"Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies"

Not too long ago, I finished watching an early morning Nature program on my local PBS station, titled "Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies", and I must say... horses have got to be one of the most magnificent creatures ever created! So strong, wild, and free... yet also loyal, determined, loving, and social. Beautiful, beautiful animals!

This particular Nature episode chronicled the perilous existence of a wild pale Palomino stallion in the mountains of southern Montana. It was hosted by Emmy-winning filmmaker and nature photographer, Ginger Kathrens -- who named the striking white stallion, Cloud. Over the course of four years, she followed Cloud from before his birth, through his rites of passage, and into his adult years. The resulting documentary was a fascinating tale of survival for one extraordinarily determined stallion in the unforgiving beauty of Montana.

You know, as I grow older, I find myself drawn more and more to the rugged beauty of nature. I don't know if I would consider myself a cowboy -- the lure of the big city still has a strangle hold on me -- but, someday.... someday I could easily see myself spending more time in rural (or wild) America. I grew up in the country, I spent my childhood there, and while the city is my home, in many ways, the country is an underlying part of who I am.

Horses, farmland, wild mountaintops... There's something romantic about those things. Something romantic that calls to me. I don't know when I'll go back there -- I'm pretty happy where I am right now -- but someday, someday it might just be me who's riding through the mountains of the West documenting the beauty that I see.

Afterall, Beauty... artist... camera. You never know. :)

-Jon
posted by Jon at 2:22 AM  I   I  0 comments