Wild Horses: The Cremello Colts Come Home

Unfortunately when I am talking about "home" I don't mean back to the range that they grew up in - the McCullough Peaks Herd Area in Wyoming. They were removed forever from that home in October of last year in a BLM helicopter roundup. They will never see that home or their families again. But they are now in their new home with me in Colorado. It has been a long journey for the two three year old First they were transported to the Rock Springs holding facility, then sent to Steve Mantle's Ranch in Wheatland. They were not adopted at the April adoption in Powell, WY so they were sent back to Steve's ranch. I adopted them in April, and Rich Scott picked them up in May and brought them to his place for a few months of gentling and training.



I watched Rich work with them slowly, patiently, gaining their trust, and observed how things I don't normally think of as scary for a horse could startle them - like moving a hand abruptly toward them. He did a wonderful job working with them, and has made having them her at home possible for me.





Rich got them to a point where they could be caught, haltered, led and trimmed and trailered, which was what I needed, and then a month ago he brought them to my home near Lyons, CO.





They were so calm when they unloaded from the trailer - and investigated their new corral. They immediately figured out the automatic waterer and went into their shed. It has taken a little longer to get used to me.







I was so excited the first day when we turned them loose into my big pasture - I expected them to run off thundering up the hill - but they stuck fairly close to the corral.





Rich has continued to come out and work with me to improve my skills in approaching and handling them.








It has also been interesting seeing the differences in personality of the two colts. Claro, the one with one blue eye and one dark eye, is the boss. he herds Cremosso around. He is the one who investigates things first, and has been a bit easier to work with. Cremosso, who has two green eyes lets Claro boss him around, and has been more guarded.




I was thrilled the first time Claro approached me and let me stroke and pet him without a halter when they were in the field. Cremosso hasn't let me do that yet, but he is thinking about it - I can tell. They both spend alot of their time near the house, and always watch me when I am outside. I love seeing them out there, together, calm and content in their new home with a huge pasture to roam in. It reminds me of why I have been working to help keep the last of our wild horses free. They are worth it.

Wild Horses: McCullough Peaks Shake Up After the Roundup

Last week I made my third trip to the McCullough Peaks Herd Area in northern Wyoming since the roundup last October. The herd area is 110,000 acres. At the roundup, 92 horses were removed, leaving about 125. This is significantly below the number of 150 breeding age adults which is the minimum recommended by Dr. Gus Cothren to insure genetic viability of a herd. Complicating this issue, the herd had been in a experimental birth control program using 2 year PZP as birth control, leaving 15 mares permanently sterile. This further decreases the size of the breeding population and the possibility of maintaining genetic viability for this herd.




Like every other herd except the Pryor Mountain herd, at the roundup, horses were not kept in their family bands, and so mares were separated from youngsters, stallions from mares, and families that had been together for many years were torn apart. The stallions were released together, and the mares were released together. But nothing will ever be the same. This is especially true since the decision was made to skew the sex ratio in this herd, leaving more stallions than mares, instead of roughly 50-50. The idea is that less mares and more stallions means less babies, less population increase. But it totally discounts the effect on the family structure, the heart, soul and glue of the herd.



What I found all over the herd area was single bachelors, bachelors in twos and threes hanging out together, and circling the family bands like sharks.







Two of my favorite stallions, Warbonnet (aka Medicine Boy) and Washakie (aka Rerun)who both had large family bands before the roundup I found with no mares (Washakie) or one mare (Warbonnet).



Indigo, the stallion who fathered my two cremello colts, who had one of the largest bands in the area now had two mares and a foal, and signs of recent battles on his body.





I was happy to see the late season foal of last year, Tall Socks who was one of the few foals left in the area after the roundup. He is growing up to be a handsome and outgoing colt.





Surprisingly, Tecumseh, a young stallion who had only had a family band for 1 year before the roundup had his family intact.





I was wondering why Washkie, who clearly outweighs him by quite a bit had not stolen his band, or some other older, more experienced stallion. In fact one evening by the waterhole, Tecumseh seems unconcerned by the proximity of Washakie to his band.





As I watched over several days it occured to me that Tecumseh was staying close to his father Tucson's band, and Tucson spent a lot of energy chasing off bachelors who got too close. This alliance is clearly working for both stallions.



Another surpise I found was Signal, the bachelor stallion who had been such a troublemaker last year had muscled up and gotten a family for himself, including some of Warbonnet's mares. He even chased Warbonnet far from his band, a real change of status for the two stallions.





Were there more skirmishes than normal? I don't think so right now, but I cannot image that some of these senior band stallions who lost their mares will let the situation stand for too long. With more and more stallions reaching maturity and less mares to go around, this situation will only worsen. It is not good for mares and foals to be constantly in the middle of fighting stallions, nor is it good for mares to be chased and stolen by stallion after stallion.







This is another example of BLM's mismanagement of wild horses. This is a small herd, so why can't the contractor keep the horses in their family bands as they do in the Pryor Mountains? Why must they mess with the sex ration of the horses, without any prior field studies on the effects this manipulation might have, instead just contributing to the turmoil the horses went through at the roundup?




This is one of my favorite wild horse herds, and it was painful to see it is this fractured state. Of course the horses are beautiful, and wonderful to watch, and even Washakie has gotten fat in his new bachelor lifestyle, but as he looks out after the families that are not his, I am sad.



I remembered at the roundup in October 2009 one of Indigo's buckskin mares looking back over her shoulder as she was released, never to see her foal or yearling or sister again. It breaks my heart.



At the meeting with the BLM in Denver all of the wild horse advocates repeatedly called for a moratorium on roundups until an actual workable plan can be put in place to properly manage the wild horses. These requests still go unheeded, and more and more horses continue to lose their freedom this summer.
Please go here to sign the petition for a moratorium on wild horse roundups:
http://www.environment.change.org/petitions/view/stop_the_summer_roundups_of_americas_mustangs_burros

New YouTube video by Carol Walker of the McCullough Peaks Herd at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydxygQto7SE