Embracing Chaos

"From seeming disorder, creativity pulsates...Chaos is a natural process, a dynamic dance of essences essential to the continuous birth of beauty." --Lynne Gerard

When horses are allowed to live as autonomously as possible in a wilderness setting, some surprising things can be learned and the lessons are not necessarily for the faint of heart! I would not have thought myself to be stout-hearted or an embracer of chaos, but since having established our Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve, these qualities have have spontaneously developed in Kevin and me and have saved us from going completely insane.

With springtime finally taking its rightful place on Manitoulin Island, the rush of equine hormones has completely disrupted whatever stability we imagined was ours. Herd dynamics have altered substantially in response to the higher levels of testosterone our stud colts are feeling this year as well as those enticing pheromones the fillies are generating. We knew we were taking a chance on holding back separating young boys from the young girls last year, but since none of the fillies had been showing signs of heat, nor were the colts showing any sexual interest in their half-sisters, we felt it was better to let the youngsters continue to run together. We remained hopeful that Altamiro's offspring would sell before these youngsters "came of age" allowing us to avoid adulterating the big wide open spaces with separate pastures.

As it turns out, Fada (2008 filly out of Belina) did come into heat as a two year old and was covered by one or both of her brothers. How could this be when we never observed any signs that she was in estrus? It seems there are from time to time mares and fillies who do not display outward signs of sexual readiness, a condition that is termed "behaviorial anestrus" and more commonly referred to as "silent heat". The horses of Ravenseyrie are not in our line of vision all hours of the day and it seems that Fada took a lover in secret. The result is a handsome bold colt we have come to call Destemido, which means "fearless" in Portuguese. It is good the little fellow is fearless, because his arrival stimulated quite a drama of chest thumping among the males.



Animado stepped forward to claim Fada and her foal (though we will need blood tests to truly determine patrimony) and in a blink of an eye became her protector against daddy Altamiro (now a grandsire!) in a spectacular display pitting firstborn son against his sire. Altamiro accepted Animado as leader of a new family, and both stallions retained their individual dignity with no injuries, though with the rough aggression they engaged in one wonders how they managed to avoid bloodshed. (It must be that tough zebro hide their genetics provided them!)

Below are photos some of the manly shows Altamiro and Animado put on (Animado is a lighter shade of grullo than is Altamiro):

It is hard to believe that the horse on the right is our firstborn here at Ravenseyrie, just over three years ago! He's amazing!

So now the alternate group of older offspring presently has sorted out a tentative equilibrium and continue to live as one group, with the fillies Segura and Encantara helping Fada keep appropriate space around Destemido, while Interessado is still tolerated in the band by his brother as long as he takes to the parameter when Animado directs him too. For one brief day, these roles were reversed and Interessado was in tight with Fada, while Animado was kept on the parameter. By nightfall of the next day, Animado was back in charge.

The draft mules seem able to come and go as usual, but Mistral, Zeus (our two domestic geldings) and Silvestre (2009 colt out of Ciente) had come under severe harassment by Altamiro, Animado and Interessado to the point where they made repeated escapes by finding their way around the fencing extending to the lake and found quiet refuge on the neighboring cattle range. By special arrangement, we were able to pasture them there for a few weeks before the rancher needed them removed so he could turn out his cows and young calves. At this writing these three boys are in the holding pasture and corrals which we will soon be using to get Animado, Encantara and Segura ready for to be exported to the United States. Against our original vision and desires, Kevin is building about a ten acre pasture on the the southwest sector of our property. At least it does not cut across the more beautiful northern expanse which we see out our windows providing such spectacular wildlife viewing.

Here are Mistral, Silvestre and Zeus in the holding pasture

Here Altamiro runs the length of the double line electric fence (which has a four foot buffer between lines to prevent nose to nose or hoof to hoof contact.)

Altamiro seems surprised to not be able to physically harass Mistral, Zeus and Silvestre anymore.

The family band crosses the northern grasslands

When this new enclosure is ready, Zeus, Mistral and Silvestre will spend the summer there. And after Animado, Encantara and Segura leave, we will be scheduling Interessado and Silvestre for castration. Very difficult decisions for us to make...

Note: (If anyone following this journal has been interested in either of these half Sorraia/half Sorraia Mustang stud colts, you have roughly six weeks to connect with me before they are gelded. In the hopes that they find homes where they are kept as stallions, we offer them at half price. After gelding they will remain for sale at their former price.)

Add to this chaotic mix the fact that several days ago Altamiro expelled Pinoteia (2010 filly out of Bella) from the family band you can pretty well imagine we have had non-stop dramas keeping us very busy and prompting us to be very fluid in our responses. Pinoteia is still going it alone (perhaps on a mission to find her inner filly?) and hasn't yet joined up with the alternate group, but if she does so in a timely way, she may be going to the states as well, once certain interested breeders know she is no longer part of the family band and has joined the alternate group.

Yearling filly, Pinoteia, expelled from her family band, but not ready to join the alternate group yet.

If readers are having a difficult time following the shifting of the herd dynamics and the rethinking of our original vision that is manifesting itself, I am not at all surprised as we have been struggling to keep it all straight, too. It has been an incredibly stressful spring and rather than allow myself to believe that all this disruptive energy is generating nothing but problems I have been reading up a little on chaos theory and implicate order. I've written several little ditties that I am using in my work at the studio--they are helping Kevin and I find the beauty within all these unknown elements converging upon us as we await for the new order sure to be on the other side of this chaos.

"When surrounded by chaos, make a pause--breathe like a forest, melt your resistance into pleasing colours and trust in the spontaneous emergence of a new harmony."--Lynne Gerard

Documenting Altamiro's Offspring / Fada

Fada (Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang)

Summer 2009 / Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve

The second foal born at Ravenseyrie, like Animado, came before I had taken up recording events here on our Sorraia Mustang Preserve in the Journal of Ravenseyrie blog. Altamiro's first filly, Fada has her birth story documented once again at the website of Leslie Town Photography. There are some delightful photos there as well as the telling of how Fada came by her name. I hope you will follow the link to read about our introduction of Belina and Altamiro's tiny filly, Fada.

And now, a feast of photos showing off this exquisite being...

2008

When she was first born, Fada was SO tiny that she often walked underneath her dam to get to the other side, rather than going around the "long" way. A pity, I have no photo of that adorable maneuver.


In the birth story published on the Leslie Town Photography site I relayed (as I have done elsewhere in the Journal of Ravenseyrie) that Fada's dam, Belina is not the best example of Sorraia phenotype and she sometimes can appear rather pony-like and plain. Curiously, though, I've noticed after each of the three foals Belina has so far delivered, she blooms with an uncanny beauty that accentuates the best of what Sorraia characteristics this pony sized mare does possess. The above photo demonstrates very well what I mean, don't you think?


So many of the foal photos of Fada are absolutely enchanting, and I feel as human mothers must feel, a tremendous reluctance to let go of this phase of their babys' growth, wondering how they will ever be more lovely to behold than they are as infants. But, when I see how stunningly beautiful Fada is now as a two year old, I am glad for the natural maturing process and oh-so-thankful to be witness to these many stages of development.

How amazing it is to watch such a young body negotiate handily the rocky beach at Ravenseyrie!

One of my favorite beach scenes when Fada was a foal...I am always moved to see that tiny, confident form taking a standing snooze with her family without a care in the world.

An obviously poor photo, yet I share it here because it shows the counter-shading "cape" Fada has over her shoulders during this stage of development.

When she still had her foal coat, one could see that Fada not only had a cape over her shoulders but leg stripes as well. These have both gone into hiding once she shed out to such a dark grulla shade.

As Fada began to shed out her foal coat, her very dark, almost black grulla colouring was revealed.

As dark as Fada's grulla colouring is, even in a long winter coat, her dorsal stripe is still visible.

I've noticed that the first winter the youngsters go through they grow a much longer coat than they do as yearlings and two year olds.

2009

Fada with her sire, Altamrio

2010

This photo gives a good indication in the small stature of Fada as she stands among Animado, Mistral and the big fellow, Zeus.

Small, but perfectly proportioned and lovely on the eye!

Note the contrast here between the very dark grulla colouring of Fada and the light grullo shade of Animado, in the above photo. Some sources have call the very dark grulla colour "lobo dun". It is believed that the typical shade of grulla for Sorraia horses is medium to light.

If it were not for her dorsal stripe and the buff colouring of the interior of her ears, one would think Fada is a black horse.

Fada is smaller than the average Sorraia and darker, too, but in every other way shows the appropriate characteristics. Hardy has reminded me on more than one occasion that with the right stallion, this beautiful daughter of Altamiro could contribute in an important way to the preservation and consolidation of these primitive Iberian genetics. I think she already has made an important contribution by adding a special type of loveliness to our Ravenseyrie landscape.