Adoption: "Riddle Me Dino" Stormy Ranch's Kiger Mustang. Gathered Riddle Ridge HMA 1999 Challenge Painting #54

From the Stormy Ranch blog: "We have been gentling mustangs since 1996. We love to work with wild horses. My wife and I have adopted 36 wild horses. We like to train them to ride and find good homes for them. We have a 15 year old Kiger stallion (Dino) that we adopted in 1999. He was 4 years old at that time. He is our show horse and we have traveled many miles to many states to show him. We love to take him places as he attracts a lot of attention and we can show the public what a Wild Mustang can become! We love to take our mustangs out to ride the wild horse herds in Oregon and take pictures."



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"Riddle Me Dino"
16 year old Kiger Mustang
8 by 10  watercolor
by LindaLMartinArtist



He is now 16 yrs. Old. He is still a stallion and owned by Kevin and Lisa Sink of Sheridan, OR. According to Lisa in a recent email, Dino is known for his super calm demeanor.  "He was not hard to gentle and very easy to train. He is a joy to ride and he can even ridden by small children. "

She told me that Dino started his show career in 2002.  "Since then he has traveled many thousands of miles to many states to compete! He has won numerous championships and creates a fan club everywhere he goes."

Lisa also told me that this beautiful Kiger also is a bit of a camera hog. On the day the reference photo was taken he proved it.  "In the picture were Dino is looking back on the camera was a day I was trying to take pictures of other horses and He was keeping an eye on me because if I pointed the camera at another horse he would step in front of the camera. He was telling me he is the only one that matters!!! ", Lisa Shared.

Dino as they call him is well loved and a wonderful example of a great family adopting a special and talented horse.

A special thank you to all the folks at Stormy Ranch for their participation in the Mustang A Day Challenge.

A note of interest. A print of Riddle Me Dino will be made available to the Sink Family as a donation to help raise money for their grand child with Cystic Fibrosis. If you would like to make a donation to the family for on-going treatment please contact them through facebook or email through their blog.

To read more of their experience with Lisa and Kevin Sink's Stormy Ranch, their is blog: http://mustanggentling.blogspot.com/

Romance on the Range " Picasso and Monet" SWB HMA Mustang A Day Challenge #47

Just a Little Kiss
Picasso and Monet
Sand Wash Basin HMA
8 by 10 Watercolor
by Linda L Martin

Today being Valentines Day I decided to do a special Watercolor of Monet and Picasso from a delightful photo by another wonderful Colorado Wildlife Photographer, John Wagner. He spent quite a bit of time in the Summer and Autumn of 2010 capturing images of the Sand Wash Basin herd  and the families of Wild Mustangs there. In a series of shots with  Picasso and Monet they always seemed to be close to each other and Picasso doted on the buckskin mare.



John just recently published his first book of photography where he captured the family life of eagles even through the hatching and raising of their young. He tells me that now he is working on his second book. This one a pictorial essay of the Wild Horses of Sand Wash Basin HMA.   I hope you enjoy this collection of Sand Wash Basin couples in  my Romance on the Range Series.

Picasso and Monet
Reference Photography by John Wagner
Used by permission

Kiowa Bachelor Stallion Sand Wash Basin HMA Colorado MADC Painting# 17



Kiowa Bachelor Stallion

 Sand Wash Basin HMA

Oil on gessoed Matte board
$75.00

By LindaLMartin



Kiowa is a band leader at Sand Wash Basin. This does not mean that Kiowa is a band stallion. His band is  one of bachelors consisting of  4 other stallions in ages ranging from yearlings to adult stallions. However being a band leader doesn’t mean he is the top horse. That honor belongs to the head stallion in the band. Usually an older stallion who has never had a herd or who has lost a herd to other stallions.

In a normal healthy herd of wild mustangs the family band would consist of  mares and their female offspring ranging in age from 3years to new born and their male offspring usually ranging from 18 months to newborn. Generally the males are kicked out of the herd and join other bachelors that band together in a bachelor band. During this time of weaning the young males learn to fight by playing with each other, grow in strength and basically learn to become self-sufficient and also work together as a herd.



Photo Reference by Sally Wright



In a band the pecking order or hierarchy is usually determined by experience, age, temperament and the ability to convince all of the band members that you are to be reckoned with on each and every decision; from eating, to drinking, to where to sleep and all other important variables. The job of lead horse in a band usually goes to the dominant mare in a family. And this lead horse generally decides who stays and who goes, as well as other decisions. She may even decide when its time to move to better grazing. A Stallion with a very good and loyal lead mare will actually be able to go out and fine more mares because no matter who tries to steal his band, his lead mare will always lead the band back to the stallion.



This is surprising team work you can see illustrated in the Ginger Katherine’s series about Cloud seen on PBS.

While horse behavior is often very predictable, there is no such thing as a standard precedence in how relationships will play out. The only constant is that individuals in the herd survive and thrive no matter what because of the independent thinking and ability to adapt to their circumstances in the wild.  Imagine the surprise of the horse watchers at Sand Wash Basin HMA when they discovered Sparrow, the little yearling mare, had been adopted into this band of bachelor Stallions.

Sparrow, as you will remember from previous posts, is the little underdeveloped mare that everyone is concerned may not make it through the winter. Sometimes harsh are the elements that wild Mustangs thrive and face.  Yet in October of 2010 there she was in a video taken by Mustang Watcher Nancy Roberts.  Kiowa leads the heard into view followed by  Moon ,   Willie, Nick and then Sparrow being protected by the current dominant stallion of the band, Roper.

In a normal horse family band the stallion will take up the rear to protect the weakest in the group and make sure they don’t stray while the lead mare leads the family boldly forward. In this great video by Nancy you will see this protection behavior.

Again Kiowa is a major part of this ongoing drama of little Sparrow.

Notice how the two horses with the strongest personalities protect the herd and stand between the photographer ( possible danger) and the weakest member of their band. Had Kiowa been a mare then his foals would have been following right with him: a yearling, weanling and new born.
Special Thanks to Sally Wright for the Reference Photo and to Nancy Roberts for the Video Clip. You can read more about the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses on  Nancy's Blog: http://sandwashwildhorses.blogspot.com/

Corona: Band Stallion of Sand Wash Basin Painting #7



Corona
Band Stallion of Sand Wash Basin Co
8 by 10 inch acrylic on canvas board
$256.00
by Linda L Martin(c)2010



Corona has been called the Fabio of SandWash Basin HMA, with his long light blond mane and a forelock that falls over mischivous eyes. Undoutedly the sexiest of the Sand Wash Basin Stallions this horse is unique in Color and stands out  as a strong band stallion. His age has been estimated so that it makes him among the oldest of the Sand Wash Baisn band stallions. His mares are healthy, his foals strong and beautiful. Corona's ability to keep his mares together and well fed in the sparce conditions of the range shows that he isnt just another  pretty face but that he is a driving force among the band stallions.



Refrence Photo by
Nancy Roberts



His uniqueness is not just in his presense and his family leadership; it is in his color too. Corona is a rare Dunalino.  At first glance his coloring gleams like a golden palamino. However at closer glance one notices that he has a distinct dorsal stripe and zebra markings on his legs, and dark outlines on his ears that are genetically present in all dun horses. The fact that he is golden with a slight goldish hue to his lighter mane and tale is eveidence that he also carries a gene for cream. Both dun and cream genes are resessive. Every offspring  Corona produces would be graced with the rare ressive traits. He is a beautiful and unique jewel of the Sand Wash Basin HMA.

Special thanks to Nancy Roberts for  the refrence photography

Lightning of Sand Wash Basin HMA Mustang A Day Challenge Painting #6

Update 1/13/2015:
News from Sand Wash Basin HMA in Colorado - It was reported today that  a  BLM  representative found  that former band stallion Lightning had passed away on the range. According to The Sand Wash Basin Advocate Team it was believed that Lightning was at or near 30 years old. In the remaining year of his life was photographed  many times by advocates, with Picasso. Even in his remaining months, Lightning remained, as always, a beautiful spirited and free wild horse.

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Lightning
8 by 10
acrylic on canvas board
$265.00
by Linda L Martin (c) 2010
Reference Photography via Nancy Roberts

Lightning is a very flashy black paint horse with  what appears to be a large white dagger on his face in the form of a blaze then a lighting mark on his left side neck and stomach. He has other white markings too. Lighting is a perfect example of the ever changing circumstances of the band Stallions. Last year, according to heard watchers at Sand Wash Basin HMA , he had a small band of mares and foals, however by this summer one by one each mare had been stolen by other stallions until he found himself alone and fighting  stallion after stallion to try to get his mares back, or even trying to gain a mare.



Lighting
detail of Photo by
Nancy Roberts

There are a lot of reasons that a stallion running wild might loose his mares. Sometimes it has to do with age and weakening strength. Other times it has to do with the fact that during breeding season, because there are so many bachelor stallions running together trying to establish their own harem's that a band stallion might be simply overwhelmed with the constant challenges and diversions.

I'm not sure of Lightning's age or how long he was a band stallion but it was surely long enough to have sired foals as several in his small band had not his color but similar markings of white.

By late summer, from document photography I viewed on Face Book, Lightning had worried himself and been fighting so hard for his mares that his condition was not very good going into the Winter. He was thin, an unusual occurrence among the documented horses on that particular HMA.  Finally, right after Thanksgiving this fall, he was spotted with a herd of bachelor stallions. He looked fit, had gained weight and he was sparing playfully with the others. Not only that but he was sporting a nice thick winter coat.

You will notice in the painting I've done for the challenge that Lightning has a lot of battle scars. This is not unusual for wild stallions.

A special thanks to Nancy Roberts for the photography and the link to the video of Lighting of Sand Wash Basin

 Just a side note on the video: This was taken when Lightning still had his band.

The two horses he is confronting are young bachelor stallions who are challenging him but are not up to a fight.