Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

William, Reallhy great images. At first glance I thought #1 & 2 were crops but there not. Raises a bunch of questions. How long did that "in your face" keep up? How close were you, not easy sneaking up on these guys? Any idea how big the herd is? And last, many UHHers have commented on nice captures. Is BLM behaving themselves or are these wild horses rounded up periodically as well? It's always a shame to see that side of the story. Again, great images in a great setting.

Properframe Loc: US Virginia

Nice images! Thanks for posting.
They look healthy without a lot of scars so they may not have a lot of confrontation with other bands.
I suspect this is play but like kids it isn't fun until someone gets hurt.

sudamar Loc: Southern Indiana

Horses can be formidable fighters, but the second shot looks like they are also kissing. Nice shots.

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Beautiful horses well taken!

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

Thanks for sharing these appealing images.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Great set! Thanx for sharing.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I've had many great comments on my images of the horses. Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

These two horses kept this up for a good 5 minutes or so. I was using 2 cameras with 2 different lenses because last year I found out that my 100-400 lens was too much because the horses were too close. Therefore, at 100mm I was not capturing the entire scene. So I decided to use the 100-400 on my crop sensor body and the 24-70 on my full frame body. I was switching back and forth often during the time that I took these images. Sometimes the action was so close that at 100mm I was too close. You can look at the metadata on these three image if you like. I can't remember right now what focal length these were take at but I think they were far enough away that I used the 100-400mm lens. But I'm pretty sure I was somewhere in the middle because these horses weren't that far away.

At the Salt River there were many "bands" of horses ranging in size from about 8 horses to maybe 15 horses. The stallions keep the bands in order and will fight other stallions to keep what they've got. Band is just another word for herd.

The BLM or whoever manages this land is behaving themselves and are very involved in keeping the horses safe. They put up fencing along the highway (Bush Hwy) and put openings in certain areas so that the horses can still safely cross. They did this because too many were being killed by motorists. They also have been feeding the horses daily since the drought has taken it's toll on the grasses in the area. I think they work in conjunction with other organizations to keep an eye on the health and safety of these animals. I know that if one of them dies or is sick, they take care of the animal. They will remove the carcass or tranquilize and care for the sick or injured. Sometimes they have to put an animal down. The horses are used to people and don't run from us but you aren't supposed to get any closer than 50 feet. Sometimes the horses will come much closer than that to humans and the 50 foot rule can't be adhered to. I've heard that sometime people are knocked down and trampled but this is because people are stupid and don't think about their own safety. I stood out in the open a lot, but when the horses came close, then I'd take cover next to a tree. Ducking under a tree was the safest place to be from the horses. The horses never trampled people on purpose, but simply because they were fending off another horse or something has excited them. When the food wagon comes, they get very excited.

Ok, I just looked at the metadata for the images. The first image was taken with the 24-70 lens and the second with the 100-400. The last image was also taken with the 100-400. So these horses were very close because one was taken at 70mm and the other at 100mm. The horses running were take at something like 110mm or so. So I was switching back and forth with my two cameras.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Nope. Taken with two different cameras and lenses. Just look at the metadata and you'll see.

Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

Jeep Daddy, I'm the one who asked about BLM. You're lucky that the BLM is behaving itself in AZ. The wild horse bands are primarily located in California and Nevada and a few other western states. Given your interest, you're probably aware of the fate of wild horses these days but I'm offering a few comments for those UHHers who may not be aware.

The Burueau of Land Management (BLM) was empowered by the 1972 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act to manage wild horse herds. The main issue was striking a balance in use of public lands between wild horses and cattle leases. The main tool BLM chose to maintain herd size was round ups. The intention was to offer the mustangs rounded up for adoption. Unfortunately, many of the animals rounded up were not suitable for adoption so they just maintained them in captivity. Today there are approximately 50 thousand free roaming wild horses and about the same number held in captivity, not the intention of the original 1972 act and costs the rest of us about $25 million a year. On a good note, BLM, on the urging of many horse rescues, is beginning to use birth control as a tool to maintain the size of herds without round up.

All that being said, you are lucky that you can get so close to these guys. Most other areas they are pretty wary and you're lucky if you can even see them. Again, great images.