Tuscarora band

We saw Tuscarora's band today. He has a few new horses and one that came back... let me explain.

A couple of months ago one of Tuscarora's mature mares (Gaia) was found dead by Lake Draw. About the same time his other lead mare, this one, Talia, dissapeared leaving the grey stud with all young fillies and a 2012 colt. Anyway, today I see Talia has returned and she has a beautiful, vivacious greying out colt by her side. We'll call him Tokio. It is a mystery where she went. I am so glad she has come back to help Tuscarora with this large band.

Isn't he cute? Maybe some stallion stole Talia when she went to have this little guy, but no reports of anyone seeing her with another band.

The little red roan filly is Lucky. She joined Tuscarora with her little colt, Mike. Lucky is only 2 years old!

There's Mike. He is small, but looks super healthy and has three other foals to play with in his family band.

This is Arctic. Her mom was Gaia, the one who died. She is doing good along with her little sister Comet who was born early this spring.

Not a great photo but wanted to show you Comet's body condition. This is pretty amazing considering we are in severe drought and she is getting by without any milk.

Tuscarora now has both of Centauro's yearling fillies. Actually this is Arctic again, but Isis, from Centauro's band, is also a palomino. The grey pinto behind is Tierra, the other Centauro filly. No one has seen Centauro's band for awhile so wonder what is going on with that band.

Tierra, she was one of the first foals born spring of 2011 to Reyna from centauro's band. . I love her exquisite coloring.

I can't tell you how glad I was to see this mare, Talia! She has been with Tuscarora since the 2008 gather. It was so strange how she vanished when the other mare died.

So there they all are...twelve horses all together. Ten of them are three years or younger. The other new horses here are Makani and her colt Watson. Makani is out of Sunspot and Jet. Watson was most likely sired by Femur.

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".

Chrome's Band



I had heard Chrome, the dun with the 4 white socks, had stolen Femur's band last fall. Finally I get to see Chrome as a band stallion. He has one mature mare, Razzle ,and three,3 yr old fillies (most likely Jet babies)...Gypsy, Makani and Dazzle.

Chrome looks good. We have quite a few dun stallions on The Range, this guy is easy to tell apart as he has 4 white socks.

There's Razzle and Dazzle, this mother/daughter combo really sticks together. I am wondering where Scenic is, Scenic is Razzle's best mare friend. They were both with Jet post round up and then ended up together with Femur when Jet's band dismantled spring 2010. The two mares raised all of Jet's youngster's together this summer, as the other 2 Jet mares got separated and left their yearlings and two yr old fillies.

Later I find Scenic near by with Benson and her old friend, Zephyr, who also with the Jet band...

This split face black filly we call Gypsy. She is the daughter of Zephyr, Jet's grulla. She was seen briefly with Greasewood this fall, but went back to being with Femur before Chrome got her.

Another Jet filly, Makani. Her dam ended up with Centauro (Sun Spot).

Razzle..

She will be coming three. Femur has kept Jet's coming 2 yr olds...Nimbus and Kinstry...another friend reported seeing the trio together. She also though Nimbus might be a filly.

We will have to see if Chrome has what it takes to keep his harem of mares and fillies.

Femurs Band (feat Jet's Babies)

I see Femur's band quite often. The bay stallion has had them near the entrance, often near the road where they are easy to observe. Pictured is the entire band minus Femur.

Femur acquired this harem from Jet this spring. I have no idea how this happened. Femur is more tolerant of people then Jet is so it is nice we are able to get a close up view of Jet's beautiful foals.

This is a two year old filly we call Makani. Either Zephyr or Sunspot is her dam (I'd have to look that up). Anyway whoever the dam is she left Makani here with Femur.

This is Zephyr's yearling filly, Kinstry. She is turning into a grulla like her mom. It is unusual for a mare to leave her yearling daughter, but there is always an exception to the rule here. Zephyr found her way back to the black, Jet, and has had a new foal.

This is Scenic. I think of her as an auntie mare. She had a black baby of her own in 2009, but it vanished. She has not had another foal since, but she looks after the other youngster's that Jet left behind.

This filly is the only one in this band that is with their dam. It shows, she is a long two year old but was nursing earlier this summer! Her dam has not had another foal since this one (Dazzle). They are attached at the hip.

Gypsy...I am pretty sure this is Zephyr's 2 yr old filly she left behind. Once again, I'd have to go back and search my records.

I was glad to see little Nimbus, I had seen a yearling that looked like him, turns out he looks a lot like Diego from Rounder's band. This confirms who I saw earlier with bachelors was Diego. The greys are hard to ID.

I can spot this band a mile away by Razzle's swirl, no mistaking this mare.

The stallion, Femur. When I first met him he had Yellow Cat and Vogue plus Vogue's filly, Gem. Then he was a lonely ole bachelor stallion. Now he has this entire band! I don't know if the mares have really accepted him. They just don't "blend" like some other bands. Do they pine for Jet?

Femur is quite friendly towards humans. He usually comes up to have a sniff. So different then Jet who would snort and prance! I love them both.

Everyone in this colorful band looks good going into winter. They will have to be in top shape to make it through the long and brutal Colorado winter.