Pretty pale Rowan was quite undisturbed by the couple of inches of fresh snow a few days ago.
Cold temps are keeping a fair snow cover in place for us. The rest of Southwest Colorado, by all reports, is pretty well buried under an exceptional amount of snow. The greasewood and shadscale pictured around Rowan wouldn’t be visible if we had the snow that our neighbors have! We’re plenty happy with our seemingly just-right amount of snow. 🙂
By the time the sun reappeared from the snow clouds, Tenaz and Skywalker and Sancho and the band had settled into naps. That sunshine *does* feel remarkably warm, especially after a blizzard wave!
I think Mother Nature must find particular pleasure in the colors of her world. 🙂
Kestrel consented to pause her grazing for a few moments on a hill near Knife Edge (it does draw the eye … and especially when highlighted by snow!).
Moisture in the bank for this summer. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin got another dose of the valuable white stuff, and parts of the basin have 4 to 6 inches of snow from a second wave of snow yesterday morning. The previous morning’s snow had melted in some areas (mostly outside the basin), but this bit of white gold may stick around for a wee bit longer.
Sundance and his band were near another band, high up a hillside. Below – in and along the big arroyo that runs along the base of the ridge – a decent-size group of elk had browsed their way through the drainage, leaving tracks and trails. I wonder whether the horses were there when their elk friends passed?!
All good things come to those who wait for snow. 🙂 Cassidy Rain surely is as excited as the humans!
Buckeye and his girls aren’t too bothered by outside influences. … Until, several minutes after I took this pic, they noticed the resident pronghorn group, browsing into and out of an arroyo down the slope from our location. THAT got their attention. I never would have noticed them except for the ponies’ sharp eyes. ‘Course, I usually have eyes only for the mustangs. 🙂
Skywalker weathers the wind while we await the first of a few days of snow in the forecast.
Spoiler alert: It’s off to a rather slow start. We do have mud – from a decent little bit of rain – but the bit of snow that fell didn’t stick.
Good news: There’s a high percentage that we’ll get *some* sticking snow this week?!
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Today honors and celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and “focuses on civil rights issues and recognizes the use of nonviolence to promote change and calls for public service.” Those are calls we all should answer.
One has to wonder whether bachelor Aspen was admiring Alegre as much as I was as she raced past, mud flying! He certainly looks to be in a posture of appreciation. 🙂
The background is, once again, a fairly dominant ridge in Spring Creek Basin known locally as Knife Edge (at least, that’s what it was called when I started documenting the horses many moons ago, and that’s the name by which *I* know it). This time, it provides a fabulous – and color-coordinated – backdrop for lovely Maia, who was quite interested in the presence of two of her band mates, only barely visible in an arroyo.
It’s hard to tell – and she’s remarkably mud-free – but the ground in this part of the basin is still pretty damp and greasy (getting in and out of or up and down any even slightly sloped sides of arroyos, by either (wo)man or beast, is a slippery business!).
Rain, then snow coming tonight?! It should be less damaging here than in California … and we also need the moisture quite a bit. (California readers, I hope you’re all on high ground and safe! It’s wonderful to read that the rain pounding your very dry state (and blanketing your Sierra Nevada) is resulting in significant increases in the levels of many of your reservoirs!)
This was the day of the pronghorns, and while Tenaz was laser focused on those speedy critters (who, by the time I was taking this pic and others, had settled down to nap and browse), I was quietly taking about a billion pix from as many angles as I could on the slope slightly above him. Because … that background! The light and shadow. The bare ground and the snowy ridges. The gentle rolls and the sharp corrugation of erosion lines. The open range and the pinon-juniper forest.
The gleam in the eye of the handsome bay mustang. 🙂 He was even gussied up with a bit of bling in his mane!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 