In hopes of seeing the trio of wild horses and the owls from October, I decided to return to northern Nevada where I had last spotted them. It's an extremely remote area and arguably too hot already, but I wanted to give it a shot since I was just a few hours away.
Recent rains made for a few questionable spots in the road, but I was able to work my way back to the exact same spot. The dry lake from October was now filled with water and the surrounding brush was a brighter green for miles around. My instinct was that I would find the horses again, but I really had no idea what to expect. If I was able to find them, I wondered if they'd react the same way as before.
When I was about two miles from the lake, I noticed the unmistakable outline of horses down below. I stopped the car and grabbed the binoculars. Sure enough, it was the same three horses. I could clearly identify their markings from a long ways away, but I could also see that they were reacting to the car by turning away and trotting the other direction. I slowly resumed my advance down the road. The rolling hills took me out of their view momentarily, and when I reappeared on the next hill, the horses again started trotting away.
This was a different reaction already, and I wasn't willing to risk disturbing them with my car. I had driven a long long ways, and there wasn't a soul around for miles and miles. There was no reason to drive closer, when I could just park and walk. I figured that I had a much better chance on foot given what I was seeing in this initial reaction, despite being nearly a mile away.
I walked a half mile or so, and the horses could clearly see me. They showed a bit of interest at least, but they remained mostly focused on grazing. I drifted slightly closer as they did the same. I eventually picked a spot and just let them make all the moves from there out. I was able to see that a few big changes had occurred since the last visit. The leader had changed. Instead of the larger stallion with the black mane leading the trio, now the younger rust-colored stallion was dictating their direction. He had gained a lot of weight and his mane was much longer than before.
He and the others came up to greet me eventually, and it was a great sign of what was to come. They might not have raced up to me like before, but they were unquestionably curious about me. The harsh light and heatwaves were going to be tough, but I was optimistic about the potential with them again.
It had been a long day of driving and so I kept this session brief. The horses watched on as I walked back to the car. We'd pick back up where we left off the next morning.
