We arrived at the Black Mountain Wild Horse Management area late afternoon. We drove the entrance road to the exit, but found no horses. Unfortunately, we did find several trucks parked with empty ATV ramps. In our experience, wild horses flee whenever they hear an ATV because they have been chased by them so often.
We found a side road and drove it until we found a place to camp. The Black Mountains are lovely but have one tremendous disadvantage... black flies. They were so relentless that we decided to call it the Black Fly HMA instead of Black Mountain.
We strolled up a ridge. With binoculars, we were delighted to find a large band of wild horses in the distance.
Perhaps they would still be in the vicinity next morning. Then we heard an ATV. By the time we made it back to camp, the fellow driving the ATV raced past us, up the same trail we had just come down, leaving us in a cloud of dust. After about a half hour, he raced back down, then turned up another road. So much for seeing any wild horses, I thought. But then, again, God always surprises me.
The sun was beginning to set when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Incredibly, a lone stallion was walking over the hill towards us. He walked slowly, and when he finally recognized we were in front of him, he simply made a wider berth around us before disappearing over a hill on the opposite side of the road. The stallion looked worn, with all kinds of scars on his girth and haunches and a ratty-looking tail. This horse had definitely seen some battles during his lifetime. Perhaps he was just old, tired, and unafraid of ATVs.
The next morning, we broke camp, hoping to find the band of horses on the hill. They were, indeed, closer to the road, so we drove the truck as close to them as we could, then set out on foot. They were most uncooperative, moving several feet away from us with every step we took. We finally had to settle for photos in shade and at a distance.
Among the band was a colt with the most odd colorings I have ever seen. His mane was dark, matching his coat. His tail was short and blonde. And he had different length white socks on all four feet. He was most definitely the "horse of a different color" you've heard tell about.
The Black Mountain wild horses are few in number, with a population of only 60 horses. They are believed to be descendants of Calvary re-mounts. Their HMA is rather large and includes 50,904 acres.
It was still early morning. With all the ATV activity in the area, we figured we had seen all the horses we could and decided to go to one last Idaho wild horse area near Glenn's Ferry.
The Saylor Creek HMA proved to be difficult to locate. We asked for directions in town, then called the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office, and, finally, received help from a most unexpected source. We were at a cross roads, traveling the directions given to us by the BLM manager. As we tried to decide if we should go left or straight, a gentleman in the neighboring mint field jumped off his enormous tractor with its disking harrow and asked if he could help.
We told him we were looking for the wild horses. He was able to provide us with exact directions. He cautioned, however, that he had not seen the horses in several years. An enormous brush fire had broken out and driven the horses deep into BLM ground. We then chatted about the farming area he was working. It covered 118,000 acres and include corn, alfalfa hay, mint, and potatoes. In fact, he told us that this farm grew all the potatoes for MacDonald's in the northwest. The farm even had a mint distillery.
We continued on to the HMA. The temperature was already into the mid-90s, and it was early afternoon. We saw no sign of wild horses. We drove up a hill with a 16-percent grade, hoping to find the horses with binoculars. We saw none. It was hot, hazy, and disappointing. Time to move on. Yellowstone will be our next destination.
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