QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS: Kathy durrett and a story on bachelors!

Volunteer Highlight:

This month we spoke with Kathy Durrett, who is a wonderful photographer that has started contributing her talents to documenting horses for AWHC. 

Tell us how you got involved in wild horses?

I got involved with the horses by coming over the hill from California in 2014 to take pictures of the wild horses with friends. Then when my daughter moved here a few years ago, I would come to see her in Mound House and fell in love with the horses in that area. We retired in May of 2022 and moved to the area. I started to go out on the range and just take pictures of the horses. I was online looking at other people's images and saw you were looking for volunteers, and here I am.

What is your favorite part of volunteering?

My favorite part of volunteering is that I have come to know the bands/horses and am very attached to them now. They are like an extension of my family. The other part that I love is that I have met some really wonderful people in the organization. 

Why are wild horses special to you? What do they represent to you?

I can't explain why they are so special to me but I'll try. When I am out on the range and I hike out to the horses and spend time with them, I feel like I am a part of them. They get to where they trust me and know I am not going to hurt them and just start going about their normal way. To watch them interact with each other is truly magical. I get such a high off of being with them. They represent freedom and nature at its best to me!

What is/was your day job?

I used to work in the ICU at Marshall Hospital and before that in the ER. I have been in the medical field for 35+ years. I also lead photography workshops in Alaska, Ecuador and Africa. 

Do you have a favorite memory from the range that you can share with us?

My favorite memory from the range would have to be when I was sitting on a rock taking pictures of one of the PN bands for about 45 mins and I heard something behind me. I turned around to see Grayson, New Buck and Leather behind me checking me out. The wind was blowing their manes and the sun was on their faces. It was SO beautiful! I have enclosed a picture of this day. 

My favorite animal is the grizzly bear. I teach in Alaska on a 53 ft boat every summer. We take students out to see the bears, whales, and glaciers. I get the same feeling from seeing the bears catching fish on the river as I do the wild horses on the range. 

If you had to eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I would have to say mashed potatoes and gravy! 

What’s the next place on your travel bucket list?

At the top of my bucket list is to go to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. It is one of the best places to take pictures of grizzly bears and cubs in the world. 

Highlighting Virginia Range Horses

Bachelors

By Deb Sutherland

Summer months is the time of year that the bachelors are out wandering the range looking to acquire mares and create family bands of their own. Most bachelors are young stallions usually around the age of two who have been kicked out of their family band but have not yet won their own mares or started a family. There are other reasons why stallions become bachelors during their lifetime such as a band stallion who loses his band to another stallion or when he becomes too old to take care of his family and another stallion takes them.

Bachelors are seen traveling alone or in bachelor bands of different sizes. Some pair up in small groups of two or three buddies that they hang out with, but sometimes there are larger bachelor bands with ten or more stallions. The largest bachelor band that I have seen recently has ten members with an older stallion, Roland, being the lead stallion. It was clear Roland was in charge of this big group of boys when I watched Roland “snake” the younger bachelors into staying together when they started to wander off in their own direction as they were leaving the area. This large colorful bachelor band consisted mostly of young bachelors; Ajax, Cabral, Frolic, Olsen, Voyager, Waco, Pazi, Cruise, Santino and Roland, with an older bachelor Mugsy trailing behind them trying to join the group.

Bachelors are exciting to watch when they play, wrestle and chase each other but it’s very stressful to watch them when they are seriously fighting to take over another stallion’s band. However, I enjoyed watching Roland’s big boy band because they were just playing around with each other. It was amusing to watch Mugsy, who lost his band a few years ago, wrestle with young Waco for a while before the big bachelor band took off leaving Mugsy alone again.

There are many older bachelors like Mugsy who wander the range alone. One older bachelor seen alone most of the time is Two Socks. After losing his band of many years to his lieutenant Trident, he’s been alone. But just recently he took the young bachelor Eagle Eye under his wing and they are hanging out together for now at least. Another older bachelor who is always seen wandering the Virginia Range alone is our dear Old Blizzard. By the time I met him several years ago he only had one mare, Juliette, but he finally lost her and has been alone ever since.  A few months ago I even saw Old Blizzard starting fights with some younger stallions and I wasn’t clear if he wanted to steal their mares or was just joining the bachelor wrestling matches that day. I wish his battle scars could talk, they would tell quite a story.

Bachelor fights and stealing mares is never-ending. Band family shuffling as explained in last month’s story about how the three mares Ainsley, Tahula and Genevieve were stolen four times within a few month period but managed to stay together. They started off with Frost as their band stallion, then were stolen by three different bachelors and a band stallion, Samwise. The surprise ending to all those changes is now these three mares are back with Frost, the stallion they started off with and Samwise is now a bachelor! I’m sure this isn’t really the end of this story, it’s just the beginning of more band changes to come. No matter why a stallion becomes a bachelor one thing is certain they sure know how to shake up the range!