PRYOR JOURNAL

❄️ Into the Cold: Part 2❄️

Rivalries, Rescues, & Reunions

*Ginger’s 8-month old pup, Addie, was thrilled to meet her new friend, Kristen!*

(From Kerry)

THE DAY BEGINS
After an eventful first day in the Pryors, we were hopeful Day Two would bring even more adventure—hopefully without the rookie mistakes! Today’s top highlight: meeting up with our long-time friend and TCF supporter, Kristen Collet.

On Day One, we’d managed to get stuck in deep snowdrifts—without proper shovels. Classic. But today, we had a plan to avoid repeating that particular misadventure! 😊

We left our hotel in Lovell and headed back toward the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. Overnight snow had blanketed the ground, so we took our time on the drive. Kristen was running a bit behind due to the snow, which gave Ginger and me time to loop through the Dryhead once more. Still, there was very little sign of wild horses. Our theory that they don’t move around much in the early morning was looking more and more like fact.
Skunked again! So…
👇

Time to head toward Kristen. We had arranged to meet her at the base of Sykes Ridge Road. The plan: park and hike in to avoid the 2-foot snowdrifts that had stopped us the day before. 😀

To get there, we exited the range and followed the dirt roads that wind past private ranches. After passing the Kennedy Ranch, we turned onto a road running between the Kennedy and Tillet properties. As we picked up speed, we spotted a horse near the Tillet fence.

Wait… not near the fence. On it.

The poor guy was straddling the barbed wire—his right side outside the pasture, his left side in, with the wire running from nose to tail between his legs.

He watched us as we went by.

Of course, we turned around. After a quick check on him, we headed back to the Kennedy ranch to ask for help. Ms. Kennedy grabbed a pair of wire cutters and jumped into her vehicle to follow us. Meanwhile, Kristen had just arrived on the scene and was also frantically trying to find assistance.

Together, we moved to the horse. Not knowing how he’d react, we moved slowly and carefully. He had a gentle look in his eye and, thankfully, allowed us to work around him. He stood patiently as we got him free from the fence—probably wondering why we were taking so long.

Once free, he trotted up the road… still on the wrong side of the fence, of course. Kristen made a valiant effort to beat him to the gate at the pasture corner—but two legs versus four? No contest. The horse cantered along the road, clearly looking for a way back to his friends. 🐎

By then, two of the Tillets had arrived. Between Ginger trying to block the road with the truck, Kristen, Ms. Kennedy, the Tillet men, and me, we managed to guide him back through the gate and into the pasture. He had a few minor cuts on his back leg and fetlock, but the Tillets took it from there—tending to his wounds and repairing the fence.

In all the flurry of getting him safe, not a single one of us thought to grab a camera. 📸

Now I understand why there aren’t many good photos of Bigfoot. 👣
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A HIKE THROUGH THE SNOW

After our rescue operation, we made our way to the turnoff to Sykes Rd – making sure to stop well before encountering deep snow! We got ourselves bundled up, readied our backpacks and camera’s, and started our hike.

OBJECTIVE: Find Encore! 👀

The road to Turkey Flats is much longer when you are on foot. 🧐

It was cold – single digits – and there was light snow falling off and on. But with very little wind, and having to navigate through varying depths of snow, we were not cold! Addie continued to enjoy her snowy adventure – running circles around the three of us.
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As we came around a corner near the red buttes, Addie’s ears perked up. And so did Kristen’s!
“Horses!” Kristen whispered so we didn’t frighten them.

Upon inspection, we discovered it was Encore and family (daughter, Xacara, and band stallion, Hamlet)! Addie’s leash went on.

Ginger set up her camera and tripod and then dropped into the snow to start filming. After a few moments, it was clear that we needed to change location to get a better view.
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🐶 Kristen volunteered to puppy-sit while we took photos. I don’t think she minded. 🤣
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Our photo shoot was all too short. Xacara was still watchful and wary. Having recently received a PZP primer followed by a booster, I could imagine her thinking, “Mom, let’s go! It stings when those two-leggeds are around!”

When they began to move off, we tried to follow quietly at a respectful distance, but it became clear that our session was over. We were grateful to have had even a short time with Cloud’s beautiful daughter and granddaughter, and that we’d found them so easily. Yes, it was a hike and we got our steps in, but we didn’t have to shlep our gear all the way to Turkey Flats! And back! 🏔 🥾
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I was glad I was with Ginger and Kristen because they knew which way to go to find the road back to the truck! We carefully made our way, watching where we stepped (we almost lost Ginger in the snow… TWICE!) while scanning for a glimpse of wild horses.

We were in for a treat! Though not unheard of, it’s not an everyday occurrence to find horses… on the sides of the buttes!

📷 Photo op - Jesse James, Penn, Virginia City Sue, and - happily - Yule, Penn’s young colt! With so many 2024 foals lost, it was great to see this end-of-the-year baby doing so well.
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We made it back to the truck and said “Goodbye” to our friend, Kristen.

It was late afternoon by this time so while she headed home, we made our way out to the Dryhead to see who was out and about.

We found Tawa’s band - Umatilla is obviously expecting!
The two-tone mane of the lone grullo stallion foraging is the tell-tale mark of Hidatsa!
Some big horn sheep were making their way across the hills of the Devils Canyon Overlook - do you see the ram?
Bachelors Hawk, Valor, and Warrior King forage in the company of three big horn sheep along the main road through the Dryhead.
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As we left the range, we found our friend Hickok - the lone greeter at the gate - his girls still nowhere to be seen. 😞
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DAY 3…

Another snowy morning. Once again, there were few early morning horses to see in the Dryhead.

We spotted a golden eagle along the road as we made our way over toward the administrative pasture near the Burnt Timber/Tillet Rd. Thankfully, this time all the Tillet horses were safe in their pasture when we passed!

We were able to drive along the snowy road to where we hoped to see wild horses. We did! But they were so far across the pasture, we couldn’t positively identify them. Banjo’s band, maybe? Hard to say. We know who it wasn’t (Encore - we’re looking at you!).
👇

We decided to head over to McCullough Peaks to see if we could see anything there…
We did see several bands from the road but discovered (before getting stuck!) - that the roads leading into the HMA were just as inhospitable as those in the Pryors.
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Back to the Pryors and the Dryhead we went!

As the sun began to set, we were happy to find Hawk and Warrior King (no Valor this time), and some mule deer!
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More Winter on the Way….

A bigger storm was due to hit the next day, so we declared an end to this adventure.

There was no sign of Hickok as we said “Goodnight & Goodbye” to the Pryors. We wished the best for him - a stallion who loses his mares does not always do well. Hang on, Hickok. We hope you will reunite with your family soon. ♥

❄️ A Wintery Adventure - DAYS TWO & THREE ❄️