Name: Phoenix, originally Hotah by Lakota chief

Age: Depends on use, but generally around 12 years old

Breed: American Mustang

Color: Flaxen Chestnut Roan / Strawberry Roan

Gender: Stallion

Height: 16hh

Herd: Roan Mountain Herd

Herd Rank: Lead Stallion

Mares: Sierra [Som], Migisi, Macawi, Angel, [Open by request]

Foals: Akecheta & Warrior [Phoenix x Sierra]

Weayaya [Phoenix x Macawi]

Zitkala [Phoenix x Angel]

Personality:

Much the opposite of his lead mare, Sierra, Phoenix is always a high spirited, high-strung stallion and often overprotective of his herd to a fault. His first instinct is to fight danger, ushering the herd away from the threat and then taking down his enemy alone. He is intelligent and cunning, able to outwit almost any foe. Unlike most wild band stallions, Phoenix typically does not remove his colts or fillies from the band at 2 years old. He prefers to hold onto them until they are slightly older as he finds having more eyes and ears to be a stronger advantage in preventing mountain lion attacks on young foals and yearlings. When the colts reach full maturity, or if they begin to challenge him or attempt to steal Phoenix's mares earlier than anticipated, he does chase them out of the herd.

History:

First born into a Lakota warhorse tribe, Phoenix was prized by the Indians for his strength and fighting spirit, And claimed by a Lakota man called Red Bear. Red Bear knew that the colt was destined to acheive greatness as a war mount. But one night when the Indians had stopped to set up camp, he had wandered off a little ways to graze, and he saw something moving in the distance. Curious, he had to go and investigate, and as he approached, he realized it was a lone mare racing around in the moonlight. She had been separated from her herd, taken by wranglers who prized her stunning blue roan coat. He came thundering up behind her, quickly overtaking her and challenging her to a race in an intricate display of herding her as one of his own mares. Impressed with her strength and overall attitude, Phoenix quickly became smitten with the mare, named Sierra.

When Phoenix returned to the camp, he decided to bring Sierra with him, reassuring the wild mare that the Lakota were good two-leggeds, not like the wranglers she had escaped from. As time wore on Phoenix and Sierra started to fall for each other. The Lakota camp came under attack from a rival tribe. The Crow tore down their camp and stole all of their horses, including Phoenix and Sierra. Unhappy with being torn away from his owner, Phoenix escaped and freed all of the other horses and they returned to the Lakota camp, only to find that Red Bear had been killed. Phoenix knew he would never have another owner like Red Bear, and ran away, with other former Indian ponies in tow, including an old mare named Angel and a couple of friends, Macawi and Migisi. Sierra became his lead mare through her distinct ability to find the best water and food and together they found a perfect home for their herd in the Roan Mountains.

When Phoenix's herd was taken captive by the wranglers a year after his first wild foal with Sierra had been born, Phoenix fought tirelessly to try and free his family, but to no avail. After struggling nearly to the point of killing himself, he gave up trying to regain his freedom. It was no use, the men who held them captive knew every trick and knew exactly how to counteract and anticipate what Phoenix would do next.

With another son foaled by Sierra two years after being taken from the wild, his remaining band was put on a train, and he instead focused on trying to keep his family together. He hated being a mindless beast of burden, but he was shattered, until Spirit set him and his family free again. He found his own courageous spirit again and urged his herd back to their own homeland, thanking Spirit for giving them back their freedom. He has been training Warrior, as his lieutenant stallion, in the ways of the lead stallion so that he might soon become the new leader.

Head and body refs (c) bluehawk's_ghost

Character Design & story (c) me