While I was busy with the camera, my assistant was working the squeaky toy and the reflectors to get just the right light on our subjects.
Other than Tesora sticking out her tongue, as youngsters are wont to do, my assistant did a pretty good job with lighting and ears, don’t you think?
Thanks, Ma Nature. 
Chipeta, right, watches while Seven grazes with his mares, Puzzle and Shadow, and his stepdaughter, Tesora. Chipeta is Puzzle’s mama; she’s with Ty and their daughter, Seneca, who were out of this shot to the right. Copper also was with them. On this particular evening, their “spaces” overlapped a bit.
Tesora framed by “auntie” Puzzle (no actual relation that I’m aware of).
Nooooo … not THAT kind of blow. Check out her nostrils. She’s giving me the universal wild horse signal for “intruder alert.” She and Seven are the only horses that give me the “blow” anymore. But she’s so darn cute, I can’t even mind.
It’s hard to hide when you choose this kind of “camouflage.”
Seven, Puzzle and Shadow against the La Sal Mountains.
Puzzle galloping along the skyline during a meeting with David.
Seven’s ladies seem to be feeding him well. Puzzle is behind him, and you can just see Shadow at bottom right.
Look who lost his girls:
OK, technically, David isn’t in this pic, but it’s implied, right? Poor David is the los*er*, and the los*ees* now are with Seven!
Little Shadow girl is sporting a belly. She – 6 this year – really is smaller/shorter than 2.5-year-old Puzzle.
I saw this new band last week in a snow squall, but I didn’t go close enough to take pix (the Jeep was a long way away, and I didn’t know at the time that the blowing snow wouldn’t turn to sticking snow).
Puzzle looks a lot like her mama Chipeta.
It happened awhile ago that David acquired Puzzle, but I hadn’t seen them close enough for pix until this week. I was visiting Ty’s merry little band – with Copper, who, earlier in the week, was with Corazon’s band – when I spied Puzzle away off yonder. I bid grateful fare-thee-well to Ty, Chipeta and Seneca and beat feet for a visit with David.
A slow and cautious approach enabled some photos before Ty’s group followed me down the hill and sent the wary band in search of quieter environs.
Puzzle – the pretty pinto pony – is the big sister of Asher and Seneca (same dam: Chipeta; different sire: Copper). David, left, has had Shadow since she was a long yearling. They’ve had two colts: Wind and Coal. Both were adopted last year.
Puzzle was 2 on Sept. 1. Shadow was born in 2007 and orphaned that winter when her dam, Ceal, died. She returnd to the company of Bruiser’s band until the late summer / early fall of 2008, when the “southside boys” bachelor band stole the band; that’s when David stole Shadow and started his own band. He has had her almost continuously since then (Storm stole her after the roundup; David stole her back; Storm stole her back; David stole her back – and kept her).
Attracted Maiku’s notice:
The ravens were very active on Seneca’s birthday. Raucous, too. How cool would it be to have a raven’s-eye view of the basin? Or a pony’s-eye view of ravens?
