50 SIDELINES NOVEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren R. Giannini
Photographer Patrick Brennan – who has a passion for
photographing wild mustangs – entered a photo in the Professional
Photography category of the Sidelines Photography & Art Contest
and won! His photo appears in this issue with the six runner-ups.
Our contests turn up some great stories. This is one of them.
Patrick Brennan of Denver, Colorado discovered a renewed zest
for life, thanks to meeting fellow photographers Joe Tosh and John
Wagner on Facebook. They, too, live in Colorado and introduced
Patrick to the wild horses of Sand Wash Basin. “They took me out
there about three years ago for the frst time and I fell in love with
the mustangs,” said Patrick. His interest in photography started as
The Mustangs of Sand Wash Basin
Photo by Joe Tosh
a child accompanying his reporter-father and escalated in the mid-
1980s to serious amateur before he turned professional in 2007.
Going with John and Joe to photograph the mustangs turned
out to be “spirit medicine”: Patrick had survived surgery to remove
a brain tumor; but they didn’t dare touch the half located close to
his brain stem. That was eight years ago and anyone who knows
Patrick will testify to what the mustangs have done for his life-
force.
“Everybody we take out there falls in love with the horses,”
said Joe. “We took a group from Denmark who wanted to see
the mustangs – people from Florida, different parts of Colorado,
Arizona. We give them instructions on what to do, what not to do.
The people aren’t in any danger. We stay with them and we give
the horses at least 100-200 yards for their comfort zone. Patrick
gets a little out of breath and tired; but we drive as close to the
horses as possible.” Getting close, however, still means hiking
for a mile or two. Even though it can take Patrick several days
to recuperate from a trip to Sand Wash Basin, he insists that it is
always worth the effort.
“The mustangs have meant so much to me with this tumor,”
admitted Patrick. “I’m stable. I live each day so much differently
than I ever did before. I have connected with this herd, with these
individual horses. They’re like family.”
How It Began
It started with John. He was just a kid when his father took him
out there, years before the wild horses were put under protection.
Now he lives relatively close to Sand Wash Basin with his wife
Sarah and their daughter Megan. John’s interest in photography
got stoked several years ago when Joe, his father-in-law, gifted
Sarah and him with a digital camera. Before long John acquired a
sophisticated digital SLR with a 70-200mm telephoto lens.
“I used to go up there quite a bit and I told Joe about the wild
horses and he wanted to see them,” said John. “About four years
ago we went out there and we’ve been going once a week ever
since. I have at least 500,000 photos of the mustangs.”
John’s passion for wild life photography resulted in two books:
First Flight: Journey of a Man and an Eagle and The Magnifcent
Wild Mustangs of Sand Wash Basin.
Life in the Wild West – fghting or playing?
Photo by John Wagner