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….
I was very lucky to be contacted by a gifted writer who wanted to write an article about myself and the Onaqui wild horses. Linnea Lundgren is that writer and her article was published in the Sandy Journal yesterday. Here is a link to that article. https://www.sandyjournal.com/2019/05/29/200691/for-the-love-of-wild-horses-a-photographer-s-story
Thank you again Linnea
I had the privilege of taking some students from the Salt Lake Center for Science & Education (SLCSES) out to see the Onaqui Herd. This was in conjunction with the “Youth Edification Equine Human Association and Alliance” (YEEHAAA). It has been raining constantly this spring and I have never seen so much rain! The difficulty that presents is that the herd is not using the watering holes so they can be difficult to locate and even more difficult to get to if they are off the main roads. The side roads are almost impassable. We did luck out (I had gone out the night before to locate the herd) and found the herd where they located the previous evening very close to the road. I believe the students appreciated this magnificent national treasure we are lucky enough to have in our “back-yard”. We were able to walk to the horses and they seemed to have a good time interacting with these wonderful animals. We only had about 1 1/2 hours to be with the horses in order to get the students back to the school by 3:30. We ran into a very nice group of folks from Salt Lake that brought a relative that lives in England to see this wonderful herd of wild horses! I only with the BLM could realize how devastating it will be for future visitors if they remove 80% of the herd. HOW SENSELESS!!!! The stallions seem especially aggressive this spring. Lots of fights!!!
Here are more color photography from our trip to the West Desert in late May. The herd looked great, a lot of new foals.
In this post of my wild horse photography you will see a series of photographs I shot a few weeks ago in Utah’s west desert. In this series a roan stallion spots a black stallion that is “courting” his mare. The chase is on. When the roan finally catches the black stallion he almost takes the black stallion to the ground. Then the black stallion gets his moment when he is able to pull off a solid kick to the throat of the roan. This herd of wild horses along the old Pony Express trail near Dugway, Utah is such a treasure. My biggest concern is how quickly they are growing in number. I don’t believe the BLM has had a roundup of this herd for several years. There must be near twenty new foals from this year! I hope they can find an alternative to rounding up many of the herd and carting them off to huge pens in the mid-west. I have seen the effects on those left behind and it is not a pretty thing. Stallions that lost their mares and family band are never the same. The BLM is certainly facing a difficult management task and I hope reasonable compromises can be found.
Herd of sheep grazing on BLM range in Utah’s west desert.
This is a photograph I took of a herd of sheep in April 2017. The Onaqui herd of wild horses are frequently seen in this spot and in the hills just above the sheep. I still did not capture all of the sheep that were in this valley. Two huge white sheepdogs were at my car door and I was unable to get out of the car to photograph all of the sheep. By comparison, I would guess the total number of horses in the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) is less than 180 right now.
If you click on the photograph it will take you to a larger panoramic video to get a better appreciation of how many sheep are in the photograph.
Every time to get out to photograph this herd of wild horses I am inspired by them. I wish I had the time to photograph these magnificent creatures every day.
On this trip it was as cold as I have seen it in Utah’s West Desert. It was 13 degrees just after sunset. The lighting was amazing! We were lucky enough to spot the herd (it was HUGE) many miles from the main road. The lighting was good when we got there but became better and better the later it got. Another amazing opportunity to spend time with them….
Here are some photographs I took this spring when the Utah Desert was as colorful as I have ever seen it. The Onaqui herd seemed to be in great shape, with foals just starting to be born. To see the desert now, you would never believe it was this colorful. The plant that is such a brilliant orange is called Globe Mallow or desert mallow. It is native to Utah.
