In my first of two morning sessions, I had no idea that all ~56 of the wild horses would walk right up to me while they peacefully grazed. It was a gorgeous, calm morning just after sunrise and I was the only one at the HMA so far. The prior day was less than ideal because of the heat, busy visitors and the general inactivity of the group. I finally felt like I might have a chance at seeing better activity/shots develop.

I spotted a few of the horses not far from where they had been the prior day. I couldn't see the whole group because of the rolling hills, but with enough of them visible I was able to get a read on where they might go next. I walked out into the sage 1,000 or so feet away from the horses that I could see and I waited. Slowly but surely they drifted my direction. They knew that I was there, but had no adverse reaction or visible concern. Eventually, all of them would walk right around me on both sides. At times I was at the center of them all. Some came close to take a closer look, but most just slowly walked on by.

I had no idea that they would be this close, so I was using the long 500mm lens... especially since the group remained so far away the prior day. But, as it would turn out, this wasn't really the right lens for a lot of shots -- even if it was great for some up-close portraits. This sequence of shots is another 'no-step' situation on my part where I remain in a fixed location with a fixed focal-length lens for all images shown here.

There are thousands of additional images from this set, but for the sake of time and other reasons I'll just upload a couple dozen here. After the group passed by, I walked back to the car and switched lenses for a slightly wider angle on them. Those images can be found in my next journal entry.

Lots more to say about this group and this session, but I'll have to circle back another day to update journal entries with more detail. Really great morning with the group.