Westword

Autumn and The Silver Moon Stallion. In The Dark Night. The Color of Fire. Sunset’s End.

The “horse books” are done, finalized, VP Felmlee is trotting away. Four books, scores of horses killed, a woman murdered. The return of the legendary Ghost Horse.

“It’s time to leave Autumn, Silver Moon, Becky, and Phillip to lead their lives without me always looking over their shoulders and telling them what to do. When you love someone, let them go, right?” Felmlee said.

“Putting the final touches on Sunset’s End, the last in the Double B Ranch series, was difficult,” Felmlee added, and she wasn’t surprised. “I had read other author’s accounts of the bittersweet emotions saying goodbye to the characters they’ve worked so hard to craft. I knew it would be the same for me.”

Research was absolutely critical to writing all of the books, before and during, since the issues about wild horses are so dynamic. Meeting, talking with dozens of advocates throughout the western states has been eye-opening for Felmlee. Receiving recognition from various author’s organizations is particularly rewarding. Autumn and The Silver Moon Stallion received WWW’s WILLA Silver Award; more recently Sunset’s End is a finalist for the 2026 CIPA EVVY Award. She was recently  interviewed by LATalk’s Rendezvous With A Writer. “Hopefully, all will bring awareness of the plights of America’s mustangs, which is my ultimate goal.”

Felmlee began the series with Autumn and The Silver Moon Stallion.  “Building Becky’s character was challenging. When we first meet her, she is an angsting 19-year-old, certain her life was over because her champion horse had tragically died.”

Becky rescues Autumn, an abandoned little Palomino, who shows Becky a new future. “Writing Becky’s and Autumn’s characters has been a true joy in my life.”

Careful not to touch the wounds, Becky started to brush the filly’s coat beginning with the neck, down the back, then the legs. There was some dried mud on her hooves; she dipped a soft brush into the water to wash them.
The horse’s mane was heavily matted. Becky pulled several clumps of hair out. “That can’t be good,” she muttered. The tail was the same, and Becky had to empty and re-fill the bucket several times before she was satisfied that all the mats were out.
“That has to feel a little better, doesn’t it?” Becky looked the filly in her dark brown eyes, noticing for the first time a speckle of green in them. She smiled. “You are such a pretty little girl, aren’t you?”
– Autumn and The Silver Moon Stallion

The emotions and lives of the horses were easy for Felmlee to craft. “I have always believed, and seen with my own eyes, how animals communicate with each other, and with humans, if we would only listen. However, many of the chapters in all of the books were difficult for me, but necessary to show how vulnerable wild horses are to human cruelty.”

Phillip drove his truck a little closer. His heart raced when he saw what was in front of them.
“Sheani,” Dr. J cried. “And Juno, our precious Juno.”
It was a grotesque scene. Juno clearly tried to scale the high fence, almost making it, her front leg trapped between the rails. Bones jutted out. Dried blood stained the dirt in all directions.
Her agony hadn’t ended there, however.
“She crashed on the other side.” Carl bent down. “Her jaw and neck are broken, too.”
How long did she lay there? How long did it take for her to die?
– In The Dark Night

The characters in Felmlee’s books, just as the rest of the world, are not immune to the vagaries of climate change. Incessant heat and wind make for the volatile partnership, threatening horses and the people trying to save them.

Reds, yellows, oranges merged into one, then separated again as black smoke interrupted their dance.
“These colors are telling us to leave.” Looking around, some horses were stomping the ground in anger and impatience.
“Mosaic and the babies have almost caught up to us,” Warrior told them. “Let’s go now. We’re depending on you.”
Silver Moon listened to his father and pulled himself away. Over another knoll, then down, the road came into view. Something else did, too.
“It’s Becky,” Autumn slowed down. “What is she doing here?”
– The Color of Fire

Humor can be vital when characters are faced with even life-changing circumstances. “It was fun to imbue some of my characters with wry dialogue.”

“For many years, we have become accustomed to people visiting us, looking for miracles and medicines to cure what ails them. Expecting our elders, old men and women, to bestow an ancient wisdom they are certain we own, eager to enter sweat ceremonies which,” Three Owls smiled,”we oblige for a small introductory fee.
“It is always the white folk who come here to watch native customs, misled by their various movies and television shows portraying us as either savages or saviors, when we are neither.
“So you can appreciate the confusion after a Shoshone, one of our own, seeks us out to work a magic he knows does not exist.”
– Sunset’s End, the finale of the saga

One of the more satisfying “ends” of the final book was dedicating it to the memory of Scout, a Mustang of the Yukon who was shot and left for dead. “He was a beautiful horse, a Palomino like Autumn, much beloved by hundreds of people who visited him in his wild home for many years.”

What’s next for this author who now has six books in her “stable?”

“A story set in South-central Colorado is calling to me, I’m exploring some ideas in that area,” she said. “But who knows, one or two of the characters from the horse books might show up.”

Vicki Felmlee is a former newspaper reporter and editor. With a degree in geology, she worked in the environmental field and has been active in historic preservation and animal welfare issues. Her articles have appeared in several magazines and have won numerous awards. A former President of The Old Spanish Trail Association and Women Writing the West, she lives in Grand Junction, Colorado, with her husband, one dog, chickens, and six cats. Visit her website at vfauthor.com

Photo by Matt Janson