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!

Rounder's Band (taken over by Hurricane)

Well, I was surprised to see Hurricane, the solid dun, has taken over Rounder's remaining two mares, Pablina and Floriano, plus their youngsters. The mares were leading the way and Rounder was a ways back tailing them.

There is Cabellero, Floriano's (bay) yearling colt. I have a fondness for this little guy, he is so unique with his dark mane, flaxen tail and great big blaze with an apron that wraps around his nose...so cute!

Pablina, the grey mare, has this little 2011 filly by her side. She is named Lozania, such a little princess. She doesn't seem to mind who she is with, just so her mom is near by.

Pablina and Floriano are best mare friends. They originally were together in Lightning's band, which Rounder took over last spring. They are usually right next to each other. This is Floriano.

The elegant, Pablina.

Poor Rounder...he looks run down and a bit thin. Maybe he will be Hurricane's satellite stallion?

On the other hand, I am happy for Hurricane. He has been a bachelor since the 2008 round up.

You can tell Hurricane from the other dun stallions because he has no white and a blocky head. He has the look of a Spanish horse. We will have to wait and see if he keeps these mares.

Rounder's Shrinking Band

The first band I see this morning is the liver chestnut's, Rounder's. I knew Prince had gotten his chestnut mares and their 2 year old fillies back from Rounder and this encounter confirmed that.

 Rounder had one of the largest bands on the range, but now just has two mares and two youngsters. Proving once again how dynamic the herd is...spreading the genetics around. Nature's way.

Rounder's mares Pablina and Floriano. They are best of friends. They came from Lightning's band when that family broke up in 2010. They never seemed to accept Prince's mares. It looked like Rounder had two separate families when he had the other two mares.

Florinao, she did not have a foal this year. She still has her yearling colt by her side, the big blazed chestnut we call Cabellero.

Pablina has had three foals in a row. Her 2 year old colt, Flash (now with bachelor), her yearling grey colt, Diego, who recently "vanished"...I am hoping he shows up... and this year she has a beautiful 2011 filly .... this little one. Lozania. She is a very elegant mustang mare and a proven mother.

The bay's yearling colt, Cabellero. His sire could be Haze . Haze was with Lightning's band as a satellite stallion when Floriano would have gotten bred. Love this guy, he has a flaxen tail and a dark mane and that wonderful blaze!

The only 2011 foal in this band, Lozanio (Rose Bud).

There is the stallion on the left. The liver chestnut with the prominent stripe. He looks more relaxed now that his band is smaller. I think Prince was running him down, stalking him. He looks much better then last time I saw him. He is a high strung stallion.

The HSUS girl told me she had never seen him until he took over Lightning's band and she had bee documenting for two summers. He is a beautiful stallion with wonderful conformation.

I wanted to show you that wire on the tree. The wire is everywhere in the Basin. We need a clean up day to get rid of it! It is a hazard to the mustangs and an eye sore . Every time I go out there I try to pick up a bit of wire...it is everywhere! We are in need of a non profit group who looks after this herd and the range. These modern day mustangs need guardians to ensure they can stay out here on their rightful home.

Rounder leads his band off.

The wild horses seemed relaxed and harmonious on this day. They were on their own. They had been hanging out with Corona's band the last time I had seen them (about a week ago). Everything changes out here, there is no science to it...just wild horse behavior.

Rounder's Band

Lucky me....on this day I am fortunate enough to run into Rounder's band. I had heard there were some changes to his harem and it was nice to see for myself.

Pablina, the flea bitten mare, has lost her yearling son, Diego. Hopefully he has struck off on his own and has found some bachelor stallions to roam the range with. This is about the time of the year the first yearling colts leave their families. Diego was born early last spring so he would have been old enough to strike off on his own.

Rounder now has both of Prince's chestnut mares plus both of their 2 year old fillies. For awhile the mares got seperated when Prince's band got "disbanded". Moonlight was with Blazer for a short while, but found her way back to her "twin sister" and best friend, Sunshine. They have a very tight bond. Here you see the mares with their fillies.

Rounder, the impressive liver chestnut band stallion.

That's Juniper, she joined this band sometime between last fall and this spring. She is a 2 year old filly from Cosmo's band.

The only 2011 foal in this band, little Lozania. She is growing healthy and strong and is well taken care of by her family band.

Here are Rounder's original mares, Pablina and her bay friend, Floriano. They came from Lightning's band. They have a very tight bond and are not real accepting of Moonlight and Sunshine yet.

I love this sweet little colt. We call him Cabellero. He is Floriano's yearling. He was born later then his brother, Diego, the one that is missing. Often the colts will leave when their dams have their new foal. I don't think Floriano was bred this year, but I could be wrong. If she doesn't have a 2011 foal, most likely Cabellero will stay with his dam, but nothing is certain out here.

Cabellero is getting to know his new sister, Dusty. She is Moonlight's 2 yr old filly.

Dusty, most likely Prince is her sire.

That's Oda, Sunshine's daughter and Dusty's best friend. I am so glad they somehow got reunited.

The family bonds between these mustangs are strong. We should take this into consideraton if we have a "gather". It is inhumane to chase them with helicopters and rip the families apart. In this day and age we can do better. We should be working on a bait system where we could pull out a few adoptable youngsters if there is a population problem.

Juniper, Cosmo's daughter, Rounder's young mare. She seems content here.

Rounder with his new mares.

Kiowa, the pinto bachelor stallion is challenging Rounder, he would like some mares of his own. He has been "babysitting" two 2 year old colts all summer, but seems ready to have mares. He is strong and fit and it giving Rounder a real threat.

Rounder is a lean machine. He is off to face off with Corona, who is near by.

Nothing much becomes of it and he backs down from the dunalino. Rounder will have to work hard to keep all these mares. He has no satellite stallion to help him. We will have to wait and see what happens.