He saw horses in the distance, and plunged into the bay, rushing towards them, neighing madly. Unfortunately his mare was not among them, and their battle-ready herd stallion was rather indignant Finally, as the bay was racing over another stretch of marsh pursued by another irate stallion,
Apparently he was busy grazing, and they just wandered away. He looked up, and they were nowhere to be seen. I was hiking along a forest path when I heard an earsplitting neigh, and suddenly there was this frantic bay stallion galloping madly down the path right at me. I stepped aside and he flew past, ignoring me entirely. He had lost his mare! He raced to the rim of the marsh and whinnied loudly. No mare.
about the bay's brazen approach. Realizing his error, the bay back-tracked and raced along the shore, whinnying hysterically. I followed him with my camera as long as I could, then returned to the forest path, only to encounter the missing mare and her yearling foal. She heard him calling, and looked in his direction every time he neighed, but she appeared disgusted with his ineptitude, and made no effort to rejoin him. 
the mare ventured out into the open. She didn't call him, but waited for him to notice her. I expected him to rush to her side, but he was too cool for that. With a display of exaggerated nonchalance, he sauntered over to her, hot, sweaty, muddy, but with dignity, as if to say "well, I really knew where you were all along". The mare didn't look impressed.
This web site is an online companion to the book Hoofprints in the Sand: Wild Horses of the Atlantic Coast, serving as a scrapbook of information, observations, and photographs, and providing links to related sites.
Hoofprints in the Sand is published by Eclipse Press. You may order your copy at www.eclipsepress.com or from Amazon.com
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