Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

A few days ago, Tenaz’s band was napping low in a drainage between a butte and a ridge. As I walked out to them, I could see Temple napping lying down with a couple of her band mates standing over her. A few were grazing, including a couple down in the shallow arroyo through the drainage. I didn’t see Tenaz until I crossed the arroyo slightly “downstream” of him, and then I waited for one of the young mares to mosey out of the arroyo so I could see him lying in what must have been the very comfortable, relatively flat and definitely-not-prickly bottom of the little arroyo. (The vegetation is dry and prickly currently, as opposed to the cool, relatively smooth, dirt bottom of the arroyo bed.)

He wasn’t too bothered by presence. I think it was his little mare walking away that roused him.

He heaved over into a mighty, wriggly, hopefully satisfying roll but couldn’t go all the way over because of the short bank of the arroyo nearby.

Then over again …

And up into the light of the still-lit side of the drainage, split by his arroyo nap-spot!

Because I’m a logophile, I subscribe to a daily email from dictionary.com. Recently, the word of the day was “dapple,” defined as “[dap-uhl] – verb – to mark or become marked with spots.”

More about dapple

• Dapple, the verb, was first recorded in 1545–55.
• Dapple was probably formed from the adjective dappled, “having spots of a different shade from the background.”
• Dappled first appeared around 1350–1400 and comes from Middle English.
• Dappled probably has Scandinavian roots and is similar to Old Norse depill, meaning “spot.”

EXAMPLES OF DAPPLE

• The artist used a hairbrush to dapple paint onto the canvas, creating an abstract masterpiece.
• The sunlight dappled the leaves, casting beautiful patterns on the forest floor.

Where, I ask you, is the absolute main and obvious example of *dapple*!? As in dapple grey, as in a coat dappled with good health … as in HORSE-related!?

Interestingly, “dapple” was the word of the day on my mom’s birthday, the day on which Kestrel was featured on the blog. That pic didn’t show enough of Kestrel to show off her fabulous good-health dapples, so I offer you the above pic, which, I suggest, is the very definition of “dapple” in picture form. Most beautifully shown. 🙂

Thank you, Kestrel. You model your dapples gorgeously!

Sundance glows in afternoon light while waiting for his band to follow him to water.

Even in the most mundane moments, he’s just handsome!

You might think this is a semi-ho-hum pic of Seneca, but the moon was rising gloriously bright and nearly full to the right (east), and a storm was brewing, and it was nearly dark. So nearly-dark that I almost didn’t scoop my camera out of its pack. But the nearly-dark glowy-light (hard to explain but definitely a *thing*) was so cool that I did.

Seneca was NOT impressed with the technological difficulties of the moment, however, and her ears were at half-mast until she decided that it wasn’t worth giving me the benefit of her attention at all.

The clouds and Mother Nature DID, in fact, brew up some moisture, and between Friday night/early Saturday morning and throughout the day Saturday and overnight to Sunday morning, we got about a quarter of an inch of rain. Dearly needed. And to think, it all started with some nearly-dark, almost-full-moon-rising glowy-light on lovely Seneca and her family on a rise near the road in western Spring Creek Basin! (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!)

Happy Halloween!

Shortly after sunset, the western sky lit up reflecting the below-horizon sun. Fortunately, Mariah and her band appeared to make the most of the magic. I didn’t do a great job with my exposure or shutter speed, but with great clouds come great sunsets. Part of magic is imagination!