Sundance and his band came to drink in an arroyo.
Sundance had a chat with another stallion whose band was first to the arroyo.
Sundance’s band got to the *water* in the arroyo first (by the luck of direction of approach).
Sundance rejoined them after his chat with the other stallion.
The other band and his stallion waited their turn. Peace was preserved.
Shadow is another little old lady of the basin (though not nearly as old as Houdini) who’d rather not bother with two-legged interlopers, thank you very much. Just because the rest of the band doesn’t seem to be bothered, Shadow knows what she knows, and no one will convince her otherwise … even during lovely naps on lovely, sunny, not-quite-spring days. 🙂
Technically speaking, these aren’t mud boots; they’re my hiking boots. They’re just muddy because, well, I was hiking in them, and the ground on which I hiked is more mud than dirt at the moment.
But to find even the teeniest bits of this (and it IS teeny; my phone is about an inch away from the superb greenery), not to mention seeing wild, still-fluffy-because-it’s-still-technically-winter ponies, it’s SO worth it.
Tell that to anyone who has to hike through it! Or feel it thaw and get messy underhoof as sun and temperature rise each day.
For the ground and for the horses, we are grateful.
Temple seems to be issuing an invitation to enter her wild world. It’s not still quite that white … but it’s still wonderfully wet.
Again the disclaimer that the basin doesn’t look quite like this right now, but it IS very moist, which currently is inhibiting access by any critters that don’t actually live in it.
This pic of Madison, happily slurping a mouthful of snow, was taken about 10 days ago. We just got another healthy dose of rain and some blowing snow … on top of the MUD that is the WORD of the moment right now in Spring Creek Basin. 🙂 My frustration at lack of visitation can’t quite compete with my joy about the moisture.
Skywalker does everything to the beat of his own usually very deliberate drum.
While the band he follows along with was napping in the sunshine on top of a finger of a ridge connected to bachelor ridge, Skywalker was half napping, half browsing just below them. When I was ready to leave the up-top band, I looked over the edge and could see that he was making his way toward the trail to the top (you can see where he was by his hoofprints at the top of the image) … but slowly. I called down to him that I was planning to head down the trail and asked if that was OK, but Skywalker was already formulating his own plan. I stood back so he could command the trail. If the angle looks weird, it’s because I was looking nearly straight down at him; the trail there is pretty steep.
Here, I’m down, and he’s up. It was so steep that even he took a couple of rest breaks during his climb. 🙂 The ponies would never admit it, but they really are close cousins to mountain goats.
Two bands separate on top of what I call bachelor ridge after browsing through snow at the base of the ridge. Although I was fairly far away, I loved the way the horses seemed to glow against the far ridges. Snow on south-facing slopes is always the first to melt. Later in the morning, the ground became pretty soft. 🙂
Every day should start with a funny-boy mustang.
Thanks, Hollywood! 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 