Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Alegre and Maia, napping on a hot evening – semi-cooled by wind and a few generous clouds – in the company of their band. Quiet moments, full of beauty.

When I was a kid, my grandma had a pony – half Welsh, half Quarter Horse – that all the cousins rode – some of them learning to ride on her. Despite her penchant for taking rookie riders under low-hanging branches (and even horse-savvy kids if you weren’t paying attention), she was beloved. My family even had her with us in Texas for a few years, and one of my favorite stories of my youth involves an early-morning (3 a.m.-early) escape from the house, riding her bareback around the pasture and returning from the barn to the house to my dad packing heat because he thought I was a horse thief when he saw the light from my flashlight scanning the barn and thought I was casing the joint (he’d awakened when he heard me open the screen door) … ! My mom’s first move was to check my bed and my brother’s. She found me missing and exhorted my dad “don’t you scare her!” … it was an interesting end to my wanderings! (I was around 10 years old.)

My interest in training horses might have started with this pony-girl. My brother and I liked to play “cowboys and Indians,” and I’d hoist him up behind me as we escaped the cowboys … and I’d practice riding under branches, hanging off her side as low as I could, to avoid the cavalrymen’s bullets, you know. As much as she liked trying to scrape kids off her back by going under low-hanging branches, she didn’t seem to like it when it wasn’t her idea! Without trying, I apparently cured her of that particular “vice.”

She was a chunky bay with a big white spot on one hip. Her name was Sparkle. She was born on the Fourth of July. She went back to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s in Ohio when we moved to Germany (courtesy of Uncle Sam), and she lived into her 30s.

Happy Independence Day! And here’s to all the little girls (and boys) and summer rides on their ponies. 🙂

A saddle ridge in a long mesa provides a frame for a view from the northeastern part of Spring Creek Basin across the “middle lands” toward the southwest. I always wonder whether the horses enjoy the views. … I sure enjoy them AS the view.

When I spotted Terra going around the west side of this little hill, I got into position on the east side.

Sure enough, when she appeared, she was lit by the low light even as the hills around her were in shade. It’s just a little hill, and there’s a little space behind it, between it and the bigger hill/ridge behind Terra. Just perfect for her to make her spotlit entrance.

The sun had been behind those clouds as it descended toward the southwestern ridge that outlines Disappointment Valley, and the light was soft and grey. Then the sun descended and lit up our world again – briefly – before it dropped and lit up the clouds above the western horizon.

Better (and more prepared) photographers than I am carry filters for such occasions when the sky is bright and the foreground subject is dark, so balance those darks and lights. … But you’ll have to use a bit of imagination to see Reya as I saw her under that fiery sky.

Our skies have been fairly bland and blue lately, which isn’t awful, really … but we’d like to see a few (OK, a lot) more clouds … especially ones carrying rain. (Isn’t that a frequent refrain on this blog? :))

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Just in case you’ve seen anything on the news about the Spring Creek Fire, it is NOT in or near Spring Creek Basin. It’s well north of here near Parachute, Colorado, which is on I-70 east of Grand Junction.

Colorado Sun coverage of the Spring Creek Fire here.

Inciweb information about the Spring Creek Fire here.

It’s hot. It’s dry. It’s terribly windy. Please be careful out there.

Some guys have all the views.