Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

As usual, it’s hard to believe that another year has come to an end and another is starting.

As usual, there’s been good news and bad. … Much of the time, it seems like bad news is all the news that is news.

We need to know what’s going on in the world – from our local communities to the wider global community – but the constant onslaught very often has the effect of hurting the heart (as an understatement). Wouldn’t it be crazy if good news so dominated the headlines that bad news was relegated to the “inside pages” – or not at all? A good kinda crazy, for sure.

With this blog, I strive (in part) to provide a positive counter to the negativity that’s so easily found. If you’re here, reading, you’re looking for that positivity, and I’m so glad you’ve found it with our Spring Creek Basin mustangs. 🙂 If you get to visit the basin for yourself, so much the better. There’s truth in the phrase that the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a … let’s say human.

What follows is one photo for each month of the past year. Some have been on the blog previously; others have not. All pix were taken in the month they represent. Onward.

While photographing Flash and some bachelor pals, snow started floating through the air while the sunshine illuminated every single flake. I mean, GORGEOUS! The bachelor boys are famous for mostly ignoring me, but that light and those flakes demanded photographic proof. Fortunately, Flash paused his grazing – and chewing – just long enough to look at his pals, and I snapped the shutter on a magical moment. The snow ended very soon after I did so – or maybe it was the light on the snow.

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I couldn’t have been more thrilled when Dundee, one of the three introduced mares from Sand Wash Basin, had her very big first colt by Buckeye: Ranger. A couple of weeks later, Aiyanna delivered her delicate little filly – also by Buckeye – Bia. Unfortunately, we lost Ranger at about a month and a half old to unknown circumstances. Bia continues to do very well and is growing into a very lovely filly. She’s the spitting image of her mama – though she’s bay and mama is dun. She is adored by her entire band.

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As I remember, we had a nice, lingering spring. As spring was springing, love was in the air. Above, one of our young(ish) stallions, Zeb, was flirting with one of his mares. Really, who can resist his handsomeness or the flirty swish of his tail?!

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With the decent winter, we had a nice wildflower season, but it sure took its sweet time in arriving (or so I thought at the time, being, as usual, impatient). I visited my parents for Mother’s Day and left Disappointment Valley still brown and drab. When I returned, holy green! And then came the wildflowers. And once again, Flash proved a fabulous model among the larkspur (it was a bad larkspur year for the cattle folk), globemallow, wild onion and other lovelies. And the grass, of course. Green is my favorite color. 🙂

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That light! That grass! Those pinto girls! I saw Reya’s band only rarely this year, but they make every visit worthwhile. Mama and daughter Chuska: lookalike girls!

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That. LIGHT! Terra and her stallion, Venture, enjoyed a quiet moment during the height of summer. I think he adores her, and I think this moment in time illustrates that perfectly.

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Oh, this was another of those beautiful evenings in Spring Creek Basin. Buckeye’s band was napping on a hillside in an area that wasn’t usual for them. Another band was grazing down in a little cove among the hills. I walked up to take advantage of the view, then waited. Baby Bia had been napping between her auntie Rowan and mama Aiyanna. My waiting paid off when Bia ducked under mama’s neck on her way to nurse, and Aiyanna gave her a quick little casual “hug” as she did. Click went the shutter on one of those moments you never forget.

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On a stormy evening that didn’t bring rain (to us), Buckeye was guarding his band from a nearby band on the flanks of Filly Peak. (He appears to be napping, but he was alert, I assure you.) His band is to my left – and they really were napping, secure in his watchfulness. Beyond him is his mother, Winona. Her band was mostly out of sight in a little low place between here and there. The photo for this month was a tossup between this one and another photo from that same evening. Quiet, peaceful, lovely.

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October

Young stallion Cheveyo was in just the right place at just the right time for the very low sun to highlight him against the far, shadowed, hill and turn the foreground grasses to dancing flames of light. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I adore backlighting!

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This was the first snowfall of the season, and I was happy to find Remy’s band grazing in the western part of the basin. The sun was flirting with the clouds. A great wave of light would sweep across Disappointment Valley, followed quickly by the greyer light – the kind of light that keeps photographers hopping (and hoping). Light snow also was falling and stopping and drifting and stopping and floating and stopping. A small band of young bachelors was nearby, but they weren’t too interested in Remy’s girls. Remy took his band to water in Spring Creek canyon (the rimrocks are seen in the background), and I called it a (beautiful) day.

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Our Hollywood, beloved and storied elder stallion, rounds out the year. This was the second snowfall of the season (and our last to date, as it happens). The snow was a little deeper, and it stayed pristine a little longer, than the first. The day was glorious for a hike, and that’s how I found Hollywood – originally drinking at a nearby pond. Here, he’d walked away from the pond before he stopped for a nap. As hard as it is to see the aging process at work on him, and missing his loyal mares, it’s always good to see this wonderful wild stallion.

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Taken from very far away, I love all the layers in this image of Buckeye’s band – with prince’s plume! – and Tenaz and the band he escorts. A dear friend was with me at the time, and the enjoyment was doubled to have her along for the visit.

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Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy and positive 2024!