I was so excited to be back in the Pryors with Sandy again this summer!! Our original plan was to take a guest on a day trip the 19th and then on the 20th we get food, supplies, etc ready and pack up the truck. Then the 21st we would head up the mountain again for a 4 day/3 night trip. The day Sandy and I both arrived in Montana/Wyoming our day trip guest had to make a last minute cancellation. We decided we would still go up there ourselves and get some extra time with the horses in and we could partially set up our camp for the next trip. However, the night before Sandy’s guests for the camping trip also had to make a last minute cancellation. We decided what we would do instead was we would get all our our stuff ready and pack the truck on the 19th and then head up the mountain on the 20th and stay up for 5 days/ 4 nights. I was disappointed for Sandy that her guests canceled, but I was also really exited for it to be just the two of us on this trip.
Last time we went up Burnt Timber Road, but this time we took Sage Creek. The first horses we saw when we got to the range were Knight and Encore/Nimbus. Then just a little further in there were a ton of bands all in the area between our camp site and Mystic Pond. They were working their way towards Mystic. We set up camp, had a quick lunch, and then headed down the road to follow the horses. There were bands all over by Mystic pond. Hernando’s band was right by the road. He has mares Warbonnet and Pheonix.
Looking at Demure, I was wondering if she could be pregnant. She seemed to have a really rounded belly. More so than usual.
We made our way over to the rocks above Mystic pond to sit and watch the horses. We came over the top of the hill and there were horses right below us on the snow bank. And looking right up at me was Bolder! I was so excited! Bolder is one of my favorite stallions and I didn’t get the chance to see him close up during my trip last year. I was so excited to see his gorgeous face looking up at me. I finally got the close up time I had wanted.
In addition to Bolder’s band there were a lot of other bands at the pond: Gringo, Tecumseh, Duke, Grijala, Morning Star, Flint, Baja, Doc, Galaxy, Garay, and Mescalero all had their bands there. All the bands were in very close proximity, all trying to be on the snow bank at the same time, but it was peaceful.
We noticed that Aztec and Jasmine were back with Doc (they had been with Cappuccino) and wondered when that happened. We were also with our friend Linda who had already been up on the mountain for a few days. She had seen Doc’s band earlier this morning and Aztec and Jasmine were not with them, so this was a very new change. We heard horses running and turned to see Hernando’s band circling around the hill and heading for the pond.
Prepare to see a lot of Bolder pictures, because I’m obsessed!
Warbonnet apparently didn’t feel like waiting for her band at the pond and headed out without them.
We saw a black yearling filly with Grijala’s band. At first glance we assumed it was Petite Colour who is the 2015 daughter of Kohl and Garay. The previous week the whole herd had taken off galloping from one end of the range to the other and Petite Color had gotten separated from her band. She spent a few hours with Grijala’s band before reuniting with her mom and Garay’s band. We thought maybe she was back for a visit today. Later we realized this filly was actually Petra, 2015 daughter of Galena and Doc.
Linda said that the previous night she had heard Bolder and Echo fighting through the night. Based on the way Echo was screaming she said it sounded like Bolder was killing him. She expected to see him bloody and beaten in the morning. Sandy said Echo always screams like that because he’s a big wimp haha. Echo was sporting some new marks on his coat, but nothing too serious. Bolder’s coat however, remains pristine.
You should also be prepared for a lot of Baileys photos too, because I really love this mare. She was with Cloud for nine years and then joined Bolder’s band where she has been for the past three years.
We heard more thundering hooves above us and looked up to see Horizon’s band coming down with Fiesta in the lead.
Bolder’s band was spread out with Echo, Cedar, and Lobo being the farthest from Bolder and the closest to Horizon. Horizon’s band coming into that area made Echo uncomfortable so he chased Cedar away to get her hidden behind Bolder so he wouldn’t have to deal with any threats. Lobo soon followed suit.
We heard more running and it was Indigo/Irial’s band coming over from the opposite direction.
Indigo’s band has a new member, Velvet/Scarlett. She was previously with Bolder’s band for five years, but over the winter she got fed up with the drama and left. Her daughter Baileys is still with Bolder’s band. Velvet was also a long time Cloud mare. She was with Cloud for eight years before leaving his band for Bolder’s. Baileys stayed with Cloud for two more years before joining her mother in Bolder’s band. Prior to Velvet’s exit from Cloud’s band, she and Baileys had been together for all of Baileys life. They spent two years apart, before joining up with each other again. But now they are apart again. Indigo’s band was moving in close to Bolder’s band and I wondered if the mares would greet each other or if Bolder would try to get Velvet back.
And now that Indigo has three blue roan mares in his band, they sure are hard to tell apart! All three are dark blue roans (as opposed to Indigo’s lighter shade). Blue Sioux and Velvet are both solid. Adona does have a star, but her forelock frequently covers it. Blue Sioux and Velvet both have scars, with Blue Sioux having more. Blue Sioux is also just a touch lighter than Velvet this year and also is thinner across her topline. When they’re looking at me and I can see their faces I can more easily tell them apart. From a distance it’s just about impossible.
Custer’s band came down next and his mares were taking a path that was going to go right past Santa Fe. Santa Fe saw this and started to move away, but not fast enough for Custer. Custer took off after Santa Fe and chased him out of the area.
Winnemucca is an amazing 29 years old this year. She is most likely the oldest horse to ever live in the Pryors. She is thin, but she is determined and happy. She keeps up with her band and they make sure not to leave her behind. Her right knee is swollen and bothers her some, but she gets around. She has a harder time going downhill than she does going uphill. But she is happy.
Indigo decided he didn’t like Fiesta and Horizon pushing on his band so he charged out at them. He is a higher ranking stallion so Horizon and Fiesta retreated and the mares ducked and ran. Indigo has a large band and is a relatively young stallion. He’s become more aggressive to other stallions to make sure they don’t think they have a chance to steal a mare.
Another new addition to this band from over the winter is Pilar. La Brava gave birth to Pilar towards the end of December. Foaling in December is way late in the season and very rare. We all worried whether Pilar would make it through the winter and the toll it would take on her mother La Brava to nurse her through the harshest time of the year. Pilar is a tough little girl and came out of the winter doing great. La Brava is doing good as well, she’s on the thin side, but certainly not as bad as she could be. Pilar was lucky to be born into this stable tight knit band full of experienced mares including her grandma (La Brava’s mom) Blue Sioux. You can see the size difference between Pilar and Fools Gold’s 2015 filly Pele/Penny who was one of the first foals born in 2015.
Yearling filly Pele is so mature and is absolutely stunning. She has been named Pele, but a couple of us have also nicknamed her “Penny.” Her older brother is named Nickel so it kind of goes with that. If Fools Gold had had a 2016 foal it could have been named Quarter 🙂
Four year old M’lita is so grown up and so beautiful. She’s the 2012 daughter of Dove and Red Raven. I just love this little mare! She’s been a favorite since the day she was born.
The mares in Indigo’s band are very close knit. They were a stable band in their years with Red Raven prior to Indigo taking over the band. They’re been together for a long time. Blue Sioux was Red Ravens first mare, he won her in 2000. A couple years later Adona joined this band. Fools Gold joined the band with her 2010 filly Kiva, in I believe the fall of 2010. That winter (2010-2011) Dove left Mescalero and joined the band. This band also has mother/daughter pairs which also strengthens their bond. Fools Gold’s daughter Kiva stayed with this band until her removal late summer 2012. She had a foal that year too, a colt named Madrid. Madrid did not survive the summer, but Fools Gold helped Kiva take care of her colt while he lived. Sandy of Wild In The Pryors made a post that has some photos of the three of them together. Click Madrid to view that post. Another mother/daughter pair is Blue Sioux and La Brava. Blue Sioux helps La Brava look after her filly Pilar. She also tried to help La Brava with her 2013 filly Nacer, that unfortunately became separated from the band. Blue Sioux continues to dote on Pilar. Halycon (now in Blue Moon’s band) is another Blue Sioux x Red Raven daughter. She had her 2009 filly Adelina (Judith) while she was still with the band. Halycon was only two years old at the time, but with the help of Blue Sioux and the rest of the caring band she was able to successfully raise her daughter. Another mother/daughter pair is Dove and M’lita. M’lita is Dove’s only surviving foal and they remain very close. Dove even allows M’lita to continue to nurse even though she’s four years old. I think they will always be together, even if they were to leave this band. Dove passed on her unique sooty buckskin color to her daughter who displays it in a shade of roan.
La Brava and her daughter look just alike! They’re practically identical.
Lobo, Echo, and Cedar had drifted a little ways from Bolder’s band in the direction of Indigo’s band. He decided they had gotten too close and rushed out at them. Six year old Echo ducked and ran chasing Cedar away. He is a big wimp and runs away from any challenge. Five year old Lobo however, didn’t feel like backing down. Indigo challenged Lobo, aggressively striking out and sending the snow flying. When Lobo didn’t back down Indigo charged at him and body slammed him, breaking out into a fight.
It was a very serious fight, with both stallions screaming and viciously biting, kicking, and attacking each other. I have to admit I was impressed with young Lobo. Although he doesn’t have much fighting experience, he didn’t back down and he actually held his own against this older and more experienced band stallion. Bolder was very nonchalant about the whole thing and didn’t step in on his son’s behalf. Bolder only stepped in when his mares got upset about the close proximity of a serious fight. Indigo continued to throw intense and aggressive challenges towards Bolder, pawing and sending snow flying through the air. Bolder wasn’t intimidated and was able to back Indigo down with virtually no show of force.
The group of stallions gave me some great action sequences!
Bolder then decided he wanted to move his band out of there.
The constant fighting with his sons is taking it’s toll on Bolder. While he is not thin by normal standards, this is the thinnest he has been since his early band stallion days. Normally he looks like he is pregnant, so he has definitely lost weight. I’m planning on a doing a post specifically about him and the situation he’s in with his sons and some of my thoughts about it.
We heard a commotion and looked up to see Jasmine trying to make a break from Doc’s band. She clearly was not thrilled to have found herself back with him this afternoon. Doc however, was not going to allow that.
Duke’s band decided to move on next. I think things were getting a little too active for them.
Helenium is thin. She wasn’t quite as thin as she appears in this picture. She tends to be very thin after carrying a foal. Especially when she foals early in the year, which she did with Quintasket this year. But she usually picks up weight well as the summer goes on. She’s also now on pzp so Quintasket is likely her last foal.
Since several bands had left the snow bank there was now more room and Flint’s band spread out into the extra space. Flint was giving Ingrid/Innocentes some extra attention. I was excited to see her and her daughter Orielle. Orielle is the 2014 daughter of Ingrid and Cloud. She’s a baby I was looking forward to for a long time and I didn’t get to see her or her mother last year on my visit. In the spring of 2015 Inniq stole Cloud’s band. He held onto Ingrid and Orielle and kept them down in lower Sykes for the whole summer. In late August they reappeared up on the mountain top with the stallion Jemez, who had always lived in the Dryhead. It was the first time anyone had ever seen him up top. Within a few days Flint stole them from Jemez and Jemez returned to the dryhead. I found it fitting though that in Cloud’s retirement, Ingrid and Orielle would ultimately end up with the son he raised. Flint is the son of Sitka and Shaman, but born and raised in Cloud’s band. Cloud has always maintained a close relationship with his stepson, even allowing him to remain in the band at four years old. I had a feeling Ingrid and Orielle would return home to the mountain top at some point and I’m glad I got to see them this year.
I noticed that there was a black filly standing with Tecumseh.
Shortly after I snapped that photo, Doc took off from his band charging the pair. It was then that I realized the black filly was Doc’s yearling daughter Petra.I thought Doc was chasing off Tecumseh and collecting Petra, but his only intention was chasing away Tecumseh. His charge sent both of them running, but once he had moved Tecumseh an acceptable distance away from his band, he returned without making any attempt at collecting Petra. Tecumseh circled back to his band, but Petra ran to Grijala’s band. That’s when we realized it was Petra that had been with them all this time, not Petite Colour as we had previously thought.
I saw Mescalero’s band in the distance and hoped they might come closer.
A young marmot came out from his den. I’m not sure if he forgot we were there or he was hungry and decided we weren’t a threat because we had been there sitting quietly for so long.
We heard running above us and turned to see that Horizon’s band had done and loop around the ridge and were coming back down.
Then Grijala’s, Tecumseh’s, and Gringo’s bands all started running back towards the snow bank.
Oceana is a new addition to Grijala’s band. She had only been spending time with them for two weeks prior to my trip. She was still spending time with them off and on, sometimes returning to her family. She is the 2014 daughter of Galadrial and Tecumseh. Her parents are also linked to Gringo and Beulah. Each stallion is dominant over their own mare, but they stay together like one band. Oceana is very close with her family and they have had a hard time with her spending time away from the band. She could see her family and walked over to them.
He didn’t stop her but Grijala kept a close eye on Oceana while she was visiting with her family. Then Gringo and Tecumseh’s bands decided to move out of the area and Oceana went with them. Previously Grijala has let her go back to them, but today he decided he was keeping her. He charged after her setting the mares and Oceana scrambling to run away and sending stallions Tecumseh and Gringo into high alert. He caught them all off guard, but Gringo and Tecumseh kicked it into high gear to separate him from their mares.
Then Tecumseh and Gringo realized Grijala was only interested in Oceana and not their mares. The circled up their mares and got them to stop running. Grijala continued after Oceana. At first Gringo and Tecumseh pursued him, wanting to get Oceana back. But then the fell back and watched. Surely the two stallions could work together to get rid of Grijala, but they didn’t seem to be willing to do it. It was surprising as they are all so attached to Oceana. It makes me think that this has happened more than once already and they have chased off Grijala only for Oceana to eventually go back to him again and this time, they just weren’t willing to keep doing it. They stopped and intently watched the situation. The mares Galadrial and Beulah were upset and tried to break forward to help Oceana, but their stallions kept them back. Oceana was working hard running all kinds of circles trying to get back to her family, but Grijala was determined to have her. Not only is he older and more experienced than this two year old filly, but he is considerably larger than her. He is one of the largest horses on the range and she is one of the smallest. We felt bad for Oceana and wished Grijala would let her go.
Eventually Oceana gave up and accepted that she would have to stay with Grijala’s band. She stood with him, Graciana, and Petra, but looked longingly at her family. After this was settled, Tecumseh and Gringo moved their bands out of the area, presumably to prevent their mares from stirring up the situation again. Surprisingly the chaos and drama didn’t make Doc go and collect Petra and bring her back to the band. Oftentimes a situation like this will make the other stallions pull all their members in close to each other. Shortly after this settled, Jasper’s band came around from the top of the ridge.
I love Jewel, she is just such a gorgeous mare. She is the 2009 daughter of Cedar and Bolder. Since Chino disappeared last summer, she is the only horse in the Pryors with this classic buckskin color. Dove and M’lita are sooty dark buckskins and Pride is a very pale shade of buckskin. He may stay light or he may turn out more golden, we’ll have to wait and see. TCF calls her the “Jewel of the Arrowheads” and I certainly agree. She hasn’t foaled yet and does not appear to be pregnant this year, but she is in the pzp-free window so hopefully we’ll see a foal from her soon. Maybe even next year. A foal for her and Horizon is a very anticipated baby!
We had been here for several hours and decided to head back to make dinner. Just as we were leaving the bachelors appeared out of the trees across the road and made their way down to the pond. Of course they show up just as we’re leaving!
Five year old London and four year old Mica have been bachelors for the last few years, but Nickel and Missoula are new bachelors as of this past spring.
As we got to the top of the ridge there were more bachelors. It was eight year old Inali and younger boys Naolin and Orlando. Inali is a longtime bachelor, but both Naolin and Orlando are new bachelors as of this spring. Inali enjoys the roll of big brother and likes to help the younger boys ease into the life of bachelorhood. He’s a very good big brother to have.
The entire time we were back at camp we could hear a horse continuously calling and calling. We wondered who it was and thought maybe it was more drama with Bolder’s band. While we were eating we could see the horses gradually getting closer and closer. A little after dinner they were right by our camp. As the horses got closer we realized that it was Galena that was calling for Petra. Petra had stayed with Grijala’s band and when their bands separated Galena called for her trying to find her. Galena was still searching for her now and calling out, Petra looked in her mother’s direction a couple of times, but never made a move to go back or even answered her to say where she was. Galena was on a mission though looking through all the bands to find her daughter. Eventually she found her and ran forward to her. Doc didn’t like that and trotted after her to separate her from Grijala. While the two stallions greeted each other, Galena quickly and quietly collected Petra and brought her back to the rest of Doc’s band.
The lighting was really great and perfect for silhouette and sunset pictures but unfortunately I had a killer migraine and couldn’t look in the direction of the sunset. I was having trouble just looking through my camera lens. I had to keep putting it down several times.
Tecumseh had wandered toward another mare when he heard Gringo make a flirty whinny at Galadrial and she squealed. That sent him running back to deal with Gringo who was already retreating. Gringo had a look that was like, “Yeah, yeah I know, I know, I’m going.”
Mescalero’s band came through next. I was excited to see Pride and his new sassy little sister Quintana.
Hernando’s band came through next and I was able to get a few shots before my migraine was too overwhelming and I had to go to bed. Luckily we still had four more days!
summerinthepryors 