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 (feat Tripod)

Finally! I am back on The Range and happen upon this little bachelor stallion band. It is the wise old White Out with three beautiful colts, including Tripod, the lame perlino. I was really worried about him The last time I saw him his damaged hock was red and inflamed and he was alone. He looks much better today and I am glad to see he is with other stallions.

This is Tripod's third winter out here surviving the brutal elements with such a severe disability, he is testimony to the hardiness of a mustang, but it is tough to see.

I can't figure out who this little grey is. Kinda looks like River, but I think too young. I put him in an "unidentified folder" and will try to work it out. I knew the greys would be hard to ID....He is good friends with Tripod.

This sorrel was in Eleganza's mixed up band last summer as one of the doggers. He is really shy and does not like to look at the camera. We named him Rooibos.

A closer look at the grey...I am pretty sure it is a 2 yr old..maybe Aspen from Cortez's band?

Here is the elder babysitting stallion, White Out. He looks great after getting so run down last year for his one mare Josie, who ended up with Prancer. He has regained his strength and is looking after these youngsters.

Two underdogs come together and persevere!

We can tell the shy Rooibos by his split stripe.

Tripod is Corona's and Cheyenne's 3 yr old colt. He suffered this injury as a newborn. It looks bad, but a whole lot better then a couple of months ago. He limps, but gets around OK. People have offered to adopt him, but The BLM has chosen to leave him be. Maybe in the future we could think of ways to deal with situations like this? This is a permanent injury, his hock has been deformed for a long time now. One thing I know for sure....you can not chase this wild horse with a helicopter!

My personal opinion is that is abscessed and healed, but I am no vet, but I can see where it drained. How he survived the infection we will never know.

For now Tripod is safe and of good weight. This little colt is a true surviver....with a little help from his friends.

Tripod (Warning: Graphic Images)

Tripod ...named by a HSUS intern who discovered this colt from Corona's band as a newborn severely injured at a waterhole. She got the BLM and a vet to come out, but Corona came and got him. He has been a bachelor since fall of 2010. He seemed to be doing well this summer...often seen roaming and playing  with other bachelors.

My friend and I decided to go up to 7 mile ridge on this day, Sunday, January 14. We drove quite a ways and only saw one mustang...Tripod, the coming three year old colt of Corona and Cheyenne. Tripod has been injured almost since the day he was born. He has a deformed hock (broken?) that has caused him to be lame and walk on top of the injured leg's foot. Today it looks worse.

Here is a close up of the hock, which is bleeding. Tripod is still walking, but he is all alone and seems to look at us for help. In the two and a half years I have been documenting this herd there has only three horses that I thought had serious enough injuries to contact the BLM. This is one of them. I believe he is suffering.

I thought hard about posting this so soon after Greasewood's death. I don't want people to get the wrong idea. In this great herd of 270 (Plus or minus) wild horses I would say 90% are thriving. There are always scrapes and bruises (especially among stallions), but all and all the mustangs are incredibly tough. That's what makes them mustangs.

They are in a category by themselves...not really wild animals nor are they livestock or domesticated pets. They need to be treated as such. I am not searching out these ailing individuals, but they seem to come to me (us) when they need our help. Especially the more tolerant ones. In future world we could have baiting corrals for situations like this. For now the BLM will do its best to help this guy. In this case Nature  might have to take her course as 7 mile might be snowed in ... This makes me more determined then ever to get a non profit going to help these last remaining Colorado free roaming mustangs..


All said I have given up on this underdog horse before and he has proved me wrong. I only hope for him the best. I also hope we are learning as we go. Baiting Corrals. Nancy

Video of Tripod's Injury

Bachelors (Cowboy, Benson and Tripod)

Yay! I got my blogger to work again! I was out of commission there for over a week so I am way behind on my posts. The first thing I wan to mention is that Tripod is with Benson and Cowboy and our little underdog looks great!

Tripod, the little cremello 2 yr old colt, son of Corona and Cheyenne, is permanently disabled by a severe hock injury he sustained as a newborn. We have seen him alone a bunch this summer, now he with the wise and range hardy mature stallions, Benson and Cowboy. They are looking out for hin. He is in good "hooves" with these two sturdy overo pinto mustangs.

Tripod...I got a great video of how he gets around with this injury. Look for it on YouTube. It is really interesting. He puts weight on the back hoof below the injury and the hoof has taken on a bizarre shape...hard to explain, but he does good, although it would be a certain death if he was chased by a helicopter.

The Cowboy....probably the biggest horse out at SWB. I have no worries about him surviving the cruel winters out here. He is the definition of an easy keeper.

Tripod hiding behind the bush.

This makes me smile! Tripod is no longer alone!

Cheyenne and Tripod

The little lame perlino foal,  Tripod.
Tripod's mom, Cheyenne
She is a tough little desert pony.
Safe by his mom's side
Cheyenne has a very long, tangled mane...gorgeous.
White as the snow.I love these pale ponies. I hope Tripod somehow gets better. His right rear hock is weird looking and making him lame. But he is nursing, pawing for food and hanging with his family.