tonybruguiere
FollowA wild stallion runs freely across a sagebrush covered ridge line in the far northwest corner of Colorado.
A wild stallion runs freely across a sagebrush covered ridge line in the far northwest corner of Colorado.
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Top Shot Award 22
Contest Finalist in Our Natural Planet Photo Contest
Winner in Mustangs Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Showing Movement Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in We Love Animals Photo Contest
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tonybruguiere
September 14, 2016
Thank you very much!! This is wild country with very few people. Perfect for the horses.
tonybruguiere
September 14, 2016
Thank you. The wild horses in north eastern Colorado can sometimes be hard to find, but the high ridge lines make the images special.
jyvesphotos
September 18, 2016
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
tonybruguiere
January 17, 2018
Thank you very much. Photographing wild horses is kind of like fishing - you know they are there and can see them, but coming away with the "catch" that you want can be very difficult.
tonybruguiere
January 17, 2018
Thank you very much. Just going out in wild horse country is a wonderful experience - coming back with an image that you like is a bonus.
michael_mancilla
January 18, 2018
Wonderful, caught the action at perfect time. Beautiful horse, beautiful image. Well done.
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Behind The Lens
Location
The Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA) is located in south central Wyoming between Interstate 80 and the Colorado/Wyoming border. It encompasses nearly 478,000 acres of mostly BLM administered public land. It is adjacent to the Sand Wash Basin HMA (157,730 acres) in northwestern Colorado. The closest town of any size is Craig, Colorado. Don’t get the impression that this is some sort of nature park for wild horses. If you know where to look, your chance of seeing horses is fairly good, but there are only six to eight hundred horses which roam freely over the nearly 500,000 acres. The horses range from 14 to 15 hands and 900-1100 pounds in mature weight. A full range of colors is present with roans and greys predominating. The topography of the area is varied with everything from colorful eroded desert badlands to wooded buttes and escarpments. Desert areas are important features of the landscape and winters are long and severe.Time
Early morning - our day would start before sunrise and end at sunset.Lighting
Just a clear spring morning somewhere in northwest Colorado / southwest Wyoming.Equipment
Shot with Canon 40D, 1/1600 sec @f/6.3, ISO 320. Lens was a Canon 100-400mm (L) f/4.5-5.6 IS at 400mm. When working with wild horses, I primarily use a Canon 100-400mm (L) f/4.5-5.6 IS and switch to a Canon 70-200 mm (L) f/2.8 IS for closer work. I hand hold the 70-200mm and use a Manfroto mono-pod with the 100-400mmInspiration
A trip to photograph wild horses is a major undertaking for me. I have to travel across the Rockies to the northwestern tip of Colorado and through wide open country into Wyoming. The area has dirt roads and two-tracks used to find the horses. Since my economy car is completely unsuited for that and I have an aversion to being lost in the middle of nowhere, I hire a guide that makes a living knowing where the horses should be and has a monster of a pickup truck. Finding wild horses is never a given in this area, and I feel that a guide gives me the best chance of coming back with some photographsEditing
Nothing more than basic processing for this shot.In my camera bag
Camera bodies are a Canon 40D and a 7D. My working bag consists of the 70-200mm, Canon 24-105 (L) f/4.0, and a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. I add specialty lenses like 400m or macro lenses if the shoot requires it.Feedback
Domestic horses seem to be always head down and eating. Wild horses, on the other hand, are curious and always alert to anything that will harm them. Because of that you will find them head up and looking at you or moving away. When we find the horses, the guide will try to get downwind from them and I will get out and slowly walk towards them. If they can see me, I stop periodically in full sight, hoping that they will not perceive me as a threat and bolt before I am close enough for a shot. I continue to move and shoot until I get within their flight circle and they run off. I try to photograph them when they are on top of ridge lines to get an out-of-focus background and still use a reasonably high f-stop. Rattlesnakes are not uncommon – be careful where you step! There are some areas, notably in Nevada, where the horses are completely wild, but are used to people and are much easier to photograph.