A Morning Thunderstorm at Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve Manitoulin Island

A wonderful thunderstorm rolled over the East Bluff this morning and brought with it much appreciated moisture in addition to lovely sights and sounds.  I could not help but capture snippets of video, from inside and outside, to weave into a little iMovie.

May you enjoy this not-too-agressive storm as much as we inhabitants of Ravenseyrie did. (Be patient, it may take a few moments for the video to load after you have clicked on the window for it.  Once loaded, select for full screen if you can, for best viewing.)

Manitoulin Island in the Extreme Winter of 2019 - How the Wild Equines of Ravenseyire Cope

The Zen Elm at Ravenseyrie

"This is misery," I thought to myself, "I cannot keep this up!."

Trembling muscles, twanging ligaments, faltering mind and still I fill my shovel with snow while the winds howl whitely around me.  Taking breaks and coming at it again, eventually, the dense drifts were removed and the gate swung freely.  How many times did this scene play out this winter?  I have lost count!  Perhaps Monday's effort to free the gate is the last for the season and we surely are turning toward a significant melt?

I cannot blame Winter, my love for it remains.  What, then, accounts for the often wretched misery in my mind?

  

Bare-boned fatigue and nothing more.  

Rest and recovery will have me feeling peppy again, and healthier and stronger for the effort, I do believe.

It has been an inexpressibly challenging winter for everyone on Manitoulin Island, but especially so for all the wilderness creatures and those providing for livestock.  As noted last month in The Manitoulin Expositor:

Ian Anderson, a former Conservation Officer (CO) with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNRF), trapper and long time resident of Manitoulin Island says the current weather conditions for deer on Manitoulin Island are the worst he has ever seen. “It’s official—these are the worst conditions I’ve seen for deer in my 46 years living on Manitoulin Island,”[...]“The conditions are really serious in some places with over 40 inches of snow on the ground,” said Mr. Anderson. He said there is no area on Manitoulin or the North Shore where there is less than 30 inches of snow on the ground (in places where deer would normally feed). “And this is really compounded by the freezing rain, and deer can’t travel on top of the icy crust and snow.”

For the equines of the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve, conditions on the range have been like none we have ever experienced before.  Typically, even when snow levels are quite deep, while the horses do not venture down the bluff to the lake shore in wintertime, they do roam into all the various sectors up on the tableland.  Not only are these wild-living Sorraia horses accustomed to navigating deep snow for daily tours over the expansive landscape, but they also dig (excavate!) through the snowpack to dine upon the winter-pressed edibles below.  These horses also browse on bushes, shrubs and tree bark, gathering nutrition in fascinating ways.  

But this winter, the varied and numerous storms frequenting the island have created a situation where deep snow has been saturated by freezing rain, forming a crust often better than two inches thick, followed by more layers of deep snow. 

Kevin Droski poses with a segment of ice crust and his newly acquired helper, The Cat

For the horses, the sensation of penetrating the first layer of deep snow, then meeting with and breaking through the sharp ice crust and sinking belly-deep further into the snow underneath the ice crust is, not unsurprisingly, painful and emphatically off-putting.  They therefore have curtailed their usual sector to sector roaming of the tableland and instead keep themselves to just a scant handful of single-file, narrow packed trails that lead to sheltered spots and and feeding areas.  

There are no easy turns on one narrow path, especially when the stallions are head to tail and the one in front decides to stop.  It is a peculiar thing to see 6-9 horses lined up on a trail like a stalled train.  Eventually the leader is pressured to continue forward or the group turns and goes back from where they had come.  Extreme lumbar engagement and deep flexing of hindquarters allows the horses exquisite poise, permitting them to artfully pirouette for changes of direction without chancing falling off the firm traction of the trail and becoming engulfed in deep snow.  These Sorraia horses are masters of collection!  Nature is the best dressage teacher.  An entire book could be written on this alone!  Even so, in these restricted conditions a bachelor band comprised of seven stallions and two geldings (who have been claimed by one of the stallions as if they are mares), petty arguments and the habitual aggression among them has in some ways become more pronounced and in other ways subtly restrained.  When I am able to set aside my anxiety over the situation, it is fascinating to see how they adapt to whatever new challenge the day presents in their wilderness preserve.

One of the ploughed out feeding stations used on calm days

      

For two equines, (who due to particular circumstances we have had to keep separated from the rest of the stallions) the navigability of their spaces is even more restricted. Massive drifting has overtaken both the holding pasture and sorting corrals.  The old draft mule, Jerry, and the small, one-eyed stallion, Destemido* unfortunately cannot, as we had hoped, share the conjoined spaces of the holding pasture and corrals together, though we have tried numerous times.  Destemido's wanton aggression toward Jerry is more than what a 30 something gelded mule can tolerate.

*Destemido presently cannot be turned out on the range for reasons which are too involved to discuss in this particular blog entry    

Jerry, perhaps remembering the days when the wild stallions were young
and did not attack him, but played games instead

Destemido, taking a turn in the holding pasture as
Kevin returns from bringing hay to Jerry in the corrals

This means for the first time we have had to close the gate between the holding pasture and sorting corrals during wintertime.  For the duration of winter, week by week we are switching these sequestered boys so that neither of them has to be in the smaller space of the corrals for longer periods.

Jerry, taking a turn in the corrals

It is vital to be able to use the gate between the two sectors which has been a real problem due to the significant snowfall and the way the gale winds have repeatedly buried that gate in a dense, massive drift.  With the landscape so staggeringly snowbound, there is no getting the tractor in to scoop away the immense drift.  It falls to your author and her shovel and her determination.

The gate, reclaimed from the drift, at least on one side so far

 As noted in the opening of this blog entry, keeping the gate serviceable has turned out to be a repeated test of my endurance.  Wave after wave of snow and wind storms vexatiously undo all the work I  repeatedly do to keep it free to swing open.

Destemido in the holding pasture, which is overtaken by massive drifts

Destemido on his narrow trail.  The other stallions are out on the range side 

Added to this is the stress and anxiety of seeing how difficult these conditions are for the horses, especially for Jerry and Destemido.  Their narrow trails are so precarious and so near the tops of the fences and gates in spots!  When Jerry is in the holding pasture, there is not mischief over the gate that faces the open range.  But when Destemido is in the holding pasture and the other stallions come up to the gate from the range side, they each stand on three feet of packed drifts and attempt to do battle over the gate.  One misstep on the compacted, firm spot and either stallion risks tumbling into the gate or off into the four foot drifts. 

Destemido strikes out at Gosto

Since that photo was taken, the "platform" Destemido is standing on has grown even higher, so Kevin has strung a line from the upright posts to hopefully deter these types of nail-biting encounters.

Then there is the task (which falls to Kevin and his magnificent Kubota) to keep our driveway and shed areas free of snow.  Never in our fourteen years living here on the East Bluff has Kevin had to do so much relocating of snow to make it possible for us to get out and about.  He has made snow mountains all around the place.  This is in addition to the countless times throughout the winter he is packing toboggans full of hay and going to the forest to fell dead timbers for our firewood.  There is a Zen saying:

“Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” — Wu Li  

For Kevin, it is chop wood and pack hay.  Adding to that this year is "remove snow" and "drive every few days to Tehkummah to bring hay to the mares" - the later which is yet another stressful drama that winter has presented for us and the horses and too involved to elaborate upon in this today's blog entry.

Most days, Kevin maintains his Zen mindset while facing all these labours and he surely stands as a positive role model for me when my extreme fatigue gets the better of me.  In fact, I would be undone if not for Kevin's amazing strength and equipoise.

Our driveway, this past Monday morning

Drifted shut (again) and winds continuing to add more snow to it

  

Kevin assesses the task ahead

View from the trusty Kubota

Tuesday morning, no more wind and no more snow, driveway remains reclaimed!

An after the storm sunrise is most sublime!

Nice and tidy and navigable once more!

___
Edit on 16Mar19
A couple of my friends have noted that I forgot to mention that in addition to the brutal winds and copious amounts of snow, we had more than our usual share of monstrously bitter cold air temperatures due to the "polar vortex" that effected so many regions of North America this winter.  So I am adding a couple photos documenting a particularly "chilly" morning at Ravenseyrie when our thermometer dipped to -35ºF/-37ºC and only "warmed up" to -28ºF by midday.   Week after week we were showing temps that were in the minus twenties farenheit for daily "highs".  Very bitter, and dangerous with the wind chills that gales enjoyed creating.  Heating with wood during the deep freeze and high winds often makes it difficult to keep warm in the house unless one is near the trusty Jøtul wood stove.  At the kitchen table where I have my breakfast the temperature one morning was +45ºF and thick frost on the inside of the window.  We get by with extra sweaters and wool hats (and a dram of AlpenBitters #7 in the evening for sure!) and knowing that the deep freeze does not last forever.

28January19

 

Frost on the interior windows -35ºF outside +45ºF inside

With all the other shovelling at home and at work and the stints on snowshoes to help Kevin get hay out to the other horses, and useless anxiety over so many things I cannot control, somedays I am nearly done in both physically and mentally.  But I am buoyed by the stoic adaptations of the horses and bolstered by the ever-present support of a capable, congenial husband and with a little rest, I recover.

Once rested, I can look upon the character of this year's winter as if it is a supportive entity, like a shaman or a guru.  Through this philosophical lens, I am less inclined to look upon the character of this winter as a malevolent force, instead I perceive it as an essential facilitator of personal growth, designed to benefit the greater whole.

At the forest edge, bringing dried summer to hungry horses

A space further apart for Fidalgo and Altamiro

Inner reflections such as these are a luxury one rarely can indulge in when straining with chest pounding and steps faltering in the middle of a snowshoe trek to the forest with hay, often in the midst of tormenting winter storms...but even within those ordeals, the rarified beauty of the elements of the day do not go unnoticed.

Rarified beauty of an atmospheric referred to as "Sun Dogs"
on a frigid winter's day at Ravenseyrie

With the very real possibility that winters this severe will become the norm and not the exception, Kevin and I will develop new ways of maintaining the preserve and incorporate more effective measures of preparing for extreme weather.

Nutritious, delicious, homemade vegan fare at Ravenseyrie

This way of life is ours by choice, even as it often makes for austere and back-breaking conditions.  The rewards of stunning atmospherics, hungry horses feeding upon dried summer and knowing a warm house and an appealing meal with my beloved  await me at the end of day remind me that I am right where I want to be doing things that hold great meaning for me.  Let's see what the next day brings and carry on in a beautiful way!

______
I would like to extend immense gratitude to our municipal road crews who tirelessly work to keep our roads accessible, not an easy task on Manitoulin Island, especially on our East Bluff access.  Scotland Road has got to be the most challenging stretch for them, but somehow, they make it navigable and we few who live up here, sure are thankful for the great effort!

Scotland Road, the bend at McDougall Point

Sorraia Stallion Destemido Inspires a Ravenseyrie Fine Art Greeting Card

Destemido Striking Capaz
Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve

This article first appeared in my Ravenseyrie Studio & Art Gallery blog on 19January19.

Destemido - Fearless One
Original Sumi-e by Lynne Gerard

The majority of the painting and writing I do is influenced and inspired by elements I find very close to home.  Living on the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve assures that a number of the works seen in the gallery are of noble equines.

As I work on building up the webpage for my Fine Art Greeting Cards, I have been taking photos and typing up descriptors of the many card designs I offer in my gallery.  These cards come under different categories, for example, "Birthday", "New Baby", "Just Because", etc. and are each printed, assembled and hand detailed right here in my studio on the bay.  

I also offer Christmas and Holiday Cards, but mostly these are in a different type of card style requiring less handwork and are grouped within the webpage I've titled, Fine Art Notecards.

I do however have two Holiday/Christmas cards that I have made that are of the same style as my Fine Art Greeting Cards (not yet listed on the webpage, but soon!)  One of these holiday cards features a reproduction of an original sumi-e (ink painting) I did of one of our stallions who was born on the preserve.

Destemido

The stallion's name is Destemido.  Destemido means "fearless" in Portuguese and is an appropriate description for this one-eyed, undersized, scrapper of a guy.

Destemido lost his left eye in an injury sustained when he was a young foal.  He has also lost part of his left lip during a fight with one of his siblings. 

Destemido, the one-eyed wild Sorraia stallion

How expressive, even without an eye!

None of these issues seem to handicap Destemido and he carries on with all the verve and bravado one would expect from a wild stallion, perhaps with a dash more expressiveness than the other horses in an effort to make up for his smaller stature. 

Destemido in the lead

Whatever it is, Destemido is fun to photograph and paint and is actually quite soft and gentle around my husband and myself.  We admire him, even if over the years he has caused quite a lot of mischief.  

  A video I put on YouTube with Destemido showing off for his grandsire, Altamiro:

Destemido and Gosto
black and white photo study

To see the full line of Fine Art Greeting Cards I make that are for sale in the gallery, please click on their webpage at the top of this blog.

Ravenseyrie Mares in Autumn

Zorita (Portuguese Sorraia x Sulphur Mustang) and Esperanda (Portuguese Sorraia x Kiger Mustang)
 

This is the fourth autumn the Ravenseyrie mares will be experiencing down on the Twinravens range in Tehkummah, southeasterly Manitoulin Island.  Do they miss living up on the East Bluff of Gore Bay were Kevin and I and the bachelor band of Sorraias continue to dwell?  We certainly miss them and treasure those days when our conservation efforts included having an intact family band of wild horses showcasing their amazing equine culture day in and day out.  Unfortunately we learned 360 acres is not enough space (both physically and psychologically) for more than one wild living family band of equines.  Perhaps in the future there will come to be a large tract of land somewhere on the island or elsewhere in Canada where the males and females can live together in complete autonomy like what occurs on Sable Island.  For now, we must be content with knowing we continue to safeguard these horses in non-breeding groups.  

Pinoteia (Portuguese Sorraia x Spanish Mustang)

I continue to reserve my precious Mondays off from work to make the hour's drive down to Tehkummah and visit with Bella and Belina and Zorita and Fada and Pinoteia and Esperanda and Altavida and Rija.  It makes my heart sing to see them in such good form and in an environment that is able to naturally sustain them most of the year.  Being on a limited range, however, they do need hay supplemented to assist them in surviving the harsh winters Manitoulin Island experiences.  In early autumn local farmer, Larry Cress, drops off large round bales of dried summer in the front sector of their range, while Kevin and I stock the mares' forest shelter sector with large round bales we bring from home.  

Until the landscape is deeply locked in with snow, the mares prefer to dine upon what their range offers them naturally.  In the photo below, Rija purposefully selects dried thistle stalks...a delectable treat, or for medicinal purposes...she did not say which!  (see her eating these prickly plants in the YouTube video link below)    

Rija (Portuguese Sorraia x Spanish Mustang)

The mares coming up from the back range for treats and a visit.

Rija (Portuguese Sorraia x Spanish Mustang)

Rija tells Akina to skedaddle.

Our Majestic Mares!  How much a part of the landscape they are!

In this video, back at home, our purebred Portuguese Sorraia, Altamiro and one of his sons come up to say hello.  How different their lives are without the presence of the mares...I am sure they miss them being on the home range as much as I do.

Sorraia Bachelor Stallions

Capaz and Legado!

"Bachelors are interesting since they present opportunities to examine ontogenetic pathways through which skills are developed and the possible importance of such skills in acquiring their first harems." --Joel Berger from Wild Horses of the Great Basin / Social Competition and Population Size

Capaz shows some of his skills to Legado and Jerry

Since the spring of 2013, our Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve restructured its participation in the preservation of the Sorraia and Sorraia Mustang horses by suspending active breeding and relocating the females to an offsite range.  Circumstances underlying these changes have been discussed in archived journal entries and will not be revisited in today's blog, nevertheless our interest and support for these horses remains strong as we continue to safeguard these important genetic treasures and provide them suitable wilderness habitats to live as autonomously as possible.

Ravenseyrie Mares

Our eight females:  Bella, Belina, Zorita, Fada, Pinoteia, Esperanda, Altavida and Rija continue to thrive on the Twinravens range and I will devote a future blog entry to their dynamics as an "all girl" group.  For today's journalling we will be taking a look at the way the Ravenseyrie bachelor stallions are conducting their affairs as spring invigorates their environment with voluptuous greenery and raises their testosterone levels in ways that provoke shifts in their relationships with one another.

Our cast of equine characters that presently dwell with us at Ravenseyrie are:

•Jerry - an aged domestic bred sorrel draft mule gelding

Jerry

• Zeus - an aged domestic bred sorrel Thoroughbred gelding

Zeus

• Altamiro - a purebred Portuguese Sorraia stallion, born in Germany at the Wistenhenge zoological park

Altamiro

• Interessado - born at Ravenseyrie sired by Altamiro and born to Ciente (Sorraia Mustang of Kiger lineage), regrettably gelded as a 3yr old

Interessado

• Silvestre - born at Ravenseyrie, full brother to Interessado, regrettably gelded as a 2 year old

Silvestre

• Legado - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Altamiro and born to Zorita (Portuguese Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang of Sulphur Springs lineage)

Legado

• Fidalgo - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Altamiro and born to Belina (Sorraia Mustang of Spanish lineage)

Fidalgo

• Gosto - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Altamiro and born to Bella (Sorraia Mustang of Spanish lineage)

Gosto

• Destemido - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Interessado and born to Fada (Portuguese Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang)

Destemido

• Capaz - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Interessado and born to Pinoteia (Portuguese Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang)

Capaz

• Sedutor - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Altamiro, full brother to Legado

Sedutor

• Ousado - born at Ravenseyrie, sired by Altamiro, full brother to Gosto

Ousado

Last spring, the stallions severely attacked Zeus, necessitating pulling him off the range and creating a separate pasture for him to live out his life without fear of further malicious bullying.  So far, the draft mule, Jerry, continues to hold his own among the feisty studs out on the range and while some of the young guys harass him, he remains unscathed and is often a chosen grazing mate by several of the bachelors.

Legado, Jerry and Capaz

The former distinct "play fighting" that the younger stallions engaged in has given way to more serious sparring and the number of nicks, scrapes and surface wounds attest to the intensity of these encounters.  No longer childs'-play, these "discussions" appear to be compulsive, highly physical activities that take the measure of oneself as well as feeling the physical capacity and state of mind of the others.  Liaisons are loose, fragile affairs as every handful of days there appears to be a reorganization of who is chumming up with who and who is keeping themselves apart.

Two weeks ago, during one of the frequent shows of aggression, Silvestre sustained a nasty gash over his rear canon bone.  It continues to heal very well and Silvestre has been keeping away from the more rambunctious boys during this healing time.  In the last few days, Silvestre has been joined by Interessado, Altamiro and Fidalgo - all who seem to want a little less frenetic pace and do their best to avoid interacting with the other guys for now.

Silvestre and Fidalgo

Silvestre's wound

Those other guys - Capaz, Legado, Sedutor (the main instigators of fractious interactions) are most of the time grazing in the same sector as Gosto and Ousado.  Destemido continues to feel the need to stake a claim to the area outside of the fenced holding pasture where Zeus has been living.  Destemido will fly into the group of others for lightning quick shows of force - like a mad hornet!  Hard to believe he is the smallest one of the bachelors and is missing an eye!  The most interesting change has been in Capaz.  As a young colt, he was pot-bellied and seemed slow moving and slow witted - how wrong that impression has turned out to be.  Capaz is perhaps the feistiest of all the bachelors!

I've put together a new video documenting the dynamic discussions these stallions have been having. Thanks to the talent and generosity of a young Portuguese composer, BrunuhVille, the video has a wonderfully fitting soundtrack.  I hope you enjoy this window into world of Sorraia bachelor stallions living on a beautiful island in northern Ontario.




"He's not so big as imagined and his coat has never felt a groom's brush, yet the sight of him quickens your blood and lights visions in the mind." --L. Edward Purcell from his book, Wild Horses of America