I have wanted to photograph the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses for a long time. The lead stallion was called “Cloud” and Ginger Kathrens, (founder of The Cloud Foundation) has produced many movies and written several books on these horses and Cloud in particular. Cloud has since passed, but these horses are magnificent and live in a spectacular area in Montana. In the winter they live in the red-rock lower areas. In the spring, they migrate to the beautiful wild-flower covered meadows surrounded by pine trees.
I was probably 3-4 weeks too early. The very rough 4-wheel drive road (Burnt Timber Road) was very rugged. I nearly made it to the upper meadows but unfortunately snow made the road impassable on this day. I don’t believe the horses had migrated up this far either, but I could be wrong. The horses I did find were in good shape if not a bit skinny. They are smaller than the Onaqui mustangs.
Anyway, I was able to find and photograph over 20 horses in very different conditions than the Onaqui. I hope to return soon to get to the upper meadows and continue my interaction with these beautiful wild horses. I even found a few bighorn sheep as an added bonus!
I haven’t had a chance to post at least three trips to Onaqui. The latest trip was on April 28. So many photographs to process! But I did get a once-in-a-lifetime sequence I thought I would get posted. I believe the band stallion is Valentino (grey stallion). He is chasing another stallion, (the red one), at full-speed! The red stallion steps on a slick cow pie with his left front leg (image 25-27). His leg goes out from under him. He eventually hits the ground at full-speed. Notice that even while he is sliding, he is still trying to bite the grey stallion (image 57-62).
Unfortunately they eventually go behind other horses and I lose focus, but the red horse is still trying to fight (or defend himself) from the grey stallion. The red horse immediately got up and spent the rest of the afternoon taunting the gray band stallion. More images to come.
Finally made time to get back to photograph the Onaqui. I had been below freezing all week, so I was able to navigate the frozen roads unlike weeks ago in the mud. We found the herd that was usually on the South side of Davis mountain on the East of Davis. There were 100 horses in this group. After photographing for a couple of hours, we decided to try and find another group for the evening shoot. We spotted them North of the trough watering hole on the other side of the ravine. Luckily everything was frozen so we were able to cross. Great lighting! So many opportunities. Weather was 20degrees and windy but worth every frozen minute. The herd was in good health and great spirits. Lots of activity. As usual, a remarkable day with the Onaqui.
I spent a few days in Yellowstone trying to get good photographs of wolves and other wildlife. I was very fortunate to be able to document a pair of wolves taking down a cow elk they had been chasing for hours. Several visitors asked where they could find my Yellowstone photographs. I only had cards to by utahwildhorses.com website so I told them they could see them there… Nature can be cruel and uncaring at times but after all, it is nature. I will not post the actual takedown of the cow elk here. I will post those photographs on my other site: www.ighphoto.com.
I have tried to add comments to the wolf photographs, I hope I can get them to display, the comments will try and describe what was going on in the photographs.
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….
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.
Finally made the time to photograph the Onaqui mustangs last week. I must say that it was one of the most “pleasant/surprising” trips we have ever made to the West Desert. The herd was not grazing in the “burn area” like it was on our previous trip. This is very surprising because that area has been fenced off for several years by the BLM after the fire there and they re-seeded the burn area. The BLM has allowed cattle to graze on this 38,000 acre burn area. One would assume that this area would be lush with vegetation. It appears that the horses prefer otherwise. They were located in the area North of Davis Mountain where they had plenty of feed.
When we first approached the herd the desert was surprisingly colorful. Lots of red/purple tumble weeds and lush new green growth. These colors made for great backgrounds. Then, it started to rain lightly. I’m not sure how/why, but the colors (or perhaps it was a change in the light) became beautifully saturated. The pastel colors were striking! We kept saying how unusual and beautiful the desert was. As I have said before, the West Desert never disappoints!
There are too many photographs in this post but I just couldn’t seem to cut them back any more. It really was unusual how striking the colors were. There are two “series” of images in this gallery. There are three close-up images of a horse grazing (images 2722-2724). The sheep/cattle ranchers claim that the wild horses destroy the foliage when they eat because they “pull the plants up by the roots”. I just happened to photograph how they really graze. You can see that the horse has cut the grasses off, not pulled the plant out by the roots. This leaves the grant to grow again, just like when we mow our lawns.
The second series of images are a young mare that was “frightened” by a tumbleweed rolling by (images 0281-0295).
I have been out to the Onaqui mustangs several times since the roundup but haven’t felt like posting images. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we have some horses to photograph but not being able to photograph some of my favorite families has been heart-breaking… Many of the released horses are pairing up in very small groups and remaining in the mountains. They feel safe from helicopters there. Over the years when Blackhawk helicopters from Dugway were flying low over the herd they would head straight to the mountains.
The good news is that there are horses to photograph. The bad news is that very few of the “families” that were together pre-roundup were released back. I am hoping that new family bonds will start to evolve, but the horses are so spread out that it might be hard for that to occur. It is difficult to try and rationalize how/why the BLM would to this to our magnificent wild horses. The BLM continues with their “emergency roundups” throughout the West. The wild horse populations will never be the same.
Anyway, here are some images of the remaining herd. I hope to post more in the future…..
The BLM gathered the last Onaqui wild horse on Sunday morning, July 18. 435 horses were ultimately jammed into semi-trucks and transported to Delta, UT or Sutherland, UT for processing. As stated on their website “all horses appear healthy” contrary to the stated reason for the gather was because their body weight was declining (an utter lie). Their plan is to return some 100 plus horses to the 500,000 acres that the Onaqui use.
I drove out Monday afternoon to see for myself hoping to find some of the horses they “intentionally” left. The trip was sickening. The beautiful landscape that had always given me great pleasure was now dead to me. I saw no beauty there without the horses. Every previous trip to the West Desert gave me the same feeling that I get when I drive into the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone and see hundreds and hundreds of bison peacefully grazing in that beautiful valley. This trip was not that. This trip was stomach-turning for me. I vacillated between tears, and distain toward the BLM for what they did to my herd. It has taken me a few days to process what I was feeling Monday, but I have finally figured it out… I was feeling ashamed. I was ashamed for what we humans allowed to happen to those magnificent wild horses and I was ashamed that I wasn’t able to stop the roundup. We took the very symbol of the American West and said to it, “our society no longer cares about you”. A very sad day for all Americans.
The images below were taken in the three or four days prior to the roundup. All horses shown in these photo’s were rounded up and taken off to be “processed”.
This is a very different post for me. In fact, it is a plea for help. The Onaqui Herd is scheduled to be “gathered” by the BLM in July. What this “nice term” used by the BLM means is that the BLM will send out helicopters to stampede the herd almost to their death, (in fact based in recent roundups, two foals will likely die during the roundup and one or two adult horses will have to be euphemized). They will then be forced into gathering pens, destroying tightly bonded families, castrate the mustangs, separate mothers from their sons and daughters, send over 400 horses to the Midwest to live the rest of their lives in pens (All this is of course at tax-payer expense. Last year 80% of the BLM’s budget went towards feeding the 50,000 horses already in pens). The BLM will then return 100 horses to our public land. All because the BLM refuses to do their job of managing these protected horses that live on our public lands.
Don’t believe the stories that there isn’t enough feed based on the current drought. The Onaqui herd has survived much worse. In fact, they are as healthy as I have ever seen them. At times they must travel 10-20 miles a day between feed and water, but they have done so for hundreds of years and they have never been on the verge of starvation in the nearly 10 years I have photographed them. You can believe the fact that the BLM has fenced off thousands and thousands of acres of rangeland that they only allow cattle to be grazed on.
Don’t believe the stories that there isn’t enough water for the horses. The Herd Management Area (HMA) has dozens and dozens of wells that they can simply “open the spigot” to allow the water to flow. Who do you think paid for those wells… taxpayers paid for those wells.
Don’t believe the stories that say the herd is too big. At the present time the herd actively uses nearly 500,000 acres each year to feed on. If the BLM had done what it was charged to do years ago, (slow herd growth by using PZP to temporarily manage birth by mares), the herd would already be less than 500 horses and easily managed by ongoing PZP.
I believed the BLM last year when they said they would not round up the Onaqui herd. They would only round up the horses on Dugway property and a few horses that were in the surrounding mountains. You can believe that they rounded up dozens of the Onaqui herd including my favorite stallion “the Ghost”.
I am asking for your help in preventing the gathering scheduled for this July. I doubt we can stop this roundup in spite of the fact that the Onaqui herd is probably the most photographed and visited herd in the country. In just my two most recent trips to the herd I met people from Alaska, Idaho, California, Arizona, Michigan, Wyoming and of course Utah.
Our only hope to prevent the roundup is to have our voices herd. Here is a link that allows you to sign a petition to Nada Culver, the delegated director of the BLM. If you do sign, I believe it will also allow you to go on and send a message to your Senators. Please take a few minutes in an attempt to save our Onaqui herd of wild horses… https://secure.everyaction.com/zOtzsdqHUUKMfAs7-S65rw2#
I have included a few photographs of just the last two outings to the Onaqui. The captions discuss how these photographs will likely never occur again.
This photograph shows three distinct family bands. The few horses that will be returned will be traumatized for years because of the loss of their family band.
Newborn foal enjoying life. He was running circles around his family band and trying to pick a fight with older foals. I doubt his behavior will be the same once he is in a pen for the remainder of his life.
These two foals spent a lot of time together the day I photographed them. These two would likely stay close as they grow up together. Once the roundup occurs I doubt they will ever see each other again.
I was thinking as I photographed this colt on the left, that based on how his actions that day, he was going to grow up to be a furious and beautiful stallion. I was looking forward to watching him in the upcoming years. Then I realized that after July I will likely never see him again.
Fights like this one are disputes over control of a cherished family band. With less than 100 horses remaining the behaviors that we now are privileged to see will likely never occur again.
