Well, the ponies certainly put out the memo and made themselves available for summer solstice evening!
Heat, wind (“fire-weather (red-flag) warning/watch” and “wind advisory” – no joke), haze and dust aside, it was a gorgeous evening with four bands at the western boundary above Spring Creek canyon.
Winona and her band were the last left in the last light at the very top of the rimrocks, and she’s *always* a gorgeous model. Solstice night was no exception. 🙂 God and we love her.
Summer solstice is at 8:42 p.m. Mountain time – tonight. Sunset is (officially, at least) at 8:40 p.m. our time. (I say officially because the ridges to our southwest and northeast always make official times and actual times of sunset/moonrise and sunrise/moonset a bit different, sometimes up to half an hour different, depending on where you are relative to those ridges.)
This pic of Chipeta was taken a few days ago as she went with her band to evening water, but the lovely light illustrates that longest day of the year that marks the beginning of summer. That’s what all the experts say, but I tend to think of it more like almost midsummer because we’ve already been hot and dry and summer-like, and at this point, our planet’s tilt means we start shortening days and lengthening nights (I know, I know, it’s not at all scientific; living by the seasons, I tend to go more with feeling than straight science!).
Today and tomorrow, I’ll be out to try to get other solstice-evoking pix of the mustangs, and of course, I will share the best results. 🙂
Fortunately, we do still have decent water and abundant grasses and other vegetation, though I’m also eager for monsoon season later this summer, when we will *hopefully* be getting good rains to replenish ponds and catchments and vegetation … and spirits!
Grey/Traveler’s band at the end of the longest day in Spring Creek Basin.
Another one from solstice morning:
Grey/Traveler was grazing nearby as the sun came up and illuminated the world. At this time, too, he caught site of Hollywood’s and Comanche’s bands not too far away across a big arroyo. I took advantage of his attention elsewhere.
Beautiful boy on a beautiful morning.
Wild girls Alegre and Maia, Mariah and Houdini at sunrise, solstice morning.
Mariah is very clearly shedding her red baby coat and revealing her true grey. Hard to tell yet with Maia, but her little muzzle has a hint of brown to it.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 