I am on a mission to photograph as many different wild horse herds across the United States that I possibly can. My original goal was to photograph all of the herds. I have revised that to be more realistic for me and now my goal is to have a good representation from every state. Colorado's wild horses at the Sand Wash Basin, just outside of Maybelle, were on my list and since we were just a 5 hour drive from Tooele, Utah (which served as home base for the Onaqui Mountain horses), we decided to take a quick trip. We arrived mid afternoon and drove one of the wild horse loops on the map. We saw some horses but they were hard to find. I knew my trip wasnt going to be very productive unless I could find someone to guide me for a day. At 11:00 that night I found Meg Frederick of Wild Horse Warriors and she agreed to tour me the next morning, meeting at 7:30AM. I would not have found as many different horses, and seen all the beautiful landscapes, if it werent for her! She showed me enough of the hotspots to keep me busy for the next 2 days! Sand Wash Basin really is a special place!
The landscapes at Sand Wash Basin are incredible. Though I consider myself a wildlife photographer my goal is to capture a gorgeous landscape in the same image. I am not just out looking for wild horses to photograph, I am looking for horses to photograph with a beautiful backdrop. Though that is my goal, I dont always find it and as such I photograph horses in action, band members grooming each other or playing together, and portraits. I take whatever they give me!
There was one area of one of the wild horse loops that I drove multiple times daily that had an outcropping of rocks in colors of mint green and burnt orange. These large slabs of rock created ridges that seemed to touch the clouds. Every time I drove past this area I would hope to find horses on it. On my last night I drove one final time to this area and to my surprise and great pleasure, there were horses! There were several actually running across the ridge. I couldnt have imagined it any better. But as is the case oftentimes, the shot I see that I want to get, may only be available to me for a few seconds to a few minutes. I drove quickly to get closer, pulled the jeep over to the side, jumped out and hiked toward them as fast as I could, stopping only long enough to get a couple of 'proof shots,' just in case the horses moved out of my sight. When I got close enough to get a few decent shots, I noticed the horses were moving in a direction that would put them out of my sight in a matter of a few minutes. The composition I was going for didnt transpire completely but I got a few shots that were pretty close it. Im always grateful to receive whatever image the wildies give me even if it's different than what I visualized.
I had the best time shooting until the last horse disappeared into the clouds. He lingered on top of that ridge for several minutes giving me a kind of encore. It was a tremendous experience!
FLO
The advocacy group that documents and monitors the horses at Sand Wash Basin allow naming rights to the person who is first to see and report a newborn. I was thrilled to learn that the newborn I was photographing was a new one, not seen before by human eyes. When I found out the baby was a filly I decided to name her Flo, after my mom who dies October 27. This was a special time for me, one I'll never forget!
Nothing beats a mud bath
