Wild horses couldn't drag me away.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Last edited Wed Jun 16, 2021, 09:34 AM - Edit history (2)

EDIT: I am deleting the first photo, because it has been suggested that the location could possibly be determined by the mountains in the background. Thanks!
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I had a real bucket list experience last week. I hope you can find it as breathtaking and amazing as I did.

I've known about this herd of wild horses in the California Mountains for a few years. It took me over a year to learn their location, and due to Covid, another year to finally get to see them in person. Please don't ask me where they are, because I won't reveal it. The last thing these beautiful creatures need is for a horde of Instagrammers to show up with their selfie sticks. We've all seen the incidents at places like Yosemite and Yellowstone. I do have mixed feelings posting them online myself, but I may delete them after a week or so.

I hope you enjoy them. I'll eventually be making prints available if anyone would like them. Also, I have about eight hundred more images to sort through.

Sincerely,

Ross

[secondwind]

1. These are outstanding photographs! Glorious!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

21. Thank you!

[tblue37]

2. Beautiful! Thanks. Big K&R. nt

[Grumpy Old Guy]

22. Thank you!

[Demovictory9]

3. wow

[Grumpy Old Guy]

23. Thank you!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Your post was certainly worth the wait! These are stunning and illuminating. Thank you! ♥

[Grumpy Old Guy]

24. Thank you dear Peggy!

[Diamond_Dog]

5. Gorgeous photos

Thank you so much for sharing these wild creatures with us

[Grumpy Old Guy]

25. Thank you!

I am excited to do it.

[dweller]

6. That all pale foal

is going to be a beauty

I hope you post more

✌🏻

[Grumpy Old Guy]

26. I agree about the foal.

They were all beautiful. I have pics of another foal that had very distinctive face markings. I'll try to post that one too.

[Srkdqltr]

7. The first pic with the mountains ... just wonderful

[Grumpy Old Guy]

27. Isn't it spectacular?

The backdrops were breathtaking. It was all part of the magic of the moment.

[MN2theMax]

8. Fabulous pics

Thank you for sharing. What beautiful, noble creatures!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

28. Thank you so much!

[TNNurse]

9. Wonderful photos, wise to not disclose details.

I live near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Saw today a bear was relocated because idiots were feeding it.

"A fed bear is a dead bear", I hope it is wrong in this case and he stays relocated.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

29. I know.

Remember the baby bison that some idiots threw in their car at Yellowstone? They drove it to the ranger station because they thought it was cold! Sadly, it had to be destroyed, because the herd rejected it after that. I've seen so many stupid people on Instagram and other social media "doing it for the gram." To be honest, I thought long and hard about whether I should even post these photos here. I decided it would be okay because the audience here is limited and more mature. Still, I may only leave them up for a short while.

[Hekate]

10. Stunning photos, especially the one of the snowy mountains. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

30. Thank you!

I wish I could post the location, but I just couldn't do it with a clean conscience.

[Hekate]

41. Absolutely. It's like concealing the location of the Bristlecone Pines...

There’s just too many yahoos on this planet.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

42. Or the petroglyphs in the volcanic plains.

Someone actually cut one of those out with a saw.

[leftieNanner]

11. Beautiful Ross. Thank you.

You can see that they are shedding off their winter coats. Makes me want to go get a curry comb and brush!

The two stallions fighting must have been quite a sight. It's very scary in person.

We stayed at a B&B in Nevada a number of years ago. It had horses and cattle on the property. One morning I saw 5 or 6 horses walking down the road and I called the office number to warn them that some of their horses had escaped. They laughed at me and told me that they were wild mustangs that frequently crossed their land.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

12. Those Nevada horses are on my bucket list too.

I'm aware of a herd in Southern Nevada that I would like to see someday as well.

[questionseverything]

15. I have always wanted to see the wild horses run

It is probably not in the cards for me so please keep posting photos

[Grumpy Old Guy]

31. I will post some more. Thank you so much.

[JohnnyRingo]

13. Some of them seem impossible to freeze in place.

Wondering how you did it is one thing that makes a great photo.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

32. Fast shutter speeds! :-)

I shoot wildlife at 1/2000th of a second, or faster if possible. Not only do they move fast, but I'm almost always using a very long lens, which magnifies small movements. Fortunately, I have a camera that can handle very high ISOs with very little noise.

[JohnnyRingo]

43. I didn't mean technically speaking.

I understand Fstops. I meant being in the right place at the right time to catch motion from the right angle and the exact second with the correct settings.

I'm always too late by the time I get my camera to my eye, or I'm focused on one thing while the once in a lifetime action occurs elsewhere. Story of my life and my photo skills.

I'll get a pic of just after that memorable kiss while the father of the bride does a face palm behind me, capturing neither.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

44. That is all true too.

If, like me, you are a holdover from the days of film, you remember shooting with 12, 24, or 36 shots per roll. I shot weddings with 120 and 220 film in the 70s. We had to make every shot count then. An important part of photography was always being in the right place at the right time.

I also directed live television for thirty five years. Most shows that I directed usually used four or five cameras. I wasn't allowed to miss the action very often. It would have meant the end of my career if I did. It was easy to get good coverage with that many cameras, however timing was something different altogether. I learned to anticipate events and be ready for them beforehand. We always had to be thinking two steps ahead. "What if" was always in the back of our minds. 😊

[Joinfortmill]

14. Wow, just wow

[Grumpy Old Guy]

33. Thank you so much.

[BobTheSubgenius]

16. Beautiful, just beautiful.

Also....a belated welcome to DU!

I don't know what prompted me to think of this, but I suspect this herd, and their herds of relatives are likely, if not THE most successful, among the most successful introduced species in the world.

So often, there are awful unintended, unexpected consequences, but they seem to have assimilated to the American West quite completely. They aren't displacing any native species, that I know of, and they certainly don't seem to be suffering themselves.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

35. I agree...

However, there is one species that can be their worst enemy. That, of course, would be humans. These animals have to deal with the occasional idiots, as well as the bureaucracy of the Federal Government. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that there are groups out there that do all they can to protect them from both.

[BobTheSubgenius]

45. The wild herds are such a visceral connection to The Old West, which seems to be America's

far and away favourite era. It would be a tragedy to see such an emotional link to Nature and to the past pass from the land.

[wendyb-NC]

17. Beautiful photographs

of these wonderful creatures. I'll bet it was exhilarating to be so close to them, and watch them interact with the land and each other.
Thank you for posting.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

36. You are absolutely correct.

It was a long time dream of mine to find them, and I wasn't disappointed. Exhilarating is exactly the correct word. There was a small band of horses, led by a stallion, that came over to me out of curiosity the second day I was there. It was terrifying and breathtaking all at the same time. I'll try to post some pics of that soon.

[FakeNoose]

18. Amazing and inspiring

Thanks for sharing these lovely photos.

I'm going to take a wild guess, and say your "favorite" is the one with the little foal running alongside his mother. Am I right?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

37. It's hard to pick a favorite,

However, that was indeed one of the first images that I processed.

[mjvpi]

19. Thank you. Touches the spirit. Is that your mane business?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

38. LOL! Yes, this could be my "mane" business!

[seta1950]

20. Wow

Beautiful photos, thank you.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

39. Thank you very much!

[Bayard]

34. What a great find!

Glad you can keep a secret. Gorgeous pics. Thanks for sharing!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

40. Thank you very much!

[AmBlue]

46. These images are stunning!!

Congratulations, and thank you for sharing!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

47. Thank you!

[Heartstrings]

48. Beautiful!

Thank you!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

49. Thank you! 😊😉

[Paladin]

50. Beautiful photos. Thanks for keeping the details private. (nt)

[Grumpy Old Guy]

54. Absolutely!

[KS Toronado]

51. They all appear well fed, that's great being wild horses.

Thanks for your time doing this Ross.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

55. Thank you!

There is plenty of pasture and water there for them.

[KT2000]

52. A huge thank you

These are wonderful pictures. In the 70's I took a train trip to Montana from Seattle. In the early morning I saw out the train window wild horses running together. To this day it remains one of my most cherished memories. They were so beautiful and all I could think of was - freedom.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

57. I can imagine.

I saw a herd of wild horses galloping in Monument Valley six years ago. It was breathtaking.

[sagetea]

53. So beautiful!

Thank you for not giving away their home address!

I grew up in Nv. there was a herd of wild horses we (sometimes) saw them when Pinyon`nut (pine nuts) gathering. For many years and lives of them beautiful beasts.

When the Lakota first saw horses they had to make up a word for them Shunkanwakan "Mystery (or Holy) Dog".

A`ho

sage

*edited for spelling

[Grumpy Old Guy]

56. Thank you! 😊

I wish I could have seen those horses you described.

There is another herd in Nevada about a days drive from this herd. I'd like to see them someday too.

Ross

[FuzzyRabbit]

58. Wonderful photos!

Thanks for showing them to us.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

59. Thank you! 😊

[mrsadm]

60. So beautiful, and mystical as well

Thank you so much, these are wonderful. I've loved horses all my life. So glad you got to see these amazing animals in person and get some wonderful pictures.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

61. Thank you! 😊

[Tess49]

62. I loved every one of these! They are stunning. Thanks for posting them!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

63. Thank you! 😊

[SunSeeker]

64. OMG So gorgeous! But you might want to delete the first shot with the mountain range.

That might identify the spot to some eagle-eyed observers out there.

There rest could have been shot anywhere, so please leave them.up. Absolutely stunning.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

65. Thanks, I thought about that.

You are absolutely correct. However, that is not a very famous mountain range. Few people have ever heard of it. I felt that anyone who recognized it would probably already know about the horses.

However, you are correct, and I may indeed delete that one shot.

Thanks again,

Ross

[nwliberalkiwi]

66. Been There

Have been there many times, and yes don't give the location!!!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

67. Isn't it wonderful?

I will not reveal the location.

[StarryNite]

68. They are beautiful!

Thank you for sharing your photos and for NOT sharing the location of this herd. Most people do not realize that America's wild horses and burros are in real danger of being wiped out by the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM (Bureau of Land Management).

[Grumpy Old Guy]

69. You are absolutely correct.

I've heard that from many sources lately. I think some of the larger herds may be facing more peril from the government, but these horses could also be at risk.