Stargazer

We have seen foals separated from their dams and even from their bands, countless times. Sometimes foals get distracted or just don’t pay attention. Or maybe they fall asleep as the band moves away. Usually, though, the stallion sees the foal and snakes him or her back to the band. But not always…

Stargazer didn’t see when his family drifted away. What happened next startled all of us!

It started out as a quiet morning with the horses…

It was a cold but lovely morning just after the middle of May in 2013.  Marty and I were delighted to have a bright sunny day to photograph.

For those who have followed our travels over the years, you know that May in the Great Basin is just as likely to be snowy or rainy as to be sunny.  This day felt like a gift.

We had easily found the horses – another fact that is not always true. 

The horses had spent the night in a large meadow nearby and were now slowly making their way across the hillside, going who knows where. 

They were grazing, resting and rubbing on trees. 

There are not many things for horses to rub on in this terrain, so many of them were taking advantage.

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Of course, some of the bachelors were creating havoc.  When is that not true, right?

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We had stationed ourselves a ways away from the horses, near some juniper trees.  Marty and I usually tried to find different perspectives to photograph from but this morning, there weren’t a lot of options.  In the end, it turned out to be a good thing that we were close to each other.  Though as you will find out later, it isn’t always a good thing to have Marty right next to me when I am video recording.  LOL

We stayed put, letting the horses come our way.

Marty and I both have large camera lenses, so our photos and videos often make it look like the horses are very close when they aren’t.  At least, in this instance, they weren’t at first.

If the horses look suddenly large, it’s because they came to us.  Given we were on a hillside, there were few places for us to go.  So, we didn’t move our positions, but we kept our eyes open, ever on the alert for some crazy bachelor stallion to come crashing out of the trees at us.

It seems that on every trip we see something we’ve never seen before.  Or something that is different or unusual.  Sometimes it’s a good thing.  Sometimes it’s a bad thing.  Sometimes it’s a shocking thing.  

This thing was not only different and shocking – it turned out to be the 2013 Memorable Moment.

Before I go any further, let me say that everything was alright in the end.  Stargazer made it back to his band unhurt, except for a minor scratch.

So, relax and enjoy the story.

Stuff Happens

It was a quiet morning on the Great Plains of Utah.  We had been there since sunrise and now it was an hour and a half past later. Not a lot had happened. 

The horses were enjoying the sun as much as we were.  Not much was going on and we were just hanging out with them, as relaxed as they were.

Groups of horses were scattered across the hillside, including a rather oddball pair of mature stallions – a bay and a bay roan.  They had been together for at least a couple of years that we knew of, and they seemed to be quite bonded to each other.

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King and his family band, our favorite Onaqui band, were grazing along with about 80 other horses.   They were favorites of mine, so I never took my eyes off of them for long.

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After frolicking around a bit, the youngest addition to the family, Stargazer, flopped down in the grass to rest. 

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Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying any attention as his family band kept moving down the hill.  They moved far enough away that I knew he couldn’t see them.  I’m pretty certain they couldn’t see him either.

A couple of years earlier, another one of King’s colts (one of the perlino brothers) had also gotten left behind.  He was very distressed, running from horse to horse whinnying.  King and his band moved on, seemingly paying no attention to his distress.

After what seemed like forever, King tore back to his colt and snaked him back to the band.  It was apparent that he was very irritated with the colt.

So, maybe this was King’s style of parenting.  Rather than snaking him when it was time to leave, he chose to let Stargazer, and his brother before him, learn by experience to stay with his family.

That past experience made me suspicious that might happen again, so I kept my eyes (and camera) glued to Stargazer.  I told Marty to keep an eye out too, expecting Stargazer to get upset when he realized his family wasn’t visible.

I’m not sure how the band got so far away without noticing he wasn’t with them.  Perhaps, they thought he was with them.  As parents, we’ve been there, haven’t we?

Or maybe, it was just the culture of the band to let young ones learn this way.

Marty and I were watching closely.  As soon as he stood up and realized he couldn’t see his family, I started a video.

He was one very unhappy foal!  He started running back and forth whinnying.  He was obviously distressed and confused.

Stargazer turned and ran up the hill.  He spotted a bay horse and ran toward him. I think he thought it was one of the two bay mares in his band. 

Unfortunately, this bay horse was not one of his aunties but a bay stallion. THE bay stallion and his partner who had chased the foal last year.  This was worrisome.

What happened next shocked both Marty and I and certainly shocked Stargazer!

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The bay and bay roan stallions turned and started chasing Stargazer. 

Startled and afraid, he started making a ruckus, which then caught the attention of other horses. 

Stargazer, and the stallions right behind, ran down the hill toward King and his band, but it was obvious none of them had yet seen what was happening.

King didn’t seem to notice yet but other stallions were taking heed.  One stallion and then another and another joined the chase.  In the middle of this chaos was the bay roan.

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FINALLY, King reacted. (You may hear Marty say this on the video.)

Thankfully, despite common thinking, a stallion killing a foal isn’t common.  We never saw it in the fifteen years we photographed wild horses.  But it DOES happen.  And you never, ever know…

Generally, horses pay little attention to stallions (or other horses) running.  However, this situation proved to be very different. 

Horses started running from every direction, both mares and stallions.  Surely some were curious about what was going on, but the worry was that some of the stallions would get caught up in the excitement of the moment, even when they seemed to be coming to the rescue of Stargazer.  Sort of like human “mob mentality,” right?

Stargazer’s entire band was also running toward the melee.  All around us, other horses are watching with concern.

Red Cloud (center) seemed very concerned about what was happening.  It was apparent that he was trying to protect Stargazer. 

King is coming in at the far right of the photo above.  We started breathing again. No time can be lost in this kind of situation!

When King caught up with them, he went straight for the culprits. 

The rest of the family band finally reached Stargazer.  The distress and concern on the faces of the horses was amazing to see.   Even Moondrinker, Stargazer’s big brother, was obviously worried. (Stargazer is in the middle of this group.)

As we took big breaths and looked around, worried horses were all around us.  About 60 of them (yes, I counted).

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Stargazer stayed close to his dam for the rest of that day.  The adults were clearly still concerned and very watchful.

Moondrinker, Stargazer’s big brother, stayed close the next day too.  He still looks concerned.

There’s another lesson here and this one is for humans.   We started out this quiet morning up on a hill with most of the horses above us.  There were some scattered further up the hill but the majority were fairly near us, though still quite a ways away.  By the time this whole scenario played itself out, we were literally surrounded by 60 distressed horses. 

Horses came from all directions after the stallions started chasing Stargazer.  At the end, dozens of horses were running toward us.    As you can see from the photos above (and the video), Stargazer and his mama ended up right in front of us.  Which means the other horses did too.

We are always careful and do not get too close.  We always watch stallions, in particular.  There was no way we could have anticipated this or prepared for it.  When horses started running, Marty and I got even closer to each other and kept a careful eye out.  I had to yell and wave my hat at one point so I didn’t get stampeded by running horses. 

You really can’t be too careful and should never get too close to wild horses.  Even when the horses are restful.  Even when you know them and they know you.  Stuff happens.  This was a very good example…

All was well in the end though.  With the horses and with us.  We left the hillside satisfied.

So.  Ready for the video?  Now that you know it all turns out well, you can relax a bit.  It’s still a bit hair raising though.  Just warnin’ ‘ya.

The Chase

Note: The wind noise is heavy in the beginning but push through with your volume up. You will want to hear it!

Want to know more?

An interesting little factoid – it is generally thought by the people at Onaqui Catalogue (a comprehensive database of Onaqui horses) that Red Cloud and King have the same dam, making Red Cloud Stargazer’s uncle.  There are many years apart in age between King and Red Cloud (no one knows exactly how many), so they would not have lived together in a family band and would have been unlikely to have known that they were brothers, if indeed they are.  That aside, it is fascinating to me that Red Cloud is the stallion who was most aggressive in protecting Stargazer.

None of this is absolutely confirmed, as many wild horsey relationships can’t be confirmed.  Even photographs can be misleading or give wrong information (just ask me), so this is supposition, as fascinating as it may be.

King

King was always a favorite of ours. He sired (assumedly) many beautiful offspring, including the Perlino Brothers (my name), and Moondrinker & Stargazer. When we knew him (2011 – 2017) he was most definitely the dominant stallion in about 130 horses that congregated in the southern part of the Onaqui HMA in Utah.

King was gathered in 2021 but has since found a home at a mustang sanctuary.

Moondrinker & Stargazer (The Pinto Brothers)

Moondrinker (Stargazer’s big brother [same dam]) and Stargazer remained together for a few years as a bachelor pair.  When Stargazer matured, the Pinto Brothers, as they were popularly known, went their separate ways. Remarkably, Moondrinker and his entire band managed to avoid capture in the 2021 roundup.

We saw the pair the last time we visited Onaqui HMA in 2017.

Stargazer

While cleaning up my Facebook page recently, I found a comment from Melissa T on one of my posts of Stargazer and his band.  It was from four years ago and I’d never seen it!

Melissa had adopted Stargazer in 2022.  I reached out and we have had an amazing continuing conversation about Stargazer, King and Moondrinker.

From Melissa’s story,  ‘Stargazer and Nora’, “In the spring of 2020, Stargazer came across Northstar, or Nora for short, on the range, who had been reportedly left behind due to an injury she had sustained. From that day forward, Stargazer became her steadfast companion.”

Stargazer and Nora were both adopted by Melissa and live with her on her farm.  You can find more information on the pair here:

https://www.rjsteinphotography.com/stargazer-and-nora

Moondrinker

Moondrinker remains on the range with his own band.  Many of you will recall we saw Moondrinker when he was likely less than an hour old and followed him fondly for years.

Mama G died a few years ago of old age, still on the range.

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If you’d like to know more about the Onaqui Catalogue, you can find it here:

https://www.facebook.com/onaqui.catalogue

Bluesky: onaqui.bsky.social

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I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoyed reliving this experience.

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I am planning to post many more blogs in the future.  I expect they will be posted about once a month or so, depending on how long they are – and therefore how long they take me to write.

Please feel free to suggest topics you are interested in.  It could be a specific herd, a horse or behavior you are interested in.  If at all possible, and I feel enough people will be interested, I will do my best to honor your suggestions.

If you followed me on my previous website, you have probably noticed this one looks very different.  Yes, I have a wild horse gallery, but for now there is only one, showcasing some of our favorite images and horses.  Perhaps, I will add more later but this new wild horse adventure is all about telling stories.  You know I love to do that.  And I think over the years, you have loved that too.

Until the next time,

Barbara