Description
“A wild stallion fears no beast except the grizzly, and will not always flinch from an encounter with it…”
~Theodore Roosevelt, The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, 1888
And you wonder why you should never get within the recommended guidelines of 100 yards to a wild horse, especially a stallion?
Oh but wait…that’s not this story! That’s another story another day, even though that story was witnessed again on the day of this story! Shoot….Deb…what you have been drinking this morning, can’t you get your stories straight? Oh yes…here we go:
The morning of this image, I picked up my sweet dear friend at Cottonwood Campground at 4 am! Yes 4 am!!! We were planning on hiking to Lindbo Flats to catch sunrise, BUT sometimes plans don’t work out and in this case it was to our benefit!
Instead of being on the Flats, several bands were on Boicourt just as the sky was getting light. We were greeted with the most amazing sunrise, complete with clouds, color, and horses! After spending time shooting we took a breath and just soaked it all in. The quiet, the solitude, the beauty and pinched ourselves on how blessed we just were!
Turning around and looking south, I noticed Flax coming to join the morning gather. I grinned to myself and said, “We are going to be in for a treat.” Wild, band stallion, Flax loves to come and poke around and cause trouble. He doesn’t seem to be looking for a new mare, he just likes to visit his brethren, say hello, spar, exercise his physical beauty, and then go back to his sweet little family at that time, Mischief and Penny.
It was no different this morning…his first encounter was with Silver, then on to Satellite, and then wowza, Sidekick got involved, and when we thought it was all over, off to the west comes the grand ole man himself, Singlefoot. Of course these encounters didn’t all happen within minutes of each other, this took some time, and when we spotted Singlefoot we held our breath wondering if Flax would see him and he did!
It was a brief and not exactly aggressive meeting, nothing like Silver and Sidekick, but it was the patriarch taking time to line out the kid, and he held his own with him. In fact, we heard the thud and echo of the kick Singlefoot laid on Flax and wondered how Flax could even move after that!
The rest of the story…well that involves a stampede, a beautiful young couple, and a lost wee foal, oh and two very disrespectful, wildlife photographers (but heck those are a dime a dozen, so I won’t bore you with their story), but the stampede…..another day, another image.
(Flax is in front, Singlefoot is in the back.)
This one of a kind 40×60 limited edition print is professionally framed to protect your investment for the next generations. Printed by a master printer this fine art piece is framed with a rustic wood frame, floated on a silk mat and archival UV acrylic. Signed by the artist with an archival pigment and includes a Certificate of Authenticity (COA).
