Horizon’s Adventure…From 2007

A large group of horses were grazing in the Cirque. Nancy and two friends from Massachusetts were sitting down on the bottom of the Cirque watching the horses. Morning Star’s band was close by as was Prince’s band. Horizon, Felina’s foal, discovered a new possible playmate in Heather, Ireland’s 2007 foal.

Horizon and Heather: 2007 Look-Alike Duns

After a short time with Heather, Horizon headed off on an adventure.

He walked quite a ways from his family.

Horizon

Horizon went as far as the other side of the Cirque. Bolder snaked his band away. A 2013 note, Sapo’s 2007 filly, Hataalii, is now with Morning Star.

Bolder and his band, including Sapo’s 2007 filly, Hataalii.

When he got too far away from his family, Horizon came running back in a frenzy. The interesting thing is the whole time Horizon was running to find his family, Felina kept a close eye on him. But she made no attempt to let him know where she was at first. It’s almost like she was teaching him a lesson of the perils of roaming too far away from her.

Running back…

But he couldn’t find his family, so he kept running…

Running…

After running and running, Horizon stopped. He had a very fearful look on his face..lost!

Stopping to Look

At one point he came quite near us and just looked at us with that sad look of helplessness.

Still Looking

Finally, Felina decided he had had enough. She raised her head and gave a quiet whinny.

Felina calls to Horizon

In a flash, he recognizes her call and comes dashing back to her.

Horizon dashes back

Horizon finds his mother and his band.

Horizon joins his band.

Horizon and Felina…reunited.

Felina and Horizon

And now six years later, Horizon has grown into a strong and beautiful Pryor stallion. He has a band of a young mare, Juniper and the veteran mare, Tonapah.

Horizon…September 2013

Bettina: Lori’s Story (told by Nancy)

Lori Graham recently emailed me with these photos of a Pryor foal. She said, “I have been going through some of my old, old photos and came across this one. I took it on the Dryhead and think the foal was born in 2001 since I took the photo in 2002. I wonder who it is? Any ideas?”

Lori’s Foal Photo

When I first saw the foal’s picture, I initially thought it was Besa. However, I knew that Besa had been born in 1999 and removed in 2001. So I asked Matthew. He looked back through the records and found out this was Bettina. She was the 2001 foal of Sam and Hightail. No wonder she looked so much like Besa. They were full sisters. Another interesting note is she was born one year after her older brother, Admiral. The sad part of the story is that Bettina didn’t survive.

I passed this information along to Lori. She, too, had thought it might have been Besa, but was glad to hear the foal was a full sister to Admiral. She said, “I do wish she could have survived to reproduce more from that bloodline. Life is hard for them though and the strong survive, sad as it may be.”

Lori said she took the pictures while visiting, before they moved to this area. She remembers being struck by the beauty of the foal and felt so lucky to have been able to capture her with her camera.

I, too, appreciate that Lori got photos of this little Pryor horse and that she gave permission to share the photos and her story. Knowledge of this foal adds to the historic record of the herd. Lori’s closing note was, “I think it makes a good story on one beautiful little filly who unfortunately did not survive.”

Bettina, 2001 filly of Sam and Hightail