The behaviors of the stallions are, perhaps, one of the most interesting and exciting components of the wild horse world. While the most intense are the confrontations when two stallions go up in the air on hind legs, there are many more subtle behaviors that occur when one stallion works to maintain his band against one or more other stallions attempting to gain the power. Through a whole bunch of photos and a few words, witness the action between one band stallion, Chief Joseph and six bachelor stallions over the course of a little over an hour on a beautiful November day in the Pryor Mountains.
The morning began with the young bachelor stallion, Parry. He was grazing on the sagebrush land when something caught his attention.
When a horse moves into this attentive, or alert mode, it is best to take notice. Their powers of observation are keen and typically very accurate that there is something out there in that direction. Sure enough…Parry began moving quickly; first with a long-stride walk that broke into an easy-going lope. The golden dun horse looked spectacular against the red, Chugwater dirt background.
As Parry moved in the direction of the rising sun, it became apparent as to what caught his attention. Another horse had moved up from the water hole called Little Sykes Spring. This one was a stallion – a black stallion that came up to meet up with Parry. The two greeted each other with posturing movements of arched necks and high stepping legs.
This encounter was brief as both stallions shifted their attention from each other to something coming up from the east. The eyes, ears, and body position tell the story. Parry’s ears and eyes are definitely focused on the distance. The black’s ears show a dual concern – partly on Parry and partly on whatever was in the distance.
Again the powers of observation were right on the mark as a pair of horses emerge into view. These two provided the key to identifying the black stallion. It was a bay roan mare and a dark-colored foal trailing behind her. It was Pilar and her 2020 colt, Ukiah. This proved that the black stallion was Chief Joseph.
Chief Joseph left Parry’s side and guided his band away from the intruder. He positioned his body between Parry and his mare. In turn, Pilar, shielded her foal with her body. The three trotted off in unison together.
This didn’t diminish Parry’s interest in the other horses. He circled around and took the lead.
Chief Joseph broke up the momentum. He cut Parry off from the forward motion. This allowed Pilar time to move Ukiah out of the line of potential fire.
Once Pilar and Ukiah have moved off, Joseph can turn his attention briefly back to Parry. The two engaged in a minor scuffle with the most action coming from Joseph’s mane.
After that, both stallions’ attention was once again drawn to something in the east. They separated and both stood at attention…such unbelievable beauty in this rugged land.
Parry headed off and left Joseph behind.
Parry had shifted his attention to two more bachelor stallions who had just appeared in the area. He ran right over to the grullo stallion, Hidatsa. This was not an adversarial meeting, rather just a morning greeting. The black stallion, Hawk appeared much more interested in his brother, Joseph, than the young stallion. Parry then continued walking out of the area.
Meanwhile on the other side of the sagebrush meadow, another bachelor stallion made his way down into the area where Joseph, Pilar, and Ukiah continued to graze. This was the young grullo stallion, Pax. He is one of the finest examples of grullo in the Pryors with his thick wither bars. At the age of five, he has matured into a handsome stallion. He has spent much of the summer roaming alone as a bachelor stallion. So as one five year old bachelor left, another came onto the scene and kicked up the action!
Joseph headed over to check out the newcomer. The colt, Ukiah, is not too young to learn the lessons of being a band stallion.
At first, Pax doesn’t seem to have much desire to engage in a confrontation with Joseph. After a quick, quiet greeting, Pax moves down the meadow toward Pilar and Ukiah.
The situation becomes tense for Joseph as Hawk and Hidatsa move to the northeast side of Joseph and his band. The next set of photos illustrate how hard the band stallions have to work to maintain their family. One one side, Joseph has Pax. On the other side, he has the two veteran bachelors, Hawk and Hidatsa. Smack dab in the middle are Pilar and Ukiah.
At first, Joseph goes back to size up the situation with Pax. Pax turns and walks off while Joseph turns an eye on Hawk and Hidatsa.
Next, Joseph moves over to check out Hawk. Both Hawk and Chief Joseph are the sons of the legendary Dryhead stallion, Seattle. Both have the jet black color of their sire. Again, Joseph is not overly concerned with Hawk and he walks back to the mare and colt.
At that point, Pax moves over to Hawk. This resulted in just a greeting and both were more interested in their surroundings than each other.
All of a sudden Pax seems to gain the courage to make a challenge. He moves confidently through the sage. Chief Joseph responds with a quick chase. Pax arches his neck, but retreats.
Joseph turns in the opposite direction and lopes back to make sure his band is safe from the other bachelors.
He moves closer to Hawk and gives the reminder of who is in charge here. Hawk obliges without a bit of hesitation.
There is no rest for Joseph. He turns back and notices Pax moving in again. Joseph breaks into a run and moves past Pilar and Ukiah. He, then, blasts at full speed towards the eager bachelor. This time Pax shows the willingness to stay around and challenge Joseph.
After a good, aggressive blast from both stallions, Pax turns away in defeat…for this battle anyway.
Joseph moves back and snakes Pilar back to her foal. What is happening on the other side to cause the stallion more concern?
Again Joseph feels the need to get back to Hawk. He charges over, takes a second to keep Hawk well in his place, then charges back to Pax.
At first, Pax turns and runs quickly!
But then he shows himself to be a formidable opponent and goes up against the more experienced stallion.
At the end of that intense battle, Pax was done. He turned away from Joseph and moved off to the east. Hawk and Hidatsa followed behind him. The three stallions met briefly and then moved off together.
At this point, it would be good to see Chief Joseph be able to just relax, but the hour of challenge wasn’t quite over for him. As soon as the trio of bachelors moved off, Hidalgo came down the same path that Pax had appeared from a short time ago. Following Hidalgo was Sundance.
Hidalgo gave Joseph a very brief challenge. Hidalgo has been one of those stallions who seems quite content with solitude. As a two-year old, Sundance seemed more interested in finding some good things to eat.
At the end of this exciting hour, Ukiah moved over to his mother, Pilar, for bit of breakfast.
Finally, Chief Joseph could enjoy some well-deserved relaxation. This short time showed many stallion behaviors of both the band stallions as they strive to keep the band and the bachelors whose goal is to gain a band of their own. Yes, the up-in-the air action is exciting, but often overlooked is the amount of running and chasing the stallions have to do to maintain the band. It is hard work for sure, but these stallions are driven to get and maintain a band.
PryorWild 