She was found with deceased with a broken neck on ice near her home grazing area. While uncommon for our ponies to wander on ice, she lost her footing and landed the wrong way and did not struggle at all. In great physical condition it is shame to lose another young mare and also a loss to the herds potential genetic diversity as we have not kept a foal from her to this point and her family line has unfortunately ended. We thankfully have many other Misty lines on the island and the herd’s diversity is not in any danger.

Hoppy: A 2007 Bay Stallion. Commonly called Hoppy, you may see other names for him such as Poseiden’s Fury and Effie’s Papa Bear. Hoppy lived a very successful stallions life, sired many foals and always kept a good sized herd. His mustang heritage gave him unique size and conformation, which he passed on to his many offspring which we have kept quite a few over the years. His mark has been left on the herd and we are thankful for an easy, natural passing for him.

It has been the coldest year on record for quite some time, ever vigilant we are watching the herd heading towards spring, thankfully we have had very little precipitation this winter which bothers the ponies much more than cold weather.