Tag Archives: wild mustangs

Capturing Sunset Moments with the North Herd

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After a few hours of shooting the North herd we headed South to photograph them.  Perfect timing, they were on their way to the watering hole.  After spending an hour or so with them we decided to head back to the North herd for a sunset shoot.

Unfortunately the horses were miles from the nearest road.  We were considering just going home. but decied to position ourselves with the herd between us and the sun as it was going down.  Even better, the herd headed our direction!  It was a wonderful evening and the herd decided to travel right to us on the road!  I haven’t even processed the “pre-sunset” images, but here are those I took during sunset and shortly after.

 

Wild Mustang taking a dirt bath

Capturing Wild Horses: A Photographer’s Adventure

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Early last week I had a last minute appointment cancel, so I decided to make a quick trip out to photograph the wild ones.  Boy I’m glad I did!  It took me several days to finally process all of the photographs I took.  I have more “keepers” in this photo shoot than ever before.  It was very difficult to narrow them down to the 64 images I have included!  Early in the afternoon there was a lot of fighting and chasing.  Then the afternoon clouds were fantastic.  Then toward evening the horses were headed to water.  I usually get there in advance and photograph them coming in to water.  There was already a large crowd of photographers (a large tour group) at the watering hole and there was no way I was going to add mores stress to the horses.  I found a nice hill that some of the bands were coming over.  The images with spectacular light on Davis Mountain were great!  Then, near sunset I drove to where the horses were returning to the range to feed and got some amazing photographs of the horses dustin off in the golden sun!  Best shoot in a very long time.  Thank you Onaqui!!!

Winter Photographs of Onaqui Wild Horses

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Some of the recent photographs of the Onaqui and the West Desert of Utah in the winter. The horses seem to be doing just fine in spite of the fact that the BLM wasn’t able to keep water in the sheep-trough all fall! This herd is amazing!

Onaqui Wild Horses – Late July

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Another great visit to the Onaqui wild horses in Utah’s West Desert. Found both herds and despite the near 100 degrees temps we had a great shoot, especially when the North herd left the watering hole to graze. Can’t wait to get back out there soon.

two wild horse mustangs in a huge fight

HOT Trip To Onaqui In July

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It has been almost too hot to visit the Onaqui these past few weeks. We decided to forego the heat and headed out to visit the herd. Luckily we found the North herd watering at the Sheep Trough. We photographed them for a while and then headed to find the South herd and to cool off in the air-conditioned vehicle. We spotted them on their way to water at Simpson Springs. We got to Simpson Springs just ahead of them coming in. It was a great sight, but using a long lens really amplified the “heat waves” destroying any sharp images.

The herd soon left Simpson Springs and we then drove back to the North Herd. Unfortunately they were now grazing where not roads were close so we called it a day and headed back home. Overall a good but short trip. The Onaqui never disappoint.

Onaqui Wild Horses – 27 June

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Wow! What a trip to photograph the Onaqui herd. The skies were fantastic all day long, lighting was just perfect. Even ran into an old friend (human, not horse). One of the best trips of the year. Apologies in advance for all of the images, just couldn’t thin them out any more.

The HUGE bitemark image is a photograph of Genesis.  He is part of Moondrinkers band.  In fact, Genesis is the son of Moondrinker and it was Moondrinker that bit all the way through his hide.  Moondrinker had Genesis by the hide and pushed his son for nearly 30 yards running at full steam through a small ravine!  I wish I had better images of the actual fight, but those images didn’t make the cut.  Both of them drew blood!

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Winter Wonderland – Onaqui Wild Horses

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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

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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

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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.

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Rain in the West Desert

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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.