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First off, a disclaimer:
"Wild Horses" in America are actually more accurately described as feral horses, even though they have been feral for hundreds of years. The horse is not a native to the north American continent. That's why I will post all pictures of Mustangs under "Domesticated Animals"
Alright, anyway...
Yesterday My friend and I drove out to Mesa Verde National Park Colorado. It was amazing and hopefully I will get some pictures of the ruins up later. while we were leaving my friend who was driving slams on the breaks as a coyote ran across the road. We watched him run and were surprised to see a female Mule Deer in pursuit of the canine. After a few moments of laughter we looked through the trees that the deer and the coyote had come and saw a small band of the park's mustangs. My friend, bless him, consented to parking the car and I hopped out and started to slowly walk sideways towards them, taking pictures the entire time.
I approached the band and was thrilled to see that two of the members walked towards me. One of those horses was this beautiful boy. He sniffed me inquisitively with his ears up from about 10 feet away. At this point I had crouched down and was watching them out of the corner of my eye. Staring directly at a horse makes them nervous, and pegs you as a predator. At this moment I didn't know this guy's gender, I assumed he was a mare, for some reason. Well, very shortly he walked away from me and determined that I was not that much of a threat. He dropped down and rolled in the dust. I was shocked and delighted to see that this was in fact a stallion.
From that moment on he didn't bother with me too much, as long as I moved slowly he would ignore me. As soon as I would take a step too quickly he would turn his head around, and stare at me, making sure I wasn't a threat to his tiny band of two mares and a foal.
This photo was taken while he was getting up. I have other pictures where he looks more stately, however this one really shows off his big mustang head and his beautiful coloring. Perhaps there will be more photos of this boy of his heard forthcoming.
"Wild Horses" in America are actually more accurately described as feral horses, even though they have been feral for hundreds of years. The horse is not a native to the north American continent. That's why I will post all pictures of Mustangs under "Domesticated Animals"
Alright, anyway...
Yesterday My friend and I drove out to Mesa Verde National Park Colorado. It was amazing and hopefully I will get some pictures of the ruins up later. while we were leaving my friend who was driving slams on the breaks as a coyote ran across the road. We watched him run and were surprised to see a female Mule Deer in pursuit of the canine. After a few moments of laughter we looked through the trees that the deer and the coyote had come and saw a small band of the park's mustangs. My friend, bless him, consented to parking the car and I hopped out and started to slowly walk sideways towards them, taking pictures the entire time.
I approached the band and was thrilled to see that two of the members walked towards me. One of those horses was this beautiful boy. He sniffed me inquisitively with his ears up from about 10 feet away. At this point I had crouched down and was watching them out of the corner of my eye. Staring directly at a horse makes them nervous, and pegs you as a predator. At this moment I didn't know this guy's gender, I assumed he was a mare, for some reason. Well, very shortly he walked away from me and determined that I was not that much of a threat. He dropped down and rolled in the dust. I was shocked and delighted to see that this was in fact a stallion.
From that moment on he didn't bother with me too much, as long as I moved slowly he would ignore me. As soon as I would take a step too quickly he would turn his head around, and stare at me, making sure I wasn't a threat to his tiny band of two mares and a foal.
This photo was taken while he was getting up. I have other pictures where he looks more stately, however this one really shows off his big mustang head and his beautiful coloring. Perhaps there will be more photos of this boy of his heard forthcoming.
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Comments44
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Gorgeous photo! Your first guess about this horse's sex was correct. She's a mare (that's her udder and a teat) we've called Ghost. She was an adult mare when I first saw her around 2002 or 2003. And she's still hanging in there, up on Chapin Mesa. The rest of her little band was rounded up and returned to the Ute Mountain Ute tribe (I think in 2012), but she escaped by jumping over the fence panels (actually bent one of the metal rails in the process!). Since then, she has been hanging out with a stallion buddy, but none of her foals survive for more than a month. No one has seen them get attacked, and in my observation, they've gotten along just fine with the stallion, so some of us wonder if there's a genetic defect getting inherited through these parents. Ghost successfully raised foals most years before she paired off with this particular stallion.
I've got a watercolor/colored pencil of a couple other feral Mesa Verde horses in my gallery (part Ghost's herd that was captured, actually).
You are right that they are feral horses. The ones at Mesa Verde have crossed either through weak points in the boundary fence or gates left open. Horses need a LOT of water to survive, and they set up territory around the natural springs, running off the deer and elk. Hence, the efforts to fix the fences and remove the horses. I'm rather fond of Ghost, but I love the cervids, too (even if I can't recognize many of them from year to year). The most "tame" of the horses also get into trouble due to lack of fear (kind of like bears). They lose some of the fear of people, without the behavioral training that domesticated horses receive from the time they're foals.
Sounds like you had a great trip to Mesa Verde! I would have been documenting the architecture down at Spruce Tree House that year.
I've got a watercolor/colored pencil of a couple other feral Mesa Verde horses in my gallery (part Ghost's herd that was captured, actually).