I remember that day in December, the chill of winter on my skin, mix of blue sky and winter clouds above me, snow stretching across the landscape with patches of dirt and sage poking through, and then - there were the marks across the snow where his body had been taken away from the road.
And his blood.... the horror of finding him so shocked me I had no care for avoiding the blood as I knelt in the snowy sand touching his face and neck, wishing there was a way I could somehow undo what was done, that I could somehow take away the horror of pain that must have been his last moments on this earth - being hit by a truck and bones terribly broken - what it must have been for him to be injured so badly he could not get up and away from the human, what horror of fear and anxiety must his family band have felt observing all of this, and then darkness.
When I got up I began to literally scream wordless anger at a god that should have protected this innocent soul... then as I stood in the silence, I heard howls from a distance, the deep mourning howl of a wolf lent his voice to my sorrow, and then the coyotes joined in with a chorus of recognition, for what had been lost.
That was the day I found the lifeless the body of Zeus.
Zeus of the Red Desert - February 2018
Zeus was a striking stallion that left an impression on every person that saw him... he was incredibly gorgeous, a beautiful bay pinto with a black and white mane and tail - a mane incredibly strikingly thick that he loved to toss whenever he knew someone was watching - he loved the camera as much as the camera loved him!!
But his looks were only a part of what made him extraordinary.
Zeus was fierce, as a young stallion he took on the much older and mature band stallion Romeo for a young mare he had the biggest of crushes on, and to his last day he was a loyal stallion to the mares he fell in love with... and yes that is the only way to say it, he did not treat his mares as purely a possession that satisfied a stallion's drive, he loved them with a compassionate heart that went beyond the desire to procreate.
When Zeus loved, he loved with all of his heart, he adored his mares, he was gentle and thoughtful with them, he would tease and play with them, he courted them even though they were already in his band, and they loved him right back....
Before he was a band stallion Zeus was the sparring mate and best friend to a son of Romeo, young Koda and he ran and played together for hours as youngsters in the family band! The things these two learned together would serve them both well as adults when they became band stallions themselves.
Zeus was kind and loving.... his mother was Lady Gaia, she lost a foal that would have been born when he was a yearling, normally a yearling becomes independent and learns either to tolerate or babysit younger siblings, but as Lady Gaia grieved in her quiet way while the other mares of the band celebrated their new foals, I observed him taking time from his fellow playful yearlings to comfort her in ways that defy any simple explanation in human terms.
Zeus and his mother Lady Gaia - July 2013
Zeus was six years old when he was lost..... he was born in 2012 and taken from us in December 2018, a young stallion that had had his family band just long enough that he had two young sons, along with the three mares Hestia, Calypso, and Thalia and another young stallion that was not his but was the son of Hestia.
Remember I said when he loved he loved big? Hestia had been with two other stallions in the years I had known her before joining Zeus.... they were amazing and strong stallions that have left their mark forever in the wild desert places.
But they would not have given Hestia the kindness and deference she was given when Zeus won her for himself and for the time they had together, when Zeus took Hestia she brought with her a young son and her two daughters, Calypso and Thalia.
But now this family was without a stallion and winter was settling in.... and it would be a harsh winter, the kind of harshness that had not been seen in many years in this desert, and one that many wild horses of the desert did not survive, the winter of 2018/19 was the first of the harsh winters that would occur over the next few years.
Zeus & his Family Band - August 2018
After that day when I found Zeus body lifeless in the snow, I was not able to return to the desert alone, I was empty and void of emotions staring into a black abyss of nothingness for weeks. Nearly a month later my husband took me out so that I may find a way to go back to the desert and her wild horses, we visited where Zeus lay, my husband grieving as deeply as me, it was him who had known this great stallion was to be called Zeus when he met him as a precociously bold young colt.
That day I saw that the family band of Zeus were still there... their hoof prints trampling the dirt and snow surrounding the body, and I realized they were still grieving too.
I sat in the snow with them that day not far from him, as they foraged for food under the snow around me, the younger ones edging closer to study me, and as minutes turned to hours, a bond was formed between me and them that day.... a bond that had been rejected before by Hestia when she was with the other stallions, but something had changed between us, perhaps the shock of grief binding us together.
Family of Zeus - December 2018
As the snows fell and the cold got colder, I returned as often as was possible between winter weather and work schedules, I needed to check on this small family of Zeus, they gave me a reason to hope and to not quit, each week the snows deepened and winter was beginning to take a toll on the wild horses as forage was harder and harder to find, and my visits began to be about seeing this family band survive, that somehow by my faithfulness of visits it would in some odd way give them courage and strength for survival through the winter.
Week after week I went out, sometimes I was not able to get down the road to where they might usually be found, one bitter day wading in over-the-knee deep snows with a -20 wind-chill to get to them..... and then the day the colt called Perseus, one of the two young sons of Zeus, was no longer with the family, he had become one of the casualties to the cruelty of a bitter Wyoming winter.
Hestia became the heroine of this story... she was old and wise enough to understand that they needed to move, and had some idea of where to go, she kept her family moving day by day, following the path of least resistance whenever possible, wandering much further north than she had been for as long as I had known her, using the road to travel looking for easier foraging.
As everyone in the family grew thinner, their ribs showing even through their heavy winter coats, some so tired they simply leaned on other family members, too tired to stand alone, Hestia was the thinnest of all, she kept her son Poseidon alive by allowing him to continue to nurse throughout the winter, even though it cost her dearly with so little grazing available, she allowed him to nurse without reserve, and as I observed all of this it struck me one day that Poseidon would nurse from his mama and then lay down and sleep, never foraging for grass as the others did - I wonder still just how very close we were to losing him along with his brother Perseus, and at the sheer mental and physical strength, the pure stubborn persistence and determination that Hestia had to keep not just herself, but nearly every single member of her family alive, pushing through 2 and 3+ feet of snow, digging through the hard crusted edges, withstanding bitter howling winds that made it punishingly cold for all without shelter.
A young Poseidon in Snow - March 2019
Family of Zeus in Winter - January 2019
They survived... when finally winter was done, as the sun grew warmer, the snows melted and green grass peeked out from under, and I slowly began to believe they would be okay, they had survived the worst of it!!
Now it was spring and change was in the air....
Hestia is a grand old dame - I do not know her actual age, I have known her since she was a darkly dappled grey, she is now a speckled grey mare, and I have learned that she is wise beyond my understanding.
Hestia accepted that Zeus was gone, and she chose to move away from the place his bones lay, her daughters Calypso and Thalia did not feel the same, and so these mares chose to go separate ways.... it is the thing that is not discussed and most will deny, but wild mares can and will, make their own decisions of where they will go and with who they will go.
Calypso had been deeply in love with Zeus, and she was not ready to leave him, even though it was only bones in this place now, she frequently visited him, she also held the grief of losing her and Zeus son Perseus. But she had a surprise for all of us.... Calypso was terribly thin, and most mares after that winter in the desert did not have foals in spring, but by some miracle Calypso gifted us with a daughter of Zeus, a beautiful bay roan girl that is called Callie.
Calypso and Thalia were pursued by two stallions over the next several months, a story that is for another day, as these two mares and the stallion they are now with deserve to have it fully told in more time and space than is in this chapter.
Calypso, followed by her daughter Callie, & sister Thalia - June 2019
Hestia chose to be in a place that was not too terribly far from where her daughters were.... but it was far enough way that they no longer wandered together, and she was pursued by an entirely different stallion, Hestia was now being courted by Zeus old friend and family band member, Koda.
To suddenly find the strong-willed grey mare Hestia being pursued by my friend Koda, the eldest known son of Romeo, was something that seemed unreal and yet also perfectly meant to be... Hestia was not had easily by any stallion though, she had kept her family band alive and together following the tragedy of Zeus death and through months of harsh weather, she no longer needed a stallion to feel safe or protected, and in fact seemed determined to be a single mare raising the young and only known surviving son of Zeus.
Koda was persistent.... he was kind and he was patient, and slowly Hestia allowed him to become a part of her little family. As she let her guard down and Koda became a papa to young Poseidon, as she no longer felt the need to watch on all sides because she now had a partner, and I saw in Koda the kindness and wisdom I had seen in his sire Romeo, there was no hesitation or angst, he simply stepped into the role as a dad to the young son of his old friend Zeus, and he taught young Poseidon all the things his sire Romeo had taught him and Zeus when they were young and foolish colts themselves, playing in the hills of sage and sand on Crooks Mountain.
Hestia & her sons with Koda - April 2019
Koda, Hestia, and Poseidon became a happily banded family, roaming the hills together until 2022, an old friend of Hestia's from a previous family band joining them for a little while, and one young mare called BlueBell permanently becoming a member of their little family herd.
But then it was time for Poseidon to go out on his own, Koda had taught him all the things he knew of the hills they roamed across and all the ways to be wild, Poseidon stayed with his mother longer than many young stallions are allowed, this was one of the kindnesses given by Koda, at the insistence of Hestia, that her son be allowed to stay with her longer than a year or two.
I encountered him a few times as a bachelor, crossing fence lines often and wandering as he pleased across the wild sage scattered desert hills, he seemed to recognize me each time we met, allowing me to visit with him before taking off on his next adventure.
Poseidon, son of Hestia and Zeus - June 2022
As many of you know there was another bitterly punishing winter on its way... it began in November 2022, with snows drifting in roads I normally could wander until late December, and as the weeks marched into January, I was unable to get into very much of the desert at all.
One trip in late December my husband and I saw Koda, Hestia, and Bluebell in the deep snows.... but I had not seen Poseidon in some time and was not sure of where he may be as the snows deepened and it became more and more difficult for all living things to survive.
It was a winter so much worse than the one that the young foal Poseidon had survived in 2019 by nursing from his mother Hestia.... and now he was assumed to be alone, a young stallion that had to make decisions that would either save his life, or see his spirit joining others as ghosts in the wild winds.
I spent many days staring at webcams of closed roads that winter.... the small town of Jeffrey City sat in the middle of what was some of the worst of the snows and winds, drifts building over two story houses, ranchers unable to get out for months, and the highway closed more than it was open - those who dared to leave behind the occasional plow truck that made it through not always able to make it back home the same day, because the drifting of those deep snows was immediate and dangerous, with white-out conditions making it impossible to travel safely.
Red Desert in Winter - January 2023
I remember thinking; it is March we have made it to Spring!! Snow began to melt and plowing was started on the roads into the desert.... finally, there was hope for those that had survived!
A friend who lives in the desert said, are you sure, do you really think that, because..... and she was right, because this was the winter that would break records, the kind of records not seen since the 1970's.
News reports started to tell us of hundreds of pronghorn, elk, and mule deer dead from this winter, as much as 80% of some of those ungulate herds lost in the bitterness, absolute devastation as people driving parts of Wyoming saw dozens of dead animals lying along the highways.
And I thought surely... it is March, surely it will start to warm and the snows are mostly done! But no.... they were not, and in fact we had devastatingly cold and bitter storms through April.
The friend that lives in the desert, one of those trapped by the snows and inability of anyone to plow them out, told me that wild horses they had been watching struggle along through the winter in Stewart Creek were now missing, that they were seeing less than half the horses they had seen even a few weeks ago.
March 2023
Beginning the work of clearing a dirt haul road out to the oil field and where wild horses roam.
Finally! May and I was able to get down dirt roads and into the desert.... still there was deep snows, oddly placed drifts cutting off access to many places, but I was able to go.
The first few weeks I documented so much death of wild horses.... horses I had known, horses I did not know, entire wild horse family bands that died within feet of each other, their bodies so well preserved I could see that it was starvation that took their mortal life.
It got to a point that I could not drive down certain roads because of the bodies that lay there... so instead I drove roads and trails I had not been down in years, or had never taken, looking for those that might still be walking this earth with me.
I have never encountered a desert as empty as the one following that winter, not even the roundup and removal of 2020 left this landscape so completely barren as it was now - of all things wild.
Rivers of Snow in the Desert - May 2023
May 6th and I found Poseidon alive... he was so terribly thin, but he was alive, and he had joined up with three young mares, creating a family band of survivors.
I was so incredibly thankful, happy, and horrified all at the same time - thankful to see this young stallion and these three mares alive and together, horrified to see them so thin it hurt, and understand how close they came to no longer walking this earth.
The young mares are the daughters of the stallion Grey Thief and mare Chosovi, I had known them for many years, and I had been able to observe them from a distance several times during the winter when roads were plowed, all of them made it through until the bitterness of March and April, when usually snows melt and grass can be found, but this winter stubbornly held on longer than many of the horses and other wild things were able to, Grey Thief and Chosovi were now spirits of the wind.
So much had been lost but these four were survivors, they clung to each other for comfort and strength, anxiously moving around grazing hungrily. Thankfully they had all made it through because each of these wild ones comes from amazing stallions and mares that are each a legend of the desert in their own right.
As the months went on, the sun warming them, the grasses taller and thicker than any wild horse had seen in generations, water holes and creeks filled to over-flowing with fresh waters, they gained back the lost weight, they became plump and sleek - and by summers end they were all stunningly beautiful and as healthy as anyone could ask.
And as I watched them regain their health and wild beauty I wondered.... would we see a baby Poseidon in Spring!
May 2023
They are the survivors..... imagine that they are this thin and have been able to reach grass for at least two weeks now.
Poseidon, Niya, Aella, & Juniper
Poseidon & his ladies... bellies round from the extraordinarily lush grass after the bitter winter - September 2024
The next winter of 2023/24 was shockingly mild, and even though a mild winter equals a dry summer in the desert, most of us who had witnessed the previous winter were mostly relieved to see a mild one this time!
I was able to drive the desert roads, see most of the wild horses I know and love, the horses stayed pleasingly plump as they did not have to fight to find forage, and it was still plentiful from having grown so lushly in the summer.
Poseidon and his ladies often greeted me on my visits out, sometimes they were high in the hills and not really looking to have a human visit, but they would lift their heads and nod at me when I stopped along the road, an acknowledgement that I do not take lightly, to have a wild horse remember you, and remember you with kindness, is a gift that should never be taken lightly.
But would there be a baby?
Aella, Niya, Juniper, & Poseidon - December 2024
As the 2-tracks dried out from the snows and rains that there were through the winter, and wild horses began their spring treks returning to their summer pastures, I watched Poseidon and his ladies wondering if there was going to be a baby....
Finally, one beautiful day I was allowed to be near enough to sit in the dirt and observe them as they observed me, and I saw that baby belly on the lead mare!
Ohhhh the joy!!!
I just sat and said over and over and again to Poseidon.... you are going to be a daddy!!!
He just looked at me as if to say, well yes, of course I am to be a daddy, silly woman!
I swear to you though, that there was a little twinkle of pride in his eyes as he listened to me say - you are going to be a daddy!!!
Niya with a pregnant belly - April 2024
It is tricky guessing when a wild mare may foal.... and it is purely guessing! Some mares barely show while others have big bellies, sometimes you may get a glimpse of her teats and see if they are filling with milk, but even that can be misleading!
Wild mares have their foal when it is time... no sooner and no later, and with no cares about if there are humans about or not, the only clock they have is when the baby is ready to join everyone else in the world.
It took three weeks...... three weeks from the time I realized she was pregnant to when she had a wee little baby colt.
There was a wee son of Poseidon.... a grandson of Zeus.
As I sat there the tears came fast and furious, unexpected sorrow in the joy, so many wild spirits in the wind that day, this wee one so new to the world that he was still learning how to use those incredibly long legs!
He is the son of Poseidon who has survived against so many odds, he is the grandson of Zeus taken from us far too young, and he is the great-grandson of Lady Gaia who was lost in the winter of 2023.
He is the son of Niya who is so stunning as a new first time mother, and the grandson of Grey Thief and Chosovi who lived together for many years until the bitterness of winter in 2023.
He is a young legend to be that is guarded and loved by those who walk with him and those who whisper across his mane as spirits in the desert wind.
And I am so thankful to have been allowed to witness some of the lives of those that are his family line, the ones who survived despite man and nature, the ones who made certain they were not the last of the wild ones in this wild place.
He is a gift to all of us, but especially to this wild desert and her wild things, for the land and these horses belong together, in a way that is not logically explained, but once you have wandered this place and let the winds speak to your soul, you see that they are not whole without each other together.
This young one belongs to the desert and the desert to this young wild one, he is born of the wild winds, his ancestor's spirits run across the sage scattered hills, and another legend is born of the wild Red Desert in a place called Arapaho Creek.
Niya and her new baby foal - May 2024
Poseidon stands guard for his beautiful mare and new foal - May 2024
May 2024
Poseidon and his young family, now proud parents of a gorgeous young colt, a promise from the past for the future.