High Spirits

Pinoteia (Altamiro x Bella)

Our preservation effort for the Sorraia and Sorraia Mustangs may no longer involve monitoring the fascinating seasonal habits of a family band, even so there remains still enough excitement in the spring to keep the mare group and the bachelor group in high spirits and feeling that their days and nights are filled with interesting elements.

Kevin and I miss having the mares right here at Ravenseyrie, but are so thankful to have them living at the alternate range, Twinravens, which is the property belonging to the Ojibway artist, Mark Seabrook and his multi-skilled wife, Michelle Hrynyk.  They are a wonderful "host" to our mares and I treasure my Mare Mondays, when I have the Ravenseyrie gallery closed and can make the hour drive down to see all the "ladies" as Michelle calls our treasure trove of "wild" females.

While it is true that Kevin and I miss the rare opportunity to see a family band of wild horses living out their lives up on the East Bluff, we definitely do not miss all the violent activities that had become so prevalent once the offspring of Altamiro and his mares came of age - too much testosterone on too little acreage made for unnatural territorial pressures with no relief.  I've written enough in other journal entries about why we shifted our focus in this preservation effort to safeguarding what we already have rather than continuing to allow reproduction to exceed our capacity to oversee things, so for now let's put away all those serious matters and look at some recent photos instead.

Legado and Gosto playing boy games with Capaz looking on

Gosto (Altamiro x Bella) and Legado (Altamiro x Zorita)

Legado!

Altamiro, Legado and Fidalgo

So much for the boy games taking place at Ravenseyrie.  Young mares can be as lively as young stallions!  Let's go now to Twinravens and see!

Altavida and Pinoteia

Altavida and Pinoteia full sisters, (Altamiro x Bella)...what homogeniety!

Altavida

Bella

Esperanda (Altamiro x Ciente) full sibling to Interessado and Silvestre

Fada (Altamiro x Belina)

Ravenseyrie mares on the Twinravens range, where tracts of bedrock are exposed

So happy to see all that grass!

Belina begins to regain her flesh, and will soon shed out and be as sleek as the others

Rija (Altamiro x Belina) begins now to shed her baby yak fur, too!

Zorita and Esperanda, feeling frisky!

"In play we find ourselves, for a certain time, in another world, beyond our everyday cares and conflicts; in a space where normal power relationships no longer apply, and even battles are fun, simply because we are playing.  We are only pretending when we fight.  What happens here does not become disastrous as in 'real life'." 
--Imke Spilker from EMPOWERED HORSES