Gallery - Wild Mustangs
Selected Photographs
Royalty (Salt Wells Creek, WY) Alone on a Wyoming ridge, the stallion pauses beneath a gathering storm. His dark coat, wet from the rain, catches the last traces of light against the sage-covered basin. For a moment, he stands like a monarch of the American West, surveying a realm earned through strength, endurance, and time.
The Contest (Sand Wash Basin, CO) As the evening light fades, dust rises from the sage of Sand Wash Basin as two stallions meet in a test of strength and resolve. Such encounters help establish rank within the herd, determining who will lead, breed, and defend the band. Though dramatic to witness, these contests are often less about violence than communication.
All Trails Lead to Water (Sand Wash Basin, CO) In the high desert, every trail has a purpose. Follow the paths worn into the sage by wild horses and they will almost always lead to water. More than a source of hydration, watering holes serve as gathering places where families meet, social bonds are reinforced, and the rhythms of life on the open range unfold day after day. Watching horses arrive from across the basin, it is hard not to recognize a pattern shared by many wild animals: survival depends not only on resources, but on community.
A Cooling Off Period (Sand Wash Basis, CO) By midday the watering hole becomes more than a source of drinking water. Horses splash, wade, and linger in the shallows, cooling themselves from the desert heat, the play seems almost instinctive as many repeat the same routine. Around water, practical needs and social life become difficult to separate.
The Modern Family (Sand Wash Basin, CO) A mare stands with her foal and another member of the band in Colorado's high desert of Sand Wash Basin. The horses of today's West often come from many different lineages, yet the family bonds they form remain remarkably strong. Watching them together, it becomes clear that these relationships are more than social connections; they are essential to the structure that enables the herd to survive and raise the next generation.
Echos in Time (Salt Wells Creek, WY) Two horses stand quietly on a Wyoming morning. Their calm presence and weathered features recall an earlier era, when horses were trusted companions on difficult journeys into an unknown land. Looking at them, it is easy to imagine the partnership between horse and human, a relationship that helped shape the American West.
The White Horse (Sand Wash Basin, CO) A near-white horse stands out against the bright spring sage of Sand Wash Basin. Its lineage is impossible to know with certainty among today's wild herds of the West. Yet the beauty of the animal and its connection to the landscape are unmistakable.