It started out pretty good, our student Kathi was a little bummed because before her good friends could hop in a couple of other Germans jumped in the back, but she made the best of it. I quickly discovered however, that I was the only Mom that had volunteered....strange...
We rendezvous in Palisade with our guide who started out by telling the students how magnificent the "feral" horses were and then started to cry as she related a story about one of her late beloved mares. She finally led us out and we drove up above DeBeque and drove...and drove...and drove. Ok, the lady was driving really slow, like 25 mph on roads that my mini van could have easily handled. After nearly 3 hours of driving, we went though a green livestock gate, she came back and announced we were finally on "the range". Seriously? I had been looking for a herd of wild horses for 2 hours, and had no idea they were in a fenced in "range".
Finally we climbed a small hill and the lady was all excited because about a mile away there were three horses grazing in the Pinon trees, and it required field glasses to see them. Then the last car said there were some back down the hill, we turned around..still far away. We decided to head over to the "cabin" to eat lunch and finally saw three up close. Surprise, surprise...they looked like broomtails.
The Germans all thought they were cool, but I pictured a majestic herd of 20-30 all bunched up, apparently they don't do that. So while the Germans were all down taking pictures I tried to make small talk with the wild horse lady, it didn't go well:
Me: So when you have your roundups..
Her (interrupting): We have gatherings.
Me: Ok, so when you have your "gatherings" how many horses do you cull?
Her: It varies, and then we do adoptions...(blah, blah blah)
Me: What about the ones that don't get adopted, I understand they go to a feedlot over in Canyon City?
Her: It's not a feedlot! It's an Adoption, Relocation and Rehabilitation Center...(blah, blah, blah)
Me: So you dart vaccinations?
Her: We don't vaccinate! We just do yearly birth control on select mares...(blah, blah, blah)
Me: I thought back in the 70's you weren't allowed to break the horses you adopted.
Her: NO, that has never been the case, and these horses aren't broke in the traditional sense, you have to gain their trust slowly...(blah, blah, blah)
Overall, I think I made her a little bit mad...great.
So, as I mentioned, I was the only Mom, so at lunch I tried to make conversation with the men, none of which were driving a pickup, apparently 4 wheel drive applied to SUV's.
Them: That was a nice ride up here.
Them: Yeah, I was surprised we didn't see any hunters though.
Me: We're between seasons, second season closed Sunday night and third doesn't open until Friday.
Them: Oh...uh...yeah
Later:
Them: Well, when I lived overseas while I was in the military....(blah, blah, blah)
Me: Oh, I know exactly what that commissary thing is like, everything in the commissary in Iceland was frozen.
Them: Oh, you were stationed overseas too?
Me: uhh...yeah
Then our guide apparently took off with a couple Dad's to check the spring and took forever getting back. They finally showed up at the same time we were supposed to be pulling back in front of the high school. Having finally had it, I told Kathi I was pretty sure I could find our way off this "range" so I left first. I was quickly followed by several other cars. I easily made it back to DeBeque in an hour.
It turns out that driving all the way up to the Bookcliffs to see the horses is about as exciting as going out in the pasture behind the old white cabin to get our horses when I was little. I hope the students had fun, I however don't think I made very many friends. I'm pretty sure "broomtail" isn't politically correct and apparently you are supposed to have a penis in order to know when hunting season is.
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