Aligned

16 01 2026

A deep blue dry winter sky highlights both Temple and Temple Butte and McKenna Peak behind her. All in alignment as we kick off the new year.

Speaking of “alignments,” if you haven’t seen somewhere that the Year of the Fire Horse is upon us in the Chinese calendar, you might not be up to date on all the data that’s data to be seen, according to your phones and/or social media and/or whatever algorithms are at work (!). It starts Feb. 17, and according to Google’s AI feature, it symbolizes “intense energy, passion, and transformation, following the previous Wood Horse in 2014. People born in Horse years are often seen as independent, adventurous, strong, and enthusiastic, embodying the animal’s spirit of freedom, vitality, and perseverance, making these years auspicious for bold action and new growth.” 

I’m pretty sure I was born in the wrong year; sorry, Mom and Dad. 🙂 That said, I think one of my grandmothers (the horsey one) WAS born in a year of the horse, so I’ll blame her – err, claim her – for my incredibly horse-like traits!

I’ll try to find more information about this exciting development for horse lovers as the start of that zodiac calendar begins. We sure have a lot of models to illustrate all the ways mustangs embody the above!





Deep wisdom

15 01 2026

Kind-eyed Seneca indulges me with a look while her band mates browse back (way back!) at the end of last year and way back deep in Spring Creek Basin.





Bay in the blue

14 01 2026

Miss Bia, looking lovely in the layers and snow. 🙂

(Note: At this point, the snow has been gone for several days, but I wanted to post a few mustang images taking advantage of the little snow we had! After this morning, though, the blog will return to current conditions, which is to say, NO snow.)





Oh-delicious

13 01 2026

Odin. Odalicious. Oh-delicious!

Get it? 🙂

What a handsome youngster.





First flakes

12 01 2026

Kestrel is ready for the snow, but she’s giving me a look that seems to wonder whether *I* am ready for the snow. In fairness, she lives there, but I had a bit of a distance to cover to get out to the main county road.





Camo Terra

11 01 2026

This was a few days ago, when I was out with Terra’s family. It had snowed a bit over the basin early that morning, but as you can see in the background, the “big” snow that evening was coming.

As I mentioned in the post with Cassidy Rain, it wasn’t more than about half an inch total, but it sure looked promising when it was incoming!

The snow is gone now (mostly), but it got cold, making for gorgeous, clear night skies under the waning moon and sparkling stars.





The morning after

10 01 2026

Spring Creek Basin and Disappointment Valley didn’t get a lot of snow out of yesterday’s blow-in – maaaaaaaaybe half an inch? – but it’s such a novelty this “winter” to have snow at all. We’ll take it!

The morning after (yesterday, as you’re reading this), I went out to see what I could see and found Cassidy Rain and her band. Another novelty: She stood and “posed” for me in the snow!





Woo hoo – snow!

9 01 2026

A little bit of snow, and Temple and Madison thought it was a good excuse to RUN! 🙂

The above pic was shortly after I got into Spring Creek Basin. By the time I was leaving, it was snowing, and the snow was sticking, and the landscape was all white. I doubt it was even a full inch, but this “winter,” we’ll take all the white stuff Ma Nature is willing to send us!





A wow moment

8 01 2026

Question: Is Mysterium posing, or is she alert to something?

Hint: She does love her naps, when it might look like she’s “posing,” but she really doesn’t do posing. 🙂

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!!!!

I was sitting on the ground, lens trained on some horses, when I heard them spook and looked up to see that something had caught their attention. THEY didn’t go far at all (more a spook-in-place kind of thing), and then I saw a flash of moving-red … FOX! Wow. It must have been in one of the little/shallow curvy arroyos nearby, and I’m not sure what spooked IT. I must have walked semi-past it earlier to go uphill of where the horses were (note the view beyond Mysterium!).

Unfortunately, there was a tree between us, and then it disappeared into one of the drainage folds … and when I caught sight of it next, it was nearly over the ridge. I wish it had stopped to give us a quick look, but nope.

Wowowowowow! I think the mustangs were just as thrilled (OK, interested) as I was. I doubt they see many flashy red foxes around. (We weren’t super far from where I found the fox last year, but we weren’t close, either. I don’t know what kind of territory a fox covers?)





Too cute to be grumpy

6 01 2026

Why does Flash always look so grumpy? 🙂

That’s not the intro to a joke; I really don’t know! He does take his band-stallion duties very seriously, and there were two other bands very nearby that evening. … But they were very quiet and peaceful, napping under a tree and a little beyond, both farther down the slope they were all occupying. A young stallion’s gotta be *on* all the time!

And maybe he’s also upset about our lack of winter moisture, though they were fairly near a pond that should have water (it did as of late last fall). Or maybe that’s just me!