Two Boots update!

Most people who were at the adoption will remember Two Boots as the thin grey girl getting picked on by Spook and Liberty. She was adopted by a wonderful lady who connected with her – as so many people did with so many horses – and wanted simply to give her a good home.

Thanks to Keith (Skipper’s adopter) for these great pix.

Doesn’t she have the most beautiful silver-grey coat?

And fuzzy!

Hiya, beautiful!

She looks like she’s doing wonderfully well.

Sweet, lovely girl.

This one makes me shiver! Love her beautiful face, so much like mama Houdini’s – from the front!

We had snow for several days, and now it’s gloriously clear – and very cold!

This is one of her new “flock”!:

Would love to have seen 2B’s reaction to this big guy (gal?)!

And basking in the sunshine.

Y, thank so very much for taking Two Boots home and giving her such wonderful care! Love to see how she’s doing!

Boreas and family

Chrome’s were on the first hill as you drive into the basin when I saw them last week and realized Jif was no longer pregnant. Part of the time, there was a nice view down to Spring Creek Canyon with its gracefully arched rimrock border.

Two Boots

Boreas playing by some big rocks. Wild babies have the coolest toys!

Big brothers (Rio) make good play things, too!

And there are always ready-made fly swatters courtesy some obliging family member.

Mr. Chrome

Hayden with the Spring Creek Canyon background.

Chrome also is an easygoing, calm stallion.

Boreas and band

I almost didn’t walk out to Chrome’s band during last week’s visit, but then I decided it would be rude to just drive on by! So I went out for a quick howdy.

Hayden and stepdaddy Chrome. They were napping, Boreas was napping, and the girls and Rio were grazing.

I think of Chrome as a stallion of few words. A very solid, calm and reassuring presence to his family.

Mama Jif, grazing for two as she grows ever wider.

Baby Boreas enjoying the kiss of sunshine while he naps.

Big stretch …!

Then he’s off to find mama and other mischief.

Rules of the road

Chrome teaching his boys about the finer points of stud pile etiquette. Baby Boreas is his son; yearling Rio and almost-2-year-old Hayden are his stepsons.

Saw some great displays of stallion affection (and annoyance) this week, including the bachelor boys tiptoeing ever-s0-carefully around napping Varoujan and Kreacher needing all his patience to deal with cheeky son Apollo while he was trying to get sips from the trickle.

Just because, a cropped shot of the boys together:

Rio and Boreas have the same mama (Two Boots) – and an older brother, Cuatro – and Hayden and Rio may have the same daddy. Hayden’s sire is Grey/Traveler; Rio’s sire is Grey/Traveler or Twister. (And I know I’ve said this before, but the resemblance between Twister and Grey is astonishing. Twister is still with Hook’s band.) They look like they’re plotting something, don’t they? This was right before Chrome came down to the stud pile you see in the background (out, out darn pile!).

OK, here’s one of Boreas and his mama:

He’s already greying out over his hindquarters and back. Long-legged handsome little thing, isn’t he?

And it wouldn’t be complete without a pic of mama Jif … expecting …

Worth the wait

Mama Two Boots grazed while Boreas napped and Rio guarded, and I watched and waited. When the little guy was tired, he laid down literally in the middle of the road – dirt softer than pricklies! Chrome and Jif and Hayden came down from their rock climbing to nap beneath a tree, and when Boreas got up, mama started grazing her way up the hill toward them.

Yearling Rio, baby brother Boreas and mama Two Boots, on the flanks of Filly Peak with nearly the whole of Spring Creek Basin stretching away before them to the dominating eastern ridges of the far boundary.

Chrome, Jif and Hayden under a tree right at the base of Filly Peak. Jif is showing obvious signs of her bundle-to-come. She (her belly, to clarify) looks bigger than Kootenai, but she’s also smaller and has had a foal (Hayden). My best guess for her is August-September. There was a question last year of who the sire of her foal was, but I would have known by the timing of the foal’s birth. Unfortunately, she’s one of the mares that lost her foal last year, and I’m not exactly sure when (I was also gone in late August for PZP training). Hayden will be 2 on Sept. 22.

Big baby boy Boreas and his sweet mama.

Hook’s band was just around the corner – also on the road – so I stopped and waited for them, too. They very graciously grazed off the road on the driver’s side of the Jeep, so I just aimed my camera right through the window. The best photos I got, though, were later that evening as I was leaving, with the sun rimming their handsome selves with layered hills and rocks in the background. To come.

Boreas … and a chill

Some pix of Chrome’s band from a week ago …

Chrome’s band was so calm when I originally parked and walked out to them that Rio laid down.

He looks like such a *pony* now with his still-fuzzy coat and thick mane and forelock …

Handsome Chrome surveying his domain while his family grazes and naps.

Pretty Two Boots and big-boy Boreas

Striking little mister, isn’t he?

Showing off his mustang walk …

Snack break …

Tending an itch …

Prince’s plume  and globe mallow are plentiful this year. The paintbrush isn’t quite as plentiful as years past.

Pretty in a desert …

Hayden and Rio, playing as brothers will. Rio is a yearling, and Hayden will be 2 in September. They may be half-brothers … or maybe not?!

And then things changed …

The horses started looking at something …

Something I didn’t see until a flash of white a long way away caught my eye – a truck.

And then they were running, and the truck wasn’t even close.

After I sadly watched them go, I had time to walk back to the Jeep and drive down the road a bit and walk down to the troughs at the water catchment before the truck crested the rise. The horses ran, the truck followed. It stopped a couple of times, but the horses kept running. Other visitors, coming in, saw only the horses running, the truck behind them, before the horses were gone, all hopes of their enjoyment of that band gone.

That kind of thing makes me sad and angry. Respectful visits not only benefit individuals at the time but all those who come later …

Boreas and family

Here are some pix of Boreas and his family. He was still so new to the world that when daddy Chrome woke him up from his nap, he was a little confused about which big body he belonged to. But mama Two Boots got him sorted out, and all was fine.

Big brother Rio greets his little brother.

Hayden was fascinated by the little guy, who wasn’t at all intimidated by the big red boy!

The little guy checked everyone out while mama hovered a little anxiously.

Two Boots’ oldest son is out on his own (that’s Cuatro, 2), but here she is with her other two boys. I love capturing these families … so important to the horses.

And there he goes, our little baby-god of the north wind … marching into the sky.

All together

When I crested the hill, I saw a light grey horse down the hill … then a dun back … and my first thought was Seven’s.

But then I saw Rio and shifted my identification – to Chrome’s. The hill they were on is cut by tree-lined drainages that run down to a valley, cut by a bigger arroyo fed by drainages from the base of Filly Peak. Chrome, Jif and Hayden were in one drainage. Up across the hill, across another drainage and on the next “hill” were Two Boots and Rio. It’s not unusual for the horses to separate while they graze, and they certainly weren’t worried.

I couldn’t seem to capture on digital memory the 3D look the scene had in reality, with the backlit shine and country stretching out behind them.

Sweet ponies.

Chrome striking a handsome pose while he watches Two Boots and Rio come across to the hill he’s on.

Mr. Handsome

Chrome got a little miffed when Hayden tried to share his grazing. Hayden’s feelings weren’t hurt, but he did finally leave stepdaddy to his treat.

Jif watching Two Boots and Rio.

Down the hill …

Hi, sweet mama!

I liked their faces …

Rio in the foreground … Seven, Roja, Mona and Shane are in the background.

I just like this one, peace, light, a little breeze, mountains, calm … beautiful.

Content

Rio  was following mama Two Boots (that’s her tail at left), paused to check out Chrome, who raised his head up over Rio’s head and neck when he walked right in front of him – then stopped. Solid Chrome just let his chin rest on Rio’s back and continued his nap. I love these little moments that show stallions  involved with their families – not just fighters or stand-offish protectors. Later, with Hollywood’s band, they were grazing around … then I noticed Piedra had stopped grazing and walked back to where Hollywood was standing to nap with him. Companionable in close proximity. Pretty soon, the others came back and gathered close for a group nap. Comanche’s – very nearby – also stopped to nap. The funniest thing was at one point watching them start to raise and turn their heads to look up the hill – out to my left. Sage appeared over the hill, looking at ME … I was singing Christmas carols while they napped, and he came to investigate. Have you noticed that “Silent Night” has a lullaby quality?

Jif and Chrome, sharing their own companionable nap.

Two Boots taking a break from grazing to give Rio a snack.

Handsome Hayden napped a short distance away during most of my visit. Such a quiet, laid back boy. Like his stepdaddy, not much seems to ruffle him.

Visit with Chrome’s

Catching up from a week ago … Two Boots, Rio and Chrome

Mama and baby

Chrome – McKenna Peak and unnamed promontory in the background

His “magnificent wild stallion against the turquoise sky” pose. He really is quite a handsome fellow!

Two Boots and Chrome

Jif and Hayden had already come down the ridge … Two Boots took the fast way down, but although it looks like Chrome is thinking about following her, he didn’t. He continued walking along the edge for a little bit until he found an easier way down.

Two Boots had been nickering for Rio to follow her up out of the arroyo (you can see his legs) … I think the big guy thought she was nickering for him.

Ending with one of Rio – such a handsome little guy!