Mountain Update, Burnt Timber. Day One, March 2, 2012

When I headed up the mountain on the morning of March 2, 2012, I did not know who I would see.  I shared with you who I saw at the end of that day (The Gift).  Now I am going to tell you who else I saw that day.

I had not gone far when I saw some horses just around a bend in the road.  They were still when I saw them, but they moved off rather fast, not trotting, but walking fast.  I recognized them right away.  It was Grijala, he was the one that had Lakota’s former band.  It was the same that I had seen in October:  Quelle Colour, Kohl, Knight and Grijala.  But there was one new addition.  It was the young dun filly Kachina from Baja’s band.

I wished that they were closer, but I was happy to see some horses.  I think Grijala is keeping a close watch on his band.  This is his first band and I think he may be afraid he may lose them.  He was raised in the Custer Forest, I saw him still there in October 2010.  This would be his first winter on this side of the range.  Even though I was sad that Quelle Colour was no longer with Lakota, I was glad that Grijala has a wise lead mare that can keep the band down low and not lead them up on the mountain top to be caught in a storm.  That is what happened to Cabaret and his band I was hoping it would not happen to another band this winter.

I continued up the mountain.  There was a lot more snow on the road, about 6 inches now and it looked like it could snow.  I was hoping it would hold off for a while and let us see some more horses.  As I came around another bend in the road, there on the right were more horses.  I continued driving a bit farther and we found them closer to the road.  It was Teton’s (Diamond) band.  Everyone was there. (Teton, Warbonnet, Phoenix, Kayenta, Half Moon and New Moon)

I saw this band last summer several times, but they were never this close.  The last time I spent some time with them this close was in the fall of 2010.  At that time Half Moon and New Moon were still with Lakota.  I was happy to finally be able to spend some quality time with this band.

The first horses I saw were Phoenix and New Moon.  Phoenix will be 20 years old this year, but she is still as beautiful as ever.  Little New Moon will be 2.

They saw me and turned.

New Moon had turned into quite the beautiful filly.  She had grown so much since I first saw her in October of 2010.  She was really interested in me and would come closer to inspect.

New Moon is one of my favorite 2-year-old fillies on the range.  Aside from the fact that she is beautiful, I think part of the reason is that she is Lakota’s daughter and Starman’s granddaughter (I will tell you about him some time).  She also looks at me as if she knows me.  The same look that my Pryor filly that I adopted gives me.  That beautiful soft eyed stare.  I never get tired of it.  I spent about 2 hours with this band, ate my lunch with them and took A LOT of photos.  I hope you don’t mind if I share several with you!

I felt a bit guilty eating my lunch, while I watched her search for hers.  She looked healthy though, so I knew she was getting enough to eat.  There is still a big possibility that there could be more snow in the Pryors before the Lupine begin to bloom, but with March comes the promise of spring and I knew that winter had been much easier on these horses than the last one.

The beautiful Half Moon is New Moons mother.  I think Alex and I may be right on this prediction (see “Who Will Have Foals part 1), she looks to be with foal.  That means that there is a great chance that New Moon may be removed.  I hope that is not the case.  I would really like to see her remain on the range.

We did have waves of snow come through several times.  The sun came out to warm us a while too.

The band stallion is Teton (Diamond).  He seemed a bit lethargic today as I watched him sleep in the sun and snow.  He did move a bit when the young Kayenta came up to bug him.

Kayenta is another filly that is special to me.  I first met her in October 2010 when she was just a little curious foal.  I found myself having to back up away from her because she wanted to come inspect my camera and me.

Kayenta and New Moon were the only ones moving around.  Everyone else was enjoying a relaxing nap.  Well as relaxing as a nap can be with two soon to be 2-year-old fillies bugging them.

Kayenta’s mother is Warbonnet.  She is the half-sister of Lakota.  She was behind a bush for quite a while before she decided to let me see her.

It was hard for me to pull myself away from this group.  It was just so nice to share some time with them.  But there looked like there was a storm coming and the wind told me it might be serious.  So I said goodbye and headed back down the mountain.

I was glad I did end up leaving when I did.  That is when Lakota found me ( “The Gift”).  If I had waited any longer he may have been already gone.

It is amazing how things always seem to work out.  I was disappointed that I had not seen any more horses that day, but I was blessed in a special way with the ones that I had seen.

Just a reminder, if you click on any of the photos you can see them much bigger!

Sandy