Name: Paciencia (Spanish for "Patience")

Breed: Kiger Mustang x American Paint

Gender: Mare

Color: Bay Tobiano

Herd: The Cimarron Herd

Sire: Spirit (Strider x Esperanza)

Dam: Rain (Storm x Sierra)

Appearance: Brown/Bay base coat and distinct pinto pattern. Similar build to her father, but lacks his high withers. Markings reminiscient of Alma, Esperanza, (blaze) Sierra, and Storm (pinto/sabino markings). Point colors like Spirit's.

Personality: Paciencia is a bold, outgoing mare, no doubt acquiring this trait from her father. She is very inquisitive and genuinely curious about the world. She loves hearing her father's stories of his escapades, and is content with imagining she is off on her own adventure. She is capable of almost anything, and once she sets her mind to something, her tenacity and will won't let her quit. She is sympathetic and expressing a deep, understanding knowledge of what other horses tell her. She is well-balanced with her mother and grandmother's wisdom and flexibility, and her father's toughness.

Relation to Spirit: Daughter of Spirit & Rain

History:

Paciencia was born on a trying day for Spirit and his mate. The herd had been hearing rumors of possible threats to them approaching, and Spirit was on high alert for anything that was out of place. Rain had gone into labor a little earlier in the day, and made out away from the herd to have her foal in private, as it would be safer. She had told Esperanza that she was leaving, and at first the old mare disagreed, urging Rain to stay with the herd. But after some thinking about how overbearing Spirit might be in expecting Rain's first foal, she let the paint mare go. It would be less stressful for all parties, that way.

Rain did not return to the herd a few hours longer than anyone had anticipated. Her new filly had taken her own sweet time to be born, and had devoted a sizeble chunk of the day to learning to walk around. Back at home, Spirit was growing restless over Rain not returning, but soon the pinto mare and her foal came trotting up to him. He nuzzled both of them all over, making extra sure that they were both unharmed.

In the coming months, the filly exhibited many of the same characteristics her father had had as a young colt. Although, she was a little more obvious in her troublemaking. Overnight, almost everybody's tail hair disappeared, and they all sported neatly chomped-off, hock length tails for a while because Paciencia and the other foals had chewed them off. The bay pinto filly was exhaustive for most of the adult horses, and a bad influence on other fillies and colts. But she was charming, and with that to back her up, she was easily forgiven.

She never really grew out of her mischevious ways, though she did become more subtle and less of a nuisance in her playtime, which pleased her parents and grandmother, as they received less complaints from the herd that the filly who definitely deserved her name, was causing problems for them.

Paciencia is torn between staying in her herd's homeland, and wandering off on her own adventure. Her parents know this, and do what they can to protect her, but they know that like their ancestors, the best way to find out who you are in life is to see some of the world. The farthest Paciencia is allowed to go is to the very outskirts of the Cimarron Homeland, and only if Spirit is there with her. She so desperately wants to meet horses from other herds or rogue loners, despite knowing how dangerous this could be.

Paciencia design and story (c) Me

Headshot (c) Ayame-Jurora

Body (c) Me

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (c) Dreamworks & Kathleen Duey