{"id":41187,"date":"2022-04-14T23:35:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T05:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marvel-the-mustang-the-first-horse-gathered-from-mesa-verde-national-park\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:59:38","slug":"marvel-the-mustang-the-first-horse-gathered-from-mesa-verde-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marvel-the-mustang-the-first-horse-gathered-from-mesa-verde-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel the mustang: the first horse gathered from Mesa Verde National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bonnie
Bonnie Loving poses with Marvel, a horse gathered from Mesa Verde National Park, and her three children, from left: Toren Anderson, Ashlynn Anderson and Colton Anderson.<\/span>Courtesy Bonnie Loving<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

You might have met Marvel at the Four Corners Agricultural Exposition.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a perlino mustang whose coat glows golden, with cool blue eyes that easily gaze at humans with trust.<\/p>\n

He used to roam Mesa Verde National Park.<\/p>\n

Marvel is the first horse to be gathered and trained from the park, after being rejected by his band and wandering onto campgrounds to get water.<\/p>\n

\"Marvel,
Marvel, with National Mustang Association of Colorado member Rebecca Oehl. (Courtesy Lynda Larsen)<\/span>Courtesy Lynda Larsen<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Park staff and the National Mustang Association of Colorado proceeded to remove and domesticate him.<\/p>\n

They knew just the person to help: Patricia Barlow-Irick, longtime horse, burro and even zebra trainer, whose love for horses stemmed from her childhood in Durango interacting with her grandfather\u2019s neighbors\u2019 horses.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s trained about 600 horses.<\/p>\n

NMACO approached her when discussions of rounding up the Mesa Verde mustangs began to take shape.<\/p>\n

The horses generally have never experienced human touch.<\/p>\n

Barlow-Irick now lives on a ranch in northern New Mexico, where Marvel was trained for months after being gathered in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just basically played with him all winter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

He was never really scared of people because of his experience on the campground, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe figured out people were good \u2013 people were a potential resource,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But first, Marvel was held at Mesa Verde, and then transferred to Trail Canyon Ranch in McElmo Canyon, owned by NMACO President David Temple.<\/p>\n

On the first day of training Marvel, 20 people sat in a circle around Marvel\u2019s pen, handing him hay.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t go to everybody. He had his favorites. But that\u2019s pretty good for a wild horse \u2013 that he could calm himself down enough to go, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll go over to this one. Now this one,\u201d Barlow-Irick said.<\/p>\n

At the ranch, Marvel was gelded and vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\"Marvel
Marvel at Trail Canyon Ranch in McElmo Creek. (Courtesy Lynda Larsen)<\/span>Courtesy Lynda Larsen<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Although Marvel initially didn\u2019t let people touch him, \u201che was clearly not really afraid,\u201d said Lynda Larsen said, managing director of NMACO.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems really smart, and he likes to engage, and he likes to learn and do different things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cortez resident Bonnie Loving saw Marvel at the Four Corners Ag Expo and asked to adopt him.<\/p>\n

She had followed the story of the Mesa Verde mustangs, and even protested when park staff didn\u2019t provide them with water in 2018 during the drought, although the park contended that it was not their responsibility to manage trespassed animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo ever since then, I wanted to get involved and try to help those guys out,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve always wanted to adopt one of them when they were rounded up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She describes Marvel as calm, easygoing and loving.<\/p>\n

Loving attributes this to how he was rounded up.<\/p>\n

Loving has two other mustangs, who are now growing old. They were rounded up by helicopter in Wyoming and Nevada and held in Bureau of Land Management facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was just all that stress. So they were completely different when I got them compared to Marvel,\u201d she said. \u201cMarvel is so calm, and I know he\u2019s had training. But still, when they have that trauma, they hold on to it for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s interested to see what the temperaments of the other mustangs to be gathered from the park will be, and how much the roundup process may contribute to their dispositions.<\/p>\n

Marvel is still young \u2013 only 3 years old. When he\u2019s older, say 6 or 7, Loving may pursue competitive trail riding with him. But it will ultimately be Marvel\u2019s decision, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re (mustangs) the most loyal horses you can have,\u201d Loving said, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words but they\u2019re really a one-person horse, like healer dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that loyalty comes commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you adopt a mustang, just plan on being that forever home for him,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t plan on just bouncing him around because it will hurt his spirit. You\u2019re going to change him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gathering the Mesa Verde horses in a gentler way<\/div>\n

Marvel serves as an example for what NMACO hopes to accomplish with other horses at Mesa Verde.<\/p>\n

The organization advocated for gathering the horses that roamed there in a \u201cbetter, non-adversarial capture method,\u201d Larsen said.<\/p>\n

Rather than chasing and retrieving the mustangs with helicopter roundups, NMACO has helped to capture the horses by using hay, water and salt licks to corral them.<\/p>\n

NMACO volunteers have periodically brought water to the horses, helping them to associate humans with resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe park is just really good about working with us, collaborating on the capture method, and then turning the horses over to us,\u201d Larsen said<\/p>\n

There have been debates about how the horses are classified.<\/p>\n

Although many of the park\u2019s horses were born and live in the wild, they are not classified as wild by the federal government. The park is not designated as a wild horse herd management area under the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe presence of trespass livestock is inconsistent with the park\u2019s mission to preserve the cultural and natural resources within the park,\u201d stated an Oct. 8 news release from the park. \u201cAdditionally, Mesa Verde National Park does not have the legal authority to allow livestock use within the park under 36 Code of Federal Regulations, Subpart 2.60.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dryer summers also pose a risk of dehydration to the horses.<\/p>\n

A Mesa Verde spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The park has about 90 horses, and about 30 to 40 will be gathered each year, Temple said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal as an advocacy group is to find good homes and take care of these horses that are having to have this done to them for no fault of their own except for that they were born out there in the wild,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NMACO is hoping that the \u201ceasy\u201d and \u201cnon traumatic\u201d horse gathering method will be effective not only in the other Mesa Verde horse gatherings, but in other areas where horses are gathered, he said.<\/p>\n

Establishing protocols, like how long to keep the horses in pens and how big the pens should be, could be useful to other efforts, he said.<\/p>\n

NMACO plans to capture the horses in bands, so they won\u2019t be separated, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a big job in front of us to juggle and find homes for that many horses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t learn to fear humans, and they\u2019re trainable, and more tractable because of the way they\u2019re captured, that can be a huge game changer for wild horses generally,\u201d Larsen said.<\/p>\n

Genetic testing of Marvel showed about a quarter Spanish ancestry, as well as some Puerto Rican Paso Fino, Swiss and French monta\u00f1a blood, Larsen said, calling him \u201csuper unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

A perlino is not a species, but a horse known for its creme-colored coat, pink skin, blue eyes. A perlino often may be distinguished from a cremello horse by a slight reddish hue in its mane and tail.<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s genetics came as a surprise, and suggest a possibility that other park horses might also have Spanish lineage, Barlow-Irick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they have enough genetic analysis of those horses, they might actually realize that those horses have been there for hundreds of years, and they\u2019re actually part of the landscape,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Barlow-Irick\u2019s career training horses<\/div>\n

By teaching people how to care for mustangs, Barlow-Irick is changing the fate of the horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of mustangs that kind of languish,\u201d she said. \u201cEven a lot of mustangs that are adopted, people don\u2019t do anything, and they just leave them in the backyard, and they\u2019re afraid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Patricia
Patricia Barlow-Irick pictured with El Jefe, a rescue horse gathered from the Rio Grande Valley.<\/span>Courtesy Patricia Barlow-Irick<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Misconceptions about mustangs exist, she said. Some owners think that merely chasing mustangs until they get tired is effective, she said.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not, and it\u2019s \u201cpretty common practice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She instead prefers using positive reinforcement techniques with the horses \u2013 especially older ones \u2013 with rewards like food and scratches.<\/p>\n

\u201cHorses are creatures of habit, and whatever habit they form, they will prefer to do that over anything else,\u201d Barlow-Irick said. \u201cSo I just give try to give them good habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustangs are \u201creally just afraid,\u201d Barlow-Irick said.<\/p>\n

According to her, people should give them two things: predictability and some control of their own life.<\/p>\n

Barlow-Irick is dedicated to her craft.<\/p>\n

So much so that when she saw a zebra described as \u201cuntrainable\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d listed for sale on Craigslist, she offered to train the animal for free.<\/p>\n

After two months, she was ready to give the zebra back to its owner. But the owner was going through a divorce, and was no longer able to house the zebra or her horses. Barlow-Irick offered to board the woman\u2019s horses for a year in exchange for the zebra.<\/p>\n

But zebras aren\u2019t suited for cold weather, and thus the zebra sleeps inside Barlow-Irick\u2019s greenhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter how many years this has been, I\u2019m tired of having a zebra in the house,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

Barlow-Irick teaches classes, has written books and maintains websites about her training experiences. For more information, visit magicmustangtamer.com and mustangcamp.org.<\/p>\n

Barlow-Irick will assist in training the other mustangs to come out of Mesa Verde.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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