South Steens

[desperatehorsewife]

Just returned from Burns, OR where I met Kevin and Lisa when we picked up our makeover horses. I was down there early so that I could hang with Andi and we went to South Steens HMA in hopes of spotting some wild horses. Andi said she and Judy ( a friend of hers) see them 98% of the time.

I was not disappointed! Judy's a great spotter and it wasn't long before she spotted little dots up along the ridge, so we swung off the road and walked up the hill in hopes of getting close enough for a good shot or two.

This was my favorite...a deep, golden dun stallion that I've dubbed Honor. He had 2 mares and their foals with him.



There was a lighter dun, an older, stallion with a few more mares there as well:









One of the long yearling fillies wasn't worried a bit when DD softly approached. She got within 10 feet!



All together there were 3 bands which consisted of the stallions, mares, yearlings and this year's foals for a total of a couple dozen (or more...we were too thrilled to count!)

[DianneC]

Wow, great shots! I'm surprised they don't have snow down lower yet. What a thrill that must have been for all of you, but especially for DD!

[JoanMRK]

EXCELLENT Tracey! Wow, these are gorgeous... What lens were you using? Big thumbs up to you... Love that first shot!

[JoanMRK]

PS: Looks like your DD has a new prosepect in mind... One that just might be tall enough! ;D

[angelsdream]

Oh - I love the pictures Tracey. The bay paint that let DD got real close is a cutie, and yes, I bet she'll be keeping her eyes out for that one at the adoptions! the dun stud is awesome!!

[fantasykiger]

Beautiful horses and wonderful pictures, thanks so much for sharing. We are having unusually fabulous weather this time of year and I am not complaining.

[desperatehorsewife]

Thanks all...and especially you, Joan, as you're such a top notch photographer! I really like the one of Honor as well (I emailed to Burns and said if he didn't have a name already, he did now, lol!)

Yes, DD has already named that filly: Darling Calls Dibs ;D We can hardly wait to get back down next year for our Steens ride so we can see her again. I hope Andi and Judy spot her once or twice between now and then and get a few shots of her. She's got such a distinct belly mark that I'm hoping it won't be hard to identify her should she be rounded up next year.

Oh...and the lens is a Sigma, 70-300. Needs desperately to be cleaned!

[JoanMRK]

Wow then you got pretty close, mine is the Nikkor 70-300 and you can get nice far away shots but yours are really close! That's awesome! And thanks so much for the kind compliment *blush*.

I love the names, Honor and Dibs... Perfect!

[desperatehorsewife]

Oh, yeah...we were right there in the thick of them. That shot of DD and Dibs...she got to within 10 feet before the filly casually walked off. It was pretty amazing. Honor was roughly 80-100' back, but for a stallion of his age, he stuck pretty close. The old dun was 2-300' back most of the time and he pushed his girls around a bit, eventually sending them over the ridge to where you see the snow.

Here's one more guy, difficult to photograph because he was so black (with the exception of his legs.)



There was a second yearling pinto up there, too, but she moved off when DD was about 20' away. DD said the whites of her eyes were showing the entire time.



I'm going to be listing 8x10s on my mesteno blog this week should anyone be interested. Money goes towards my makeover horse.

[kigerfan]

We have paint kigers now? Are these registerable as kiger mustangs? Never realized there were paints up there.

[lindad]

These horses are from South Steens so are not Kigers which must originate from Kiger or Riddle HMA. Same thing crossed my mind for a few seconds until I went back and read the initial entry to see where they came from. Like minds.....
Linda D

[stormyranch]

South Steens HMA is just that. In the south Steens Mts.
The Kigers are located North East of there about 5 or 6 miles. They can not cross the gorge though.