Wild Horses of the Little Book Cliffs-Billie's Space

I felt like I was being stalked today. Every time I turned around, there was Chief, Josie and Lakota. I first came across them in the Low Gap campground, then they were walking down the road towards my truck. I pulled off the road and they barely moved over to go around me. This happened several times throughout the day. They were just walking up and down the road....all day long.  Now, they usually are in a field off the road, not on it. They are also not a  band that is easily approached (they are better now that Cloud has gone to another band), but not one that runs at the sight of you either. But, to pass not 20 feet from the truck is a bit unusual.  I wonder if Chief was looking for Jolie. She is usually with this band, she is Josie's daughter, but she was not with them today. Now, I have to wonder which stallion picked her up! I guess Chief is wondering the same thing too. Hope he finds her soon and he really needs to get off the road!!  All day long, up and down the road, back and forth between Round Mountain and Low Gap. Back and forth, back and forth....all day long.  Wore me out just watching them

 

Medicine Hat is one of the paint stallions we have. He was born on a horse range somewhere in Utah and transported, along with his mother,  to our range when he was about a month old. There is a story that when he was younger, he was attacked by a cat, probably a mountain lion. He has scars along his neck that are consistent with this. I have also seen him run a bear out of the field. He is a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. Yet, he is one of our more mellow stallions. He protects his band, but he doesn't run at the sight of a human either. He does seem to like to fight with the other stallions. I have noticed that he is usually the instigator in any confrontations between stallions in the field.  Unfortunately, his mares are NOT impressed. When he goes off to fight or cause trouble, they simply pack up and leave. This, of course, sends him into a panic and he has to race off and often track them to find them. Not to fear, he does find them.  His band is also one of the most traveled. He winters in upper Coal Canyon, then passes through Monument Rock on his way to Indian Park for the summer. However, the last two years he has decided to branch out and moves on over to North Soda later in the summer. The only places I don't think he has been are the Round Mountain area and Main Canyon, but who knows, he may wind up there some day. 

 

Had some surprises on the range today. We have a new harem stallion, a new satellite bachelor and a new baby!  Where to start.... Well, Onyx has become a harem stallion for the first time and he is only 5! He picked up Ringo's mares, Cloud and Butterscotch. No clue where Ringo is. He is either dogging Phantom, hurt or dead. He is a pretty tough stallion so it was a BIG surprise to see Onyx with his mares. Then, to top that off, Butterscotch has a new baby that looks to be less than a week old. According to her fecal sample test, she was NOT pregnant, so this was a big surprise. She has a sorrel, ?colt (not entirely sure, but pretty sure) that has a blaze, two rear socks and possibly a front sock too. Onyx getting a harem and Butterscotch foaling were the biggest surprises of the day. 

 

Cimarron is now a satellite bachelor in Nitro's band. He is only a two year old, so I am surprised that Nitro let him join in. But then, we have another band like that too. Chief let his two year old nephew, Lakota, into his band too.  This is unusual behavior, but both bands seem content with the arrangement. That makes a total of four bands that have a satellite bachelor in them. The two mentioned above and Dapple Jack has Little Joe and Flame has Ragtail. Don't know if there are not enough mares to go around or they just like it this way.

 

Saw another bear today, but it wasn't on the range, it was running down the middle of the road on the Corcorans!  What is it with all the bears this year!

 

That is about all the news. The gnats are still thick and biting, the weather is getting hot, and the horses are harder to find because they are hiding under the trees now. But that just makes it more challenging.

 

Went to Indian Park, North Soda and Monument Rock today. Saw four bands of horses at North Soda, none at Monument Rock (no big surprise there) and eight bands and one bachelor at Indian Park. Still lots of gnats and with the weather getting hotter, it is harder to find horses if you don't know where to look. Even then it is not easy. They seek shade fairly early in the day and pretty much stay there except to go to water. It is usually just luck if you get to see any horses.

 

Saw wildlife today though. Saw another bull snake, some deer and turkeys near the High Lonesome Ranch. Saw either 2 or 3 bears at North Soda. Saw one in the morning and then two more later in the afternoon. Since they were close to where we saw the first one, I think that one of them is the bear we saw in the morning, but not sure. I didn't realize that they were as spooky as they are. The minute they saw us they ran. Didn't even stop to check us out, just ran. It was neat to see them, especially since we were safely in the truck and not hiking at the time.

 

There is still plenty of grass, but the cheat grass is turning purple and we will need rain soon to keep things going.

 

A friend from work (Zoe) and I have been trying to go to the horse range for about a year now and every time we plan a trip, it rains. Well, yesterday everything finally worked out. It was a beautiful day, lots of sunshine and warm weather. It was pretty windy at times, but that did not even put a damper on things. We saw 60 horses!  I just love it when I take someone on the range for  their first trip and we see so many horses. A couple of the bands we were only able to see through binoculars, but most of them we were close enough to get pictures. We went in the Winter Flats road and out the Dry Fork road, that way she got to see the scenery on both sides. I see the scenery all the time so I just usually zoom right along and head to the range. It was really fun to go with Zoe because she wanted to stop to take pictures along the way. I got to "see" and appreciate all the beauty through someone else's eyes. It was great. Zoe said that sometime people seem to be moving along so fast anymore that they don't appreciate all the beauty around them. How right she is!

So, anyway, we started off in Indian Park and saw 2 bands in the big field and shortly after we headed down there another band showed up.  Flame and Sid would not let us get too close and that is the way they usually are. Nitro was nice and let us get pictures. He likes to pose and show off his mare and baby. All the horses have their "safety zones", some just have bigger zones than others. We went on and there were 4 bands on Cosgrove Ridge. Silver looked like he had been fighting hard and had still lost his only mare. Medicine Hat had her. Well, later in the day Silver had her back. Chief and Rudy were also on Cosgrove. It looks like all 4 stallions have been fighting back and forth so my guess is there was more than one mare in heat.  After spending "quality" time with these bands we moved on. We came across Gunsmoke out near the Darting Field. They have really become a calm band since they spend the winters in the lower canyons. We used to have to sneak up on this band in order to observe and get pictues of them, now they just stand there. They are such a pretty band too. Gunsmoke has been fighting also and has a pretty nasty cut on his chest, but it looks like it is healing well. He lost one of his mares and I am pretty sure I saw her with Phantom. It was just a quick glimpse before she headed into the trees, but I am pretty sure it was her. Gunsmoke lost a couple of his mares last summer, but they came looking for him this winter. Anyway, we had a really good session with Gunsmoke and his band. The horses even walked towards us.  The baby, Metate, of course is getting to that curious stage. It was great. Shortly after that we saw Diamond Rio too. We hung out over in this area most of the day then headed to North Soda in the afternoon.

When we got to North Soda we saw Sir Tristan just after entering the range. He is usually just inside the range in this little valley and sure enough, he was right there again. We went on and found Buttermilk in one of the fields near the road. Spent a little time with that band and moved on. Dapple Jack's band and Bandit's band were far away across the canyon so we only saw them through binoculars. Too far away for pictures and too late in the day to hike over there. Cabin Boy was in the big field, but we didn't go down there either, just watched him for a minute from above.  The big surprise of the day was seeing Rojito. I had not seen him for over a month and worried about him. He had lost his mother during the winter and is less than a year old. He was with his sire, but his sire is now a satellite bachelor with Dapple Jack. Rojito looks really good though. He is a really unusual color right now. I am pretty sure he will be gray when all is said and done, but right now he is kind of a rose color.  He was born sorrel and still has traces of it left, but he is red, gray, white and traces of black are in his mane. Kind of pretty, but different. He has really beautiful, expressive eyes.  He should get some friends soon though, because there are a couple of colts that are getting to the age that they will be kicked out of their band. It will be fun to see a new bachelor group.

Well, that is it. I had a great day and I think Zoe did too. It was fun to see the range and horses through new eyes. It gives me an even greater appreciation for all of it. So, thank you Zoe for a great day.