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Thursday

Free Roaming Mustangs

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Image Title Bar 02 Horses
                           
Picture Notes: On 08/08/2013, on a return drive home from Lake Tahoe, we drove down HWY-365 to HWY-120 to HWY-6 to US-95 and on to Tonopah. Just after driving through a high mountain canyon (around 6,500 feet) along HWY-120 headed east towards Benton Hot Springs, you pass through Upper Benton Range into Adobe Valley with spectacular views of the White Mountains and Sierra Nevada (Fig. 02). Research of this area indicates that this area is known for its sightings of wild mustangs.  On today’s trip we came upon this beautiful grouping of about five wild mustangs (Fig. 01) that were spread out feeding on the high desert plain. Because this location is way out in the middle of nowhere, I don't think they are used to seeing humans. Once they spotted us, they appeared quite threatened by our presence and started to gather together, becoming quite protective of a new foal. They then quickly herded her across the road (Fig. 03) several hundred feet in front of us and headed off running until they achieved a comfortable distance (Fig. 04). Luckily I was able to use the 600mm zoom on my camera to capture a few good shots of these beautiful animals (Fig. 05). In addition to the expansive mountain views, we considered this happenstance encounter to be one of the highlights of our drive through this area.
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(Fig. 02)
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(Fig. 03)
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(Fig. 04)
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(Fig. 05)