Hot to trot

30 04 2021

Hayden makes a beeline for his mares as they head to high ground away from a visiting stallion.

He’s starting to look pretty sleek!





Au naturel

29 04 2021

It doesn’t look like it here (Cassidy Rain did NOT hang around to model her beautiful self with the wind screaming at us), but this was one of the windiest days in the basin this spring (and as windy as it always is in the spring, and as WINDY as it has been even the last few days, that’s saying something). I got a kick out of a pic I saw recently of a Quarter Horse, posed saddled and bridled, on what the photographer said had been a windy day in Texas. They used two cans of hair spray to keep the horse’s mane neat for the photo.

Well, our secret mustang stylists don’t use hair spray, but there’s lots of wind spraying about … and I think it makes for the most LOVELY horses imaginable! 🙂 And fortunately, they’re finding wet spots in which to drink and roll. … And do you see the green? Yes, look hard … but it’s there.

(Note: I greatly respect the photographer mentioned above. It was just a funny thing to think about for someone (moi) who photographs way more mustangs than perfectly coiffed domestic horses. :))





A little wet, a little gold

28 04 2021

We got a little rain yesterday and last night. 🙂

It’s hard to say how much. After it rained in one location, I went for a drive, and within 100 yards, the road was bone dry. … How does that HAPPEN?!

Just a couple of hours later, I had to hustle out of the basin, white-knuckling the steering wheel, as the spatter of damp dirt against the underside of the Jeep competed with the squeak of the windshield wipers.

As I neared one band, we had a little of this happening:

Before I got out to the horses, it was pretty well faded, but a little red-gold made up for the lack of a pot. 😉 (Interestingly, the rainbow is highlighting the edge of Knife Edge, seen from the southish. The far heavily-treed ridge is where I was the other day.)

Always glowing, our little Tesora girl (and still shedding, as it turns out!). 🙂





Pretty grey in the grey

27 04 2021

A few evenings ago, I found Terra and her band WAY deep in Spring Creek Basin, in an area I call the east pocket. I sometimes write in my notes that I found a band in the “deep east pocket.” This band was deeply into the deepest pocket possible of the east pocket! I saw them from a distance and hiked out … and up to the highest point I could find, and – as almost never happens – I couldn’t see them from above. I had to hike back down to find them ambling out of the deep and back out to the “flats.” Then, they were about as calm and willing to hang out as I’ve ever seen them.

In the background is the “back side,” which is to say the north side (basically), of prominent big ridge Knife Edge, which is more commonly seen from the westish or southish or southwestish or, maybe uncommonly except for me, southeastish.

More clouds, more wind. I wish I could say we’ve had some spectacular sunsets with those clouds, but sadly, as with the lack of rain, nope. The moon wasn’t even visible until much later, nearly full in the black, star-studded night.





Almost full

26 04 2021

How do you fill a heart full to bursting? How do you fill a heart already so full you think there’s no room left?

That’s the crazy thing about love, isn’t it? This little teeny muscle inside the human chest is just a little magical in its ability to hold all the love you can pour into it.

Every mustang, every visit, I love them all, every time, all the time. It’s simply impossible to feel otherwise. 🙂

So, really, there must always be at least a little bitty bit of room left? For all the days and all the love to feel?





One ingredient is light

25 04 2021

Wind and clouds. No rain.

Really? Just a nice little drenching downpour would be super. A toad-gagger to fill ponds and recharge seeps would be excellent. C’mon, Ma Nature! Pretty Piedra wouldn’t mind a shower.





Showin’ the love

24 04 2021

Hollywood flirts with his eldest lady, Houdini, surrounded by his family.

Every age is the right age for love. 🙂





Shadow play

23 04 2021

Today’s fun image brought to you by the sun that shines on us all. 🙂 Alegre also seems to be having a laugh about it.





Good green

22 04 2021

It’s ice cream … and it’s finally green again.





Sunny days

21 04 2021

Before long, we’ll be feeling that brutal ol’ sun.

But now, it’s still spring, and we still think rain is possible.