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.

Voodoo's Band

It was good to see Voo Doo, the feisty little chestnut stud, up on The Ridge with his two mares, Yellow Cat and Streaker. Voodoo was a bachelor stallion up until last spring (2011) when he met Streaker, the striking black pinto filly. Later he added the dun, Yellow Cat.

Streaker...it must have been about 11 months ago she got together with Voo Doo  because she is very heavy with foal. Streaker is only 3,Yellow Cat is a bit older.

There's Yellow Cat. Is she not a pretty mare? When I first met her (2009) she was with Femur then later was with Blazer. She was Blazer's only mare for the entire summer of 2010. To my knowledge she has not had a foal since the 2008 ound up and is part of The HSUS PZP study.

I am looking forward to seeing Streaker's foal. You can not see here (photo above shows), but she has 4 stockings and a lightning mark on her side. A real stand out! Voo Doo seems to think so too! The mares seem to get along great. Yellow Cat will help Streaker raise her foal. It is a beautiful thing to see!