Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

… and big, broad, beautiful country.

Winona rocks the rimrocks of Spring Creek Basin … and the La Sal Mountains of Utah.

Shadow-mare stands in the shadows cast by full-on Colorado winter sunshine. And boy-howdy, that famous Colorado sunshine is in full force! The mercury rose to near 60 degrees (so said my vehicle) the day this pic was taken.

Sure, it looks like we still have a fair amount of snow, but this particular image is a little misleading. What we do have is the most amazing, glorious mud! You can see a bit of it in the very near foreground, partially obscured by the branches.

Ah, young love. … Well, at least young tolerance. 🙂

Hollywood

Quiet. Peaceful. Serene. His family all around him, in the wild security of a wild land.

Living wild certainly isn’t the most secure life, but for these mustangs, born to it as their parents and grandparents and great-great-great-ever-so-great-grandparents have been, it IS life – and all the abundance and insecurity that entails. Living in the moment – all the great and not-so-great moments – they live their wildness to the fullest. That they do so beautifully and with such grace is, at the very least, a learning opportunity for the humans who celebrate them.

Lovely Juniper is in a soft phase of grey – and you can still see the dusty brown shading on her side and chest and shoulder and hips, and the black legs of her bay birth color.

Our snow is melting … meelllllttttinnggg! Temps are hitting the 50s. All that liquid-water moisture is a significant boon for this high-desert land. And as it runs in rivulets and impromptu creeks and streams, we look forward to our next snowfall (even while we enjoy these beautiful days)! It’s only February, after all. 🙂

On his way to challenge the “interloper,” who wasn’t really all that close to challenging Chrome or his family, the mighty boy looks awfully impressive, doesn’t he? 🙂

In the blue, shadowed side of the hill, you can see his very greyness.

Comanche turns his butt to the challenger.

To continue some of our discussion about greys, note that his mane and forelock still are very dark, as well as the shading on his knees and hocks and lower legs. See how his tail is “going grey” from the top down? He probably was born bay because when he was a young bachelor, he was a lovely soft “brown-grey” shade.

What is this, the Chrome show? 🙂 Would anyone be upset if that happened to be the case?!

It won’t be the case, but he does figure prominently – after all, this stunning stallion has emerged as one of the most dominant in Spring Creek Basin the last few years.

The title of the post refers to the fact that Chrome had left his band to visit another band; they’re now to the right, and Chrome’s band was up a hill to the left. A few more images may be coming from this encounter. …