Then, we noticed that when he was allowed by the other horses to settle down, he always went back over to his mare and baby, all three of them absolutely looking defeated and far too skinny. They look like a family of reservation mustangs- their thin wiry frames and long legs a dead giveaway. We named the mare Destiny and her filly, Hope! 

This little family of three was to be our first priority in the June sale!

The longer I watched, I noticed two other sweet souls that Spirit seemed to gravitate to. A little black yearling filly with an ungodly amount of puncture wounds and scratches across her sweet face, whom we named Stella:

And a pinto stud who has some terribly overgrown hooves, whom we named Soleil. We merely hoped to be able to save these two in addition to Spirit's direct family of three!!!

Luckily, by the time the auction rolled around the next morning, we had been able to save all five, plus another bay gelding who was bonded to the group and usually by Soleil's side! We named him Askari, meaning keeper/guard/soldier.

The whole family arrived home together and began their journey through quarantine, gaining weight, gelding, and regaining heir WILD SPIRITS!!

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UPDATE November 15th: Today Spirit and Soleil were gelded now that they are a good weight and in good health for the operation.

Askari fought the sedation SO hard- he just wouldn't go out. He paced the pen snorting and blowing and refusing to give in to the sleepiness. So, he has not yet been gelded- we will spend time with him to get him a little more comfortable with humans and try again. He has obviously been through some serious human induced trauma, the poor boy.

 Destiny, Hope, and Stella have been let out into the small pasture to continue gaining weight and wait for Spirit & the rest of their family to finish healing & join them. The three of them are incredibly healthy and didn't need to remain in a pen any longer.

Soleil will remain in a pen with Askari so he can continue his journey of getting his hooves back to a normal shape & healthy again, which works out so Askari will have his buddy while he waits for his gelding.

Spirit will RUN again and join his family so soon, we are so excited for him!!

Kourtney, owner of Nirvana, picking Spirit's hooves for a trim after his gelding:

Spirit being gelded:

NOVEMBER 17th: Spirit was found this morning- he had passed in the night. There were no complications with his gelding, or the anesthesia. He was not showing any signs of illness. We are DEVASTATED to lose him. We trust that God had a reason for this that we will one day know...