The Grass is Always Greener

The ranch is resting. The last two summers the climate has been generous with abundant rain. The number of cattle has been reduced to allow the land to heal and replenish itself. The high mountain valley is getting greener and the grasses are reseeding, reducing the noxious weeds that like to take over in an overgrazed pasture. The old cattle trail scars are disappearing from the hillsides and are being replaced with trails of prairie flowers. A few horses are lucky enough to be able to reach the yellow flowers between the rails of a fence. And the golden seed heads of tall prairie grass rustle and sway in the sweet breeze of a Rocky Mountain dawn.

Sweeter Grass
A dark horse finds the grass greener on the other side of the fence. Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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Golden Grass
A western fence transects the amber grass heads in the early morning golden light as they gently sway in the breeze. Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Colorado Horse Country

Summer afternoons in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are typically prone to thunderstorms as the heat from the plains rises and meets the cold mountain air. This afternoon was not different. I was on my way home and my neighbor's beautiful horses were out in the front pasture enjoying the sweet green grass of the high mountain valley. I could not resist their sweet innocence and elegant forms as a thunderstorm rumbled in the distance and I stopped to photograph them. The wind kicked up and tousled their manes. A little brown bird was perched on the back of the gray and white appaloosa hitching a free ride. I was taken in with the view and lost myself in the herd as another perfect Colorado Rocky Mountain day lazily unfolded.

Horse Country
Two appaloosa horses graze in a green mountain valley in northern Colorado under a storm threatening sky.
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Shyness
A beautiful dun horse shyly turns her face as the wind blows her mane and the sky turns dark in the northern Colorado mountains. If you look closely you might be able to just make out the tiny brown bird on the gray appaloosa on the left.
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Pretty Girl
A pretty dun horse stands at a fence looking for a treat in the northern Colorado Rocky Mountains under a stormy sky.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunday Morning Gallery - Rodeo in Motion

It was a sweltering day in Larimer County Colorado. The pungent smell of livestock and cotton candy filled the air. I was wearing my straw Stetson and could soon feel the sweat trickling down my neck. So after checking out the carnival for sticky sweet shots of ferris wheels and amusing stilt people I was more than ready to go to the rodeo. You see, it was inside an air conditioned arena with icy cold beer and box seats above the dust. So sit back, prop your feet up, tip a cold one and enjoy going to the rodeo with me.

Locomotive Horse

The churning hooves of the speeding rodeo pony sent dust flying while the rider floated on his back as if he had become one with his mount.

Prepare

The young man stepped down into the chute mentally preparing himself for this moment. Will he or the horse triumph?

Bronc

The cowboy's world had stopped motion during his heavy concentration to stay on the bucking twisting mount. Finally the beautiful white horse triumphed and his rider was cast off.

Riderless

The large white horse ran free around the arena in his celebration but soon the riders caught up to him.

Bulls

Are they really going to ride those?

All American

The one armed man rode hard and fast, cracking his whip in the air, his pony a streak past the cheering spectators.

Modern rodeos in the United States are closely regulated and have responded to accusations of animal cruelty by instituting a number of rules to guide how rodeo animals are to be managed. A survey of 28 sanctioned rodeos was conducted by on-site independent veterinarians. Reviewing 33,991 animal runs, the injury rate was documented at .00047 percent, or less than five-hundredths of one percent. Health regulations mandate vaccinations and blood testing of horses crossing state lines, so rodeo horses receive routine care. PRCA regulations require veterinarians to be available at all rodeos to treat both bucking stock and other animals as needed.

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Crazy Horse

The day was sunny but cold and windy. My camera in hand I came around the corner of an old restored brick building in the center of Old Town Fort Collins and there he was in his splendid coat of colors. Crazy Horse!