Lori’s second part to her day with Shawn! Thanks Lori! You can also read Shawn’s post from the day by clicking on SHAWN.
Sandy
I would like to start the second half of my report by thanking Shawn and his “co-pilot” Malakai for inviting me on this trip and for the enjoyable time I had. Malaki is a very well behaved Pup and quite beautiful! Thank you Shawn!!! You also are a great “spotter” as you were the one who spotted most of the bands, and found the best way to hike out to them!
After we all had our lunch, including Malakai, we decided to hike around the area where we had heard a horse “noise” while we were visiting with Santa Fe & Two Boots.
I am glad that we did because we came upon Mescalero, Rosarita and Polaris. They all looked to be in fine shape and spent most of their time grazing. We decided to leave them to their grazing and head on down BT road. I was just in awe of how gorgeous these three horses are!
Our next quest was to hike out to the water guzzler where we had seen White Cloud and his harem. It ended up being the location where we observed most of the horses.
First we spotted Grijala, Quelle Colour, and Kohl. We did not see Kindra with them. They were very uneasy with us at first ,so we did not get any closer.
After a little while they just went back to grazing, and then they moved up the ridge.
We moved on because I wanted to check the water guzzler to see if there was any water in it, and there was. I do hope that the Pryor’s get some more moisture though because it is still quite dry out on the range.
Next we saw White Cloud and his harem: Feldspar, Inocentes, Aztec & Mica.
Mica would wander further away from his family and when he got too far away Cloud would run over and snake him back to where he belonged.
They did not seem to mind us being there, and we just quietly watched the group as they grazed. It seemed to me that Mica was interested in Missoula who’s family was just heading to the water guzzler.
We watched as Teton brought his harem up to the water. They were a little cautious of us, even though we were a distance from the guzzler.
I have to respect and admire Teton as I watched him make sure that Missoula kept up with the rest of the family. It was very touching to witness this silent language between the two. He has managed to keep his family together for quite some time now and still has Phoenix, Half Moon with Missoula, and War Bonnet. I pray that Missoula will be able to live his life out wild and free on the range. He is a beautiful horse!
We decided to move on and hike to another area where we spotted Gringo, a very pregnant Jacinta, Beulah, Galadrial and Ketchikan. Shawn and Malakai hiked out to see if he could spot anyone else, while I found a log to sit on and quietly spent some time with this group. They went about their business like I was not even there. I would not be surprised to see a foal from Jacinta very soon. She seemed uncomfortable.
It was time to head back to the vehicle, but we took the long way back because Shawn wanted to show me where one of the mineral “lick’s” were located.
When we were just about to the spot, we saw Doc, Demure, Broken Bow and Mandan. Doc was resting, and even though we were not very close he decided to gather his family together and move on. We waited in silence and just watched them. After they had gone out of site we continued on and back to the vehicle. It was time to head down.
What a wonderful and blessed day I had. I thanked God, Shawn, Malakai, and the wild horses for this special and meaningful experience!
I hope to go again soon!
Lori
