Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

When visiting wild ponies, don’t forget to take in your surroundings … even those surroundings fairly far away.

How Temple remains so perfectly coifed in the strong winds of her high-desert homeland is anybody’s guess. (I suspect the faeries have a special love for her; they’re constantly braiding the other horses’ manes into knots!)

My goodness, Maia.

She does love her mud. 🙂

I’m glad she’s found enough to submerge herself (I think she had more full-body coverage than the last time we saw her); it’s awfully dry out there.

As I was ending a late-day visit with a band the other day, I looked out to find that we had an audience. 🙂

Pretty, golden Rowan and her band were grazing on another hillside (everybody is searching high these days?) at day’s end while that last lovely highlighted last year’s golden grasses.

When I hiked up there to join them, I realized they were going after one of the yummiest grasses in mustang-dom: Indian ricegrass, which was greening and plentiful! Not seeding yet, but growing at the bases of last year’s bunches. Yummmmmmm-eeeeeeeee!

And in honor of golden sunlight, happy solar eclipse day! Wishing all/any of you in the path of totality clear skies and wondrous viewing!

This pic just tickles me. I hemmed and hawed over whether to post it, then thought you readers may get the same tickle from seeing it.

While photographing Sundance (yesterday’s post), I looked up to a little “bench” of land above us on the side of Round Top, and all I could see were the poll and ears of one of his mares. Being fleet of focus, I aimed and clicked the shutter (really, they don’t usually give me a lot of time in such circumstances, so I end up with a lot of closed eyes as they’re returning to grazing), and voila! A funny little shot of “I’m here, but you can’t see me!” 🙂

While grazing on steep terrain (in this case, up the side of Round Top), it’s important to watch one’s step while negotiating a turnaround in pursuit of more tasty bits.

It was a very bright, blue-sky day – and warm! We’ve had our first 70-degree day in Spring Creek Basin. Very windy; very dry. Sunscreen returns to the list of necessary items for a visit with the wild ones. 🙂