Fresh Poop
Friday night I was not ready to go to sleep. In hopes to see the Wild Mustangs, 4:00 am, came early. We met in Magna, Utah taking two vehicles for the field trip. Rick and Shirley in their 4Runner, with Cooper (their Rat Terrier), and Bear (my dog) was the lead truck. We headed out on I-80 west, took exit 84, (Morton Salt plant in Grantsville, Utah), and headed south.
Knowing what energy the wild mustangs have for survival skills, I was excited to see these beautiful horses in their environment. Being able to see these American Wild Mustang, sacred icons roaming free, keeping the family herd... hoping to see them, and knowing I may not…
We traveled and traveled, and traveled some more. We took short breaks to keep our spirits up. Let the dogs run around, and seeing other critters like, wild jack rabbits. These rabbits are as big as my dog, Bear. They seem to have longer legs than other rabbits. Instead of doing the “bunny hop,” they actually ran alongside the road.
Traveling some more, Shirley got on the walkie talkie and said, "There a snake in the road." Fear came over me for a second. I stayed in the truck! Cheryl, Rick and Shirley took pictures of the rattlesnake. Everyone got in the trucks ans we headed out again, no luck yet.
Our first goal was to find “poop.” It’s funny, but the more fresh poop we found, the closer we were getting to the herd. Looking for “poop,” we found day old, and week old horse poop. We traveled for hours! My heart was still hoping to see a glimpse, even if the herd was small, or ran away, it would be awesome! We started to find fresh poop on the dirt road. Poop and more poop.
Hearing Shirley over the walkie talkie, “A herd, right in front of us.” Both trucks were on a knoll. Cheryl and I could not see the herd yet. We got out of the truck, and walked up to Rick and Shirley’s truck, there they were. About 30 head of wild mustangs. It was magnificent! Cheryl and Rick had high lens scopes on their camera. Rick was able to stayed in his truck taking pictures with his magnifying lens. Cheryl, Shirley and I walked very slowly towards the wild mustangs.
I forgot my binoculars in the truck. Shirley had her binoculars which we shared. Thank you Shirley. I looked through the binoculars and saw many foals. My heart pounded with joy. A gray stallion on the hill looking very intense, strong and a protector.
Since Cheryl had the camera, she’d walk towards the herd for a short distance, took pictures and walked toward the herd again. As Cheryl kept walking slowly towards the herd, the pinto mares and their foals walked closer to the stallion. Shirley and I would stay behind not to stress the herd. With so many mustangs, I couldn't see the lead mare. There was a bay mustang who was about 25 feet down from the stallion (possible mare). Four or five mustangs moved closer to the foals to protected them. Most of the herd was at the water trough. 
My vision was drawn to the many pintos (white and brown color) in the herd. There was bays (brown skin, black tail and mane), a buckskin (yellow skin, black tail and mane), chestnuts and grays. It was so amazing to see these wild mustangs giving us the opportunity to watch them without leaving. Cheryl got about 100 yards to the herd before coming back to the trucks. We gave them the space they needed leaving them at the water trough. We stayed with the wild mustangs for about a half an hour. Student Creativity: Storyboards, Directing, Camera Settings, https://www.masterclass.com/
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