Name: Erica

Nicknames: Eri

Age: 8 years old

Breed: Morgan

Gender: Mare

Height: 14.3 hh

Colour

Pelt: Sooty buckskin

Eyes: Brown

Markings: Irregular blaze, sock on off fore

Mane/tail: Black

Accessories: Permanently wears a black headcollar, even though she’s now wild. She can’t get it off, as it needs opposable thumbs to undo. Her hair underneath the collar is rubbed down, and she often gets sores underneath the fabric where it rubs against her skin.

Relatives

Sire: Granite

Dam: Heather

Half Siblings: Major, Open

Relation to Spirit: Her father is the Colonel’s personal mount, her mother was a cavalry mare, and Erica pulled the locomotive with Spirit

Family & Friends

Stallion: Gunner

Foals: None yet

Herd: The Sunderland Herd

Rank: Mare

Friends: Blossom, Bonfire, Open

Enemies: None yet

Personality:

Erica is a broken mare. Her early experiences have left her fearful, flighty and nervous, and she’s often called a coward by less sympathetic horses or men. Her ever present head collar also drives away many wild horses, which are scared by the obvious sign of her human owners, and worried that they might be nearby. Despite all this she has a good heart and a kind soul; it just takes some time to get to know her and earn her trust

Likes:

Peace and quiet, companionship, the wild away from loud noises and shouting men

Dislikes:

Her headcollar, shouting, being bullied by other horses

Fears:

Loud noises, war, aggressive men

History:

Erica was born to a sooty Cavalry broodmare and the Colonel’s personal stallion, Granite. It was hoped that the resulting foal would be a good cavalry horse, but as the filly grew it became obvious that she was not suited to war. Although she had fine breeding and good conformation, the young mare’s temperament was completely unsuitable as a battle mount. What’s more, she couldn’t even be used to cart supplies to the frontline or carry wounded soldiers back to the fort.

Erica’s cowardly nature came from early experiences in her foalhood. As was the custom at the time, she was completely removed from her mother at about 5 months old to be weaned. This total separation scarred the sensitive filly, and although she was put with other weanlings, all crying for their mothers as well, she didn’t get on with them. Some even began to bully the little filly to take their minds of their own emotional pain.

Erica’s breaking in was no gentler. The method at the time was literally to break the horse’s spirit, and Erica found herself tied by a head collar and rope to a tall post. The breakers then flung sacks at her, terrifying the filly and urging her to escape by running round the pole. Inevitably the rope wound tighter and tighter until the young horse’s forelegs were forced off the ground by the limited rope left. This was called ‘sacking out’, and used widely to break a young horse. Erica submitted quickly, desperate for the fear and pain to end. In this was she learnt to fear humans as well as her fellow foals.

When the time came to test the young recruits suitability as cavalry mounts, Erica failed miserably. She was simply too nervous, too traumatised by her upbringing, that she flinched away from loud noises, shouting men and human contact. She even bolted when a man appeared carrying a sabre. There was simply no future for her in the United States cavalry, and she was sold, along with other unsuitable horses, to the Transcontinental Railway as a haulage horse.

For many months the sooty mare lived in the railway camps, carting materials for the tracks. During this time she befriended another nervous, excitable mare named Blossom, and the two helped each other through the tough times ahead. Finally it was decided to haul the locomotive over the mountain, and Erica and Blossom were hitched to the train.

The horses pulled for what seemed like hours. Then, reaching the crest of a hill, a commotion broke out further down the line. A stallion had somehow gotten loose and, amazingly, started to free the other horses from their hitching chains. Taking their cue from the other horses around them Blossom and Erica bolted off. In the resulting chaos and stampede the two mares were separated.

Erica galloped with a band of other railway horses for a while. Their harnesses had been damaged as the chains were broken from the engine, and they broke off and fell away as the horses galloped. Their head collars, however, would not come off, so although they were now free, they carried the evidence of their life with humans with them.

Gradually, living free and wild with the other train horses, Erica began to build up her confidence and relax into life. She often thought of her old friend Blossom and wondered what happened to her. Eventually she decided to go and see if she could find her old friend, so she left the group of now ownerless horses and set off on her own. But she had no idea where to look, and very quickly got lost.

Before too long the lone mare drew the attention of a light bay stallion named Gunner. He didn't understand why she was wearing a black headcollar on her head, but he wasn't afraid of it like other wild horses, since he'd lived for a while with the Lakota, so was used to ropes and accessories. Taking pity on the lost, lonely mare he took her into his herd and made her welcome. To this day she still wonders what happened to Blossom, but her concerns and fears are being replaced by contentment and peace in her new life as a herd mare.

Head image render (c) Tarunyada

Body image render © me

Background © Brother Bear