Some more pix of Gemma and her family, including daddy.
Gemma and mama and daddy, Houdini and Grey/Traveler
Gemma and daddy
Daddy and his girls – see how fast Gemma is greying?
Gemma and mama
Crop. Does it remind you of this:
Ah, changes.
And just something different. Maybe it doesn’t quite “work,” but I liked the shapes and the light. A different take on the familiar. All there but Terra.
Big sis Terra. Couldn’t leave her out. 🙂
Gemma was particularly photogenic during my last visit. I caught them right at the end of the day, and though my beloved Grey stayed in the shadows of the wide arroyo, Gemma had her time in the sunshine.
Gemma, Brumley Point in the background. From this side, her color is “mud.” She’s the fastest-greying foal I’ve seen in Spring Creek Basin – she’s much greyer already than her yearling sister, Terra.
Climbing into the light …
… followed by her loyal shadow.
Mama Houdini, very wise old girl.
And a last one of Gemma, halo’d by the very last light of the day …
I had intended to climb the north hills this visit with my wide-angle lens to take a series of photos across the basin … but it just never happened. I do promise to do that … I just don’t make any promises about WHEN!
The basin is a fairly wide open place – until you get to the natural barriers that form some of our boundaries – west, north, east, southeast. Then we have some fairly dramatic backdrops. And you can’t beat the often-snow-capped La Sal Mountains on our northwestern horizon in Utah. And though it’s both fairly wide and fairly open, especially in the middle “bowl” of the basin, it’s cut and folded and ridged and hilled and pocketed with lots of wondrous hidey holes.
And, of course, there’s the oft-mentioned “McKenna Peak and unnamed promontory” background, always wonderful as a dramatic backdrop to highlight our wily mustangs.
Sisters (Grey/Traveler’s and Houdini’s daughters) Terra and Gemma, at home in their not-so-big but beautiful wild.
Because the horses were on the hard, clear surface of the road, I got a really good look at their hooves. I love seeing their perfect outlines where the horses have come and gone, but this was an opportunity to get a good look at the hooves themselves, not obscured by saltbush and other vegetation.
Joe Camp, author of The Soul of a Horse, is a big advocate of barefoot horses, and this post on his blog will tell you a little bit about why: http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/after-ten-months-of-record-setting-weather/#more-1058. I think you can find more if you poke around, or if you read his book, which I highly recommend (thanks, Pam!).
Is that a little “mustang roll” on those gorgeous hooves of Hannah’s? And aren’t those the hardest, toughest, most solid-looking hooves you’ve ever seen? Nothing soft about THOSE white hooves! 😉
Hook’s band: Him at left, Sable, Pinon, Hannah, Fierro and Ember
While Hook and Comanche were having a chat, Ember and her siblings were waiting at the road, so I went down to keep them company until Hook could join them.
Hannah, her nephew, Fierro, and her sister and his mother, Ember
Ember and Fierro. I sat down on the road, thinking the ponies would take a trail up to the catchment, but they decided to investigate instead.
Ember’s little sweetheart
I don’t think I’ve posted many pix of these horses this summer. They’ve been wandering and mostly keeping their distance from other bands. The youngsters – siblings and half-siblings – stick close together, and Hook, a young stallion with his first band as far as I know, is very protective. With the abundant water (all the ponds continue to hold water), the horses are dispersed but visible.
One of the interesting things about this band is that, except for Hook, they’re all related. Ember and Hannah are Luna’s daughters; Pinon and Sable are Mahogany’s son and daughter. I assume they’re all Steeldust’s progeny – except Fierro. With the attention Mouse was paying Ember – and her big sister Kestrel – last year, my assumption is that Mouse is the sire of Winona and Fierro. How interesting, though, that low-man Hook – who had been lowest on the bachelor totem pole surrounding Steeldust’s band – and Comanche, who was outranked by Mouse – ended up with the girls … in Hook’s case, Ember and her year-mate, Pinon, before their siblings followed, first Hannah, then Sable.
Are the boys closest to the action a little myopic in their world view? High in rank but short-sighted in vision? It happens to the best of us, I suppose.
Diamond in the basin. 🙂 Isn’t she lovely?
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 