The day I took these pictures, it was a little warmer in the basin than it had been the day before – 17 to 20 degrees vs. 15-17 degrees. And you thought I meant a lot warmer!
Steeldust, Butch, Luna and Storm
Steeldust’s band was closest this day, and I broke trail on a little-used road to get to within fairly close walking distance.
Winter is just a magical time. It’s soooooo quiet. Can you see the flakes reflecting the sunlight in the photo above? The ponies go about the business of living like any other time of the year. There were a lot of tracks around the Flat Top pond, but the center was untracked – frozen solid. How much snow do they have to eat to satisfy their moisture requirements? Whatever it is, they seem satisfied.
Steeldust
In the dry months, I look for light spots – the greys – against the khaki desert. In the snow months, I look for the dark spots – then look closer to determine equine from bovine.
Alpha is in her element here.
Alpha
She’s always watchful … curious, though she rarely acts on that curiosity, content just to see what I do, it seems.
I was watching and photographing bachelor Mouse, grazing nearby. I hadn’t yet seen Hollywood’s and Comanche’s bands, but I was watching Mouse graze intently enough that when I saw Piedra and other members of her band pawing through the snow during their grazing, I realized Mouse hadn’t been.
Mouse
Isn’t he a handsome boy?
And then I realized someone was watching, and closer than I had seen her approach.
Alpha
Isn’t she just divine? With her beautiful dark eyes and glowing wisdom, she’s the queen of her environment.
Storm came around for a look, too.
Look at that amazing scenery!
Look at that snow-covered schnoz! How this boy has grown.
Beauty all around.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
Beautiful! And they seem to really know and trust you!
Gorgeous pictures. Especially that close up of Alpha.
Linda – It was really interesting with Alpha. She had moseyed off to graze … then, when I wasn’t paying attention (to her), there she was again. Luna basically ignores me anymore – in fact, she used me last spring to “shed” Butch – she’d graze closer than he was willing to, which gave her a little peace, I guess?! No dumb horses in the basin! 😉
Annette – Welcome! I enjoyed reading a little on your blog tonight, especially about the horses you’ve known and how they’ve affected your life. Sounds like you have a superb fit now!
I love Alpha, too, she’s very pretty!
We thought Alpha was a bit more wary of two-leggers, or have you been admitted to the club?! Her boy sure is a handsome guy!! 🙂
That doesn’t surprise me, TJ–ignoring a horse is a great way to bring them in. When you look at them it’s like a challenge–but when you turn your back–the threat is removed and their curiosity is piqued. Horses are so very curious.
Alpha is a beautiful girl, for sure! She’s always been very curious and watchful, and I’ve focused on other horses in the band many times. Linda, you may have meant metaphorically, but my back wasn’t to her – I was focused slightly to my left on Mouse. When I finally looked up from him to see where ALpha and Storm and Butch and Luna were (Steeldust was napping not far away), she was standing right in front of me again. The really weird thing was that she watched me walk out and sit in the snow … the horses were spread out – Mahogany and Sundance and Aspen were quite a bit farther from the rest – then she did what she usually did with a sort of “all-safe decision” and went back to grazing, which carried her off to my right. The odd thing was that she came back – she’s never done that before, though the situation was similar to previous visits. 🙂
What thoughts do they think? Past experiences do they recall? Memories do they revisit? What makes these creatures of habit one day step outside that habit? I *have* found that the younger horses like to walk past me and then observe from behind me – where my back really is to them. Your observations there are right in line with my experiences!
Something else, and this may be completely random, but it’s always very bright here (and the snow makes it almost painful in some cases), and I wear sunglasses constantly, year-round. But with the horses, I always remove my glasses so they can see my eyes (though I do also wear a visor). Just seems like a respectful thing to do, especially as a predator!
We are all blessed to have you out there with the horses. Maybe you were a horse in a past life! What do you think? I think I was probably a cowgirl in the 1800’s with long skirts, hard life and riding horses all over. What a thought!
Maybe … I do think I must have experienced extreme hardship in the past to be so passionate about preventing that in my now, for those I care about. I never forget how blessed I am to have the gift of these horses, to spend so much with them, learning from them, enjoying them. My life is richer by far with such mentors.
If I want to catch one of my horses out in pasture, all I have to do is sit down, they can’t resist coming to find out what on earth it is I am doing!
Ha! Too true. I have a wonderful picture of some of our horses at home (Texas) coming to do just that. I was lying on the ground … the problem in Texas is that you don’t want to share the ground too long with the other critters there – they bite!
i’ve been in Texas, I know about some of those critters! The good thing, I generally don’t have to sit for long, I love horse curiosity,