Tashunka's Band

Tashunka is the roan front and center. He has three loyal mares who each have an adorable yearling filly by their sides

The band stallion, Tashunka.

Tashunka's black mare, Kangee. She joined this band in the fall of 2010.

Kangee had this little bay filly last year, Ladore. We can tell her apart by her two rear hind socks, her snip and round star.

Ska Wakan is Tashunka's grulla mare. She has been with him since thew 2008 round up. Last year she almost died. She had her foal and then started losing weight. Somehow she made a come back and raised her 2011 foal successsfuly. She also has a 2010 filly, Chikala, who is now with Coty and is expecting any day.

Ska had this gorgeous roan filly last year, Tecomseh. She is the oldest of the three fillies.

Tashunka's third mare is the bay with no ear tips (probably frost bite). We call her Moda which means Little Bear in Lakota.

Moda's 2011 filly, Lilka.

Tashunka's and Prancer's Bands

Here are the stallions Tashunka (roan) and Prancer (frosty buckskin?). They were with a large group of mustangs that were hanging out together on this winter's day. This was a friendly greeting...Tashunka saying he is dominant.

The loyal band stallion, Tashunka. I first met him in 2009, his band has been really dynamic and he has produced some beautiful foals.

That's my  friend, Josie, with her yearling colt, Strider, and her 2011 filly, Cinder. Prancer has just recently acquired her and her babies. Since I have observed her (fall 2009) she has been with White Out. White Out fought off other stallions all summer trying to get her from him. I think he is an older guy judging by his color (white). The last time I saw him he looked really run down...Ranger was dogging him (Oct). A couple of weeks ago a friend had documented Prancer had gotten the mare....no sign of White Out. I do not know much about Prancer except he has had a mare before...I have photos of him in 2010 with Splash and her 2009 colt, Roosevelt. Splash is now in Dan's band.

I really like him....such an unusual color.

This is Tashunka's grulla mare, Ska Wakan, with her 2011 filly, Tecomseh. She is a real come back story. Back in June after she had the filly (Tecomseh was an early foal), she lost an incredible amount of weight and was having trouble keeping up with her family band, but somehow she came back and the filly started gaining weight as well. I believe her to be an older mare. My guess is she is always allowed to return to The Range after round ups because of her sought after, unusual coloring.

The black mare, Kangee, had this gorgeous little bay filly we call Ladore. Kangee joined Tashunka last summer (2010). I do not know what band she came from. One day she just seemed to appear...it's like that out here....so vast and full of secrets...

I noticed the yearling filly, Nahmana, is missing. She is the bay mares daughter. My guess it is Ohitika who has  her. He has taken a couple of other mares from the roan (Wi Wakan and Mina). Tashunka's and Ohitika's bands were almost always together last year. I have no idea why. It is not unusual for bands to buddy up out here.

Moda, the bay mare with the missing ear tips, is Tashunka's lead mare. She has had two roan fillies in a row....Nahmana (the one missing) and this one on the left...Lilka. This was a quick encounter...the mustangs were wily and spooky.

Tashunka's Band (feat his three 2011 fillies)

I was really glad to see the bay roan, Tashunka, on this day. This was one of the first bands I met in 2009, it has been interesting to see his family grow and shrink..he always has beautiful foals. This year his three mares... each had a filly. This one is Lilka, daughter to Moda, the bay mare missing both ear tips (not shown). Lilka is shown here with her loyal band stallion. It is a beautiful thing to see the stallions interact with their foals.

The primitive look of a Sand Wash Basin Mustang...the grulla mare, Ska Wakan, has it. This is another mustang come back story. After this mare gave birth to Tecomseh, her 2011 filly who was born early this year, she became rail thin and was having a hard time keeping up with her band. But her sisters waited for her and stayed by her side. She now looks great and her new filly looks better too!

Tecomseh, the first born out of the three fillies. I am so glad she is looking so good. When her and her mom her weak Cody took Ska's yearling daughter, Chikala, this is nature's way of keeping the herd strong. It works wonderfully. I believe if we just left this herd alone (maybe do a little bait trapping), nature would take care of the horses and the horses would take care of their land, especially if we enlarge the HMA to the east.

The third filly is a bay we call Ladore. She is the daughter of Kangee, the black mare, who, to my knowledge, has not had a foal since the 2008 round up. When Kangee went off to foal, Haze, a bachelor stallion, got her and little Ladore and was running them around the range. Kangee somehow made it back to Tashunka.

Lilka

The wild horses look good for going into the winter. This filly has an experienced mare to show her the ways and supply her with rich milk.

The mustangs did not want to be bothered and moved off fairly quick. Here I got a back end shot of Nahmana. she is Moda's yearling filly, sister to Lilka. So all horses here accounted for. Ohitika's band used to always be by this band, but they have splintered off, but not before Ohitika took Tashunka's 2 yr old filly Mina and his grey mare, Wi Wakan.

Tashunka's Band

I was pretty excited when I caught a glimpse of Tashunka and band. I decided it was worth the hike to go see them. This band has three beautiful 2011 fillies. In this photo you can not see the black Mare's foal...she is laying down in the grass.

Tashunka, his lead mare, Moda, and her 2010 (Nahmana) and 2011 (Lilka) fillies.

Moda, the bay mare missing both ear tips, has thrown another roan. We call her Lilka.

Earlier this year I really didn't know if Tashunka's grulla mare would make it. She had this filly early on, she looked OK then, but gradually was losing weight and so was her foal. I am glad to report they both look like they are doing better. Ska's yearling filly, Chikala, has recently left this band and is now with Cody. Tashunka's band is shrinking, not growing. He also lost his grey mare. Wi Wakan and Moda's 2 yr old daughter to Ohitika.,

The wild horses decide they have had enough and head on out. That's Nahmana, Moda's yearling filly, looking back at us.

Tashunka waits for the Black Mare's filly to get up.

....she does and off they go!  Kangee (black mare) and Ladore (bay filly)

Tashunka and Ohitika's Bands

Often times the two roan band stallions, Ohitika and Tashunka, are seen hanging out near each other. They have done a bunch of swapping around and Wakan Ska, Tashunk's grulla mare is missing. I'll try to explain...

Ohitika's band front to back...Chippewa (sorrel, his original mare), Chippewa's new filly, Wi Wakan (formely with Tashunka), Mina (Tashunka's 2 yr old filly out of Moda), and the stallion. What color roan is he??

Front to back....Moda, Nahmana (Moda's yearling filly, Kangee (black mare), Chikala (Wi Wakan's yearling filly) and Tecomseh (orphan)

Tashunka

Ohitika

The fillies watching the wise old mare, Moda, have a roll.

While I was watching Tashunka ran to meet up with Willie Nelson and Snip, two near by bachelor stallions. Here he is running back to his band. I love it when the stallions do this. Usually when they are gone the youngsters get curious and approach me to investigate.

Mina, the bay, is Tashunka's and Moda's 2 yr old filly who has clearly moved over to Ohitka's band along with the grey mare. There was another 2 yr old in Tashunka's band last year...Takoda. He is now running with the bachelors. he is a stunning blue roan. I have not seen him lately, but confirmed he had made it through the brutal winter.

This is Tecomseh. I first met her about a month ago when she was a newborn. Her grulla mom, Wakan Ska, was with her. I am sorry to report Ska is missing....she was not with her band, nor Ohitika's on this day. This is the youngest foal I have witnessed being orphaned. We will have to wait and see what happens. For now she is clinging to Chikala, her yearling half sister.

You can tell Chikala by her horizonal star and unique coloring. She is the yearling daughter to the grey, Wi Wakan, who is now with Ohitika. She is a yearling. She was born a good three months ahead of Nahmana last spring. She was an early foal.

Last year Ohitika only had one mare, this sorrel we call Chippewa. She had a 2 yr old filly (Skye) by her side, but the filly is gone replaced by this new one. Isn't she a little beauty? This is the first foal I have seen out at Sand Wash with this coloring.

Ohitika is having a scuffle (nothing became of it except a lot of noise) with Cimmaron, who is near by with his one mare (Spice) and her 2011 colt (Pepe). Doesn't Cimmaron look good this year? Last summer he spent quite a bit of time with Bear, Ellie and Flirt as a satellite stallion.

The black mare, Kangee, joined this band late last summer. She has no youngsters of her own, but makes a nice "auntie" horse for the little orphaned roan filly.

Moda (Little Bear) with her yearling filly, Nahmana.

Tashunka's fillies  L to R Nahmana, Chikala and Tecomseh