Shock and Awe

“If the baby moves out of the way,” she whispered, “I’ll take the shot.”  Moments later, she fired.

Mystery Paint heard the crack of the gun and felt a sting. She spun around and fled with her foal and the rest of her band. On a sunny May morning the wild mare had just been put on birth control for an entire year, thanks to the steady aim of Marty Felix.

A Bureau of Land Management volunteer, Felix regularly treks to the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Refuge to help manage the size of about 30 bands of mustangs that roam its 36,113 acres. Her mission is to locate some of the females and dart them with a dose of a horse contraceptive called porcine zona pellucida immunocontraceptive, or PZP.

“It’s like getting a flu shot,” she said, agreeing that a mare probably feels it has been stung by a bee. Felix, who received special training for this work, is in her eighth year of darting; she has shot about 70 doses of the contraceptive from distances as far as 50 yards.

Felix explained that our local BLM has adopted this approach to reduce the number of gathers. During gathers BLM employees are assisted by members of Friends of the Mustangs (FOM), a group that Felix helped to organize to maintain the welfare of these iconic creatures. Among many other jobs, members help the BLM round up some of the horses, get them into trailers (no small task) and take them to Grand Junction to be put up for adoption.

Gathers, however, are expensive. Also, more and more people these days can’t afford to care for a horse, so vaccinating mares is the preferred way to keep population to an appropriate management level. Mustangs then stand a much better of chance of surviving, even thriving, in wilderness that encompasses rugged canyons, sage fields and pinyon-juniper forests.

Despite population control, an amazing variety of horses roam wild and free on the Bookcliffs:  roans, paints, blacks, bays, grays, grullas, palominos, sorrels, buckskins and even five appaloosas. They run either in harem bands, with a stallion, his mares and their foals, or in bachelor bands, usually stallions too young to establish dominancy over other studs. The BLM has, on occasion, introduced horses from other ranges to keep a healthy mix of bloodlines.

To see these magnificent creatures, rely on four good wheels and two sturdy feet. Four-wheel drive vehicles make the rugged roads in the Bookcliffs much easier to traverse, but if you spot a band of horses, park and get out. Then use your own horsepower to hike close to the band. Take binoculars, because the horses often keep their distance. Maintaining a respectful silence may help you get closer. A FOM brochure lists some helpful tips for visitors to the Bookcliffs. Its statement that roads tend to be impassable in bad weather should be considered the gospel truth. They often develop deep ruts over the winter and early spring. Until graded, they can put even experienced four-wheel drivers to the test, especially after a rain. According to the BLM, the Dry Fork and Winter Flats routes are considered 4x4 roads all year long.

FOM advises taking a map (available from the BLM), a jacket, food and water. The jacket may seem unnecessary on a hot summer day, but if for any reason you cannot get out of the area by day’s end, it can be a godsend during a long night. A full gallon of water per person is not too much.

FOM also recommends that you tell someone where you are going and when you think you will return, especially since cell phones may not always work. If you buy an inexpensive Rescue Card from the Division of Wildlife, you won’t incur a charge if you need to be rescued.

To view the horses in the summer, head to the Indian Park or North Soda areas. These may be accessed by taking the DeBeque/Winter Flats Road entrance. The horses come down to lower elevations during the winter, so try Coal Canyon or Main Canyon (accessed by taking Exit 46 by the Cameo Power Plant) from November through May. 

For better luck, hit the trails early in the day, because the mustangs head for the shade – and seclusion – of trees as it gets hotter.

Even without spotting many horses, hiking in the refuge has its rewards. Wild flowers such as Indian Paintbrush abound. Grand Mesa towers in the south, and rock formations such as the Goblins are well worth a look.

Felix joked that visitors should go to a remote area called Monument Rock if they don’t want to see horses. Even though it’s a mustang mecca, “they are as wild as March hares.”  At the first sight of intruders they head for the trees, she said.

“It keeps a sense of mystery, though,” she added. “We get frustrated when we don’t see many of our Monument Rock horses, but it keeps it interesting.”

Felix is so well recognized for her captivating photography of and meticulous notes on these animals that she is known as the “Wild Horse Lady.”  After documenting them for more than three decades, Felix speaks of them all as members of her extended family. She knows nearly every one of the 120 mustangs now on the range by name, and she can reel off their grandparents, mamas, papas, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins with amazing rapidity.

“After 36 years, it’s still a thrill to see these horses,” she said while mixing up another contraceptive cocktail and injecting it into a dart. Then she slung the gun over her shoulder and set off to surprise yet another mare.

For information on trails in the Bookcliffs, log on to:

www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/gjfo/recreation/littlebookcliffwha.html.

For more on Friends of the Mustangs, go to www.friendsofthemustangs.org.