After four short days at home, I headed back to the Pryors for a 3 day camping trip with 4 other woman. It was a great trip in many ways and I made some new life long friendships.
When I was there just a few days before, the horses were concentrated more on the big open area and surrounding trees not far from my camp. This trip was different. When we arrived on top the only bands we saw were Garcia and Doc’s.
After setting up camp, we headed towards Kruger Pond. There were a few horses around on the way and a few at the pond, but for the most part it was very quiet. One of the things that I did notice was that Lariat was back with Garay. We would see her come and go in that band over the course of our three days there. Duke always seemed to “bring her home” for the night. Then she would be allowed to go back to Garay in the morning. I am sure it will be a permanent situation soon. Lariat seems to enjoy being in the band and the other mares (Quelle Colour and Kohl) seem to really like her.
For this trip, the horses would be in the North Woods, we would spend hours each day hiking and exploring that area. It was a nice change and it was fun to see the horses mixed in with the trees.
I remember talking with Matt one day, several years ago, about how the horses can just disappear and not come out all day. He said “you just need to know where to look”. Then a silence followed. I never asked where and he never offered. I often think of that conversation and was glad he never offered the information. There are some things that need to be earned, and I believe that was one of them. I now am pretty confident I am beginning to know “where to look”. One of those paths led me to a Vision Quest site that I had never seen before. The Pryors are a very special place and sometimes words just can not describe it. The full moon on this trip even added more to the beauty it already possessed.
With Lauryn’s (TCF) directions we were able to locate Damsel’s remains and say our goodbyes to her. This was also the anniversary of Lakota’s death, so we spent some time with him as well. It doesn’t seem like it has been a year since his death.
On my last day there, I spoke with Ryan (BLM) and he told me they had found Starman’s remains. We followed the directions he gave us, but only found what was Cabarate and band (I already knew their location). I am hoping to get better details on those directions so that next trip I can locate him.
Starman was the first wild horse my husband Bill ever saw and he was also a frequent visitor to my campsite. I will miss him.
Below are a some of the photos that I took while there. On the last day as we were packing up. 100 horses came running past us into the open area that they frequent. It was a special gift to see, but I also appreciated the special gift they had given me the previous days. Looking for and finding them in an area I had not spent much time in.
I have a few weeks a home and then I will be heading back for another 10 day trip.
Sandy
