No height is unachievable by Spring Creek Basin’s mustangs. 🙂 This is Buckeye, and he and the band weren’t actually too high up the base of Knife Edge. But the steepness of the slope still gave him reason to carefully pick his way down among the little rocks as he searched out green goodness.
It’s been about a week and a half now since I took this (and many more) pic of Winona with a storm clearing and swirling above Utah’s La Sal Mountains on the northwestern horizon. The day was *gorgeous*.
It’s a good thing those mountains and Colorado’s have snow … but it’s not a lot. It’s less day by day. And none of that snow reaches Spring Creek Basin. Not even Disappointment Creek, which has had only sporadically running water so far this year, is doing very well (and it doesn’t run through Spring Creek Basin at all).
The view is gorgeous, but the outlook for this summer is grim.
Magical Maiku.
Even over your shoulder, always look ahead.
Any way you slice (crop) it, Buckeye is one handsome fellow.
Actually, only the third one was cropped – at little off the left side. The first two are as taken, but with my long lens and the land rising behind me, I couldn’t quite get the fullness of the image. The third image is from my phone.
Love the way the two junipers arch directly over him. He chose the spot for the shade, but c’mon, maybe a little bit of artistry??
Sometimes the best images come right to your camera, just as you’re leaving Spring Creek Basin with no expectation of seeing horses right along the road in spectacular light. 🙂
Temple-the-gorgeous was at her most-gorgeous while walking along catching up to the band, all of whom had already dropped low while grazing.
Seventeen-year-old Gaia is a bit thin coming out of winter (and it was a mild one), but she and all the mustangs are chasing the green bits that are starting to push out into the world. As spring advances, hopefully she’ll put on some pounds.
That snow on McKenna Peak and Temple Butte – last week – is there no longer. Bright blue skies, stiff spring winds, full sunshine and temps soaring back to the 60s and 70F recently took care of that. But what I’m really thrilled about is that, after trying (and failing) to catch fairly closeup pix of Sancho’s cutie-patootie little mustachio, it’s visible in this longshot pic!
Dundee rests for a moment after rolling in the snow-damp ground. I had found a place to sit and watch the horses graze and mosey around along a little bit of a semi-ridge. Sometimes, while looking through a long lens at what’s going on at a distance, you don’t notice so much what’s happening closer – especially if you’re not anticipating anything happening closer!
That’s what happened here: While focusing (both through the camera and in general) farther away, I suddenly became aware that Dundee’s chosen spot to roll was right in front of me. Thinking that it would be less disruptive to her than standing up, even to back away, I just sat there while she rolled. Then she stood up, shook and wandered on. Rowan and Buckeye also came and dropped and rolled in that spot; I scooted a bit farther down the hill to give them a bit more comfortable room. 🙂
The snow melted much too fast, but as usual, the horses and the scenery deserved at least another look on another post. 🙂 This is Temple, seeking out bits of green in the white; Sancho is a bit farther away.
