On a recent trip out West, I couldn't resist the temptation of revisiting the trio in Nevada from the "Full throttle" encounter almost exactly one year prior. I REALLY wanted another opportunity with the short-eared owls, but I had no idea if I would find them or the wild horses again.

The owls were MIA unfortunately, but the horses were exactly where I had seen them last. The images in this post are from the second day of shooting them on this trip.

They are a funny little group in several ways, but I can hardly believe how consistent they are in terms of location and attitude towards me. I wonder just how many humans visit their general area, and even more than that - I wonder if these horses run up to everyone like they always run to me. I've had six out of six occasions when this group demonstrated this behavior.

The morning started out at a shockingly cold 5 degrees Fahrenheit after being in the mid 70s the prior day. This made for a really challenging start.. so I opted to wait until an unusually late hour to start photographing the group.

The group was over a mile away from where I had camped, and just like before, I started hiking out their direction. The thick sage and undulating terrain make it easy to remain out of sight, but as I exited the sage and into the dry lake bed, then horses again noticed me.

I've resisted naming these individuals for a few reasons, but on this trip three names seemed to stick for me: Rusty, Black-mane and Indy. Rusty is the only male in the group, and I believe he may be the son of Indy who I've named for her independence.

Rusty, as is probably obvious, is named for his rust-colored mane and tail. He has grown a lot in the last year and so has his confidence. On this day, he led the charge. Black-mane followed right along and Indy didn't seemed interested enough (at first) to make the short trip over to say hi.

They're a tight-knit group and hardly seem to have any disagreements .. and so there's not a lot of drama for better or worse.

Rusty and Black-mane trotted over from over a quarter-mile away to just a few feet from me as often happens. They always seem to be curious, but slightly skittish. They really seem to want to smell me and see me in close proximity. I'm happy to oblige and remain predictably still so that they are as comfortable as possible. It's so amusing to watch them show such intense inquisitiveness. After a solid hour or so with them, I decided to pack it up and walk back to the campsite. I could not believe it that Indy all of a sudden decided to run up to me at this point. I haven't included any of those photos, but perhaps I'll update this post another time with the second round of action that happened on my way out. The whole group again surrounded me and even got in front of me as I was trying to walk away. Their demeanor was gentle, but it was almost as if they were trying to keep me around. They watched intently as I pushed on into the thick sage. They decided to remain in the shorter grasses as I left.

Like other wild horses that I've photographed on repeated encounters, I wonder if they remember me even though it's been a few months since I've seen them last? It had been a great two days with them, and even though I had planned for at least one more full day -- the extreme cold and good pictures made me change my mind and head north to Oregon in search of new opportunities. I never know if I'll return to the area or if these horses will still remain, but I hope to see them a few more times before the inevitable last time arrives.