Follow our adventures on our Wild Mustang Walkabout™ 2024! We are getting ready for an adventure of a lifetime!
Arizona —- Utah —- NYC
Off on new adventures!
Meredith is in NYC… on East 96th Street between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue… with a friend
All horse color is based on black, red, or a dilution or absence of these colours.
The Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1R) and Agouti Signaling Protein (ASIP) are both important genes involved in determining coat color in mammals, including horses.
In summary, while MC1R determines the base color of the coat (black or chestnut), ASIP influences the distribution of pigments within individual hairs, leading to variations in coat patterns. The combination of alleles at both MC1R and ASIP loci contributes to the diversity of horse coat colors observed in different breeds. Other genes and modifiers can further influence coat color such as:
The chestnut coat color in horses is determined by genetic factors. The main gene responsible for chestnut color is the extension (E) gene, specifically the e allele. Horses with at least one copy of the e allele will exhibit chestnut color.
There are two variations of the extension gene: E and e. The E allele is dominant and suppresses the expression of other color genes, resulting in a black coat. The e allele, on the other hand, allows the expression of other color genes, leading to chestnut color.
The possible combinations for chestnut color are:
It’s important to note that chestnut color can vary in shades, from light to dark, and may be influenced by other genetic factors and modifiers. Additionally, there are different variations of the chestnut color, such as sorrel and liver chestnut, which may involve additional genetic elements.
Breeding two chestnut horses together (ee x ee) will always result in a chestnut foal, as both parents carry only the recessive e allele. Breeding two black horses together (EE x EE) will always result in a black foal, as both parents carry only the dominant E allele.
The Cream Dilution can either be expressed as a single dilution, or a double dilution. Every chromosome has two alleles that represent the way in which each chromosome is inherited and you receive one allele from each parent. Simply put, the chromosomes (usually represented by letters) appear in pairs. To review high school biology, these pairs are generally dominant or recessive. Dominant genes are represented by two capital letters or one capital and one lower-case. The animal appears the same (phenotype) whether they are EE or Ee. The recessive form is represented by two lower-case letters ee.
The cream gene in the single form acts upon chestnut, bay and black by diluting the red colour to cream. The Cream Colour may be light enough to appear almost white to a dark chocolate tan colour. The black is generally unaffected so bay horses horses retain the black points, and mane/tail. Black horses appear somewhat diluted- a mousey chocolate. Horses with a single Cream dilution generally have dark eyes (unless blue from paint patterns) and black skin except where there are white markings (paint markings, facial markings, and leg markings).
A better view of Bolder & his brother, Echo (Pryor Mountain, ©equus ferus- wild horse photography)
The Dun Dilution Factor works on all horse colours. It can appear in black, bay, chestnut, palomino, buckskin, cremello, roan, and even appears in grey horses prior to the horse greying out. Like the Cream Gene, the Dun Dilution lightens the base coat colour, adds primitive markings, but leaves black colour alone. There are so many different shades of dun and the nomenclature varies between horse breeds and regionally. We will describe them related to their base color. Black horses are unique because the resulting dun horses have a specific name called grullo/grulla. Dark bays and blacks can be almost impossible to distinguish.
A black horse with a Dun Dilution turns the horse a lighter shade, with primitive markings, and guard hairs (lighter hairs on the outside of the mane and tail). The head is usually darker. The resulting horses have a slate-blue with less red present although some can have a warm tone. They generally have a very dark head. Without genetic testing, we are only guessing at the actual chromosomes of these horses. .
Primitive markings are named for markings found on ancient horse breeds such as the Przewalski or Tappan horse. They include a continuous line from the withers to the dock (top of the tail). Other markings include wither and/or neck stripes, cobwebbing: faint stripes on the face, zebra stripes on the legs, chest stripes, and darker ear tips. Zebra stripes are the colour of the underlying coat color, so a chestnut horse has darker chestnut stripes and a bay has black zebra stripes. Lighter hair on either side of the mane and each side of the tail, called ‘guard hairs’ may also be present.
(Rock Springs/Pilot Butte, ©equus ferus- wild horse photography)
References:
This post is not meant as gratuitous violence, but rather to demonstrate that the free-roaming horses live dangerous, and occasionally deadly lives. No animals perished in this video; the foal Avi was fine in a few days, however, he did not survive the winter. His dam, Madison, is not a maiden mare; she had a foal Juanita Rae in 2019 who survived.
After the band comes to water. Madison immediately heads to water ahead of her band. Nursing builds a considerable thirst. Her foal, Avi is left alone.
Avi standing on the berm, is approached by a bachelor stallion. You can see his mother in the lower left of the photo, and Josie in the center.
Two stallions approach Avi. Generally, when a foal is approached by older, or more dominant horses , foals will “clack”. Clacking/snapping is when a foal (and sometimes older horses) extend their neck and open and close their mouths; the term clacking comes from the sound of teeth striking. This is a subordinate behaviour that tells the dominant horse that they represent no threat. Avi did not do this during any interaction with any strange horses. Also of note is the injury to Avi’s left foreleg and left hind leg. These injuries occurred prior to the bachelor’s attack.
Avi’s band stallion Eddie, the grey (white) stallion, confronts the curious stallion(s). Avi showed some signs of submission by extending his neck, he did not open and close his mouth audibly.
A scuffle ensues, and note that Avi is directly behind Eddie.
The three bachelors leave, and Avi wanders off to the left. This is fairly unusual foal behaviour. Foals tend to stick close to the band members.
The stallion Shooter begins to cross the waterhole. (Warning: If you don’t wish to see the foal being struck, scroll past the video below. There is no blood.)
Shooter strikes the foal. In truth, he could have easily killed the foal, but he did not. It is unusual that he deliberately went across the pond to confront the foal.
The foals walks/limps back to his band, his mother waits.
You can see the mud from Shooter’s strike on Avi’s chest. In this photo he is just over one month old. He was spotted/named on June 18, 2020 and this photo was taken July 27, 2020.
Gypsy, an older mare in Eddie’s band comforts Avi.
The foal Avi was fine a few days later. We saw him running with his band, as well as walking with no sign of lameness. His behaviour was unusual from wandering a considerable distance from his band, as well as not behaving in a subordinate manner when approached by strange stallions.
Why are bachelors aggressive? As a rule, stallions are more aggressive towards colts over fillies (Górecka-Bruzda, 2023). This makes sense because colts are future adversaries and competition for bands. A common explanation for infanticide is that the new stallion cannot afford to use his energy to look after another male’s offspring, and some may kill foals when a band is taken over (Gray, 2008).
Avi’s most likely sire is Rendezvous, and his dam Madison changed bands in October of 2019 when Eddie took over some of Rendezvous band. Avi was born in June 2020, which is a reasonably long time from Avi’s conception. This is important because stallion aggression towards foals is inversely proportional to the time spent with their dam. In other words, the time together, called consort time, results in stallions being less aggressive with mares they have spent more time together (Linklater , 1999). Presumably because the chances of the foal being theirs is higher, and so Eddie may have been more willing to risk injury defending Avi against the bachelors (Miller, 1981).
Stallions do kill foals. Bachelors are also known to inflict mortal wounds. Horses have individual personalities, and some or more tolerant than others. Avi did not demonstrate socially appropriate behaviour and showed signs of illness and injury. This alone could pose a risk for all horses by bringing predators close to an injured foal. A similar circumstance occurs in the movie ‘Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies’ when another band stallions kills a foal who could not stand after birth. (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/cloud-wild-stallion-of-the-rockies-introduction/29/).
Eddie’s Band July, 2020. Sand Wash Basin Colorado
Gypsy: Unknown, older mare
Madison: Bandera x Ohitika, 2016
Ayita: Tecumseh x Flame, 2016
Makwa: Josie x Orgulloso
Josie: Unknown, older mare
Avi: Madison x Rendevous, 2020
Eddie: Lucky x Tuscarora, 2014
Shooter: Flirt x Brave, 2015
References:
Gray, Meeghan. (2008). An infanticide attempt by a free-roaming feral stallion (Equus caballus). Biology letters. 5. 23-5. 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0571.
Górecka-Bruzda A, Jaworska J, Stanley CR. The Social and Reproductive Challenges Faced by Free-Roaming Horse (Equus caballus) Stallions. Animals. 2023; 13(7):1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13071151
Gray, M. E., Cameron, E. Z., Peacock, M. M., Thain, D. S., & Kirchoff, V. S. (2012). Are low infidelity rates in feral horses due to infanticide? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66(4), 529–537. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41501750
Linklater WL, Cameron EZ, Minot EO, Stafford KJ. Stallion harassment and the mating system of horses. Anim Behav. 1999 Aug;58(2):295-306. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1999.1155. PMID: 10458881.
Miller, R. (1981). Male aggression, dominance and breeding behavior in Red Desert feral horses. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 57(3-4), 340–351. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1981.tb01930.x
Day 2. Our first full day in the Basin., We arrived mid-morning and met up with Cindy of the “Wild Hors eWarrior’ and Kath from “Piceance Mustangs”
Day three of the 2023 Mustang Walkabout™ was our Sixth Annual ‘Meet & Shoot’.
My flight was early, and a lovely car service fetched me at 3:00am. Thankfully, both of my flights were on time, and uneventful. Karen met me at the airport and we began the 4-5 hour drive to Sand Wash Basin.
We made it as far as the huge incline above Steamboat Springs, Colorado but the road was closed. No cars were permitted either direction. We found out a truck driver lost control of his rig (it is a very steep hill), and crashed. The driver did not survive the crash , we were rerouted about two hours to get around the accident. It was very sad, andI have always said, ‘as annoying as traffic may be, I’d rather be in traffic, than the cause of it‘.
We arrived at Craig, Colorado later than expected and so decided to get a hotel room for the night instead of trying to push through. I began my day very early, so it was a nice to relax and rest. The town of Craig is about an hour away from the entrance to Sand Wash Basin,
Another gorgeous hot day in the Basin. We are preparing for a rainy day tomorrow and no solar. We will prepare some snakkies in the solar cooker today to munch on tomorrow. But first, we go to town- Maybell, CO population 74. We get gas, ice and take advantage of the showers ($3). We do shower in the trailer, but there’s something about showering in a real shower that’s positively decadent. (Oh, and real flush toilets!)
We saw Comet Neowise last night It’s getting less bright, but it was amazing to see. We did not get any photos… that we know of since the photos need a lot of post production. Maybe we got lucky.
Who names horses? Well at Sand Wash, who never finds the new foal gets naming rights. Cindy was kind enough to allow us to name a new foal and since Karen and I have named a few already- we passed that on to another horse lover Sarah Broas. She named the new colt in Bronze’s band ‘Argon’ (as in the noble has) and his dam is Reyne. We got tons of pictures on the good camera, but here is a cell phone picture.
Here are some more photos of horses we saw today.
Getting ready
It’s less than a week before our Mustang Walkabout™ begins. I have a new camera this year (Canon 5D Mark IV), and a new lens. I will bring my old Canon 7D with the new lens (24-105mm). My camera bag/knapsack weighs more than my suitcase, so I have a luggage cart (and a ton of bungee). It is compliant with carry on size, and I simply remove my iPad and I’m good for the flight. My wardrobe consists of lightweight shorts, polo shirts, work boots, Crocs for relaxation at the campsite, and the usual undergarments. Karen has all my toiletries packed in Arizona, and I bring my medications, and any personal items.
We both carry snake gaiters into the horse range, and use them if we have to tread where we cannot see our feet. The Prairie Rattlesnake is the only venomous snake found in Sand Wash Basin. They are small, reclusive, and prefer to escape, rather than fight.
My car service picks me up early Wednesday and my flight leaves at 6am. I’m on the train to New York City for a busy and fun day at my medical office. I always find it amazing that I will be in the Basin tomorrow, but seeing patients today in NYC. Stay tuned for daily blog posts from the 2023 Mustang Walkabout.
Karen is a already on her way to the Basin… with her faithful pug companion, Koko.
Our last full day Basin went well. We saw a ton of horses, and moved the trailer to the entrance to facilitate departing early tomorrow. We drive to Denver which takes about 7-8 hours because of the trailer. My flight leaves Saturday from Denver International Airport.
The weather has been spectacular, ranging from 70s-80s 6°F (21-26.6°C ) and dropping to the low 50s°F (10°C) at night. There were some thunder storms, which make the Basin extremely treacherous when the rainfall turns the roads to soup.
People ask what we out on the range, so we’ll start with breakfast. We generally stick to foods that can be made with water: oatmeal, cream of wheat, and coffee. Sometime cold cereal is eaten out of a container if we’re hungry later in the morning. We have ice most of the time (we go to town 1.25 hours away from our campsite every 2-3 three days), so our beverages are kept cool along with cheese and deli meat which constitutes lunch. We discovered ‘Snarky Tea’ this trip which is made in the sun (sun tea). They have caffeinated, and decaf options and for those of you in a more civilized environment, you can make it in the fridge.
The afternoon was spent visiting waterholes all over the Basin. Horses drink between 15-35 liters daily, more if they are lactating/pregnant, injured, or the temperature is high. We check the waterholes and the surrounding areas for horses. It can take time to find horses since Sand Wash Basin is so large (157,730 square acres/63,831,0663.square meters). After a winter of heavy snowfall, the Basin has water. The downside is many horses perished, although precise counts are not possible while the horses are scattered across the Basin because the terrain is difficult to traverse.
Today was spent entirely in the Basin. The weather was iffy, so we didn’t go to far from camp. We did see a lot of horses on Lookout Mountain, and a few bands came into Copper Pond.
Karen is a brilliant artist. She wanted to paint a horse from life, and Meteor and his bachelor band obliged us by standing still for an hour. It was uncanny, and almost as if they knew she was painting a portrait. The storm over the Bears Ears also held off as well. The horses: Mr. Kitty (grey), Astro (black), Orion (bay), Coronado (dark/liver chestnut pinto), Remington (chestnut), Meteor (palomino pinto). Our family named Orion when he was a wee colt, 2014.
Finally, I rescued a Prairie Rattlesnake off the road this morning. The weather has been cooler l, and they are sunning on the road to warm up. Under no circumstances should you attempt this yourself; we carry a snake hook and I know how to use it.
We move the snake because they are inadvertently killed because they blend in with the road, or deliberately killed because some people are butt heads. Either way, the little fella is safe off the road.
The day ended with a rainbow and some beautiful light over the Bears Ears. Good night all!
Today we had the unique opportunity to attend the Moffat County Tourism Association Monthly Board Meeting. At the meeting, Pat Craig of the Wild Horse Refuge, was invited to speak. Pat patiently answered questions and gave a more depth explanation regarding the refuge’s business model. Eventually, the goal is for the public as to be able to see the horses by appointment. There will be no fee, but a donation is appreciated.
He put to rest concerns that the horses might be fed to the predators at the other facility run by the WildAnimal Sanctuary. Pat said the carnivores are fed via donated meat from retail stores such as Walmart. They receive 100,000 lbs of meat weekly. The Refuge horses and property cost approximately 14 million dollars, so why would he spend that sort of money to provide snacks for carnivores?
The Animal Sanctuary is very well equipped and funded. At the Wild Horse Refuge they have:
-Snow cats & D6’s for snow, they are aware of the snowfall in Colorado and are prepared
-Three vets on staff & farrier
-Range specialist surveying the land to ensure the appropriate number of horses. 3,500 of their acreage is BLM land. They are paying a lease for the land.
-Eventually 100-200 horses total
-They pay taxes even as a not-for profit; this help the community
-They buy all supplies from local merchants
-They own fire trucks, fire equipment and have helped communities with this equipment in emergencies
-They have hay, abundant water sources, and generous supplies of fencing and other repair equipment (graders, backhoes, big hoes etc)
We returned to the Basin for the evening and found some old friends at a waterhole. We got some stunning photos with spectacular lighting.
Goodnight friends, from the Basin
