On the Ranch There Be Horses

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I haven't been taking a lot of photos lately (too busy playing with the new iPhone), but today we went out in search of photo opportunities. As usual, I think I'm probably posting too many pictures in this blog, so be warned, this post will take a while to load. As always, you can click on any picture to see it at a larger size.

The burros have been let out to pasture some time ago, and the horses have just recently been turned out. Knowing this, we took a drive, hoping to find either the burros or the horses, hanging around in a scenic western-y landscape.

And boy did we hit pay dirt! Not only was it a beautiful day, but we found the horses.

First, we found Trigger,
and did he ever look happy.
That's Benny in the background.

Then we took off on the old road. This is the one they used from the 1920s till sometime in the 1970s. We stopped for a while by this stream.

The land here is so dry,
it was quite the treat
to see this small tributary.

Next we came up on Seven.
If you look closely,
you'll see how he got his name.

Again, Trigger.

And again, Seven.
I liked these shots so much,
I wanted to post them all
so I can remember this special day.

Here's a shot

of Trigger and Seven together!

Now, we'll leave the horses
for a while, and show you
a few shots of the ranch.

I know I've posted a ton of these,
but I have to tell you,
this landscape
continues to inspire me
in ways I could never imagine.

The painted desert
is my favorite part of the ranch

There's just something
about these colors
and textures.

Next, we took off for the wetlands, a part of the ranch I haven't shared with you before. For some unknown reason, there's this little palapa sitting out in the middle of nowhere. Terry says our friend Annie came by here one day, only to find a giant bull hanging out in the shade of this tiny structure.

Today it was empty.

A few minutes later,
we found Annie,
out riding her horse Echo.

I couldn't resist,
I had to take
a few shots of this beautiful horse.

Next, I took this closeup.
If you look closely,
you can see our golf cart
and the red cliffs of Ghost Ranch
reflected in Echo's eye.

Since no blog about the ranch
is complete without a shot
of Pedernal,
I thought I'd close with this shot.

It was a lovely day.
Hopefully, we'll find the burros
on another gorgeous day.