Thursday, September 15, 2016

Spring Creek Basin Herd

Sunset over Spring Creek Basin
We scooted across Texas, stopping the first night at our favorite Caprock Canyon State Park near Amarillo, then on to Heron Lake in New Mexico… both familiar places.  Our first wild horse herd destination is near Dolores, Colorado. 

A wrong turn took us up an unexpected BLM road, replete with hunters.  We found ourselves on a rutted and muddied road.  With darkness approaching and dark clouds gathering, we receded to a spot just inside the BLM boundaries, surrounded by open range. 

Late that night, we awoke to the camper rocking.  Both of us sat up, more than just a little surprised and trying to determine the cause.  We both laughed once we discovered it was a young, free-ranging calf that had found the truck as a perfect scratching post!

The next morning, we found the Spring Creek Basin herd.  This BLM HMA (Bureau of Land Management Horse Management Area) is adjacent to a wild horse sanctuary owned by the Serengeti Group (see http://www.serengetiusa.com/us-wild-horse-sanctuary.html)  and led by T.J. Holmes. 

While looking for the Spring Creek wild horses, we met T.J., sitting in her truck along the sanctuary road.  What an amazing young woman!  She has dedicated her life to the preservation of wild horses.  She introduced us to several sanctuary band horses and offered information about the adjacent BLM Spring Basin herd and its roads.

T.J.. gentles Spring Creek Basin wild horse sanctuary horses
David and the Spring Creek Basin sanctuary horses

The Spring Creek Basin herd consists of 35-60 wild horses.  Legend has it that these horses are descendants of stolen Morgan and thoroughbred horses captured by a renegade who raised and sold the horses to the cavalry and local ranchers in the early 1900's.  Once law enforcement began to close in, the renegade abandoned his enterprise and the Spring Creek Basin herd began.
As T.J. predicted, we met the stallion Chrome and his band soon after entering the HMA.  While accustomed to humans, the band startles easily.  David knelt to take a photo.  When he adjusted too suddenly, the horses startled and fled about a hundred yards.  We decided to let the band settle and see if we could find other bands. 


The stallion Chrome
Chrome and his band
The roads into Spring Creek Basin are deeply rutted and become terribly mucky and slick during rain.  We recommend a high-clearance vehicle when traveling this HMA.  Roads are definitely impassible when wet and muddied.  Much of the terrain in this HMA is riddled with arroyos and dry rivulets.  This photo shows the depth of the arroyos near the back of the HMA.

Spring Creek Basin Arroyo
After we crossed this arroyo, we found the stallion Sundance confronting two bachelor stallions, keeping them far from his mare and her filly.  Although we were many hundreds of yards from him, he was noticeably not happy with our being in the area.

Sundance confronts two bachelor stallions
We criss-crossed several other roads and arroyos during our day's tour of the Spring Creek basin.  As evening approached, the wind became a formidable presence, probably topping 40-50 miles per hour.  With few trees in the area, we decided to look for a protected area outside the HMA, but found none.  

We returned  to the HMA and finally set up camp at an old hunter’s camp.  We tucked our chairs close to the truck, using it as a shield against the fierce winds.  Thankfully, as the sun began to set, the winds died down.   We watched a magnificent sunset with Chrome's band grazing in the meadow below us.

Suddenly, Chrome began to gallop across the terrain.  We watched him cover an enormous amount of territory in a short amount of time.  The two bachelor stallions that Sundance had encountered earlier in the day, evidently had crossed into Chrome’s territory. 

We watched as he confronted them… not with an attack but with diplomacy.  Within a few minutes of Chrome's arrival, the two bachelors retreated over the hillside.  Chrome quickly rejoined his band. 

It was an amazing night.  As we crawled into bed, Chrome’s herd grazed ever closer to our rig.  David patted me awake so that I, too, could watch the band graze within a foot of our camper.  We sat up in bed and watched as the full moon shown so brightly that the horses cast long shadows.  They sniffed our water bag and grazed within inches of our rig.  We could hear the clumps of their hooves on the ground and their soft blows and snorts as they munched grass around us.

When we awoke, the band grazed below our camp.  It was a beautiful start to a beautiful day.

Chrome and his band
We left the Spring Creek Basin herd the next morning and encountered T.J. again as we crossed into the sanctuary.  She invited us to the Sand Wash Basin Rendezvous that would be held Saturday.  Intrigued, we told her that we would try to join her.   With three wild horse herds between us and Saturday, however, we wondered if we could make the date.  Still, T.J. and her love of wild horses had captivated us.  We knew she had a key we were missing and we wanted to learn more about the plight of these magnificent animals.

To learn more about the Spring Creek Basin herd, please visit T.J.’s blog at https://springcreekbasinmustangs.com


No comments:

Post a Comment