Tag Archives: photographs of wild horses

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!

If you don’t see images on your cellphone, click on title.

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.

If you don’t see images click on my website title.

Pryor Mountain Horses – 2nd Batch

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Finally getting around to processing and posting this second batch of images from my Pryor Mountain trip.  I have never taken so many photographs, but I’m glad I did.  It just takes so long to sort through many thousands images.

I know there are too many photographs, but I use this site to document the horses I photograph, so I apologize in advance for all of the pictures. As you can see, the Pryor Wild horses live in a magnificent area. The surrounding terrain is nothing short of breath-taking. Enjoy!

Onaqui Wild Horses – July

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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!

Onaqui wild mustang after roundup

Onaqui Wild Horses – Post Roundup

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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…..

Onaqui Wild Horses – March 24, 2021

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It seems like it has been a long time since I have visited the Onaqui Herd. Finally made it out a few weeks ago. These mustangs must spend the entire winter eating in order to keep their weight up, and that is seen in these pictures! They ALWAYS have their heads down feeding! As you can see, the good news is that they all look GREAT! None of the horses look stressed at all, and the only one that seems a bit “skinny” is the Old Man. We were so happy to have found him! He was nowhere near either the North or the South herd. Roaming near Davis mountain by himself…

There is a red mare that has a new foal that had a syringe in her right rear leg.  She was in pain, but was eating fine.  I photographer her about 10 days later and the syringe was gone and she was just fine!

As you have probably heard, the Onaqui herd is scheduled for a “gathering” (another word for “unnecessary brutal roundup”) in late July. They are planning to round up approximately 350 of the 500 wild horses in the Onaqui herd. Few, if any will be adopted so they will be processed and sent on to pens in the midwest to live out the remainder of their lives in captivity. The Bureau of Land Management will then have to use the bulk of their budget to feed these horses. Makes great sense, right?

More images coming soon, as I have since visited the herd once since this posting.

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.

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…