Tag Archives: equine photography

Sulphur & Onaqui Wild Horses

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I have always wanted to photograph the Sulphur Wild Horses Northwest of Milford, UT because many of these wild horses draw their bloodlines from the Colonial Spanish horse. (the first horses brought to America by Spanish explorers in the 1500’s according to the BLM website). These characteristics are the very characteristics that “the Ghost” had which are zebra stripes on the rear of the legs and a dark dorsal stripe down their back. I have always felt that Ghost was originally part of this herd and migrated up every few years to have his way with the Onaqui mares.

Well, just like many other herds, I found the Sulphur herd to be nearly impossible to photograph because they are so afraid of humans. I spotted about 25-30 horses from route 21 near the Pots-Sum-Pa turnoff. I took the turnoff and before I could even come to a stop the herd was on the run. (see the third photograph in this gallery)

Had a great sunset that evening and got up early the next day to try and find some less spooky horses.  Basically the same result.  Even with my 500mm lens I couldn’t get any decent photographs, (fourth and fifth photograph in this gallery).  Given the fact that the winds that night must have been near 35mph and not very pleasant in my little tent trailer, I packed up and moved to spend a few days with the Onaqui.

Between very warm temps, drifted snow, melting snow and a lot of mud, getting within 4 or 5 miles of the Onaqui didn’t seem likely.  I found the majority of the herd very high on Davis Mountain again, but it was impossible to get across the gully to get to the roads that were still miles from the horses.

I did find a small group of Onaqui on the East of Davis Mountain that was within a mile or two of the the main road.  I spent the morning with them and returned that afternoon.

On two separate occasions the herd became very frightened and stampeded for the mountains.  One, when a large, loud military airplane suddenly appeared over Davis Mountain, and that afternoon when a large cattle trailer drove down the Pony Express Road.  It was the same type of trailer that the Onaqui were put into when they were rounded up and driven to Delta, UT.  I have seen this happen when Blackhawk helicopters fly close by, but never with a large transport jet and never with a cattle trailer.  I wonder if/when the herd will ever get back to normal….

A New December Addition to the Onaqui Herd!!!

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It has been a very long time since I have updated my photographs of the magnificent Onaqui herd. I spent a full day with the Onaqui in early December. The herd seems to have split into two. I didn’t have time to look for the other herd but found this group high on the South side of Davis Mountain. It seems like they have changed their behavior since the roundup. The spent the entire day eating about as high as they can be. Then the headed for water very late, after sunset. The next morning they were already high on Davis Mountain again.

They did not seem spooked by me as I approached the herd, all seem to be in GREAT health! One of the special moments is to see a new member of the herd shortly after birth. I have never witnessed a birth but I have seen several foals within hours of their birth. What a rare privilege to find this beautiful new-born filly!!!! She was incredibly beautiful and very spunky and full-of-life! Running circles around mom whenever the steep terrain permitted. This birth (very late in the season), seems to bring me new hope for the Onaqui.

Several wild horse advocate groups are hoping to get Congress to pass laws preventing in-humane roundups in the future and put more effort (and millions less dollars), into alternative methods of managing herds. Let’s hope our support of these groups will bear fruit.

Onaqui Herd – Early Winter

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Headed out to photograph the Onaqui Herd hoping to get some nice storm clouds and forecasted lightning. No go for thunderstorms and lightning. I believe the North herd was in the valley North of Davis mountain. We decided to try and find the South herd. It took a lot of looking to finally find a portion of the South herd. We drove an drove, noticing a lot of stud piles but few horses. Finally, just before turning around we saw a small group miles in the distance. I had not seen the herd in this area before so it was new territory for me. We finally caught up to them about a mile due East of Slow Elk Wash. It was a remnant of the Cremello and Ghost’s family band. The Cremello’s son with one blue and one brown eye was in this band as was his younger sister with two blue eyes. We photographed them for nearly an hour perched on the hillside. There was a “watering hole” in the distance and when they started towards it we quickly drove to meet them there. Unfortunately the water was turned off. I have been told that it is the ranchers that control which watering holes get water not the BLM. The herd appeared to be waiting for us to turn the faucet on, which we could not do. We’re hoping that this weeks storms get them enough water where they are currently grazing. The closest water we saw was the watering hole South and East of Simpson Springs…

We drove back to the closest water and photographed a small family band kicking up a huge dust cloud on the way to water.

wild mustangs, wild horse photography, photograph of wild horses

Photographing Wild Horses in Utah’s West Desert – Late May

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I’m often asked if I ever get tired of photographing this herd of Wild Horses. The simple answer is N E V E R! Every trip is different. Different lighting, different foregrounds, different backgrounds, the horses have different attitudes. This trip was all about dark skies and rich lighting.

A few posts ago (the one with a lot of dust and wind) I felt that many of the photographs looked better in that very warm sepia tone. Another post a few weeks ago it didn’t feel like many of the photographs looked better in any form of black and white. On this trip to the Onaqui, even as I was taking some photographs, I said to myself, “this scene is meant to be in black and white”. I tried several of these scenes in the warm sepia tone but it just wasn’t what I saw in my mind’s eye. I saw dark, dramatic skies in a deep selenium tone. I hope you agree…

Onaqui wild horse 2020 foal

More Wild Horse Photographs for April – Lots of 2020 Foals

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Here is the final batch of photo’s from my April trip to photograph the Onaqui Herd of Wild Horses. Several spectacular new foals. I think I have a new favorite foal! Hope you enjoy!  I can’t wait to see what the foals that belong to the South herd look like!

%MCEPASTEBIN%

Photographs of Onaqui Herd April

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Had a short trip to the herd a few weeks ago. Found the North herd near the trough watering hole. What a sight! Horses everywhere. Lots of new foals (too many), but it was great to see them having such a great time. Went to find the South herd. Only a few horses on the flat, went up to the upper watering hole, nothing there. Then I noticed some movement a couple of miles south and East. There they were. Unfortunately not time to get there before sunset so I will have to plan on seeing them in a few weeks. This is only a small portion of my photographs. These wild horses are such a pleasure to photograph. More coming soon.

Photography of Swasey Wild Horse Herd – Near Delta, UT

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I was asked if I had any photographs of the Swasey Herd of Wild Horses near Delta, UT. Just the excuse I needed to make the two hour drive from Salt Lake. Rumor has it that the BLM will be rounding most of them up soon. Glad we were able to find them! They certainly are a different herd the Onaqui. Very spooky. They would not let us get anywhere near them, very different than the Onaqui. They also did not come together in a large herd. Only bands of 3-8 horses. Glad we had longer lenses!

Timing was also perfect to photograph the Snow Geese migration. Every spring between 10 and 20 thousand snow geese make a stop in Delta, UT on their annual migration to Canada. I have photographed them nearly every year for 5 or 6 years. This year did not disappoint.

Onaqui Wild Horse Herd – February

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As usual, the Onaqui herd never disappoints. We located several family bands just below Davis Mountain. The antelope (pronghorns) must be migrating back from their winter range because we saw a couple of herds that had nearly 50 antelope in them. Then we set out to find the rest of the “North” herd. We found them herd several miles North of Davis Mountain at the top of the foothills. We have seen the herd in this area once before. We named the valley “Dead Eagle Valley” for a dead eagle that we found there last spring. As some of the bands came into the valley we were able to position ourselves above them, and Simpson Buttes and the valley East of there is in the background. What a view! Several photographs in this post are panorama’s where I shoot 12-15 separate overlapping photographs in portrait mode and then stitch them together to form a panorama in Lightroom. Then we were able to hike to the opposite side of the valley and had the snow-covered Onaqui Mountains in the background! Wish we had lawn chairs with us, we could have spent the entire day there! We photographed them for several hours in that valley and then proceeded South and West to find the former Cremello band. We found them again near the main watering hole South and West of Simpson Springs. It looks like the black mustang has taken over the band once Ghost and the Cremello were captured, neutered and sold at auction by the BLM. No sign of the colt with one blue and one brown eye, but his mother and her two younger foals were there. I fear he was rounded up with Ghost and the Cremello. A sad thought to have as we left the herd and headed home…

Photos of Onaqui Wild Horses – Late January

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Wow, what an interesting day photographing the Onaqui herd. Started the day with light snow, clouds and frozen roads. Ended the day with mud and blue then pink skies! You have to love Utah’s West desert and this magnificent herd of wild horses. We found what appeared to be most of the North and South herds near Davis mountain. One or two miles of driving on the frozen 4 wheel drive roads and the photo shoot of this magnificent herd was on! Ended the day South if Simpson Springs and found what was the Cremello’s and Ghost’s band. The 3 year old colt with one blue and one brown eye was nowhere to be seen. I hope and pray he was not rounded up with his father the Cremello and Ghost.

Just too many photo’s. It was really hard to cull these down to a reasonable number of “keepers”.