Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Sun-setting shadows already had grown long over the area east of Spring Creek canyon by the time I got down to Skywalker and his companion bands. I tagged along as they moseyed uphill from their evening drink, to a slice of sunshine over the rimrocks before night started its descent over our little piece of heaven.

You don’t survive in the wild as long as Houdini has without learning the art of where to get the best swish for the buck. In her case, bestie Alegre has the tail that’s best for the job of keeping flies away. I’ve seen Houdini numerous times following Alegre with her head positioned to take advantage of Alegre’s swishing. And it’s always Alegre. These ladies have been together for a very long time.

I’m not really sure what it is about this scene that I like so much. The band had been napping with some other bands, and at some unknown-to-this-human signal, grazing among all the horses recommenced. While the other horses grazed where they’d been napping, Buckeye’s mares decided to forage farther afield. Aiyanna was leading at this point, and she’s out of the frame to the right, up the hill.

Buckeye followed along, of course (the tree at left is the same tree at right in the pic of Dundee and Rowan).

I was fairly far away, but something about the background and smoky, diffused light caught my attention. (Don’t worry, the smoke wasn’t from local fires, and after a little more recent rain, our sky is much brighter again.) …

Just something a bit different.

Immediately after a brief apparent difference of opinion, Skywalker seems to look for his friend Sancho’s forgiveness. What a sweetheart.

A few bands were napping in fairly close proximity to each other a few days ago in the basin, so I took advantages of faces up (not hidden-in-grass grazing) to take some pix of handsome Buckeye and his lovelies, Dundee, Aiyanna and Rowan. They’ve been together almost a full year now (remember, Flash had them for about the first week and a half), and they seem pretty devoted to each other. Things change, of course, but seeing these four together lifts my spirits in a place where my spirits are always high.