Onaqui In Winter

Winter is the most difficult time to photograph the Onaqui Herd. Last year they spent nearly the entire winter months tucked away in an area that was inaccessible. We have gone out this winter several times in an attempt to photograph them in a snowstorm. There are several factors working against this: 1. It is difficult to find them if the clouds are low. 2. If there is going to be a storm, can you even find where the her is. 3. If you can find them, are the roads too muddy to get to them. 4. Are they too high on the mountain to get to.

Luckily we have had a few successes. These images are from two separate trips. We were lucky to find them, and the roads were very muddy but we didn’t get stuck. Looking forward to a few more trips before spring.

The Year For Sunflowers

A friend just reminded me that I said in a prior post I had more images of the Onaqui in sunflowers. I must say that in the thirteen years I have been photographing the Onaqui horses I have never seen this many sunflowers. It must have been due to the winter and spring weather we had.

Hope you enjoy them….

Winter Wonderland – Onaqui Wild Horses

The Onaqui Herd never disappoints (assuming you can find them)! Last winter the herd stayed in an area that was inaccessible (too much deep snow to even hike the five miles to reach them). Several trips this winter it was too foggy to even find the herd. Other times they were too far away to get to. But sometimes the conditions are just right and you have a trip of a lifetime! These images are from a couple of different trips and this is only half of the “keepers”.

Let’s hope we can continue to get to them this winter….

North & South Onaqui At Watering Holes – Late September

Another glorious trip to see the Onaqui. Luckily we were able to be there when each herd came to the watering holes.

Great Blue Heron Visits Onaqui Wild Horses

We had an OUTSTANDING visit to the Onaqui herd last week. As usual, the desert is once again different than I have ever seen it before. There have always been sunflowers this time of year, especially along the roads. This year the sunflowers were more prolific than ever. It just so happened that the North Herd was right in the middle of a huge patch of sunflowers. We spent several hours photographing them. I have not yet processed all of them so I will only post one photo of the herd in sunflowers as a teaser. The remainder of the photographs in this post are of the Onaqui Horses and a Great Blue Heron. We have seen many different birds that you normally would not expect to see in the desert (geese, ducks and Bald Eagles), but this Great Blue Heron was a first for us.

It seemed like this might have been the first time the herd had seen a heron as well. I first noticed the heron when several of the herd had their ears perked up and were all looking at something. Then the herd would get too close and the heron would fly…scaring the herd. It would fly off a bit, land, and the would process would repeat. Here are a few of the dozens of photographs I took of this unique encounter. More sunflowers with the Onaqui to be posted soon.

Unfortunately I have to “downsize”  every photograph I post here so the quality is not great.  If I post full-sized images the page will take forever to load and Google will not be happy.

If you don’t see images click on my website title.

Rain in the West Desert

Although I have made several trips to the Onaqui wild horses this summer, this is the first one I have taken the time to post. I hope to post more in the upcoming weeks.  Been so busy working in the yard and helping a friend with his racecar.

We were hoping for rain and lightning, but got light rain and a lot of overcast. It took a while to find and get to the horses, so a lot of landscapes as a result.  Horses were high on the mountain and after a long hike we still didn’t get very close to the North herd. With all of the recent rain, they haven’t needed to use the watering holes as much as usual. Lots of overcast, virga and dark skies.

The South herd was high on the mountain in their area, but we could get much closer to them before it got too dark. Happy to say both herds are in great shape!

P.S.:  Thanks for all of your recent kind comments.  I don’t see comments until I get on my site to send images, so I apologize that it has taken me so long to approve and post those comments.

A Special Place In Hell

I have been sick to my stomach ever since I read about this in a post by a remarkable photographer, Jen Rogers.

Last week two wild horses were brutally shot and killed near Simpsons Springs.  Many of you will know one of them, the once colt, and now stallion, Jasper.  He was the beautiful mustang with one blue and one brown eye.  Ever since Ghost was rounded up, and the blonde, red-headed mare was rounded up by the BLM, (then she was returned to the range with an infection so bad that it resulted in her being euphonized by the BLM within hours of her release…) ever since that time Jasper became the horse I looked for every time I photographed the Onaqui.  Years ago, he was in the Cremello’s band that Ghost was “shadowing”.  You remember the Cremello, the stallion that was rounded up, and castrated by the BLM at the same time they rounded up Ghost…  Anyway, as you can see from these few pictures of Jasper he was a kind an loving colt that grew into a magnificent, valiant stallion.  He spent years watching over his little sister, the beautiful filly with two blue eyes seen in several of these pictures.

I can’t even begin to do justice in describing the lives of these two stallions.  For a remarkably beautiful tribute and story of these two Onaqui stallions written by Jen Rogers you can click here

Jen is one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet.  She fell in love with the Onaqui years ago, and moved to Utah just to photograph them.  She knows more about the Onaqui wild horses than any other person, period.  She also offers photography tours of the Onaqui.  You will learn more about the Onaqui in one afternoon with Jen than I have learned in 12 years of photographing them.  She personally and singlehandedly found homes for dozens and dozens of the Onaqui that were rounded up and put up for auction a few years ago.  She started her own non-profit (Red Birds Trust), adopted several Onaqui horses herself, and has offer a reward of $5,000 (in addition to others) for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for these two deaths.  For more information about the reward and additional information click here:  reward

I HOPE THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR THE PERSON OR PERSONS THAT SHOT AND KILLED JASPER AND ARSHAN. 

May they rest in peace.

Onaqui Wild Horses – Nov/Dec

I have had several visits to the Onaqui but haven’t gotten around to posting. Here are photos from a couple of recent visits. Lighting was very different between trips, horses very hard to find.

Photo Exhibit in Sandy City Hall

The Mayor of Sandy City was so kind to to a brief walk-through of my photo exhibit that is displayed at Sandy City Hall (3rd floor). It can be seen M-F 8am-5pm (closed holidays), the exhibit will be up through Christmas.

Here is a link to her video. https://fb.watch/gY0pK9EzuM/

I have been out to photograph the Onaqui several times this month, just haven’t had time to post the photos yet, but I am nearly ready. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Onaqui Stallion at Sunset

Prints On Display At Sandy City Hall

Hello friends and family. I was lucky enough to be selected to display my work on the 3rd floor of Sandy City Hall. It will be up through December. The address is 10000 S Centennial Parkway, Sandy UT.  Hours are M-F 8am-5pm.  For those of you in the area stop by and have a look. Here is what the display looks like…