Mato On The Move

The Life of a Wild Horse

During our adventures, we often visit Sand Wash Basin, Colorado. This place is an expansive wilderness, full of sage brush, powdery fine sand, rocks, and natural springs. The basin is also a Horse Management Area and is home to the wild horses of Sand Wash Basin.

We try to get up there as much as can and have made several visits throughout this year. You have to time your visits right, the weather can turn the roads into a muddy clay that is difficult to navigate. We've had our share of sketchy moments out there! The soonest we were able to get there this year was in early April.

On that visit, we ran into a group of bachelor stallions, living it up! At that time of year, they're still coming out of the winter months. They were on the skinnier side and still rockin' their winter coats. But the energy this group gave off was amazing to see! We didn't realize it then, but we would consistently run into several of those bachelors again throughout the year. One in particular, Mato, has really stood out to us.

He is an unassuming bay, not flashy like some of the more popular pintos in the basin. But there is something about Mato that draws you in. His energy, love for life, loyalty to his friends, scrappiness, and vibe is always amazing to witness.

We wanted to give you a glimpse into Mato's life with this post!

On our first visit of the year, we were in the process of leaving the basin for the day. We were driving down the road and stopped suddenly when we turned a corner and saw four stallions galloping straight for us! Pictured are Hemingway, Mato, Kanthunka, and I'm not totally certain of the fourth. They were muddy, scrappy, full of energy and bitey bites! Mato is the bay with the white diamond on his face. We barely were able to jump out of the truck to grab these photos with how quickly the foursome were moving! They were there and gone...and just like that, we were hooked.

We spotted Mato and his half brother, Kanthunka (Gray), again the next time we were in the basin. They were both taking turns scrapping with another bachelor stallion, Luxor. Most of the intense fighting was between Kanthunka and Luxor, but it was one of the many times we would see these two exchanging hooves with other bachelors!

For the next visit, we saw Mato with another dapple gray stallion, Orfeo. They came into the water hole, splashed it up, and left together, after a little shuffle between buddies. Kanthunka was close by, although not captured in these pictures.

This next time was pure chaos! There were between 10-15 bachelor stallions in and out of the same water hole. Mato was there was Kanthunka, joined by their buddy Orfeo. Luxor was also there, along with gorgeous pinto, Coronado. These guys came into the water hole, drank, splashed, clashed, and dashed all around!

We stayed very close to our truck, using long lenses to get these shots. The stallions seemed to just enjoy fighting each other, bucking, and running around. There weren't any mares around, these bachelors weren't seriously fighting.

With so many stallions in one spot, there were fights, bucks, kicks and bites happening all over. But everywhere we looked, Mato was in the mix. He engaged with every stallion there! At one point, he ran off on his own, bucking for all he was worth, simply for the joy of it!

The next time we visited the basin, we had gotten up at a ridiculously early hour to arrive in time for sunrise. The real challenge was actually finding horses in time to get the shots we were going for! There is a such a feeling of peace in the basin and it's even more apparent when the day hasn't started yet. The dark slowly fades to light and you have the chance to let your eyes adjust. Then in the brilliant light of the morning, just before the sun broke the horizon, we spotted three horses on the horizon.

We didn't realize it yet, but it was Mato, Kanthunka, and Orfeo.

Of course it would be these boys who would make our sunrise shot dreams come true! As photographers, you often have ideas of what you are trying to capture. It's such a solid concept in your mind...but you need all the factors to line up in order to get the shot! And yet, here they were, exactly at the time we needed them to be in order to line up with the sun!

The boys were only mildly curious about us as they continued moving towards their goal. On the other side of the road and the other side of us was Half Moon's band.

Half Moon has a son named Breaker. He is an absolute beast of a horse! All the horses shown so far are average size for horses. Then there is Breaker, who lives up to his name! He is still with his family band, although we believe he is around three years old. Any day now, he will split off from the family band and join the bachelors, looking for a chance to steal his own mare.

On this day, Breaker engaged in battle with all three of the boys, Mato, Kanthunka, and Orfeo!

Mato went down in the fight with Breaker initially, but he recovered and stood up, stomping his feet and looking magnificent in the early morning sunlight! Mato and Kanthunka ran around with Breaker for almost an hour, fighting and engaging with each other.

On a separate visit, we had driven up to a water hole, only to find out it was mostly dry. Sometimes, it's worth waiting at a water hole as the horses will eventually make their way there. But this time, we didn't think we'd see anyone with this particular water hole dry. We had just turned to leave when we caught motion in the corner of our eye. Turning back, we saw Mato and Kanthunka flying over the hill at a full gallop, coming in HOT to the water hole.

They sniffed and stomped around for the briefest moments before turning at a full gallop, flying past us, and over the hill. The entire thing took less than a minute. Knowing these two, they were on their way looking for a fight somewhere!

The next time we saw Mato, he was calm and grazing. We almost didn't recognize him! We hadn't seen him calm and relaxed that like all year. He looked like he had just come from the spa, his coat mud-free and gleaming in the sunlight. He had been steadily putting on weight all summer, preparing for the winter months. He was with his buddy, Kanthunka, and a few other bachelors, hanging close the road. We couldn't get over how gorgeous he was!

Although we look for him every time we go, we've only seen him one other time this year. He was with (you guessed it) Kanthunka and Orfeo. These three really seem to like each other's company, although Orfeo does come and go whereas Mato and Kanthunka are a packaged deal so far. Even though they're besties, they'll still exchange words from time to time and this day was no different! They had a quick little fight before walking to the water hole together, then spending a leisurely few minutes grazing together.