This night was filled with the sounds of horses. Not as many stallion screams as the night before, but still plenty of activity. It seemed some of the horses were finally moving down towards this part of the mountain.
At 5:00 am, I was awoke by the sound of a very loud whinny. I sat straight up in my tent. It was still dark out. I sat there waiting for another whinny. Had I really heard a whinny, or had I dreamt it? Regardless if it was real or not, I decided to get up.
I had just finished making coffee when I could see a few horses down the road. It was Cappuccino and his band. It was just beginning to get light.
I was happy to see them for a couple of reasons. One was to see that Cappuccino was indeed back with the band after running with the boys two days ago, and two, I had learned the night before from some visitors (thank you Patty!) that one of the yearlings had been wounded. They showed me the photo and I knew instantly it was McKeahnie. I was anxious to see the wound for myself.
McKeahnie was lagging behind a bit, but did not seem to bad. It appears to be a puncture wound. It was beginning to drain pus out. From time to time he would stop and bit at his hind foot. I wondered if he had a bit of numbness from the wound. I was concerned, but I do believe it will heal just fine. I did call Jared and let him know. And I will be looking forward to seeing how he is when I go up again soon.
We spent some earlier morning time with this band while we waited for the sun to come up. The photos are a bit grainy because of the low light.
They seemed a bit bothered by our presence, so we left them and headed down Burnt Timber road where I had seen some horses heading earlier. There were several bands there. Galaxy, Blue Moon, Garay, Coronado, and Baja. The first time in days they had gone down this way.
We stayed there until the sun started to get hot, watching them move into the trees for shade and relief from the flies.
We had to head down the mountain today. We went back to camp to pack up. Tomorrow I would have a day trip and be back up here.
Today I wanted to get down and check out lower Skyes, hoping to get a glimpse of Cecila. I had heard that some thought she was pregnant. I had not seen her since February. I knew that she had foaled last year the middle of August. So I was pretty sure if she was, she may have a new foal with her.
Just as we were leaving, we saw Cloud and his band.
I always keep a watchful eye out as I head down Burnt Timber, even though most of the horses are on top.
I had not seen Garcia and band. But as spread out as the horses were right now, I thought perhaps I may have missed him. I also still was holding out hope that I would see Two Boots or Starman or even Prince.
We were high up the road above the lower water guzzlers when I noticed some dark-colored horses by one of the guzzlers. My heart skipped a beat. Was Two Boots one of them?? I looked through the binoculars. It wasn’t Two Boots, but it was Garcia and his band! How cool was that?? They were the only band using this part of the range right now. Smart band. The forage of course was not as great as on top, but they had the whole place to themselves. It was so great to see the water guzzlers doing what they hoped it would do. AND there was still water for them in them!
We stopped and hiked back to them. They were very surprised to see us and were a bit bothered by our presence. So after snapping a few photos, we left them to their solitude.
When we reached Lower Sykes, the thermometer on the truck read 95 degrees. It would be like an oven out there for hiking, but I was determined to check on Cecilia. I hiked up a couple tall hills and glassed around. It only took me a minute to spot them way off. I don’t believe Ceceila is pregnant.
It had been a great first 5 days on the mountain.
Later that evening I met with Matt and Nancy at the PMWMC. We talked about the new proposed PZP program. Here is a link to their blog on the letter they wrote. Click CENTER to go there.
There is still time to submit your letter too. Click HERE for more information on how to do that.
Sandy
