I had several fantastic trips to the Onaqui Wild horses in late August and early September with two great photographers and fellow horse lovers. These photographers usually photograph the Salt River Herd, but wanted to see the Onaqui herd before it was reduced by 80%. I hope they had a good time, they seemed to really enjoy the Onaqui Herd and the intimate photographs you can shoot of this herd. This post is one of the three days I spent with them. I will add the other two days in the future.
It looks like the BLM is delaying the roundup of the Onaqui Herd till 2019. I hope it gives us enough time to convince the BLM that rounding up 80% of the herd and putting them in pens for the rest of their lives is not the answer!
Here are images from my last visit to the herd. All horses were healthy, well-fed and well-watered. The vast majority of the the herd was on the North range (close to Dugway). There is only one active watering hole in this area and it was a wonderful site to see over 300 horses coming into the water. Not the greatest lighting, but a wonderful sight. As you can see, plenty of photographers visiting the herd as well. We went to the South range and were able to get a few pictures but returned to the North herd for sunset. Another magnificent visit to this magnificent herd.
I have been working on this photographic ebook for some time. I finally think I have all of the bugs worked out and it is ready for purchase. It contains over 50 pages and 70 high-resolution images of this magnificent herd of wild horses located it Utah’s West Desert. I have attached previews of some of the pages. The ebook comes in PDF format and can be viewed on computers, tablets smartphones etc. THE COST OF THE EBOOK IS $9.99  Buy Now
You will be directed to the download page immediately after purchase. If you have any problems with the download etc, please email me. All payments are done securely through PayPal. I do not have access to any credit card information. You do NOT need a PayPal account to purchase this ebook. Just click on “Guest Payment” once you are on PayPal’s secure site.
If you purchase the ebook and are unhappy with it for any reason, I will refund your payment. Please report any bugs or suggestions.
THIS IS A PREVIEW (LOW-RESOLUTION) OF A FEW OF THE 50 PAGES OF THIS EBOOK ON THE ONAQUI WILD HORSES
So far behind in posting recent trips to the Onaqui Herd. The BLM will likely be rounding up the herd soon, so I am trying to document the herd as often as I can.
Taking this photograph was one of the most amazing experiences I have had while photographing.  It was a sight I will never forget. The entire Onaqui herd came together at the Simpson Springs watering hole. I refer to this as the “North” herd. There is another group of horses (about the same in number), that is a few miles South of this location. The two herds rarely come together.
After they had all watered, they were just meandering west of the water grazing. I followed them for a while, but they were getting a long way away from the car, so I headed back. A few minutes later I noticed the ENTIRE HERD on the run! They weren’t on their way to water, they weren’t frightened, THEY WERE SIMPLY ON THE RUN BECAUSE THEY COULD. THEY CLEARLY ENJOYED IT! A sight I will likely never see again. Hundreds of wild horses on the run just because they wanted to run!!! It really was a special moment. Few people could really appreciate this moment, but I was truly blessed to have been there. By next month most of them will be rounded up and sent off to pens to die… SHAME ON THE BLM. As they round up thousands of horses this year a sight like this one will likely never again be repeated. I wish I had thought to capture this moment on video, but I was so caught up in the moment it did not occur to me. What a shame…
I had the privilege of visiting the Cedar Mountain herd of wild horses in Skull Valley. The Cedar Mountain herd has been rounded up much more regularly than the Onaqui Herd and they are VERY SPOOKY when it comes to interacting with humans. We found them at one of their watering holes. The BLM has water trucked into this location, there are little if any natural springs in the area (unlike the Onaqui Herd Management Area). We slowly came around a bend in the road and spotted the herd watering about 1/4 mile from our location. Even at that distance we could see that they had spotted us and were “on edge”. The herd is apparently even more spooked by vehicles so we got out and started to walk slowly to get closer. We were watched constantly by the herd. We would stop and photograph them for several minutes hoping that they would become a little more accustomed to our presence. We didn’t want to get too close too soon if all of the horses had not watered. We were about 200 yards from them when they decided they didn’t want us any closer. The entire herd moved slowly up away, into a draw. We did spot another group several miles from this herd, but terrain didn’t allow us to get any closer than a mile. Notice the beautiful markings on several of the pinto’s. You will also notice that the mares carry a different BLM brand than the Onaqui herd.
What a great trip we had in late May. The stallions were very aggressive defending their harems with the younger single stallions trying to entice the mares away. Lots of new beautiful foals and lots of great opportunities. The herd was again split into two locations. One to the North closer to Dugway on the other herd that is almost always South and West of Simpson springs. Everyone seems healthy and happy. Little do they know that they will soon be rounded up by the BLM and most of them trucked off to pens in the Midwest… It will truly devastating to the herd and it’s dynamic and also to those of us who love the herd. There has to be a better way to manage this magnificent treasure that we are lucky to have here in Utah… Next time we visit I hope to find the beautiful foal with one blue and one brown eye.
We were lucky enough to find both herds on this trip (one to the North and the other South of Simpson Springs). The fighting between stallions was much more prevalent than the last time we photographed the herd in April. The 2,000 head of cattle that winter on the Onaqui HMA were about to be rustled up and hauled to their summer range (it’s funny how the HMA can support 2,000 head of cattle and 2,500 head of sheep each winter but according to the BLM there is not enough range and water for 300 horses….). If you are planning a trip to Utah’s West Desert to see this magnificent herd, I suggest you go soon. The BLM is planning to gather at least 1/2 of the herd and transport them to pens in the Mid-West where they will live the rest of their lives in captivity.
One more post and I will be up-to-date. Enjoy…
Just haven’t had time to get these up. Now I am at least 2 trips behind in my posting of photographs.
I finally found some time this weekend to finish processing the last photo shoot I had with the Onaqui Herd of wild horses. It’s amazing how well-known the herd is. I ran into a photographer from Minnesota that tries to get out and photograph the herd when they come to Utah for skiing every year.
This years foals are just starting to be born. Several of the mares were really big. Glad to have found the majority of the herd, the last few times it has been difficult to find them. There were a lot of cows in the area. Grazing permits seem to take priority over the wild horses. We guessed there to be over 1,000 head of cattle on the Onaqui Herm Management Area. The BLM also grazes about 2,500 sheep in the HMA every year…..but the herd will be cut in half this fall by the BLM because there isn’t enough resources for that many horses. To give you an idea how big the HMA is, it would cover the Wasatch Front from North Salt Lake, to Orem; and from the Wasatch mountains to the Oquirrh mountains…
