December 18, 2009 – Solved Mysteries

I always like to have as complete of picture as possible of the herd at the end of the year. I was able to be on the range yesterday and last Thursday, and I was able to see 97 horses on these trips. Below are some of the things I found on these trips.

I think Mescalero has a really pretty winter coat. He’s a dun roan; and his dun really comes out this time of year. He still has some roan in his coat, though, so it gives him a frosty appearance. During the early days of the PMWHR, there was a dun roan stallion that was referred to as “The White Buckskin.”

I was also very happy to see Exhilaration last week. The reason why I was so happy to see him is worthy of a blog post itself. I’ll just say it involved open gates and/or down fence combined with Exhilaration’s discovery of some nearby domestic mares.

Exhilaration happened to be with Starbuck then, though he was alone when I saw him yesterday. I do think Exhilaration would benefit from spending more time with Starbuck. (Starbuck’s poor left ear is still bent after a fight that happened this spring.)

The black mare Pococeno had been a priority horse for me since I found her missing from White Cloud’s harem at the end of October. Yesterday I found her with Prince. I know she wasn’t with Prince right after going missing from White Cloud, so I’m very curious to know what kind of adventures she was on. My best guess is that she was with Morning Star during this time as he is the only stallion I couldn’t find during her absence. It was like old times yesterday, though, with Prince, Ireland, and Pococeno being near Custer, Winnemucca, and Irial while Littlefoot was close behind.

Yesterday we also spent a good amount of time exploring Lower Sykes to find horses. I was able to solve another mystery there. This seems to possibly be related to the Exhilaration incident, but Admiral was not with his harem for a short while. During this time, the young filly Halo disappeared. I found her yesterday with Merlin. Her little sister Icara was also there.

High above them on the side of Sykes Ridge were Sam and Hightail. These two may be some of the easiest horses to find in the summer, but they are among the hardest to find this time of year as they can disappear in the Sykes area. It was good to see them as Hightail was looking a little rough last time I’d seen her. They both seemed to be doing well though. (The picture is as good as my camera can do. I have a nice spotting scope, though, that brings me close enough to verify the horses by their markings.)

Below Merlin was Sitting Bull’s harem.

Sitting Bull’s foal is getting big, and I think he’s a lot of fun.

Further in was Seattle and his harem. Seattle kept a good eye on me while I was seeing how everyone was looking.

His black sons were all lined up. I think they are a pretty good looking trio together. Everyone else looked great as well.

Just down the hill from them were White Cloud and Bolder’s harems together. As I’ve mentioned before, I think winter is fun as you can see mountain horses and Dryhead horses in close proximity due to their overlapping winter ranges.

If you do some raw counting or identification of the horses in the above photograph, you’ll notice that there is a missing horse here. This is White Cloud’s two year old daughter; she is currently up on Sykes with Coronado.

As you can see, there’s snow on the ground here; and the horses are spread out across the range. With the above observations, there are no missing adults; and no foals have disappeared lately. As we go into winter, I think the horses look to be in good shape; and there is a lot of great forage for them. This will likely be my last horse-related blog post of this very significant year for the herd. I am really looking forward to seeing what next year brings for the horses.

October 22, 2009 – Dryhead Update

Yesterday I headed out to Bighorn Canyon to see how the horses there are doing. I first saw Cappuccino and his harem on Mustang Flats.

This man-made harem seems to be getting along okay. Cappuccino was pretty wary of us; he had his eye on his from the moment we started hiking to them until the time we got back.

I am very interested to see how long these guys stay out on Mustang Flats. I think that Guinevere is one big reason they are out here. She was originally a Dryhead horse, and she spent many years of her life on Mustang Flats. She is 19 years old now.

Cappuccino was also born in the Dryhead, though he was soon after stolen with his mother, ending up in Burnt Timber.

In the area I also spotted Blizzard and his harem, but I didn’t get close enough to them to photograph them. Otherwise, it was quiet on Mustang Flats. Heading back down we saw Exhilaration off in the distance, and we could tell he was limping a little. We went down to see him, and he has a puncture wound on the back of his right front leg. I am not sure what caused this; but if I were to guess, I would say it had something to do with a confrontation with Admiral. I think that he’ll be fine, but I just hope that his bad luck will run out soon. (Please click here to view a video of him walking with this injury. His clip is the last one.)

I am not sure what he’s been up to, but his forelock and tail are completely caked in cockleburs.

Nearby was Admiral’s harem. The colt, Exhilaration’s little half-brother, is getting big and sure is looking like his big brother.

September 17, 2009 – Dryhead Updates

I’ve been really wanting to resolve a couple things with the Dryhead horses. One recent event concerns the stallions Cappuccino and Exhilaration. You’ll recall that these two stallions were given mares during the gather so that the mares would be away from their fathers. Duke’s daughter Galadriel was put with Cappuccino while Cloud’s daughter Damsel was put with Exhilaration. When the BLM went to load them to transport them for release, Cappuccino’s mare Guinevere would apparently not load up with Galadriel. They thus put her with Exhilaration too. They took them out and released them at the bottom of the Sykes Ridge Road separately. Nonetheless, Cappuccino took off after Exhilaration, and he was eventually able to get the mares from him. The four of them can currently be seen on Mustang Flats. They’re mostly being sighted on the northwestern part of the flats. Though Cappuccino and Guinevere now live in the Burnt Timber area, they were both originally from the Dryhead area. The two new mares are new to the area though.

I have also been really wanting to figure out what happened with Beauty, who was separated from Seattle’s harem during the gather. I hiked most of eastern Mustang Flats last night, and was able to scope much of the western side. Still, I couldn’t find any horses except for some that I wouldn’t have expected to see. Tony and Lone Wolf were the first I’d seen. These two, along with the other old bachelors, weren’t seen during gather operations at Britton Springs. This was because the BLM had told the helicopter to not bring in any single horses like the old bachelors. Tony (19 years old) and Lone Wolf (20 years old) are the two old bachelors of the Dryhead. Tony is Beauty’s first offspring, and Lone Wolf is Beauty’s younger half brother. Their mother was removed in the 1992 roundup. Both are showing their age, but I really am worried about Lone Wolf’s condition. He just hasn’t been putting on any weight at all this summer. Tony is the black and Lone Wolf is the grulla.

I also saw the young bachelor Fiero shortly after seeing Tony and Lone Wolf.

I was out until dark and didn’t see any other horses on Mustang Flats. I headed back out this morning to see if I could have any luck. I saw Blizzard’s harem on southern Mustang Flats, and Cappuccino’s harem was near where I’d previously seen them. I also was excited to see Seattle’s  harem walking down toward the water. They were all split up, which isn’t uncommon. I kept watching with binoculars, and I eventually saw Beauty with them too. I waited until they walked past me so I could get a good look at her. She looks good and didn’t really act like anything had happened.

It was great seeing that she was okay. I will be heading out some more to make sure Exhilaration is fine, and I am sure he is. He isn’t as mature as Cappuccino, so I would guess he didn’t try to fight too much for the mares. My best guess now is that he just went back to the area he tends to hang out around. There are lots of places for him to hide in there, but I’ll keep looking.

June 16, 2009 – Dryhead Horses

It has been a fun summer watching the Dryhead horses. An early surprise, of course, was the birth of Blizzard and Strawberry’s beautiful colt. For everyone who has gotten a chance to see him and who has continued to worry about his leg injury, he’s doing very well! I think (and hope!) that he will be just fine in the end. Here are a few of the things I’ve seen with the Dryhead horses this spring.

One recent event that a number of people have gotten to enjoy is the birth of a colt to Admiral and his mare Seneca. The foal is a bay with a really unique blaze – He is very reminiscent of his older half brother Exhilaration.

Bristol’s young mare also had a foal this year – It is her first, and it is likely Bristol’s first offspring as well. The foal is a nice dun colt.

Durango is, of course, one of my favorite Pryor horses. Seeing him is always a lot of fun for me. This spring, he and his harem have been in one of the more remote areas of the range; and so finding them can be a little challenging. Last time I saw them, they were in a canyon that had a small watering hole in it. Earlier this spring, Durango’s mare had a dun colt. He always seems to be a bold little thing when I see them. Also, Durango’s son from 2007 has really gotten to be a great looking horse. Last year he had his minor leg injury, and he was still recovering from that into the fall. Coming out of the winter, though, he’s doing great.

Durango’s daughter from 2005 is currently with Merlin. This spring, she had her first foal. She has been going back and forth between Merlin and Starbuck this past year; and so I would guess Starbuck is the foal’s sire based on its color. She is a really pretty foal; but she has unfortunately gone missing recently.

I am sorry for my delay in writing a new blog lately. I’ve got a couple ideas for some other blogs, and I will try to get them up as soon as I can too.