Pryor Mountain Roundup – 9/8/2009

We had been shuttled off the grounds pretty quickly the night before. There was a sense of urgency about it and we all felt uneasy and suspicious of why. At the morning briefing, it was disclosed that Jackson’s mare Brumby had tied up after coming in and Cloud’s daughter Rain had colicked. Sickening, troubling news, but the Vet assured us that both horses were doing fine. We asked for and were granted a walk through of the corrals so we could see the condition of the horses for ourselves.

On the way into the corrals, you pass the youngsters - several of Cloud's family are in this pen and available for adoption including Image, Rain, Arrow, Ember, Summer and Sage. From L-R: Ben Susman, Ginger Kathrens, Carol Walker and a BLM representative.

Little Image looked so sad and lost

Image

Ginger Kathrens peers in at the babies she's known and documented since their births.

Brumby - the mare who tied up

Jackson

Jackson's band

R.T. Fitch, Ginger Kathrens, Elyse Gardner and Terry Fitch at the corrals

Bolder

Bolder's band

Bolder's filly

Cassidy - tagged for adoption

Band stallion Chino - he has gorgeous amber eyes and he's a rare color among the Pryor horses. A beautiful buckskin.

Band stallion Duke

A foal from Duke's band who was very sore

Duke's band

Morning Star's band

Ben Susman, Ginger Kathrens, Carol Walker, Sandy Elmore, R.T. Fitch and Terry Fitch.

Cloud

Later, we were taken over to Greasewood Flats to observe more horses being processed.

Starman in the alley while he waits for other members of his band to be processed

Bolder watches the activities

A lucky group - they all have the blue dots that indicate they will be released

The band stallion Cappuccino bangs his head in the chute in an attempt to escape

And he does get out

He frantically runs up and down the alley way looking for members of his family

Finally, another family member is processed and released into the alley way

Band stallion Mescalero did not want to go into the chute. BLM personnel haze him with plastic bags attached to whips

They actually hit this horse - a member of Mescalero's band

Mescalero released into the alley way

Once the processing was completed, we were allowed back up on the viewing ridge.

Baja's band

Baja's band - Baja's mare Bacardi and another foal were missing as the others were brought in. We were later told that the foal just couldn't keep up so the pilot decided not to pursue them. They were left behind without their family.

The two foals that did come in with the band were very, very footsore. It's inconceivable to me to push any horse, let alone a foal, that hard for that many miles.

(And though I failed to mention it in my earlier posts, if the distance wasn’t enough, these horses were also forced down the mountain in 95+ degree temperatures).

After Baja’s band came in, we were told no more horses would be brought in. The helicopter was finished for the day. It was pretty early yet. Again, we wondered about the motives for this move.

One of Baja's foals that came in so very footsore

Another footsore Baja baby

Tom and I left Britton Springs, Lovell and our fellow observers that afternoon. We had made the difficult decision to move on to the McCullough Peaks HMA to photograph the horses there before the scheduled round up. We had just enough time to capture a few evening light photos before finding a place to stay in Greybull, WY. Though we were exhausted, we both had something nagging at us that we finally discussed before calling it a night. It wasn’t over – we hadn’t seen the conclusion or outcome of this roundup and it didn’t feel right to either of us. We knew we had to go back. We decided to leave Greybull very early and catch some first light photos at McCullough Peaks which would put us back at Britton Springs close to noon. Nothing much (other than the briefings) really went on until then anyway – or so we thought.

(More to follow…)

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