I just want to thank all of you for reading and following this blog. I hope to be a bit better about posting entries this year. Please continue to come back often! Here’s to a great 2012! Happy New Year everyone!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
There is a new face in the lower canyons. We saw this little filly on the stealth cams but have never seen her in person. Now, I am not positive this is Acorn, but pretty sure. It could be Yuma though. I don’t know if we will ever know for sure. I will post pictures of both of them from last year and you can tell me what you think. Anyway, she is with Snoopy Jr. and his group. His group consists of him, Jaggs, Acorn, Miracle and another stallion, Ajax.
If this is Acorn, her parents are Kite and Durango, although, she and her mother, Kite, were last seen with Whitewash. If it is Yuma, her parents are Sunkist and Lucky. We will probably never know for sure which one it is, but we will just love her and watch her grow, not matter who she is!
Here are the photos. We were unable to get a full face photo of Acorn, but I don’t think the face mark on Yuma is quite right for this new face to be her. They just look so much alike! What do you all think?
Yuma and her mother Sunkist
Acorn, Kite and Whitewash
Ajax,Acorn, Miracle and Snoopy Jr.
Snoopy Jr. and Acorn with Miracle in the back
Jaggs
Snoopy Jr. and Acorn
Acorn, Miracle and Snoopy Jr. sharing a pocket of water
Imagine my surprise when I look across a small valley and see a “ghost”. Well, I thought it must be a ghost and it was Halloween, but he turned out not to be a ghost after all. This horse was last seen at the end of last winter/early spring and he looked bad. It was said that he was painfully thin and did not look well at all. Then, we have not seen him all summer long. This is a horse that, while not highly visible, is at least seen several times a year. He is alone, which is not good, but he is alive and looking well. Can you guess who it is? Do you give up? Okay, I will tell you ……….GUNSMOKE!!!
Now, he still looks every one of his 19 years, still a little thin, but does not look bad at all. He is getting his shaggy winter coat and you can see a few ribs but, all in all, he looks pretty darn good. I was really excited to see him. There is a tree that he likes to stand under and every time I went by it this year, I would say how sad it was that Gunsmoke wasn’t under his tree. Then I would wonder who would eventually take his place under that tree. While, I didn’t find him under that tree, he was close by. He was on the gas pad, which is another place he likes to hang out.
As I said before, he is 19 years old and not sure who his dam was, but pretty sure that Buckskin Jake was his sire. He is missing the tip of his left ear and his right eye has gotten “cloudy”. He has a daughter who looks a whole lot like him and he has sired many others through the years. His genes are pretty well represented on the range. Below are some photos of him and his most recent band that he has lost. One of his favorite mares, Spook, is missing and I would not be surprised to find that they find one another again.
Gunsmoke from a few years ago
Gunsmoke and Spook
Gunsmoke and some of the mares he has had
Gunsmoke surprising us in Main Canyon one winter
Gunsmoke (taken on Halloween)
Gunsmoke now
Josie (on the left) and Jolie(on the right)- Jolie sure looks like Gunsmoke
A request came in to blog about Diamond Rio. He is one of the first horses I “met” when I started going to the range and learning about these horses. He is one of my all time favorites!
Diamond Rio was born in 1993 to the Craig Mare and Buckskin Joe. He was born in the North Soda area. Both of the parents were introduced to this range rather than born here. That worked as an advantage to Diamond Rio when there were lots of bachelors off the range in 1997, which he was one of! When it was decided to do a gather of these off the range bachelors, Diamond Rio got to stay because of his “transplant” blood. His genetics were needed for the good of the horses on the range. So, he got to stay but it was decided that he be moved to Main Canyon. He stayed there for many years, but about five years ago he decided to head to the upper ranges again. He hasn’t made it over to North Soda again, but he does travel to the Indian Park area in the summer. He does come back down to Main and Coal Canyons in the winter though. He is one of the few that we get to observe through all seasons.
He has been a successful harem stallion for many years. Even though he lost all his mares at different gathers throughout the years, he has always managed to regain more. He did spend one winter as a bachelor, but has had mares since.
Currently, his band consists of Beauty and her three-year old colt, Choca. That boy should be leaving the band soon!! Diamond Rio’s daughter, Bonita, just recently left the band and is now with her own stallion.
Diamond Rio in Main Canyon
His band before Bonita left
So calm, yet wary
Running Magnum off
Sleek and healthy
Such a handsome face
Surveying his world
Next up we have a request for Chief.
Chief was born in 1996 to Moose and Tobiaque. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of either of his parents. Moose was removed and adopted and Tobiaque
died on the range before I was involved with the horses. He was named for the “Chief’s head” on his side. Chief is a bachelor right now, but has been a successful harem stallion for many years.
I remember a few years back that he and Ringo were swapping mares back and forth constantly!! There was one day when I was watching these two bands and they reconfigured at least 6 times in an hour!! Chief would have both groups of mares, then Ringo would take them, then Chief would get a couple of them, then Ringo would take
them back and lose a few more!! This went on for over an hour and I finally
left. The next time I saw them they had settled down, but each time I saw these two bands that year it was with different mares. What a wild summer that was!!
Chief started off this season with several mares but lost them at the end of June and has been a bachelor all summer. Sometimes he is with other bachelors, sometimes he is
alone. He has had a few minor injuries this summer so he has been healing from those.
Hopefully, he will get a mare or two again soon.
Chief
Chief
Chief
Chief
Wow! Two of you wrote and asked about Onyx. That boy is getting mighty popular! Ok, Cindy and Chris, here is Onyx.
Onyx was born in 2003 in Main Canyon. His parents are Howdy and Spook. Howdy disappeared last year and Spook is still around. He is black with a right rear sock and a left rear pastern. His mane, tail and forelock have a bit of a wave in it. He became a harem stallion in 2008. That is pretty young to become a harem stallion and keep the mares as he has done. He stepped in when Ringo disappeared and got his mares. He started off with two mares and a colt and has since increased his numbers. He currently has Cloud, Butterscotch, Sunshine, Drummer, Shoshoni, Chrome and Sunny. He just lost three mares to another stallion (not sure who yet, haven’t seen them). They are Mystery Paint, Tumbleweed and Concho. Since acquiring his mares, he has not returned to Main Canyon. When he was a bachelor he moved back and forth between the areas. I fell in love with this boy when he was a two-year old and have been fortunate to follow his actions. He has done so well as a harem stallion. He is definitely a favorite among many.
Onyx's original family band
Spook - his dam
Howdy - his sire
The band he has had most of the summer, now slightly smaller in number
Cloud - his current lead mare
Butterscotch
Sunshine - his only offspring
Drummer
Chrome
Sunny (not his foal)
Shoshoni
Onyx
That is Onyx. He is a young stallion, but has managed to keep his mares. He should be fun to watch in the coming years with all of our aging stallions. I wonder how many more mares he will acquire in the coming months and years.
Keep those requests coming!
In my last post I asked if anyone wanted to know more about any specific horse. Well, Amy has asked to know more about Bandit. Thanks Amy, Bandit is an easy one and lots of fun too!!
Bandit was born in 2001 and became a harem stallion in 2007. His parents are Shoshoni and Gunsmoke. He was originally from the lower canyons but was moved to the North Soda area when he was a little older.
He currently has three mares and a foal. His mares are Chipeta, Deja vu and his lead mare, Cat who has the colt foal Banjo. We believe that Bandit has also sired a couple of other foals in the area, but one can never be sure with these wild ones!!
Bandit has always been a fun, gentle stallion and a real crowd favorite with his unusual coloring. He is definitely one of a kind, at least on this horse range!! We keep hoping he will sire another one that looks like him.
Below are some pictures of Bandit, his parents and his current band, with the exception of Firefly who is his offspring but has since moved to another band. His dam, Shoshoni, is still alive and well but we believe his sire, Gunsmoke, has passed. There is another foal on the range that looks almost identical to Firefly so we believe that Bandit is also the sire to that little filly.
Bandit
Bandit
Cat and Firefly-one of Bandit's offspring
Firefly all grown up
Chipeta
Deja vu
Banjo-this years foal from Cat
Gunsmoke-Bandit's sire
Shoshoni-Bandit's dam
Gunsmoke and Shoshoni
Thanks Amy, for choosing Bandit. This was fun to do! Okay, now who is next!!
I hoped that you all enjoyed this feature. I had a good time doing it. What a great way to get to know these horses better!
This time of year it is hit and miss when trying to find the horses. They seem to shade up really early and are going deeper into the canyons and such to find good grass. We have been blessed this year with higher than average rainfall and that has helped the grass supply. While it is starting to get a bit sparse, there still seems to be enough for now. The horses are looking great right now too.
Went to North Soda the other morning and actually found horses by the road instead of in the big field! What a special treat that was. Rico Boy and his girls were right there and looking oh so fine! Misty is growing up to be a beautiful mare and Mystic is such a gorgeous color. Then there is Jill….what can I say about this amazing old girl. Twenty-eight years old and with only one eye and she is still looking fantastic. She has such a sheen to her coat. When people describe horses that they have seen and wonder who they are, it is quite easy to figure out Jill when they mention her sheen.
Also saw Bandit and his band. Cat was quite camera-shy and Chipeta was not into photos either, but Bandit, Banjo and Deja vu were posing quite nicely. What a beautiful band.
Indian Park is really looking like a ghost town these days. It is difficult to find horses over there right now. Did manage to find two bands and they were together. Diamond Rio and Flame. Both boys are getting older and they have let their adult sons stay with them. I have to wonder if it is to help with protection. On a side note….Choca is not Diamond Rio’s offspring but has been with the band since shortly after he was born. Both Flame and Diamond Rio are starting to show a few ribs and just have that “older” look about them, but they are still going strong!!
Here are a few pictures from this trip.
Bandit and Deja vu
Banjo
Rico Boy
One-Eyed Jill
Mystic
Misty
Brumby
Brumby and Sonoma
Choca
That is all for now. If anyone wants to know more about a particular horse, let me know and I will do a post on that one horse.
As for the fire in this area, it did not affect any of the grazing areas for the horses. What it did do was burn a lot of the pinyon/juniper forested areas and opened up more grazing space for the horses in the future. My understanding is that the burned areas will be reseeded.
Finally! Mother Nature has been conspiring against me lately. Seems like the days that I work, the weather is beautiful, clear skies, lots of sunshine, just beautiful. Then, I have a day off and it rains and the wind blows….hard! Finally, I got a day off and I woke up to clear skies. There was rain in the forecast, but not until the afternoon, so I headed up in the early morning.
First horses I saw were in the big field at Indian Park and it was a bunch of bachelors. We have lots of those this year! Too many! Anyway, that will be a later post I think.
Drove on and spotted Nitro and his band on Cosgrove Ridge. Walked down to where they were standing under a tree. The old girls(Shadow and Raven) didn’t want anything to do with me, so they headed for the woods. Nitro and the younger group stayed under the tree….for a minute anyway! The “kids”, Kestrel, Onaqui and Dash, decided to come closer and check me out. They were funny. One of them would take a step toward me to see what I would do. If I stood there, they didn’t come closer, if I stepped back, they would step forward. It became quite a game (Parelli would be proud!). Finally, the baby, Renata, could stand it no more and came over to see what the big kids were doing.
Renata finally decided to see what was going on
Kestrel, Renata, Dash, Onaqui. I guess they think they are hiding behind that skinny stick!
And what was the fearsome band stallion doing….
Nothing, just watching. Probably trying to keep an eye on the younger ones and the old gals who were somewhere behind him in the trees!
Nitro,watching from the trees.
They were fun to watch and “play” with. Finally, Onaqui got a step too close, I stomped and off they ran. Remember, we do not want them to get too close!!
Away they go!
Got the chance to spend a bit of time with Briscoe too. Now, he is a very flighty bachelor stallion and I have gotten very few close pictures of him. But, today he was with Medicine Hat who is a very laid back, mellow, easily approachable (within limits) stallion and I think that is what made the difference. Briscoe is pretty handsome. He has two tall socks in the back, a coppery sheen to his coat when the sun hits it, and that “bad boy” look, the unruly, wild, unkempt mane thingy.
Briscoe
And of course, we can’t forget to include a picture of Mr. Mellow, aka, Medicine Hat. He has healed up nicely and put on some weight. If you remember from an earlier post I showed you his ugly neck wound. It is amazing how well and how quickly the mustang heals.
Medicine Hat
Also saw Diamond Rio’s band, larger by two! He has picked up Rocket and her filly, Zoomer. Pretty good for an old guy (18)! That brings his total to five plus him! Let’s see, who else did I see. Oh yeah, Chief is still alone, but his lip has healed and his hip is still raw, but does not seem to bother him. Also saw Flame’s band and Onyx’s band. Shoshoni has lost her little paint foal from this year. No clue what happened to her. I think that was about it. Most of the horses I saw were either headed to Low Gap for water or coming up from Low Gap. Makes me wonder if there is something wrong with the other tanks they use.
Well, I guess that is it for now. I did not make it over to North Soda, I spent too long with these horses! I did glass the field as I was passing by and saw at least four bands in the big field behind the cabin though. Next time I will go over there and visit that bunch of horses.
It has come to my attention that sometimes people are petting or trying to pet the wild horses on this range. While some of the horses are a bit too friendly, it is still not a good idea to get that close to them. It is not good for the horses either. The horses that are “too friendly” are usually the first ones taken off the range at the next gather. They can quickly become a menace to people that are hiking and to other horseback riders. They do not know boundaries and can quickly become a problem. So, if one approaches you, PLEASE! discourage them. Flap your hands, make a loud noise, whatever it takes, but do not pet them or get too close to them!!! It is so much more satisfying to just sit back, at a safe distance, and observe them in their natural habitat. Watch how they interact with the other horses. You can learn so much from them. But, please remember to keep a safe distance. I would hate for anyone to get hurt. Thank you in advance for observing safe viewing habits.
