Up next to explore is Little Colorado.... this HMA shares a border with the previous HMA we wrote about - White Mountain, so it seems natural to jump next into this lesser known area!

Little Colorado is not a well-known or often traveled HMA, at least not to the wild horse people I know or have chatted with..... in fact every wild horse photographer I know says the same exact thing - those horses are hard to find!!

And that was also my experience.

Little Colorado is 632,000 acres, and in this HMA it is mostly BLM public land.... while there is most certainly cattle or sheep grazing here, there is no checkerboarded BLM/private land blocks, meaning that in this place the RSGA does not have the ability to withdraw consent for horses wandering across any rancher owned blocks of land.

Despite the fairly massive size of this single and mostly isolated HMA, the BLM assigned AML is as few as 69 horses, and no more than 100 horses, allowed to live on and range the land.

This is not a scientifically acceptable number of horses that allows for a genetically viable and healthy wild horse herd, something that is discussed at length by many advocates, but at this time we have not been able to achieve a change in AMLs.

The BLM info page states most horses in Little Colorado are bay, sorrel, brown, black, or grey - but my images show you that there are at least a few colorful pintos too!

I made the trek to Little Colorado back in 2015 on a long weekend of exploring, I remember it as being a little bit frustrating and slightly stressful, I got pretty lost in the maze of 2-tracks and oilfield roads, and spent hours trying to find my way back to the highway!

And the horses were not easy to find.... and I am kinda good (most days) at finding wild horses in their remote middle-of-nowhere places!

Little Colorado HMA is found directly to the north of White Mountain HMA, you can access it from three different highways, two of which lead out of the very tiny, but with a wonderfully convenient fuel stop, town of Farson WY.

Turning southwest onto Hwy 28 (from Farson) will run you between the HMAs of White Mountain on the south side, and Little Colorado on the north side - there is a fence line for much of the way, with random 2-tracks that you can access either by crossing cattle guards or through gates - please make sure you close any and all gates you open!!!

Some of the 2-tracks are kinda sketchy but others are pretty good.

You can follow Hwy 28 all the way out to Hwy 372 and turn north heading towards Fontanelle..... I do not remember the names of the exact roads and don't want to give bad advice, but I remember some really nice well-used dirt roads out of Fontanelle that will take you to the east side of the Fontanelle Reservoir, and then you are back in wild horse territory - and if you happen to be into rock hunting, you will want to park and stretch your legs while looking for some really amazing rocks!

Little Colorado on this western side extends a little ways north of LaBarge, which is found along Hwy 189 further north of the reservoir, if you happen to have a GPS (strongly recommend having a Garmin or GPS app on your phone), knowing that border area helps you know if you are still in wild horse land.

Hwy 191 going northwest (from Farson) also borders Little Colorado, and once or twice I have seen wild horses within sight of this highway, not typically too close to the highway, but I have heard from locals they see them as well when driving along the highway.

And again, there are any number of 2-tracks and oilfield roads that can be taken from the highway into the wild horse territory.

Little Colorado does not have any serious mountains to traverse and the oilfield roads are pretty good, I remember some gnarly ruts and washouts happening on the oilfield roads from summer storms, the 2-tracks can get real interesting real fast though - so having a truck with good tires and 4x4 helps you feel just a little bit more safe in wandering around looking for those elusive wild horses of this land.

The northern border of Little Colorado does not have any highways passing along it, but there are dirt roads to be found and explored, and you probably can find your way from one highway across to the other, using a combination of maps, GPS, and a willingness to be a little bit lost before you get unlost - it is not really a grand adventure in the desert if you do not get a little bit lost at least once or twice!

Because my time was limited, I did not learn the things that one learns when spending dedicated time in wild horse territory, where they go to water in summer, where the best grazing is or where they prefer to be in each season, where fencing might stop them from moving to, or if they just maneuver around those fences!

On the BLM maps it is noted that along the northern border it becomes a Herd Area, meaning it is not a managed HMA, but that wild horses are known to wander the range, so it is possible there is no fence along the northern border, or it is incomplete (you'd be amazed at the weird fencing found on the range!), or it has just been worn down and not been kept up by man.

A lot of the where fence is and the upkeep of it is dependent on cow or sheep grazing and the ranchers demands.... what I remember most that day was the oilfields.

So, where did I find the wild horses of Little Colorado?!? Out along some very remote and rutted 2-tracks.... and I might have had to hike just a little bit!

And some were so far away there was only seeing them through my trusty binoculars.

With time and persistence perhaps I would know these horses better and maybe someday I will be gifted that time... or maybe these wild horses just really like being without humans and all the time in the world would not make it easier to find them!

I made my trek across their land in September on a hot dusty day.... it was morning when I started, one of those gorgeous September days we dream about, blue skies and vistas for miles!

The always majestic Wind River Mountains rising into the sky not all that terribly far away.... and then wild horses moving like a dream across their grassy hills in front of those majestic mountains.

And that moment of wild majestic magic is worth the hours of driving those dusty rutted roads in the middle of nowhere!