Wild horses in Tonque Arroyo - San Felipe Pueblo
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Last week I took a visitor from Indiana to see the wild horses that range near my home. We sometimes see these beautiful wild creatures grazing near the San Pedro Creek on the Campbell Ranch alongside the Turquoise Trail (NM 14 North) .
Views of San Pedro Creek area east of NM 14 North |
I take the Puertecito Road (a dirt road that is drivable by a 2WD vehicle, but impassable in bad weather even for many 4WD's) through the Diamond Tail Ranch, ending at the San Felipe Pueblo at I-25 (Exit 252), about 16 miles north of Placitas.
You will drive over high desert mesas here with fantastic panoramic views as far as the eye can see. The Sandia Mountains are to the south, the Ortiz Mountains are to the north, the San Pedro Mountains are to the east, and the Jemez Mountains are to the west.
You reach the village of Puertecito about 4 miles west of NM 14 North. Just before you get to Puertecitio, you will go down into a deep arroyo, there will be a side road called Camino Ruidoso to the the right up a steep canyon to a number of houses. This arroyo has beautiful layered rock walls of mudstone and sandstone and are part of a geological feature called the Diamond Tail Formation in the coal rich Hagan Basin.
Puertecito Rd. |
The houses here range from ramshackle cabins to pricey, custom "off-the-grid" homes.
Diamond Tail Formation of mudstone and sandstone layers have layers of coal and lignite below the formation |
Ortiz Mountains |
Juniper-studded mesas |
Striking views of "hogback" outcroppings of basal lava flow appear along the road |
Hagan Rd. is well maintained and very scenic. The land on both sides is private so do not go "off road" here. |
Looking west toward the Jemez Mountains, we could see the smoke from the massive Las Conchas Fire |
Coyote ruins |
Although you may see wild horses anywhere along this road, they favor the tree-lined arroyos and large washes along the road. Look closely below to see a brown mare with her foal walking along the wash below.
Mare and foal bring up the rear of this band led by a white stallion |
They may also be seen in the rolling hills to the south toward Placitas. Although we didn't encounter any wild horses on this July day, here are more pictures I have taken of wild horse encounters in previous years in the Arroyo Tonque:
Gray Stallion and one of its mares |
For more information about the wild horses of New Mexico and the federal law protecting wild horses, please look at these links:
Great recent photos and narrative of visits by the Placitas wild horses at: The Mustang Blog
More than a hundred of photos of Placitas wildhorses at: The Shutter from the Sun Photography
Please see the beautiful photos of Wild Horses by Placitas photographer David Cramer (1951-2010) at: