There's No Place Like Home

Mom posted the pics of the horses' homecoming, which left me with the videos.  I'll do a real post in the near future, but for mostly Mom's your viewing pleasure, here's the video she managed to snag in between snapping pictures.


Here's a very abbreviated video montage of Ranger playing Wild Horse.  It really is a game for him; I'm pretty sure he stopped and laughed at Bill a dozen times.  He would stop, turn to look at Bill, lick and then take off again.  It must be payback for Bill embarrassing him on the trail during the summers.



Love how Ranger unloaded on command (okay, Mom's right, all of their horses unload on command.  Estes? Not so much, but we'll work on it.)



Estes started the herd off with her own snow pegasus, but we missed it on video.  We couldn't believe that she would chose to roll in the snow instead of the dirt, but then Ranger followed suit and Eli wanted to, but chickened out.

Day After Turnout

Since Mom and Bill turned out the horses at a pasture other than their usual one, they went back the next day to check on them.  Mostly to check to see if Jesse had hopped over the little fence to take the horses back to the lodge.



They'd settled in, but were still happy to eat the treats Mom took them :)

In a few weeks, Ida'll move them down to their permanent winter pasture.

Winter Turnout

Turnout is always a bittersweet day.  It's good for the horses to be turned out for the winter.  There's something about pretending to run free for a few months during the harshest part of winter that is just so good for the Mustangs' souls.  During the time they are out, they will be without humans to take care of them - they go back to their wild roots.  Mom and Bill hike in to see them every week or so, but other than a few treats, they don't take any food to the horses.  Foraging for food and water (don't worry, their pasture has three rivers crossing it) is completely on the horses.

This will be Eli's first winter as a wild horse since Compass caught him several years ago.  We've given him time to herd up with our herd and shortly, we'll be combining them with Ida's herd next month, so they'll be a healthy sized herd.  Safety in numbers and all that.  Last year, there was an issue with a mountain lion, so Ida brought them all down into her town pastures in early spring.  This year, the herd will be big enough (and without a mini - poor Tigger) that they shouldn't have any predator problems.