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.

Bachelor Stallions

I wanted to show you a few of our wonderful bachelor stallions. Here are L to R....Hoot, Tango and Nick. I can't confirm, but I am almost sure Hoot is from Eagle's band. Tango is one of Picasso's 2 yr old colts and Nick, the palomino, is a mystery.

Usually if I see a group of bachelors there is an older stallion amongst the younger ones. This is Haze. He was with Lightning's band in 2009/2010 then has been on his own since. Last year he hung out with Hurricane. Earlier this year he stole Kangee, the black mare from Tashunka's band, right after she gave birth to Ladore, her 2011 filly. But that did not last long as Kangee found her way back to her band stallion. Look for this stallion to have mares of his own in the near future. For now he shows the young colts the ways of a wild horse.

Hazre has one blue eye.

This is Picasso's other 2 year old colt, Snip. He is Olga's son. He struck out on his own late last fall after his brother, PJ, was born.

The mustang in the foreground is Flash. He is Pablina's and Lightning's 2 yr old. He knows Haze well as Haze was his satellite stallion when he was a born into Lightning's band.

Hoot and Tango, beautiful pinto colts.

Tango, a Picasso baby. Hard to mistake him as he has those freckles that set him apart.

Here is yet another 2 year old that was with this group. This is Ziggy. He is from Bug's band. There are many 2 year olds out here because they were all born in 2009 after the Oct 2008 round up. Round ups cause the mustangs to breed more.

This is another day, another band of bachelor stallions. Hurricane(dun), River(grey), Capitano(bay) and Skip(palomino).

All of these colts are 2 year olds except for the solid dun, Hurricane. The bay is Capitano from Centauro's band. The grey is River from White Out's and Skip, the palomino, is from Bug's band.

This is KIowa. He is an older stallion really trying to find some mares of his own. He has been babysitting River and Capitano all summer, but on this day was on his own challenging Corona, Greasewood and Rounder. He is strong and fit. It would be nice to have another breeding pinto out here.

Challenging Rounder.

Greasewood says "Stay away from my mares!"

Greasewood proves he is dominant and escorts Kiowa away from his mares in the rain.