Happy Thanksgiving!

Not a wild horse, but a wild turkey (spotted on the way to see the Pryor Mountain horses of Montana). Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

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Photo Of The Week – 11/24/10

The gray sabino band stallion “Booker Rose” from the McCullough Peaks HMA (near Cody, Wyoming) spars with another stud on a hot and dusty afternoon this past summer. Booker Rose is always stirring things up where ever we find him. He certainly keeps things lively out there on the range.

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Photo Of The Week – 11/17/10

My favorite band stallion from the Piceance Creek/East Douglas HMA in Colorado. Is this not one handsome boy?!

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Duck Creek Bachelor Stallions

We were driving along Duck Creek in the Piceance Creek HMA when I caught a glimpse of what looked like a horse down in the creek bed. We stopped and I got out to take a look.

Yup, you can barely see his hind end, but that’s a horse. Tom parked the Jeep a ways up the road and I hiked down into the creek bed. As I was headed down the slope, I saw two horses (and several cows).

The vegetation is so tall, you can only see the backs of the cows.

I decided it might be best to situate myself ahead of the horses since I could see that they were moving in my direction. They hadn’t seen me, so I hoped to get a few shots before they realized I was there and took off. Just as I got the monopod set up, here came two very healthy bachelor stallions around the corner. I focused my camera and stood very still.

They both looked at me, but they didn’t seem alarmed. Maybe because I was already there and not moving? I wondered what they thought I was. HA! This was great. I wondered how much time the wild ones actually spent in a creek area (since they are often blamed for damage to these water sources). I was going to see for myself. I’ve watched them many times at waterholes, but never down in a creek bed like this.

I could barely hear them lifting their feet in and out of the marshy area but could see the splashes of water on their bodies. It was a hot day. This must’ve been heaven for them. The grass was tall and green and they were gathering as many mouthfuls of the good stuff as they could.

They would ocassionally look up in my direction, but really seemed unconcerned. Even the periodic click of my shutter didn’t distract them too much. The pictures are a bit deceiving as to their distance from me. They’re further away than they look.

I was surprised at just how quickly they browsed the area and moved on. They just kept moving. They would grab a bite and keep traveling forward. I was even able to capture this image of a dragonfly as they made their way. They weren’t disturbing much of anything.

Quite a mouthful boy

Hi handsome

They were pretty close to me now. Just as I was wondering how close they’d come, I saw them look up and over my head. Huh? Whatever was up there sent them up the creek bank in a hurry.

I headed up the bank myself to see what was so scary. Aha. Tom had climbed up a hill to get better cell reception (he’s good about checking in with his folks so they don’t worry about us). He didn’t know exactly where we were and felt bad about scaring the horses. Oh well. It’s hard to get mad at a guy who takes you out to see wild horses as often as he does!

The bay stud kept an eye on the “thing” up on the hill. You can barely see him in all that vegetation!

With the horses gone, I decided to go back down into the creek bed and follow the route the horses had taken as they worked their way towards me. I like to study the areas where I find horses.

The main water source

I hated to see the t-post sticking up out of the water. Was wire attached to it? How would a horse (or a cow for that matter) avoid it when they can’t even see it?

I continued to walk around and as I did, I got tripped up in this. I found lots of barbed wire just inches above the ground. That made me cringe. How many animals had the same experience?

I wished there was something I could do about the wire, but it was everywhere. I walked up another horse trail and found a dead horse. Of course, there’s no way of knowing what caused his/her demise, but the low-laying barbed wire was in the back of my mind. In any case, I hoped that the horse hadn’t suffered. I have found many dead horses on the ranges and it’s always disturbing, but at least there’s some comfort in knowing they got to die where they lived.

Amazing feet on the wild ones.

It’s pretty hard to question your own personal research and experiences. Mine over the years has convinced me that the wild horses aren’t the ones largely responsible for damage done to water sources and riparian areas. They just don’t stick around long enough. They get a drink, sometimes play then move on. At the same water sources where I’ve seen the wild horses drink briefly, I’ve watched the cows linger at for days…

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Photo Of The Week – 11/10/10

A Pryor Mountain (Bighorn Canyon area) mare and foal taking it easy while keeping the flies off of each other. June, 2010.

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