SPIDERSWEB: * Shoshoni *

WY0035 Lost Creek HMA

Above: BLM mustang Shoshoni

The Lost Creek HMA encompasses 250,000 acres, of which 235,000 acres are BLM-administered public lands. The HMA lies within the Great Divide Basin, a closed basin out of which no water flows. Some desert playa and vegetated dune areas are interspersed throughout the HMA. Several sensitive desert wetland riparian areas occur throughout the area, including both intermittent and perennial lakes and streams. Elevation ranges from 6500 to 6800 feet. Winters are long and severe. Annual precipitation averages a little less than six inches. The Lost Creek HMA is joined on the east by the Stewart Creek HMA, on the north by the Antelope Hills HMA, and on the west by the Divide Basin HMA.
The AML for this HMA is 70 horses. A full range of colors is present. The present population has been influenced by the routine escape of domestic saddle stock from the surrounding populated areas. The horses range from 14 to 15 hands and 800-1000 pounds mature weight.
Genetic testing on the Lost Creek wild horse herd has shown the horses to carry a very high percentage of genetic markers identified with the Spanish Mustang breed. This means the horses are genetically more like the Spanish Mustang and other New World Iberian breeds than they are like other breeds such as American Quarter Horse or Morgan. These characteristics make the Lost Creek herd unique among the wild horse herds of Wyoming tested so far.
Info above provided by mustangs4us.com author Nancy Kerson

In November 2006 I googled the internet for a blue roan and came across a rescue in my state that had a BLM Mustang blue roan filly. Long story short my mom and I ran down to this rescue just to "look" at this filly, and we fell in love with Shoshoni (and Tabasco!). We filled out the paper work and I ended up as the proud adopter/parent of these two remarkable mustangs.

Who knew when mom and I went down there that this would turn out to be such an interesting and rewarding journey (one that is not even close to being over yet!). It has been an amazing learning experience and I would definitely do it all over again!

Shoshoni is one of the sweetest horses I have ever met (you can even see it in her eyes). She has a gentle nature and can be very attentive. She does not bite (except one time Tabasco came up and bit her on the butt and she passed it on to my arm. It hurt but did not even bruise!) but will slightly nibble and she is very sensitive. She picks up on things quickly but needs help with her fleeing reaction. She is the type to run away first and ask questions when the "danger" is far away from her!

She is a curious thing. A more cautious curious but curious nonetheless. She likes to "people watch" and sometimes I wonder what she is thinking. She is the dominate one at feeding time (between her and Tabasco) and the rest of the time she is passive. She has a great personality and is beautiful to boot! Her coat is always changing colors (I call her my horse of many colors). From whitish gray, to almost completely black, to the blue and so on. I have never had a roan before Shoni and am assuming that all roans change colors in some way. When we first saw Shoni changing to the lighter gray we thought she was going to go white on us! lol It is fun to guess though and also to confuse people when they see pictures. They usually think she is a different horse. : D

Above: They figured out how to get hay from the hay barn (ahem!) and she is leaving the hay to say hello :D

I cannot say enough great things about this horse (tho I may be a little biased :D). There is just something about her and her nature that make you take notice. I think that she has some of that mother hen personality and when it comes time to ride her I think it is going to be more noticeable. She seems like she'd be the type to walk carefully so that no one falls off. I can't wait to find out! : )