Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Spoiler alert: That’s not snow in the bed of the Spring Creek arroyo; that’s salt.

Mariah was crossing the arroyo from one little “flat” slightly above the arroyo to another little flat just above the arroyo in the wider drainage just as the sun was setting, giving her that glorious, albeit dusty, glow.

It is so very dry. Yay, snowpack, but for those of us who don’t live on mountain tops, it’s been badly dry since at least last fall (or earlier? we didn’t get monsoons last year, and I’m despairing of getting them this year).

Dance, folks, like nobody but the rain gods and goddesses are watching! 🙂

How is it possible that she’s so gorgeous?!

Because she – Terra – is a mustang, of course! (And mama Houdini and daddy Grey gave her excellent genetics.) She’s standing on a little outcrop above the Spring Creek arroyo where some of the rest of the band are drinking from a little seep.

These elegant ladies are in neighboring bands that travel together. They are among the holders of the wisdom of the herd.

Winona looks beautiful in just a hint of light with storm clouds behind her. (Spoiler alert: Those clouds dropped no rain on us.)

Chipeta may make me work for attentive pix of her-very-lovely-self, but it’s so worth it. 🙂

In the late light of day, the ridge below Filly Peak was shadowed, but the (poor dead) pinon or juniper tree was lit like a flame. It made the perfect complement for highlighted Rowan as she looked back to check in with her band mates.

It’s also perhaps a fitting image as we think about Memorial Day and the reasons we remember the sacrifice of American men and women who died while wearing the uniforms of various branches of the United States military. In honoring their service and ultimate sacrifice, we are hopefully unified as over not much else these days. And we can honor their commitment to their country, their families and the peace most of us enjoy every day.