Our two new boys are progressing quite quickly in their gentling process, slowly learning to trust the humans. This is Cheyenne and he is quite a curious boy. He comes up to the fence to sniff at new comers to the WHOAS facility and has quickly learned to be led about. Even some gentle rubbing of his face is now okay with him.
Comanche too is coming along but is somewhat more timid than his buddy. Despite being a little more cautious, he shows great promise and will do extremely well when he finds his human to bond with. Maybe that’s you? Both these two boys have yet to be gelded.
This is Cascade and he has progressed a long ways. His buddy, Chico has been adopted and we continue to work with him so he will be ready to go to a new home soon.
December’s weather is so dramatically different from the cold and snow of early November. With the warm temperatures, wind and sun, a lot of areas are free of snow allowing the horses to forage easily. Our palomino boy here has certainly grown up. We were worried about him because we had been unable to locate him and his herd for the longest time.
His stallion has picked up another mare who has a foal beside her. The lead mare is as spooky as always so it is wonderful to actually see them.
In the valleys where there is still lots of grass, the snow is a little bit deeper and the horses can paw through it easily. This beautiful mare that we have been following since she was a foal, is pregnant and is in excellent condition. Well look forward to seeing her foal in the spring.
Always present, surveying wild horse country, are the beautiful bald eagles. In native culture they are the ones that soar closest to the Great Spirit who oversees all.
Here our buddy, Socks, and his herd has found one of those exposed areas. As you can see, “Flyer”, his colt from this year, is doing well. With this warm weather, comes ice. All roadways and trails back in the bush are sheets of ice and very dangerous. This can cause difficulty for the horses to roam about.
Unfortunately we have found a mare who tried to get over a gate leading into some property who slipped and became entangled. She did not survive. This appears to be a very freak accident and our hearts were torn when we found her. We hope her spirit is running free. Life is tough on our Alberta wild horses and they face many dangers and obstacles in their fight for survival.
As we travelled cautiously this week, we found this yearling enjoying the sunshine and some green grass in this opening.
Two of this year’s foals came out to join him and soak up the warmth of the day. Because of the warm temperatures, all the horses we have come across so far are looking so good and healthy. Each day of warm temperatures makes their ability to survive the hardships of winter that much easier.
This big stallion is snoozing peacefully standing guard over his herd. A pleasant end to our day keeping track of your Alberta wild horses.
