
The lovely Winona. She always evokes such a sense of peace.

The Force …
… is strong with mustangs.
… is strong with Mother Nature.
… is strong with the wild.
… is strong with the freedom of Mother Nature-watched-over mustangs in the wilds of Spring Creek Basin.

Those horses, with that background, let me know I’m home. Winona and Mariah; McKenna Peak and Temple Butte. 🙂

What’s not to love about an autumn evening full of light and water … and mustangs on the verdant range?
Not a thing. Absolutely not a single thing!

Tesora’s winter coat is growing in darker than I think I’ve ever seen it. Coppery red or burnished like an old penny, she’s still lovely!

Just as the shadows were creeping toward us, about to overtake us, Dundee and Rowan (with Aiyanna and Buckeye very nearby), looked up from their grazing, heads up, ears up, and a spectacular horizon behind them.
The girls are getting fuzzy – as everybody is right now! – and filling out nicely. So very pretty. 🙂
If you’re local – or even if you’re not local but will be in the area – please join us from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum, a couple of miles outside Dolores, Colorado, for an event to celebrate the yearlong exhibit of Colorado’s mustangs and the 50th anniversary of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. (Click on that “flyer-final” link above to see the PDF of the announcement.)
If you go: Tres Rios Field Office Manager Connie Clementson will give an introductory presentation and be there to answer questions. You’ll get to meet adopted Spring Creek Basin mustangs Whisper and Skipper (also featured in the exhibit on the panel of adopters and in the short film) with their humans, Tif Rodriguez and Keith Bean. In addition to providing the opportunity to meet these stellar ambassadors of Spring Creek Basin, Tif and Keith will talk about their adoption experiences and give tips about how to adopt a mustang. Kathryn Wilder will read excerpts from her book “Desert Chrome: Water, a Woman, and Wild Horses in the West.” Books won’t be available for sale at the event, but her tantalizing readings will leave you wanting information on how to purchase “Desert Chrome,” which she will happily provide. Visitors also can sign up to go through the exhibit in the museum with me and learn more about Colorado’s wild horses.
Hope to see a lot of mustang folks there!

The snow that didn’t stick in Spring Creek Basin or lower Disappointment Valley DID linger on the higher ridges, including Temple Butte and McKenna Peak (not pictured in this image).

All moisture is good moisture, and we were plenty happy to get rain down-valley.
And remember the views of the Glade, where the trees were golden?

It has gotten a little snowy and grey up there now. 🙂

The most lovely Terra gallops across the landscape to keep up with her band.
Clouds in the background (east-southeast) seemed to promise rain, but we didn’t get any until the next morning – an intense, quick little storm from the west – and that, just a drizzle.
I do love that horizon! It looks like a master’s painting!