This & That

I am way behind on this blog. I thought I would try to get some photos down before I go back. Here is the bachelor Lightning, still traveling alone, but doing a bit of sparring with the other stallions. Lightning was a band stallion until 2010 when Rounder took them over. Lightning put up a heck of a fight. back then Haze was his satellite stallion, who ended up turning on him...Since then he has been a real loner horse.

Anyway here you can see we are in draught. It is sad to see. We can only hope for rain.

Prince has a beautiful new filly in his band. We call her Hopscotch and every one agrees her color is exotic. She was born to the 3 yr old filly, Oda, who is most likely Prince's daughter, but there is no inbreeding here. Oda and her mom, Sunshine, got split up from Prince spring of 2011 and were not reunited until around November. Oda and her mom were briefly with Blazer and then summered with Rounder.
Oda's dam, Sunshine, (Hopscotch's Grandma) helps with the new filly along with "her twin chestnut sister", Moonlight.. 

Prince (Merlin)

The old black mare in Yellow Man's (Cyclone) band, Crow.  

I still can not figure out who this grey colt is. He is running with bachelors up on The Ridge.

The sorrel is Voodoo. He has mares, but still likes to leave them for a bit and romp with the boys.Hhere he is playing with the palomino, Skip. Skip is the 3 year old colt out of Hazel and Bugs.

Here are Voodoo's two mares. The black one, Streaker, is clearly pregnant. The dun is Yellow Cat..Voodoo acquired these mares last summer (2011)... Streaker is only three.

Tripod is doing good. I observed him rearing up and playing rough with the other stud colts He has been disabled since he was a newborn, but surprises us all with his hardiness.. Here he is with Rooibos, the little sorrel with a small split in his stripe.

Jigsaw is now a yearling. I thought this photo would be good for our ID cards.

Jigsaw's dam, Kira, another one for the ID cards..

I just liked this photo of Robin from "The Bird Herd". She seems like a vivacious filly who is growing up with her two rowdy brothers, Meadowlark and Falcon.

Robin

Eagles Band...."The Bird Herd"

Bachelor Stallions & 3 Year Old Colts

Rounder. He is one of the four stallions dogging Cosmo's band. He is an ex band stallion. He "appeared" out of nowhere spring of 2010 when he stole Lightning's mares.. The HSUS girl told me she had never seen him before that (its that big out here) and she had been documenting since 2008 (summer months). He is a beautiful liver chestnut. He is looking a little run down....he wants a mare! He challenges Cosmo, but stays away from the other doggers.

Last year he had quite a few mares, maybe too many. His band splintered last fall.

This is Hoot. For now he seems to have claimed Cosmo's 3 year old filly, Juniper. But he is still with Cosmo. He goes back and forth with Kiowa and Outlaw.

Kiowa. He had Juniper for awhile last fall, but she ended up with Cosmo and her family band. He is relentlessly trying to get her back. He is a fighter. A true American Mustang!

This is a different scene....a different day. These are young East Side bachelors, Sir Duke (Grey) and Clyde (Sorrel). Lots of folks have been seeing these 3 year old colts...Sir Duke seems to change daily with his looks. The greys are hard to ID. I am so glad The HSUS is going to help us with the ID cards. I think together we can have a pretty good documentation. I think this will help the wild horses if they are gathered as planned, Oct 2013. The HSUS has spent hours and hours studying their markings.

This is an older East Side bachelor, Sundown. He was "babysitting" the two previous colts on this fine day. I like this photo because it is a good one for an ID card. It shows his leg marking and facial ones too. I would say he is somewhat of a submissive stallion. I have not observed him with any other mares since the 2008 gather.

Another encounter.... I have been seeing quite a bit of this beautiful blue grey bachelor and I think I have finally figured out who he is! Takoda from Tashunka's band. He would be a 3 year old colt. He has befriended Tripod our disabled colt. He is a lively guy who is very bold and likes to have fun with the other colts.

The pretty palomino is from Maestro's (Bug's) band. He is another 3 year old. There are a lot of these 3 year olds. The HSUS reported more then 60...(.we have 50 some recorded). These are the post 2008 gather babies. I personally believe round ups cause larger foal crops the next year. It is wrong to gather the entire herd at once. It would make more sense to deal with the horses band by band in a larger period of time if some need to be adopted out.

Anyway shown with Nick is Tripod, the disabled perlino colt. It is nicwe to see him with other horses. I observed him really playing hard...rearing up, getting down. It is amazing to me how he has adopted to his deformed hock.

* Note... I have learned The HSUS has names for the band stallions. Out of courtesy to them I will start using some...So Bugs become Maestro. The most important thing about names (to me) is that we are all using the same ones.

Tripod's injured hock. He sustained this injury as a newborn. He is the 2009 colt out of Corona and Cheyenne. The HSUS mentioned they were interested if any one would like to give him a home.

The chestnut is actually Voodoo, a band stallion. He left his 2 mares and came to have a romp with the young bachelors. I love to watch them play! The palo is Skip.

Good ole' Lightning. He has left his pasture by Two Bar to join in the Cosmo fiasco. He really looks good and is giving the boys a run for their money!

Outlaw is a scrappy little guy. He has a wonderful flaxen mane and tail. He is out of one of Prince's chestnut mares. I saw a foal photo of him pre 2008. he is also involved in taking over Cosmo.

These three have been observed together all week. The whites are two older stallions, Snowman and White Out. White out is the likely sire of the darker grey 3 yr old, River. This is the first time I have observed a colt returning to his band stallion without his Dam.

I think of Snowman as the guru of SWB. He is quite timid, but friends to a lot of horses. Occasionally he gets real beat up and then one of his friends will help him. White Out is more bold and will still challenge other stallions.

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.

West Side Bachelor Stallions

Bachelor stallions!

Some of the beautiful pintos that call Sand Wash Basin home.

Nick and Flash were really buddied up on this day. Here they pose with the big bay, Thunder.

Hoot! the HSUS told me he is Eagle's 2009 colt, but then where does Sparrow fit in? Personally I think Sparrow was orphaned.

It's really good to see Kokomo hanging out with other stallions. He was alone a lot last summer and was on again, off again lame. He seemed to be in charge here and best friends with Hoot.

This is Flash. He just got kicked out of Rounder's band this spring when his new sister, Luziano was born. He is the son of Lightning and Pablina. I first met him in the fall of 2009. He was just a scruffy little guy, my has he bloomed! Good to see him with the Boyz.

Ranger

Tango, this is Picasso's and Mingo's 2009 colt. He left his band last summer.

Thunder

This was a seperate encounter...This is Hurricane. You can tell him from the other duns because he has no white, Last summer he was with Haze. At first I thought the sorrel with him was his old buddy, but it is Ziggy, the 2 yr old colt out of Bug's band that just left. It was just the two of them on this day. I can't confirm, but I think he is a three year old that did not get rounded up in 2008.

Ziggy, he looks a lot like my adopted boy with the big wrap around blaze. This guy is a character. I  had fun watching him play with his palo brother, Skip, last summer. they were rowdy yearlings. Then their mom's each had a palomino colt, Butch and Sundance. Just the greatest group of wild horses!

Leaving the water hole...going somewhere. What a fun encounter this was! Love these colorful stallions!

Mr Independent, Ranger. He was the only one that split off from the group. I think of him as the Hildago of The Basin. He is a real ham this one.

It was so good to see Kokomo, I had not seen up up close this year. he was one of the original horses I followed through the winter of 2010. He was a saellite stallion for Sterling back then who had Crow and her then yearling colt, Star. I am pretty sure he is out of Picasso.

Splashing, drinking and playing at the water hole.

Our palomino, Nick. I recently obtained some information that Nick might be a three year old.....three year olds are rare out here. Every single weanling that was rounded up by helicoper in oct of 2008 was removed. Did Nick evade capture?