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.
Tag Archives: wild mustangs
HOT Trip To Onaqui In July
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
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.
Winter Wonderland – Onaqui Wild Horses
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
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
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.
Rain in the West Desert
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.
A Special Place In Hell
I have been sick to my stomach ever since I read about this in a post by a remarkable photographer, Jen Rogers.
Last week two wild horses were brutally shot and killed near Simpsons Springs. Many of you will know one of them, the once colt, and now stallion, Jasper. He was the beautiful mustang with one blue and one brown eye. Ever since Ghost was rounded up, and the blonde, red-headed mare was rounded up by the BLM, (then she was returned to the range with an infection so bad that it resulted in her being euphonized by the BLM within hours of her release…) ever since that time Jasper became the horse I looked for every time I photographed the Onaqui. Years ago, he was in the Cremello’s band that Ghost was “shadowing”. You remember the Cremello, the stallion that was rounded up, and castrated by the BLM at the same time they rounded up Ghost… Anyway, as you can see from these few pictures of Jasper he was a kind an loving colt that grew into a magnificent, valiant stallion. He spent years watching over his little sister, the beautiful filly with two blue eyes seen in several of these pictures.
I can’t even begin to do justice in describing the lives of these two stallions. For a remarkably beautiful tribute and story of these two Onaqui stallions written by Jen Rogers you can click here
Jen is one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet. She fell in love with the Onaqui years ago, and moved to Utah just to photograph them. She knows more about the Onaqui wild horses than any other person, period. She also offers photography tours of the Onaqui. You will learn more about the Onaqui in one afternoon with Jen than I have learned in 12 years of photographing them. She personally and singlehandedly found homes for dozens and dozens of the Onaqui that were rounded up and put up for auction a few years ago. She started her own non-profit (Red Birds Trust), adopted several Onaqui horses herself, and has offer a reward of $5,000 (in addition to others) for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for these two deaths. For more information about the reward and additional information click here: reward
I HOPE THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR THE PERSON OR PERSONS THAT SHOT AND KILLED JASPER AND ARSHAN.
May they rest in peace.
Onaqui Wild Horses – July
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!
Pryor Mountain Mustangs July Visit
If you have watched the documentary “Cloud – Wild Stallion of the Rockies” on PBS/Nature (by Ginger Kathrens), this is her herd. Cloud’s offspring and siblings are in this herd today. The horses are also the reason Ginger started “The Cloud Foundation“, one of the most important and successful wild horse advocacy groups ever.
It took two attempts but I eventually made it back up to photograph the Pryor Mustangs. What an experience! The wildflowers were ridiculously beautiful. The weather was great. It was around 68 degrees in the day and cooler at night. These wild horses are indeed beautiful and easy to fall in love with! If you decide to go, be sure to check in with The Pryor Mountain Mustang Center in Lovell, WY. These folks are great. They will tell you exactly where the horses are and the best way to get there! PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THE ROADS WITHOUR REALLY GOOD TIRES! The roads are absolutely brutal. The Pryor Mountain Mustang Center does tours for a fee and it will sure save you a lot of grief unless your vehicle is up to the task of getting to the top of the mountain.
I have never taken so many photographs in a trip, and these are the result of going through less than half of my photographs. The horses are magnificent and in great health. As you can see, there is a bit of snow left, and the horses enjoy standing in the snow to cool off and perhaps get some relief from the bugs. I hope to get up to visit this herd once more before winter.
It has been a couple of weeks since I was there and I hope to finish processing my photographs later this week, then I will post the balance of my images…
