set out this morning hoping I would come across Cosmo's Band. I had heard he had a new foal back in April, who I still had not seen. He even had been given a name and an ID number for our spread sheet. Well... lucky me, with a little doing, I finally spot Cosmo and the molting little colt we call Milagro. Here he is with his full brother, Astro. 

There are the two  brothers using their "auntie" Jess, for a scratching post. Jess does not produce offspring....at least not so far. I believe she is a young mare, but that is just a guess. She is part of the HSUS PZP study. E mail hhopkins@humanesociety. org for more info.

The grey mare, Tulip, who is Milagro's mom, has had three foals in a row. Her 2 year old filly Juniper, recently left the band and joined Rounder, the liver chestnut who lives near Cosmo.

I can't tell you how glad I was to see this regal band stallion. He is very tolerent of people and lives towards the entrance. Couldn't we set up a baiting system to manage this band? It seems like a sin to chase these docile animals with helicopters. Why not set up corrals with electric gates where we could humanely manage the horses? Why not feed them if they are starving? PZP select mares? Pull out domestics and adoptable horses? This land has been severly manipulated by man. The land and the mustangs are screaming for help. Things have changed, we must think of ways to preserve this herd and the land they call home.

High desert beauties....

This little filly we named Heidi is a looker, a real stand out. She was another late foal last year (born in Aug). Her mom is a grulla and I think she might be too. Just love this filly!

Cosmo

Milagro with his mom, Tulip. Tulip looks very much like the flea bitten mare with Rounder, Pablina. We will have to keep our eye out for that if they decide to "gather"

The colors in this band of wild horses is exquisite!

The little pinto mare is Vogue...she is shown with Heidi (no relation). Vogue joined Cosmo the middle of last summer with her 2009, filly, Gem.

The sorrel front and center is Gem. I highly suspect her sire is Femur, but can't confirm. Real momma's girl this one. Like I have said before the mother/daughter relationships are sometimes the strongest.

Vogue and Gem

That's Tulip, the prolific mare in the harem. She sure has beautiful folas. I think she is part of the PZP study. They administerd the drug in the corrals in 2008 and then darted 50 of the original 63 mares with the drug again last fall (2010)....half with PZP and half with PZP 22. Next year we will see if it makes any difference. The 2008 dosing was a failure as it was given the wrong time of year....we had over 40 foals in 2010. Also in 2009 we had a bumper crop, making me believe rounds ups cause the mares to reproduce even more! We should take more time and see what happens if we just leave them alone for more then 4 years. In the meantime we should be working on a humane bait system. We also should be cleaning up the range, work on enlarging the HMA to the east, close gaps in fence, communicate...Let's show the nation Colorado leads the way in wild horse management.

Heidi