February 24, 2012

Sweet Dreams

All 5 of our neighbor's horses were laid out near the fence. 
They didn't move a muscle as I approached them with a camera. 
I heard at least two of them softly snoring... 
Their dreams must have been sweet. 
40 degrees and sunny.  How perfect for a little late morning shut-eye.
"Huh?  Who's that?  So, I have hay hair.  What of it, camera lady?"

February 17, 2012

Curious Pronghorn

We never know what we're going to see when we go out for a ride.  Near the Green River, we came up on a herd of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). 
They stared at us for awhile, wondering what kind of animal we were.  Though these guys didn't seem interested in running, the pronghorn (also called a pronhorn antelope, or simply an antelope, although it actually isn't of the antelope family) can run up to 60mph and cover close to 8 yards in a single stride.  Wikipedia cites the pronghorn as the second fastest land animal, second only to the cheetah.  They have large eyes with a 320 degree field of vision. 
After a few minutes of keeping a close watch on horses and riders, they moved on, in no particular hurry.

February 10, 2012

Daisy's Telepathy

When Daisy senses we're heading out for a ride (and she's never wrong), she becomes manic.  She grabs the halters out of the garage and starts dragging them toward the barn.  Although we go out to the barn at least twice a day, she only grabs the halters when we mean business (a real ride).  Somehow, she knows.
We've been riding in Halfway Hollow several times a week, taking advantage of highs in the low 40's and still no snow. 
You never know what you'll find.  Does this bicycle designate a trail, or did the bike just die in the middle of nowhere and was buried, wheels up, on the spot?
This looks like a grave,
But apparently it indicate that a survey marker is nearby.  This could be the work of our friend Yogi, who admits to piling rocks over benchmarks in his highly rebellious youth! 
This rock formation appears to be falling in slow-mo. 
We ride down the hollow,
and sometimes on the mesa tops.  This BLM tract is huge.  We still have a lot to explore.

February 2, 2012

Twelve Mile Wash

With weather so mild and snowless, we've been riding almost every day.  Twelve Mile Wash is close to home and quite convenient for daily workouts. 
We find interesting rock formations,
and vistas of mountains over sandy canyons and sandstone hills. 
In over 60 miles of riding this week, we haven't met a soul on this huge BLM (Bureau of Land Management) tract. 
A power line passes overhead in one place.  We followed the sandy access road along part of our trek.
When we came up on our first white cow, the horses were terrified.  Apparently they thought it was a giant sheep/ogre, and Boss believes any sheep is out to kill him.  Later, seeing the white ones among the more acceptable black color gave the horses new confidence that these were harmless cows, not scary abominable sheep-creatures. 
I had never seen a "witness post" sign like this before. Someone has used it for target practice, proving their semi-amazing criminal marksmanship.
We located a survey benchmark nearby. 

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