Driving to the Management Area and see the wild horses was an unbelievable experience and made me fall in love with Utah, again.
My trip to Salt Lake City was all about the Everything Food Conference, but I squeezed in a free day after the conference to explore around. I wasn’t sure what to do, Salt Lake City seems to be an excellent starting point to some fantastic locations of this region.
I read about the Onaqui Wild Horse Herd area where there are so many horses that they would have to cull the population. After squirrels, horses are my dream subject to photograph.
I hit the road around 7 am and I knew it would be an hour to get to the reserve. I probably wouldn’t be there for the best light, but at the same time, being alone in a strange place, I thought its better to be safe than sorry. I already had tickets for the same conference next year, so I considered this would be an excellent reconnaissance trip.
Driving down the I-80, I hit the west side of the lake and saw this prominent structure on the edge of the lake. So I got out of the highway to check out the building. As I got closer, the building was not the most exciting thing. Lots of beautiful birds were fighting around the area, so I had to stop to photograph them. I discovered that the building was a concert hall (The Great Saltair) and was all closed. But even more impressive was the piano in the middle of the lake salts….right there on the middle of nowhere! All Alone and weathered. I kept thinking how amazing it would be to have a model to photograph and I wondered if there was a way to get any closer. I still had one hour drive to the horses so I decided to move on and maybe be more prepared for next year and hopefully it will still be there.
I kept driving toward the horses. On the side of the road was this beautiful purple carpet of wildflower. With Sinatra on the radio I was having such a relaxing drive and seeing this beautiful landscape was so refreshing for the soul .
I entered the park, and within the few metres, I saw a mule deer, so I stopped and watched it for a while. The amazing plains and mountains contrast and all the vast open space was a bit different fromwhat I had read. All the information was about the overpopulation of horses but I had been driving for over 1 hour and was still to see one.
I came over a ridge and spotted a bunch of black and brown dots, and my excitement peaked. Until I got closer and saw it was just a cow herd. The calves were so cute but it wasn’t really what I came for. One calf decided to stop in the middle of the road, so I had to wait. It’s the kind of traffic you get in these places!
Continuing to drive along the main road, I noticed a group of 3-4 cars off-road and some of the same dots I saw from over the mountain. I decided to take a closer look, I grabbed my camera with my longest lens and took a photo. The image was pretty bad, but the shape of the animals told me they were not cows. My only problem was that I had to get off-road, on a sand track, alone, with a small SUV and no phone coverage, I was a bit wary. I watched the path for a few minutes until a big Toyota Landcruiser turned onto it. I put the foot down and followed. The guys in the Toyota had a great bumper sticker that said, “We are photographers, we go slow, we stop a lot so pass if you can” or some like that. I loved it!
After less than a 3min drive we were in a clearing with another few cars. Everyone had their cameras out taking shots. The herd was a bit far from us, even with my 70-200mm and a 2x teleconverter they were still small. I gotta say I was really excited, horses are magical creatures. In my head, at that moment, I was very poetic and emotional but will save you from my ramblings. The only other time I had come across a herd of wild horses was in the Snowy Mountains in Australia, but that’s another story.
As we all photographed, the herd started to move closer to us. I didn’t know, but just behind us, there was a water hole. The horses all came around, and I noticed people were getting back into their cars and moving closer to the water hole. I was a bit late to move, so I drove around as did another car – we kept our distance.
The horses did something unexpected: they went in the water, came out and rolled around on the ground, kicking up lots of dust. After their bath stop, they all seem happy and playful.
All of a sudden the herd started to move towards my car. I was at a safe distance, so I was not concerned, but decided to stay safe and photographed from inside the car. I looked to my side and there was this enormous stallion right next to my window. Not wanting to startle him, I slowly closed my window and waited to see what his next step would be. I guess he was there to make sure the herd was safe, but mine was not a comfortable situation to be in. Especially when you not an expert on the animal’s behaviours.
To make matters more interesting, another horse approached him, and I wasn’t sure if he was looking for a fight or a friend to play with. The two started jumping really close to my window. It was warm in the car by this point and I was sweating.
The herd was slowly but steadily moving in front of us. At one point, I looked to the side, and he had his head down and was scruffing his hoof and pointing to my door. That’s when I was happy that I was careful. At least there were other cars around because if he decided to go through with his threat of headbutt the car, I would have had some help.
I have got to say I was a bit freaked out at this moment! I don’t know why, but thankfully he decided not to do it. All the herd had moved along by this time, and he followed. My hands were shaking, but at least I could now open my windows, and I could breathe again.
The family in the Toyota that was close to me stopped and we had a bit of a chat.They were camping in the area so they were heading back for lunch and I thought it would be a good idea to follow them as the weather was suppose to change in the afternoon.
Once I hit the main road, I was so excited, even teary and wanted to tell my family about the experience but I still had no phone reception. I recorded a audio and sent it to them once I got the connection. I did keep it brief (no tales of Mr Stallion headbutt scare) as I still had 24hrs alone and didn’t want my mother to freak out about me putting myself in danger. You can listen to it here.
It was still early when I got back to the hotel, so I decided to find more trouble, but that’s a story for next week.
Where to find wild horses in Utah?
The best website I found was: http://www.wildhorsetourist.com
I’m Mrs Mitchell and in the last few years, I have been blessed to be able to explore and photograph some interesting place. I thought I share my experience and some tips with editing etc.