The Mustang~spirit of the west

[bobm]

Me too Mary,
We/I don't believe the # projected by the BLM, I've been all round a couple three states, haven't been to holding sites in Colorado. There doesn't seem that there are the many they say, and they're being taken at an alarming rate, there are less today that there were last week and so on. Mares are not bred every year. When we see a band with colts there might be one or two colts, in the spring, many bands have none and there are fewer band than they use to be.There is a band in Stagecoach area, there's a lot of open land there and around the band is about 10 in number, with no young ones. It's nice to see a band with little ones but that not all the time. I've seen a few horses in north east California~few, several years ago, they might be taken by now.

A reason that you haven't seen many feral foals recently is that the WEST has been in a SEVERE DROUGHT for the last 5 years and very light rainfall for the prior 7 years. Add the devistating forest / range fires, that often kill entire exhausted horses herds. Palatable forage has been overgrazed causing malnutrition, miscarriage / abortion, disease, heavy worm loads, little milk production for newborn foals, predation, etc.. Also, how do you know if the mares that you see today are not pregnant with the next generation of foals ?

 

[Nyboy]

Growing up watching Westerns, I have a soft spot for the mustang

 

[valley ranch]

Nyboy, People who live in wild horse country have a soft spot for them too. We see them every day, they have names, people feel they know them personally. We can see how a foal is growing, you can tell if a mare is pregnant, Malichis band, out by Fallon, didn't have a foal for two straight years, then there were two one spring, there were 5 mares in his band, Malichi the stallion. One mare went off alone and stayed in the bush just over the hump south of Hway 50 by Mark Twain, we thought she may have been staying with a new born that was still born so the coyotes didn't get it, after a while she wasn't there any more, she may have died from grief or, I don't know she was gone.

They watch us too, if you know animals, if you know horses. They come out to see if we are with a new animal.
When they decide to leave a stallion will kinda stand guard for a bit.

 

[valley ranch]

In times of drought, the Cheatgrass jumps up, some say it came from Asia. It's good food, it's best if the horses eat it, because it's flashy fuel and will make for a heck of a range fire if too much is left into the summer months, it OK if it stays under and around the Shocklies Desert Thorn. The food crop in the picture is from last year, a drought year, in a short time, seeds will sprout and more will grow, this year year is a wet year there will be a lot more of it. It's good hay.

This is Open Range if my cow goes onto your property, it's your job to have a legal fence to protect what you don,t want eaten, and visa versa. When you buy property here you, the buyer and seller sigh a paper showing that you understand that.

NRS 569.431 “Legal Fences” defined. As used in NRS 569.440 to 569.471, inclusive, “legal fence” means a fence with not less than four horizontal barriers, consisting of wires, boards, poles, or other material in common use in the neighborhood, with posts set not more than 20 feet apart. The lower barrier must not be more than 12 inches from the ground and the space between any two barriers must not be more than 12 inches and the height of top barrier must be at least 48 inches above the ground. Every post must be so set as to withstand a horizontal strain of 250 pounds at any point midway between the posts. (Added to NRS by 1991.1147)

Hard sometimes to talk to the openly hostile, I'm guessing that's because their passion is directly opposite. May the Lord hold what they want and let what they deserve.

 

[valley ranch]

The girls came out to meet me today. I rode down the road earlier and saw them coming up.

 

[bobm]

Nyboy, People who live in wild horse country have a soft spot for them too. We see them every day, they have names, people feel they know them personally. We can see how a foal is growing, you can tell if a mare is pregnant, Malichis band, out by Fallon, didn't have a foal for two straight years, then there were two one spring, there were 5 mares in his band, Malichi the stallion. One mare went off alone and stayed in the bush just over the hump south of Hway 50 by Mark Twain, we thought she may have been staying with a new born that was still born so the coyotes didn't get it, after a while she wasn't there any more, she may have died from grief or, I don't know she was gone.

They watch us too, if you know animals, if you know horses. They come out to see if we are with a new animal.
When they decide to leave a stallion will kinda stand guard for a bit.

If one knew anything about horse behavior, one would know that when a mare slips away from her herd to give birth, she will return to her herd as soon as the foal stands and nurses and is able to travel at her side. This gives the foal the extra protection from the herd that it needs for survival. If she doesn't return promptly, the herd stallion will go to investigate and herd her and foal back to his herd. If she has aborted a dead decomposed foal, she will have a heavy uterine infection and would die in just a couple of days. In this case vultures would be circling overhead , then desend and start to eat the carcass along with crows, coyotes, bears, flys and other insects, etc. . Or this mare could have been stolen by another stallion and been driven by him to his own herd . Or she could have been scared off by a cougar or bear and then killed. No mare would decide to leave a stallion especially if she has female relatives or her foal in her herd.