Grouse, coyotes, a fire, and of course, WILD HORSES
An interesting day- because it is so dry and there is limited water in the Basin, we travel a lot to find horses. There are only a few waterholes with water (Oasis, Avocet, 126E, and Lake Draw- a little remains at Outhouse). We travel from waterhole to waterhole and sometimes we get lucky… and sometimes we sit and wait and no horses show up.
We got lucky at Avocet this morning
After lunch we started out and noticed smoke on the hills at the southwestern border of Sand Wash after a thunderstorm. We called Cindy from Wild Horse Warriors and she called 911. They take fires in this dry climate very seriously. It was mostly contained by night and likely form lightning during summer storms.
We also saw a coyote and some Greater Sage Grouse today as well.
Today was our annual Mustang Walkabout Meet & Shoot. This is a totally free workshop where we take people around the Basin and photograph horses. This year we had some old friends for the Workshop. Carin and Rachel came for their fourth year, Michael, Debra, and Dawn also attended. We were blessed to have Cindy & Aletha from the Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin along as well. The Wild Horse Warriors and Sand Wash Advocate Team (SWAT) are the caretakers of the horses and the land they live upon. They monitor the herds, work on improving water sources, administer PZP (contraception), and work with the Bureau of Land Management – and a whole lot more. Please visit their respective Facebook pages to follow their wonderful work.
Additionally, Cindy runs tours of Sand Wash Basin, so if you’re looking to find horses at Sand Wash Basin for the first time, she is an amazing resource. The tours fall within the Wild Horse Warriors not-for-profit, so the tour fees go back to helping the horses. Cindy is the only tour guide permitted to run tours at Sand Wash Basin. Please check out her webpage.
Cindy not only runs amazing tours, she is very knowledgeable about geology and Sand Wash Basin. She found a partially knapped Native American Ute arrowhead, which we respectfully placed back where we found it. The stone is chert, other stones used for arrowheads are flint and obsidian.
An equine traffic jam on the way back to camp.
The girls had a wonderful day looking for wild horses. A fire was noted and reported. A concern with thunderstorms is lightning ,which can cause fires in this arid environment. Horses on the hillFeeling as though we are on top of the world at 7,000 feet elevation Some bachelors having fun. They were close to the road, so we stayed in our cars.
Karen and I always wanted to know what horses do at night. so we got a toy- night vision binoculars that allow photos to be taken. May I say how COOL they are??? Here are some photos -some taken near dusk and the others at night. We found out horses do exactly the same thing at night, as they do during the day. Eat. Sleep. Drink water. Though less movement. The clock in the night-vision photos is earlier by one hour.
Beats Wars at duskBears Ears at night Our camper at duskOut camper at night Meredith using the night vision binocsKaren amusing the night vision binocsSheep shed on 126 at nightThree horses in front of the Bears Ears at nightSmall herd- two dark horses, one grey with a small dark foalA real goodnight from the Basin!
Life is ironic. In the last post I mentioned that stallions don’t often make contact during their sparring. Yesterday, Karen and I came across a band (Eclipse) and there were two stallions actively engaging. A grey named Diablo, and a grullo named Kekoa. Diablo spent most of yesterday chasing Kekoa -we saw them in the morning back on 48. In the late afternoon, we returned to the Oasis waterhole where we saw Kekoa, Diablo, & Eclipse’s band. Kekoa was covered in blood, but appeared to be sound.
Kekoa did not appear lame, and the wounds seem to be primarily superficial. There’s a lot of sharp rocks, which could cause small lacerations. Additionally, teeth and hooves can be quite lethal. After they left the waterhole, we found blood spatters and some hair.
The band returned and we watched Diablo chase Kekoa. Kekoa may have lost a mare to Eclipse/Diablo, or there was a mare coming into season, or reasons we will never understand. He was tenacious in following the band (the expression persistently following is called ‘dogging’).
They nearly ran me over, I took some hasty photos as Kekoa passed right in front of the truck.
Photos of my Canon camera screen
We also saw a brand new foal in Rocket’s band. Rosie delivered a lovely chestnut foal; we gave naming rights to my son Ben and his girlfriend Priscilla. Meet ‘Tequila’.
Karen’s sketch of Eclipse’s bandGoodnight from Sand Wash Basin
A perfectly normal Sand Wash Day. A bit windy, but we saw a lot of horses and one snake (non-venomous Carin & Mike). The weather was lovely, albeit windy. L
War Horse (Bay Tobiano) and Meteor (Palomino Frame Overo) and two mares. Karen is ready for horsesMeredith is ready as wellAnya keeps watch for wild horses Two bachelors at Avocet Pond White pizza for lunch! Mmmmmmmm!
Most often stallions simply posture and there is no fight. They sniff, they squeal, they strike, and sometimes rear. Rarely does it end in actual contact We saw two stallions have a minor disagreement.
From an evolutionary standpoint, if every fight was potentially lethal, stallions wouldn’t be around to pass their genes on to the next generation. How aggressive stallions behave is dependent upon whether any mares in the vicinity are in estrus. A mare who has recently delivered a foal will typically go into a ‘foal-heat’ 2-3 weeks following the delivery. This is a treacherous time for the mare and her very young foal. Stallions are not particularly gentle during copulation, and foals have been severely injured, sometimes mortally (though this is rare).
Stallions spar Through the wind shield picClassic chunky monkey quarter horse type (liver chestnut stallion).
Koko declared a moderately windy day with a ‘single ear warning’ in effect most of the day.
A garter snake (snek). My husband is a herpetologist and was naturally excited to help us ID this harmless snake from New York
We ended the evening at Oasis- one of the more plentiful waterholes. It was lovely to shoot in the soft warm light.
Karen and Cindy shoot across from me Karen got some wonderful video today which we will share later
The weather tends to be dry and hot most of the time during the summer in Sand Wash. The winds can be incredibly forceful, but most of the time it is hot and dry. We watch the skies carefully. The weather changes rapidly, and without warning; we check the radar frequently.
Today dawned clear and bright blue. As the day progressed, it became more and more clouded. First happy little cumulus clouds formed ,which progressed to taller, darker, and angrier looking cumulonimbus clouds. Soon we began to see rain falling over distant areas. Looking East, the sky is blue and fair weather cloud float by. Look west, and it looks like meteorological Armageddon is forming.
Ominous skies to the north
At one point we saw clouds rotating in the distance and a small funnel appeared to form beneath the spinning clouds. I’ve been through one tornado, it’s an experience I prefer never to repeat. Thankfully, nothing else happened (aside from ferocious winds, lightning, pelting rain, and thunder).
Yikes!!!
We stayed in after a brief trip this morning to the solar pump (provides water for the horses) to assist Cindy from the Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin. She kindly asked us transfer the pump from generator to solar- in spite of the storms, there was a lot of strong sunshine. After that we came back to camp. I spent some much needed time on patient charts and Karen did chores around camp. We did manage to make some yummy Red Lobster biscuits in the GoSun Solar Cooker before the rain clouds rolled in.
Mmmmm biscuits!!!
We park the truck perpendicular to the wind which acts as a wind break. We are camped in a small valley which can either block the wind, or funnel it into a powerful force as it did today.
Koko, the blind pug makes for an excellent weather vane. One ear is moderate winds, double-ears are gale force winds. Today, we had gale force winds as evidenced by Koko’s double-ear alert…
Double Ear alert!
Life is incredibly rugged in the Basin. You can never let your guard down, and never lose respect for the forces of Nature. It’s challenging enough to find horses, sometime hiking miles in extreme heat. Mother Nature provides even more challenges, but we have learned over the past decade to respect the forces and never, ever take anything for granted. The raw beauty, juxtaposed with the inherent dangers make the photographs we take in the Basin, all the more precious.
Beautiful rainbow over the BasinOur trailer Goodnight from the Basin
A beautiful sunny day in the Basin. The Weather Underground says no rain today, but we always keep an eye to the sky. Our breakfast is light, coffee and cream of wheat. We snack on fruit, salty foods, and turkey jerky and hydrate extensively.
French press coffeeSimple propane stove. We rarely cook outdoors because there fire restrictions are common.
Yesterday’s lunch
Yesterday’s lunch- pizza cooked in a. Solar cooker called a GoSunReal cinnamon buns cooked in the GoSun Chopped squash ready to be steamed with butter, garlic, and a dash of saltSome water to steam the veggiesInserting the vegetables into the GoSun Solar Cooker. They were delicious!!! Dinner is usually light and often reconstituted. Tonight repast is Pad Thai. Tomorrow is Ben’s favorite- Beef Stroganoff !
Horses!!!
We saw hundreds of horses today and got some amazing photos. Here are a few of our cell phone shots
Corona’s BandA stunning grey stallionDun stallion and the iconic Bears Ears – a useful landmark in the BasinA grey stallion against cumulonimbus clouds Two Mares : a grey, and a liver chestnut roan – her legs are red indicating her base coat is chestnut (in spite of her very dark mane and tail.)My favorite time of day for photography. The hour or two before dusk is called the golden hour. Some of the best photos are taken in this soft warm light. Beautiful bay roan stallion
Tomorrow we run to town for gas and ice. There’s a storm predicted for Tuesday, so we wanted to be prepared to hunker down and watch movies until the Basin dries out. The
We began our first full day in the Basin with cool temperatures and partly cloudy skies. We’ve been averaging 80-90°F (26.6- 32.2°C ) during the day, and as low as 48°F (8.8°F) at night..
We saw a lot of horses today. Water in the Basin is scarce, (although the rains have helped) and there are many smaller scattered bands.
The water sources are low and scattered; the most reliable is the Lake Draw- a manmade solar pump. We were there earlier today, but the horses had already dispersed for the morning. Wild horses water several times a day, often morning, midday, and late afternoon although bands can be found watering at different times . They also water at night. Karen set up some trail cams near water holes and we hope to capture some interesting photos of all wildlife visiting the waterholes.
Proud Members of the Mud Skipper Club
Karen and I were out photographing when it began to rain in the Basin.
Rain is very deceptive in Sand Wash… it may look clear in one area, but distance and topography change the perception. There is a fine powdery surface that turns very slick when it rains, and becomes mud that is incredibly slippery. Karen was driving and suddenly slid down the dirt road sideways. Karen is from Arizona where there isn’t a lot of snow, and so it was pretty terrifying for both of us. There was a steep drop-off on one side, and some rough terrain on the other. We managed to extricate ourselves by shoveling dry earth in front of the tires, throwing the truck in 4L and shimmying our way back up the hill. I drove in upstate New York in what is known as the ‘snow belt’ and so I took the wheel and we managed to come back to our camp safely. The photos below show the thick talcum like mud that clings to everything!
Thick mud, impossible to remove Our shoes covered in clay-mudKaren’s shoe
We came back to camp and decided to stay at camp since the weather still looked a bit sketchy. We did a little laundry because we were a bit muddy. We used a gadget Scrubba-Washbag and used environmentally friendly soap. It takes about three bags of water to clean the small bag, but it is really nice to have clean clothes. We hang the clean clothes in the shower to dry, and in this arid environment, they dry quickly.
Repurposing the water from the wash… Mostly clean Crocs!
We still got some photography in…
I love this chestnut’s dark tail…
All in all a good day on the wild horse management range. We saw over a hundred horses, including one of our favorites, Cimarron. We did have a bit of a scare with the mud, and it served to remind us to never take these desolate and rugged lands for granted. We are now proud members of the ‘I got stuck in the mud at Sand Wash Basin’ which I nicknamed the Mudskippers.
Here’s a fun video of life on the wild horse ranges…
Because New York was so devastatingly affected by the pandemic in March and April, and because we are doing so well right now, Governor Cuomo has decided that travel from certain states requires a two week quarantine. I love my job and would be unhappy to have to take two weeks off when I return. So we rebooked my flight in and out of Denver and we will watch the metrics. Governor Cuomo stated that states with a rolling average of new cases above 10% are the ones requiring two-week quarantine. It has nothing to do with politics, only the statistics. The following link is the rolling average for states and it will be the guidance we follow for my return trip: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/individual-states/new-york
Our travel places us at limited risk, we are only out with the horses and getting gas. We have plenty of supplies, and refreshing our water does not place us at any risk of contact with other people. It’s the airports that are concerning regarding potential transmission. I will wear a mask & face shield/goggles at all times during the flight and if we have to change my departing flight location, we will.
As of now, we are planning on Sand Wash Basin in Colorado, and several horse management areas in southern Wyoming… we have a lot of freedom and we are excited to see some new horses. We will be posting live as often as possible, and upload video and photos of our adventures…
Getting ready continued…
I spent the better part of the morning clearing my memory cards for both cameras. Most of the cards are new, but I recycle a few each year. They are numbered and I use them sequentially. The cards are always with me, I carry them on the plane home as well. We back up to an external hard drive and I use Backblaze to backup to the Cloud.
When I am out shooting, I wear a vest similar to the one my son Ben is using (tall, tan young man in red). The vest has tons of zippered pockets and I keep the clear cards on the right side, and the used cards on the left side. I carry other items like camera batteries, sunscreen, my cell phone, water bottles, and other sundries. The vests look a bit dorky, but they are extremely useful.
Photo credit: Michael Cody Mack
Anya tries out her new booties
For safety, we have special booties for the girls Anya and Koko. Because Koko is blind, she won’t be walking around without being watched closely, but there are cacti and sharp rocks all over the place.
We think Anya looks fetching in her new Ultra Paws protective booties!
Anya poses in front of the Yeti cooler that keeps our perishable items cool.
Less than two weeks before we begin our adventures… We cannot wait!!!
How do we find horses? Find water, and you’ll find horses. Horses typically drink 10-12 gallons of water per day in the summer and so finding water sources is usually the best way to locate horses. There are times when horses prefer on waterhole over another; it doesn’t seem clear why one is preferable. On the range, we utilize GPS via an app called Gaia, which also has a desktop version. This year we finally consolidated over a decade of maps, waypoints, and other geological data.
For example, Sand Wash Basin is 157,730 acres, including 154,940 acres of public land, 1,960 acres of private land and 840 acres of state land. Great Desert Basin is 617, 030 acres total comprised of Onaqui Mountain: 205,394 acres and Cedar Mountain: 411,636 acres. These are enormous, rugged, and isolated areas; it is important to know where you are and to always keep an eye on the gas gauge. Utilizing Google Earth and transferring the KML (keyhole markup language) files to Gaia helps to keep us oriented.
Before our Mustang Walkabout, we spend hours reviewing Google Earth data and identifying and transferring the important landmarks such as the ‘Bears Ears’ or the Clay Cave at Sand Wash Basin.
The Bears Ears. A useful landmark at Sand Wash Basin, Colorado
These are some of our waypoints. We drop them near waterholes, geographical features, and structures.
Locating water on maps… It isn’t as easy to locate water on Google Earth in some of the management areas as one might think. The colour of water is a pale green to dark blue depending upon the horse management area. In the first image, there are two water holes. The second image enlarges and points out the waterholes at Sand Wash Basin. We have our own names for some of the waterholes because there is usually no one around to ask- Copper Pond is well known to most and named for the greenish hills behind the waterhole. Sunrise is our personal name for the waterhole opposite Copper Pond.
Two stallions spar on the hill above Copper Pond- note the the oxidized copper (pale green) on the hill.
Horse Trails:
This is a waterhole (we call it ‘the one with the reeds’) at Great Desert Basin. Note the stellate pattern of faint trails leading to the water (the pink line is the road/two-track leading up to the waterhole). These represent horse trails, trails that are used over and over and become part of the landscape. We often use these trails to locate water sources. At Great Desert Basin the waterholes are all manmade and are often quite green.
And sometimes we see wild horses on Google Earth photographs (blue arrows)
The waterhole called ‘the one with the reeds’ at Onaqui in the later afternoon
Waterholes at Night
Horses coming to two waterholes at night. We place trail cams up at several waterholes to capture video of horses during the day and night at every management area we visit. This trail cam is near Sheepherders at Sand Wash Basin, Colorado.
This waterhole is a manmade structure called the Solar Pump located at Lake Draw in Sand Wash Basin, Colorado
This year Karen and I will be going to only two horse management areas to reduce travel during the pandemic. We will spend a week at Sand Wash Basin in Colorado, and a week at Great Desert Basin in Utah. Ordinarily, we have two or three trips per year, but for safety, we decided on one summer trip. We are excited to spend a lot of time living on the range with the wild horses once again. The spring was stressful for the entire world as we battled an unseen enemy and mourned those we lost to Covid 19… I worked on the frontline of medicine in one of the hardest hit spots, New York City. Karen tirelessly sewed hundreds of cloth masks during the critical shortage of medical supplies. Equus ferus- Wild Horse Photography donated bolts of cloth for the masks.
Anya & Koko This year we have two very special guests on the Mustang Walkabout. Anya (12) and Koko (10) are rescued pugs from Arizona Pug Life Rescue. Koko is blind and wears a halo from Muffin’s Halos when she is in unfamiliar territory to prevent her from walking into things. Anya will wear Doggles for trips through the sagebrush to protect her eyes. Both dogs will wear protective paw booties to guard against cactus and painful burrs of the Bur-grass plant (Cenchrus echinatus)... I bring hemostats (fancy medical tweezers) to remove the burrs from our shoes & socks, and we hope the booties will protect Anya & Koko from painful thorns and burrs.
Supplies: Camera
Labeling the memory cards. I use the larger 64 GB cards first, then the 32GB cards. We often buy new cards halfway through the Walkabout as we travel from one management area to another… Next weekend, I’ll be getting the photography equipment ready.
Solarcooker
This year we are trying out a new concept: the solar cooker. Karen has been making many of her meals in the two cookers and they have come out delicious! Pictured at two cheese enchiladas and one mushroom meal…. Mmmmmmmmm. We will eat like royalty!
Canine Air Conditioning (‘Swamp Cooler’)
Because pugs are prone to overheating, Karen purchased a swamp cooler. Based on the principle of evaporative cooling, this little gadget will keep Anya and Koko in air conditioned comfort while we photograph wild horses. We also have a small raised bed (made by Karen) for the dogs, so they won’t have to lie on the hot earth… can you say spoiled?
Solar generator
This generator will be a first for us. We treasure the sounds of nature at night and prefer to not have the noise of a gas-powered generator intrude upon our solitude. This silent generator will be useful to charge small electronics, a small fridge, ice-maker ( I am really excited for that), our phones, and other devices…
