Stelkia Ranch

The OIB range is approximately 33 000 acres of semi arid desert and sub alpine pine forests, and can sustain between 300-500 wild horses.

Here's another band we spotted on the back side of the ranch, boasting 2 young stallions (one about 6-8 yrs old, and the other about 2-3yrs old) sharing possession of the mares.

Anyone remember Voodoo from our 2024 training roster?

He didn't settle in to the training routine very well. He was a little too old, with wild instincts firmly entrenched. So we turned him loose.

He now has a nice band of mares with some flashy babies😍

Check out this link to see Voodoo as a 5yr old while he was in training:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=945316254264596&id=100063586898128&mibextid=Nif5oz

Another successful bighorn sheep hunt!!

Packing out on horseback.

Wild horses make the best mountain horses... confident and surefooted.

Enzo

This guy is showing a great personality. He's open and eager to learn, while still retaining an air of "wildness" about him.

We are looking forward to giving him a name in a few days.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!

(see pinned poll at the top of our page)

👀Bachelor Herd👀

We'll bring this group in this fall.

Let us know if you see any you like!

For those of you that don't know what a bachelor herd is... It is a group of young stallions aged 1-6 (usually, though sometimes older stallions will be part of these groups) living together as a herd during a transition phase between leaving their family herd and establishing their own herd at maturity.

Mares and herd sires will chase young stallions away from their herds in the spring of their yearling year before the new foals are born. When they leave their family herds, youngsters will join up with other young stallions or join established bachelor herds. Once they reach about 6 years of age, they will go looking for mares, often challenging herd sires for possession of a herd, or stealing one or 2 mares.

Older stallions that have lost their mares will often join these "bachelor" herds.

Bay PIB

Learning a lesson about boundaries and expectations today.

He didn't want his belly touched, and tried several tactics to avoid it. A rope around his barrel for a few minutes was just the thing to change his mind, and gain his cooperation in today's session.

We get a lot of comments, messages and emails from people about how well behaved our horses are compared to horses they know.

We want you to know... they aren't always. They are young horses, with thoughts and opinions of their own, that don't always align with ours.

Our expectations are simple, be respectful of our person and our space, and be open to learning.

When any of them show responses or behavior that has potential to develop into an undesirable habit or a dangerous situation, we nip it in the bud.
We draw on many years of horse training experience, knowledge of wild horse behavior, tools of the trade (like hobbles), etc. to guide our decisions on how best to accomplish this goal.

Casper

He got a cut on his leg, likely from one of the other horses (all those boys turned out together, they sometimes get to arguing or carried away with rough housing)

So, today's lesson was standing quietly for a little first-aid.

3yr old Red w/ silver flaxen

Getting better acquainted with touches on his off side.