Thirty or so minutes into photographing a small group of wild horses (not pictured) that were grazing on the northern boundary of the Sand Wash Basin herd management area, I noticed a pair of horses on the opposite side of the fence. Roughly a half-mile away, the pair was slowly drifting our direction down the fence line. At first I didn't think much of it, but pretty quickly I decided to walk over to the fence because it seemed like they may keep coming my way.

I walked the hundred or so yards to the fence line (away from the larger group of horses that were within the boundary), and almost immediately the pair on the outside began running to me. Their eyes were focused on me, and their expressions suggested desperation and stress.

In an instant, they were only ~15 feet away. The adult was stressed and calling out to the other horses. They briefly paced back and forth, and perhaps after realizing that there was no way through the fence- they ran back down the fence to where I had first seen them.

Looking back on the photos, it became obvious that the filly yearling had recently been caught up in the barbed wire fence. I wonder how they got on the other side, but it was clear that they wanted back and they were stressed out about the situation. I wish that I could have done something, and I hope that they find their way back. It was a pretty incredible encounter given the distance that they ran and how closely they approached. The light was decent even though it was lightly raining at the same time. I love a lot of the shots, despite the unfortunate circumstance.