Jet's band

Sorry I have not been posting much lately. Northwest Colorado is in extreme draught and it is brutal conditions on The Range...the wild horses are no worse for wear. Here is Jet's band. They are watering at Lake Draw along with a lot of other mustangs. The mares with the new foals are Jet's 3 yr old fillies, the foals are most likely Femur's.

Jet...The Black. This stallion had the largest band when the mustangs were last rounded up in 2012. He lost his entire family last spring (no idea what happened). Only his grulla mare,  Zephyr, made her way back to them. Together they raised Zephyr's 2011 filly, Zeppelin last summer. Then in the fall of last year his pinto mares (Scenic and Razzle) were observed back with Jet along with his 3 yr old fillies (Makani, Dazzle and Gypsy). Zephyr and Zeppelin ended up with Benson.

Both of the new foals are colts. A friend of the mustangs named them Doc and Watson. This is Watson. His mom is Makani. Makani's mom is Sunspot, who is now with Centauro. The pinto shown is Dazzle.

Isn't he cute?

Jet's Band

The black, Jet, has his pinto mares back! ... they spent last summer with Femur, the Chrome. I have no idea why. They seem much more content with Jet.

He also has these two, three year old fillies...Makani (grey) and Gypsy(split face). These two were separated from their dams when Jet's band broke up last spring. Makani's dam is Sunspot who is now with Centauro and Gypsy's dam, Zephyr, is with Benson.

Makani.... like I've said before the greys are really hard to ID. It is fine if they are with their bands , but once they move on it is difficult. There are a couple of grey bachelor stallions I can't figure out. It is my hopes this year we can combine the HSUS data with mine (ours) to get a really great documentation of this herd. That way we can have accurate numbers and know how the individual horses fit into the complex social structure of this herd of genetically viable wild horses. This will help them in this modern world.

This stallion had the biggest band when the mustangs were last rounded up in 2008. The HSUS calls him Sheeten (we would have used that name, but it leaked out too late... public folks liked "Jet"). I know naming wild horses is a touchy subject to many...for me the most important thing is we all use the same ones. It is a way for us humans to communicate about them, they do not make the horses any less "wild".

 I just love his conformation, wiley spirit and the way he moves! I will post a video of him on my YouTube channel for all to see!

The mother/ daughter (Razzle/Dazzle) combo in the middle have an incredibly tight bond. The mare on the right (Scenic) had a beautiful black foal in 2009.,but it "vanished" in 2010. It is in the "MIA or died" album on facebook along with about 10 other horses. Sand Wash Basin is an extreme place for a horses to live...many perish. In my opinion, it is important to have a death rate when calculating numbers.

Jet's Band (He's Back!!!)



This made me smile....Jet has gotten his pinto mares (Razzle and Scenic) back after almost 10 months of being separated and they are right where they always are this time of year...He also has all three of his 3 year old fillies (Makani, Gypsy and Dazzle) with him. Zephyr, the grulla who was the only one who summered with him, is missing along with her 2011 filly, Zeppelin. They were last seen with Benson.

This leaves Chrome a bachelor stallion. The mares seem more then pleased to back with Jet. They never settled with Femur nor Chrome. Plus they like to be together...they are "best mare friends".

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..