Since it first happened and I mentioned it to visitors to the Center, people who have emailed me, and others, I have received a number of inquiries as to how Prince is doing. Prince, as of this Wednesday, is not bad; but his life is different now than it had been when this story started in June.
Many probably remember that the grulla roan stallion Blue Moon (Flint) got a grulla mare named Feldspar shortly after her foal died. Feldspar had been with Morning Star, and Morning Star had taken her last year from Prince. Blue Moon and Feldspar were still together in mid-June of this year.
Shortly after this, though, he had lost Feldspar again. She was back with Prince, which wasn’t a total surprise given the time she had spent with him last year.
As the summer progressed, Prince started getting pressure from bachelors. On September 17, when I was up there, I found Prince with Custer and Blue Moon dogging him.
Looking at Prince closer, I found that the right side of his bottom lip had been torn.
A couple of days after this, I learned from some people that had been on the mountain that Blue Moon once again had Feldspar back. I went up a couple days after this, and I was surprised to not see them together. Instead of having Feldspar, he had Duke’s two year old daughter and her foal.
Around this same time, there was other frequent interchange involving a few horses going on in other parts of the range. Just when I had an updated list sent out with people, they were reporting it wrong. This was also the case with Blue Moon. They said that he had a grulla with blaze, which of course meant Feldspar. I went up shortly after this to see them together.
This, of course, raised two main questions for me. How was Prince and what happened to the young mare and her foal that had been with Blue Moon? I did find Prince, but I never found Duke or the young mare and foal that day.
Custer and Littlefoot were also nearby dogging Prince.
I really was wanting to see Duke, but I just couldn’t find him. Just days right after this trip, a large snowstorm arrived in the area. It was just this Wednesday when I went back onto the mountain. The horses are all moved down off the mountain, having come down their “home ridges.” I went into the Burnt Timber area. The first horse I saw was a dark colored stallion running a distance out.
Following him along, he led me right to Prince. Custer was also there. This time, though, Custer was acting more like a satellite bachelor than a dogging bachelor. In fact, for the first few minutes I was there, I thought Custer had Winnemucca (Prince’s grulla mare) and Prince had the rest of the family. I stayed there for a while, and it really did seem more like this was one harem with a main stallion and satellite bachelor.
Prince hadn’t changed a whole lot since I last saw him. He doesn’t have as much weight on as many of the other horses do, but this is to be expected with such an injury. The injury itself seems to be healing.
It was nice to see Prince then. I actually ended up seeing most of the Sykes and Burnt Timber horses that day as well, though I still didn’t see Duke.
Prince was one of the first Burnt Timber horses that I was able to remember when I first started watching the horses. At that time, he only had Ireland. More recently, he has also become another favorite of mine as he is the only offspring of his mother (Queen) that has ever reproduced; he is carrying the line forward with his offspring. He’s also pretty admirable as he is an older stallion (15 years old), and he’s still pretty tough to carry on the way he is.
PryorWild 
I am so glad you have time to blog and get pictures. I love those horses. How is Exhileration”s injury coming? He was one we saw very close up along the road. He stood on the road like this is my space, and I will take as long as I want.
Thanks for the update.
The horses look really good, their numbers must not be exceeding the carrying capacity of the range like the B.L.M. has reported.
Good to see Prince recovering, those horses are so tough. How is Exhiliration?
Thanks again,
Scott
Enjoyed the updates. Looking forward to the next report. Hope there is good news as to Cascade and her foal with the gimpy back legs. Hopefully, they are both still around and doing OK. Cascade was so thin in the spring. Wishing the best for Exhileration also.
I’ll be sending the center a copy of the Oct./Nov. issue of Country magazine with the shortened version of my article in it. It’s not exactly what I submitted, but not too far off. I didn’t write that no one knows how the horses got there, but people will find out the facts if they look further.
I’m enjoying communicating with T. Wengert since the publication of my article. He’s keeping me informed. I hope to cross paths with he and his wife next June when they are there and so are my daughter and I.
Linda Dombeck
Was Prince’s mother that grulla mare that was with Cloud in 2000? What did happen to Duke’s two year old filly and her colt?
I heard that the dun mare in Cloud’s band had given birth but the foal was nowhere to be seen at all. I wonder if a mtn. lion killed it and I think that Feldspar’s foal and Cloud’s dun mare’s foal might have been killed by a mtn. lion. Did Winnemucca died?
Are you talking about Inocentes? Or Topper Too? In any case, both are still alive; but I know nothing of either of them foaling. Are you talking about Feldspar’s 2010 foal being killed? She is still alive and well. If Feldspar were to foal this year, last week would’ve been the earliest we would’ve expected to see a new foal out of her. I’ll definitely let you know if I see one there. There is actually a study going on here that is analyzing mountain lions in the area. You can learn more about it here: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_a073f3d0-7d9a-11e0-ad48-001cc4c03286.html. I’ve had a chance to talk with them, and I’ll be curious to see what they find out.
Im talking about the foal Feldspar had in 2008 and the foal of the dun mare that Cloud had in 2008
Okay, I thought you may have been. I can’t really say what happened to these foals. Feldspar and her foal were by themselves when I’d seen the foal for the last time while Fettucine’s foal just disappeared. It’s really hard to say what kind of influence lions have on the herd as there are so many possible things that can happen to foals. The only way to know for sure is if any dead foals are found.