Cory’s Visitors – 10/16/14

Last August during the Celebration of Wild Horses Through Art and Music; an exhibit and fundraiser for The Cloud Foundation (such a great time/turnout), I mentioned to Ginger Kathrens that if she was ever in our area, she should feel free to come by and meet El Corazon – “Cory.” Last Thursday, she and fellow TCF board member Ann Evans took me up on that invite and came by to meet my boy. (Ginger never had the opportunity to meet El Mariachi, but she knew of him and his story).

Cory, Ginger and Ann.

Gotta check out those feet!

Aww…

Gold and Ginger with a sleepy Sammy in the background.

That’s the spot. 😉

Cory is such a sweet boy and he behaved beautifully for his guests.

My Foxtrotter Gold just has to be in the middle of things. He’s very interested in folks and all the goings on.

He just loves his scratches.

Cory quite enjoyed his visitors.

And Gold was not to be left out. 😉

Thanks for coming by Ginger and Ann. The dogs and I certainly enjoyed your visit as well. 🙂

If you are interested in learning about and helping the wild horses, The Cloud Foundation’s website is a great resource for information about the latest events, news and legal battles on behalf of our wild ones: http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/

Related stories:

“The Passing of an American Icon”

“El Mariachi’s Gift”

Photos are for viewing purposes only. Most images are available online at: http://www.NickolesPhotography.com. Images by Pam Nickoles Photography, along with all site content are copyright protected and owned solely by Pam Nickoles Photography. Photos and/or text may not be used, downloaded or reproduced in any form without express written permission from Pam Nickoles Photography. Feel free to share, but please respect my copyright.

A Celebration of Wild Horses Through Art and Music

Please come if you can. Meet the artists and listen to the music of Opus Moon. And all for a good cause – to support The Cloud Foundation’s mission to preserve wild horses on public lands.

(I will have a framed print and a canvas exhibited).

Action Alert – Pryor Mountain Wild Horses

Click on the image for a sharper view

Cloud’s Echo (Echo – BLM name, Killian) and his sister Jewel taken 6/28/10 when he was a youngster.

More recent photos of Echo can be found on my “Pam Nickoles Photography” Facebook page at the link below:
Echo – Pryor Mountains, MT (9-2011)

From The Cloud Foundation:
“A very special alert from Ginger on writing your comments to the Pryors. Echo is a horse very near to her (and all of us). His genetics from his mother’s side combined with his unique color are something the Pryor herd cannot afford to lose. Not to mention his strength and spirit that is an echo of his grandfather, Cloud. No horses should be removed from the Pryors in 2012.”

Action Alert: Cloud’s Echo
(Be sure to watch the video on the “Cloud’s Echo” link above. It’s adorable beyond words).

All comments due by January 20th – more information and addresses can be found at the link below:
Comment Period for Pryors Extended

Wild horse prints and more: www.NickolesPhotography.com

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Photos are for viewing purposes only. Images by Pam Nickoles Photography, along with all site content are copyright protected and owned solely by Pam Nickoles Photography. Photos and/or text may not be used, downloaded or reproduced in any form without express written permission from Pam Nickoles Photography. Feel free to share, but please respect my copyright.

Adobe Town Wild Horses

Springtime in Colorado. It’s so unpredictable. Our plans to visit Adobe Town seemed doubtful when the latest road report included chain restrictions over the passes just an hour before we were to head west. Of course, I had my studded snow tires swapped out the weekend before, certain that they were no longer needed. HA! Well, we told ourselves, it’s always an adventure. We decided we were going to give it our best shot and off we went.

Our only real issue was over Rabbit Ears Pass, and it wasn’t bad at all. We took it easy and even had a snowplow escort. No worries. And as usual, it was beautiful with the new snow.

When we arrived in Craig, we met up with photographer Carien Schippers from New York. She was presenting the Equine Photographer’s Network Colorado Cowboys and Great American Horse Drive workshop that would be taking place the following week. Until that began, we were going out to see wild horses – weather permitting.

We got an early start on Saturday and again, things looked doubtful with the wet roads and dark clouds. It’s impossible to drive on those clay roads if they’re not frozen or dry. We’ve been stuck a few times on wet roads, so we’re very cautious about weather in the horse ranges. We decided to make the drive and see what the conditions were before scrapping our adventure.

The lighting was incredible with the clouds and new snow. We were in luck as the temperature was well below freezing at the entry point. That was enough to at least get us started.

As we entered the area, we came across this sheepherder’s camp.

And then, our first wild horse sighting! They were very skittish and didn’t hang around long, but exciting to see regardless.

A view of the landscape. It’s vast and rugged country.

We came upon another group of horses and as Carien and I walked out towards them, this stallion came running up to see who the intruders were as the rest of the horses looked on.

We determined that all three of the adult horses were stallions. I’m not sure about the youngsters (with the interesting colors).

Tom and I always check out a large water hole inside a small canyon (we call it “hoo doo canyon”) as we usually spot horses there. Not today though. Just a very full source of water and lots of sign.

Well, this is something you don’t see often – a wild one laying down even after it sees you. Made us wonder for a minute, but he was fine and pretty quickly went to join the rest of his family.

The gray stallion is pretty battered and bruised, but he has a family and that’s what matters most to these guys.

Carien photographing the gray stallion and his family

Tom and I drove out further on the main road than we ever had that day. While the weather pretty much surrounded us, the road was dry and until we felt a downpour was imminent, we were going to stay out as long as possible.

At the end of this road, we ran into these horses. Again, these looked like all stallions, but I couldn’t be absolutely certain. The chestnut boy seemed to take the leadership role. He’d run up to us, retreat, circle around, run up again, retreat…until they finally decided it was best to put a little distance between us.

The whole family watches us

A final parting shot as they move away from us

It was really starting to get dark as the weather closed in. The wind picked up and we could feel rain drops. We decided we’d better head out to a paved road before we get caught in either rain or snow.

Driving back, we found another small family. The stallion was very curious/cooperative (and we probably stayed a little longer than we should have). It’s hard to pass up an opportunity like these guys gave us though.

This boy hung around for quite a while so we were able to take many photographs

I took so many images of this stallion that I decided to play with a couple

The mare and probably last year’s foal.

The family members

Below is a band we had seen earlier, but they had traveled quite a ways and we just had to stop to grab a few more photos.

As we turned south off Powder Rim towards the paved County Road 4, we spotted this last group of horses. YAY! That dapple gray is one of my favorites. I didn’t find him on our winter trip, so I hadn’t seen him since last July. It was wonderful to see him again…and looking so well.

This is probably my favorite stallion I've seen so far at Adobe Town. I've seen him twice now. So impressive.

I had thought this band had at least one mare, but once I studied the images, I don’t think so. I can verify that three of the four are stallions. The light gray (white) boy appears to be an older, more seasoned gent. He didn’t seem too worried about us at all.

Making a statement at the stud pile

All of the horses we saw that Saturday looked fit and fine coming out of winter and into spring (read an interesting discussion regarding forage and the Mustangs on Joe Camp’s blog: http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/the-absolute-best-film-about-wild-horses-i-ever-hope-to-see/) however, we didn’t find that many horses and approximately 80% of of what we did see were stallions. There were no babies either. In my opinion and based on my observations over my last few visits (and those from several years prior), I can’t imagine this is a herd area in danger of either starvation or overpopulation. (There is a planned roundup of this HMA near the end of the year).

I hope this wise old boy gets to live out his life in freedom, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look likely at this point.

Please continue to write, call, fax and e-mail asking for an immediate moratorium on all of the planned roundups. The warehousing of these incredible wild horses in government long term holding facilities must end. The continued overuse of PZP (birth control) on the mares in these HMA’s will effectively wipe out future populations. We are losing both our horses and their ranges at an alarming rate. For the sake of our wild ones, please educate yourself about their plight and then become involved on their behalf. Share information with everyone you know. Only through knowledge about the situation can people get on board and help. The wild horses belong to us. Only we can save them. Thank you for caring.

Informative links:
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
The Cloud Foundation
American Herds
Humane Observer: Elyse Gardner’s Blog

More information on the planned roundup: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9b09aec0-68a9-5261-a23b-79e6545c8d35.html

Related stories:

https://nickolesphotography.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/wild-horse-weekend-july-25-26/

https://nickolesphotography.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/wild-horse-medicine/

(Photos are for viewing purposes only. Images are copyright protected and owned solely by Pam Nickoles Photography. No reproduction or downloading permitted. Feel free to share the link, not the images. To share, click on the blog entry title. The permanent link will be displayed in your browser’s address bar. Copy this address to share.)

DC’s March For Mustangs Highlights

So many of us wished we could have attended this rally in DC. For those that couldn’t, here are some highlights from the event. My thanks to all of you that were there on behalf of our wild horses!

(Click on the individual links below)

Some of the best coverage of what is actually happening to our wild horses was in this segment by CNN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell. A must watch: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/03/25/jvm.horse.round.up.cnn

DC Rally (from The Cloud Foundation): http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/dc-rally/

Getty Images

Wild Horses Kick the BLM in the “Burro” in DC by Steven Long as it appeared on R.T. Fitch’s blog: http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/wild-horses-kick-the-blm-in-the-burro-in-dc/

Singer/songwriter Clay Canfield performs during the March for Mustangs rally in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, in Washington, Thursday, March 25, 2010. (The actual link to the photo: http://1click.indiatimes.com/photo/0fHD80FftNe1w?q=White%20House

Clay singing his awesome song, Wild Horses

Purchase/download the song, “Wild Horses” – part of the sale proceeds goes towards helping the wild horse preservation efforts: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/canfield3

Horses, People and a Meeting of Minds (by R.T. Fitch):
http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/horses-people-and-a-meeting-of-minds/

Wild Horse Documentary Wows Crowd in DC (by R.T. Fitch): http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/wild-horse-documentary-wows-crowd-in-dc/

March for Mustangs… the Call to Stop the Roundups Goes Global (from The Cloud Foundation): http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/march-for-mustangs-the-call-to-stop-the-roundups-goes-global/

Video from R.T. Fitch:

By John Holland (President of Equine Welfare Alliance – as posted on Horseback Magazine)

WASHINGTON, (EWA) – The demonstration was great, but you really got the feeling of being in a dictatorship! Much of this might be because of the recent anti-health care bill demonstrations and threats, but I have not felt this atmosphere since the 60s.

A guy came around us, climbed the stairs and stood at the top with the armed guards and used a zoom lens to take photos of all of us individually. Funny thing was that one of the guards thought he was with us and tried to throw him off the steps because we were not allowed to touch a single step. Another of the other guards stopped the first guard. It just shows what a stupid bunch we are dealing with. I just couldn’t help thinking about the Keystone Cops.

I especially loved it when they called out the mounted patrol on us. Many of us immediately migrated toward them. One of the horses was a huge gray that did not have a body shape we could identify. I asked his mount what breed it was and he ignored me. Only their leader would talk and he was an asshole. I was so tempted to say “I have been around horses all my life and never seen one before who had two assholes” but discretion got the better of me.

I told him that if they were looking to intimidate us, they picked the wrong crowd! I said I face three times that many horses every morning for their feed. He said “We are not here to intimidate you.” So I figured that meant hey must be have been there to do something more physical.

I used to marvel that I was able to roam the halls of Congress as freely as I was, but that is changing. It is darker and more brooding every time I go. Reuters and AP were both there, so we should see more!

From Janet Carabello (Colorado Advocate):

It was wonderful to be a part of this protest/rally! We mingled and made new friends while we exhibited our cause with signs and chants. The march to the DOI took us past the White House, the Old Exec. Office Bldg., and along 17th Street, so we captured the attention of many tourists and vehicles. The reception at the DOI was cold and stonewalling, but we really dialed up the vocal protesting and caused the security guards to be on high alert. We finally got the petition handed out to a staffer who came out to collect it. Then the mounted police showed up and of course we all loved the horses!!! I saw some smiles on the cops faces. My personal highlight was getting to talk to Hope Ryden and sharing the cab ride to the Capitol to meet with Sen. Bennett’s staff. I think our cause was heard, but we have to keep up the fight and do more followup. And more protests!!! We missed you Pam!

Hope Ryden, author of - America's Last Wild Horses

From Linda Hanick (Colorado Advocate):

Thanks for posting this Pam! It was an exhilarating time in DC. I do feel that we were a voice in DC–on the street, in the Senators’ and Representatives’ offices, in the rally and protest, in the hotel and restaurant, and even at Kinkos. I had my poster printed there and the young man who helped me was awestruck by your photo and couldn’t believe that there were still wild horses. We talked about the horses for quite a while, and when I was ready to pay, he just smiled and said “You have a great day!” That made my day! I was at the very end of the march from the White House to the BLM offices, and it was an impressive sight seeing scores of people for blocks in front of me marching down Pennsylvania Avenue–all with banners and signs. I stopped to pass out flyers to people on sidewalks and as made my way to the BLM building.

Linda with Sandy Elmore

The photo below is courtesy of Simone Netherlands:

Simone Netherlands, John Holland, R.T Fitch and Rob Pliskin. Simone said that President Obama has seen this banner three times now. Twice in Las Vegas and now in D.C.

Video, “We Sing For The Horse Nation” by Sandy Elmore (Montana Advocate)

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