Name: Ochre (pronounced ‘oak-er’)

Nicknames: Ochy (‘oak-y’)

Age:  8 years old

Breed: Mustang x Quarter horse

Gender: Mare

Height: 14.3 hh

Colour

Pelt: Silver bay

Eyes: Soft green

Markings: irregular star

Mane/tail: dark blonde

Relatives

Sire: Panorama

Dam: Magenta

Full Siblings: Unnamed colt (deceased)

Half Siblings: Aftershock, Horizon, Ocarina, Unnamed stillborn filly

Relation to Spirit: Her mother is the full sister of Bill the Wrangler’s horse

Family & Friends

Stallion: Feathervenom’s stallion

Foals: None yet

Herd: This herd

Rank: Mare

Friends: Open

Enemies: None yet

Personality:

Despite, or maybe because of, the tragedy in her young life Ochre is a very positive mare. She likes to focus on the good things in life and in other horses, and she won’t let herself or anyone else dwell on the negatives. Sometimes her insistence on looking on the bright side can annoy others, and she has a tendency to run away from unpleasant realties rather than deal with them, but she’s definitely the kind of girl you’d want around to cheer you up.

Likes:

Positive, happy things, like the birth of a foal, the coming of spring and the play of wild animals.

Dislikes:

Talking about her mother’s death, or indeed anything negative or sad

History:

Ochre’s mother Magenta was a domestic horse, the full sister of Bill the Wrangler’s gelding. She lived on a run-down ranch in the mountains with some other geldings, a flock of sheep and her owners. One night a mysterious silver dapple stallion approached her paddock and invited her to join him in the wild. When the bay mare agreed, he broke the top rail of the paddock fence, allowing Magenta to jump out and gallop after him into the night.

For three years Magenta lived with the silver stallion, Panorama, in his herd. After about 11 months she gave birth to a silver bay filly that she named Ochre. Magenta was happy in her new life, although from time to time she thought longingly of her old paddock, friends and owner. She would never see them again.

Magenta’s next foal, about a year later, was very ill and died shortly after birth. This saddened Magenta and Panorama, although the stallion knew that such things often happened in the wild. They tried again, and before long Magenta was pregnant with her third baby. But tragedy struck.

The following spring the Outlook Herd was grazing by a large overhang of rock and earth. Recent heavy rains had severely softened the earth, and all of a sudden the overhang came crashing down upon the herd. The horses panicked and bolted, but 2 unfortunate mares weren’t fast enough to get away and were buried by the landslide. The heavily pregnant Magenta was one of these mares. The herd were devastated, especially Ochre who, as a 2 year old, hadn’t yet left the herd to seek her own life.

After her mother and unborn sibling’s deaths, Ochre became fearful of the outside world. She stayed with her birth herd for another 2 years, unwilling to leave. Eventually, at the age of 4, Ochre finally ventured out on her own, and joined a band of other young mares that had recently left their own birth herds. Travelling with them for company and protection, she spent the next two years without a formal herd or stallion, although other mares in the band did decide to join herds.

At the age of 6, Ochre met a pale stallion and, tired of the bachelorette lifestyle, decided to go with him to his herd. She has now been with them for 2 years, although she hasn’t yet had any offspring.

Head image render (c) me

Body image render © Lionlover22

Background © Spirit:SoTC