Brianna and I had a great trip yesterday and spent almost all day out on the range.
Brianna and I met at about 9:30 at the Center. There was a young man & woman who were talking to Kaibab and Liesl and waiting for the Center to open.
We let them in and they bought one Sandy’sWild Caballo DVD’s! They loved it.
They wanted to go with us (follow us) out to the range…so that is what we did.
They both were very nice and appreciative. They are from Michigan and were on their honeymoon.
So off we went. We first saw the greeters. They were very spread out and we could not get close…but Jesse James, Seneca, Hightail and Hickok were all there.
Next we drove in to the Devil’s Canyon Overlook and saw Fiero, Cascade and Bakken.
We did not see Strawberry and we hiked around to try to see if we could find her, but no Strawberry. I was really worried about not seeing her with Fiero. They were all just resting, but kept looking towards the Canyon area. We hiked out a ways thinking maybe Strawberry was there, but nothing.
We continued on our way and for some reason we looked around by the turnoff by Bad Pass Trail. We hiked out a ways because Brianna saw a dun horse…well it was Kemmerer, way down in the canyon, but on a cliff.
Then Brianna hiked out further and she saw Sacajawea on the cliff with Kemmerer.
Brianna then (and we were following her) saw Seattle and another horse down there…it was Strawberry!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we took lots of pictures and watched as Seattle “bred” with her.
I could not believe that. I don’t know how this happened from just Sunday when I was out there…but Seattle has Strawberry!!!! I wonder how long this is going to last and how Sacajawea is feeling about Strawberry in the harem.
I also wonder if there was a fight between Seattle and Fiero, but did not see any “war wounds” on Fiero. Possibly, as Sandy pointed out, Strawberry did not like Cascade in Fiero’s harem! We will just have to wait and see how this plays out.
So there is a lot of drama in the Dry Head again!!!
We never found Merlin…we looked and looked but no Merlin.
On our way out we decided to go to Bad Pass Spring in the lower Sykes area..and we hiked for awhile. We saw Medicine Bow all alone. He was on the side of a cliff.
I almost did not see him, but just happened to look up and saw him. We never saw anyone else in that area, but lots of hoof prints.
Then after leaving that area we decided to go to another part of the lower Sykes area, but just as far as my car would go. On our way we spotted a black horse, so we got out and hiked to see who it was. Surprise of all surprises…it was Cecelia…and we did not see anyone else.
I was so worried because we did not see the foal or Siting Bull. Then we drove a bit further and turned around. On our way back we saw Cecelia again and then we saw Sitting Bull. Now I am really worried…we did not see a foal with them.
Well then Joe and Devin (who were with us) hiked a bit further up over the ridge and pointed down as if to say he saw another horse. He saw the foal. Thank God…he found Cecelia’s foal (who has no name yet). Note: we just found out today that Matt has named him Mato.
Anyway….the little guy was laying under a tree and Cecelia and Sitting Bull were a ways from him. I wondered why. I suppose he was just resting, but when he got up he was limping on his right rear leg. His leg seemed to be hurt, but I did not see anything that looked too bad. I did not see any swelling, or anything that looked like a break…no blood or anything…so hopefully he just has a sprain or pulled muscle in his leg.
I am not an expert on these things, but he was putting some weight on it and moving it, so hopefully he will heal. These injuries just worry me.
He is so beautiful, a grullo color with a snip. He then ran a little bit..limping..but able to run, to his momma. At first she seemed to nip at him but then let him nurse, and then he continued to graze with her.
Sitting Bull was nearby too, but they were very spread out. I was worried for the little guy.
Then Cecelia just kept on walking while grazing and he was left behind a bit. Sitting Bull came close to him and they touched noses..it was so so cute. I felt better while the grazed together. The more he moved around the better he was walking,. I think it was stiff from resting. Maybe that is how they just go along…grazing a distance from each other. but I will still worry about his limp and Cecelia taking care of him.
It was a real good day as far as seeing the horses, but I still felt sad that we did not find Merlin.
Lori
Thank you Lori for the great update! I love your photos. It is so nice to see photos of Sitting Bull and Cecelia’s colt. I hope he heals fast and grows old in the Dryhead.
I remember when I saw Fiero alone in March of this year. You can read that post by clicking FIERO. I felt really bad for him being alone, but then just a few days later someone reported that he was with Strawberry again. I think she does that quite often. Leave him and go off doing her own thing for a while. It will be interesting to see if she is back with him.
I am heading to the Pryors tomorrow. Lori and I are going go to the top of the mountain via Burnt Timber Road. I hope to be able to check on everyone along the way, and visit Lakota once more before the snow blankets him. Then go up the Dryhead and lower Skyes to check on everyone there.
Sandy
