I just got tired of processing all of my Pryor Mustang photo’s and I was missing the Onaqui. Headed out a few days ago and photographed both the South and North Herd. I haven’t photographed the Onaqui for nearly a month! Not a lot of fantastic photographs but it was nice to see all of my favorite horses!
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…
Here are some additional photographs of the Onaqui Wild Horses that are more contemporary or as some might say, “fine art”. Some are just toned, some are modified in Photoshop. Comments appreciated.
Since hearing the devastating news that the BLM “ACCIDENTALLY” captured my absolutely favorite stallion (Ghost) and the stallion that he was trying to steal some of his mares (the Cremello whose mare has born colts with blue and blue/brown eyes), I have not been able to bring myself to photograph the Onaqui’s. The BLM refuses to return these two stallions to their herd! They had promised the public that they would not be rounding up any of the Onaqui herd that was not on Dugway land. So much for trusting the BLM…
After a business trip to Grand Junction, Colorado I drove the 2 1/2 hours to see the Sand Wash Basin herd of wild horses. The herd is located about 20 minutes northwest of Maybell, Colorado. I got to the the HMA just before sunset and miraculously found a small band to photograph just at sunset. They seemed very calm and allowed me to get quite close to photograph them. I wish I had taken them time to grab more than just my 500mm lens but the light was fading quickly and I really didn’t think they were going to be as friendly as the Onaqui herd.
I slept in my vehicle and got up before sunrise to hopefully find another band to photograph at the “magic hour”. Again, I was very fortunate to find another small band just before sunrise. The way the images downloaded was that the gallery shows the early morning photographs at the beginning and the evening photographs from the prior night at the end of the gallery. I drove most of the HMA and found at least 10 bands of between 5 and 8 horses in each band. Most of them were not close enough to easily walk to and I needed to return home as soon as possible. This is completely unlike the Onaqui herd where you almost always find over one hundred horses together, and family bands within that larger herd. The Sand Wash Basin wild horses were all beautiful and very healthy. I hope to be able to return and spend more time with them. I also hope to get up enough courage to photograph the Onaqui’s soon…
It was another great trip to the Onaqui with good friends and great company. Not as hot as a few weeks ago when it was 108 degrees. It was in the low 90’s today.
The North herd has moved near Simpson Springs and the South Herd is just a few miles South of them. FANTASTIC clouds and lighting, not much fighting. Great day for panorama’s. More to come from this shoot and one in late July.
Finally getting caught up on our latest trip to photograph the Onaqui herd. It is getting hot enough and dry enough that the herd(s) are now using the watering holes making them easier to find. A few rain showers, and a spectacular sunset to cap off another perfect day with the Onaqui mustangs, mares and foals.
I had another great trip to photograph the Onaqui Herd of wild horses in Utah’s West Desert. The “North herd” was near the “trough watering hole” and the South herd was South of Simpson Springs. It’s hard to have a bad day with this herd. The rainbow that was out for a short time was a welcome addition to another perfect afternoon.
Wow! What a sight. The entire North herd (approximately 250 horses take off on a full (single file) run after being immobilized for nearly an hour by a huge rainstorm. You could feel the earth tremble as they ran past. Then, they disappeared over the crest of the hill. We looked for nearly an hour before we spotted them coming over the crest of the nearby hill, into this beautiful valley! I could have watched them all night! (I guess we really did). Then the lightning started. I was lucky enough to catch the lightning with the horses in the foreground. And to top off the perfect evening, the “Old Man” came by for a visit. What a night….
On this trip to Utah’s West Desert I was specifically hoping to photograph this herd of wild horses while they were on the run with a long exposure time. Â The idea was to blur the background, lets etc., but having some part of the horse(s) sharp and in focus. Â It takes a lot of luck and timing to get an acceptable shot. Â I have not had a chance to process any of the “normal” photographs from this trip, only those that I liked with the “motion” effect. Â We had several other photographers on this shoot, and met a very nice gentleman from Midvale if I remember right. Â He knew each and every horse in the herd, knew when they were born, knew who was related to who. Â Very impressive! Â Another great evening that I will remember for a long time…
Wow! Â What a trip we had in late July to the Onaqui herd of wild horses in Utah’s West Desert. Â The herd was using the Simpson Springs watering hold on the Pony Express route. Â They had already left the water when we found them. Â After spending a couple of hours photographing them we left to find another herd to photograph at sunset. Â We did find the other herd, but they were nearly a mile form the road and we were quickly running out of light. Â There was a storm brewing, so we decided to “focus” (pun intended) on photographing the storm and hopefully some lightning. Â We were not disappointed! Â The lighting was once again remarkable. Â The panoramic photograph of the sunset was made by stitching 14 photographs into one. Â The panoramic photograph spanned over 180 degrees. Â The lightning was another rare opportunity. Â No rain and lots of lightning. Â What a fantastic trip…
