Name: Acacia

Nicknames: ‘Cacia, Thorny

Age: 10 years old

Breed: Abaco Barb

Gender: Mare

Height: 14.2 hh

Colour

Pelt: Splashed white buckskin

Eyes: Pale blue

Markings: Large white patch covering most of her body

Mane/tail: Blank mane, white tail

Relatives

Sire: Baobab

Dam: Tamarisk

Siblings: None

Relation to Spirit: She was owned by one of the horse wranglers that caught Spirit.

Family & Friends

Stallion: Dastan

Foals: None yet

Herd: Dark Nebula Herd

Rank: Mare

Friends: Elise, Open

Enemies: None yet

Personality:

Acacia isn’t troubled by any sense of moral right or wrong; she merely acts on instinct and training. She misses her island home, but living wild with American mustangs is almost as good for her. Patient, obedient and rugged, she has plenty of stamina and an intelligent brain.

Likes:

Dastan, her old master, good food and shelter, her island birthplace

Dislikes:

Boats, trains, motor cars, being cold, sentimental horses

History:

Acacia was born on Abaco Island in the Bahamas. Her great grandparents had been the horses of Spanish colonialists that had been washed up on the island during a terrible shipwreck. For about 6 years she lived on the island with the other horses until a group of mariners stopped off on Abaco on the way to the United States. Knowing that horses were in high demand in the US, the sailors captured a couple of animals, loaded them on their boats and set sail for North America. Acacia was one of the horses they took.

Since the boat wasn’t built to carry horses there wasn’t much room for them, so the sailors only caught a couple. Upon arriving at their destination the animals were offloaded and promptly sold to a merchant, who put them straight on a train bound for the West, where he figured these rugged horses would fetch a higher price.

Once out West Acacia and her friends were put up for sale in a horse market. The splashed white mare caught the eye of a wrangler, who noticed her fine build and rugged countenance, and had an idea for her. A sale was agreed, and the mare found herself sold once again. Back at the wrangler’s ranch she was trained to be a Judas horse; a horse trained so that when it was released into the wild it would find a group of mustangs and lead them back to the ranch, where they could be rounded up and broken in or sold.

For a couple of years Acacia served her master as a Judas horse, leading wild mustangs into captivity. She had no moral dilemmas about her role; it was just a job her master had trained her for, and she was richly rewarded with food and cool shelter every time she returned. She couldn’t wish for more. That is, until she met Dastan.

Whilst out searching for mustangs one day the little mare came across a stunning bay stallion. She’s met other mustang stallions before, but this one seemed different. Suddenly her heart was pulled two ways; her head told her to obey her master, but her heart longed to be with this stallion. Eventually she gave in to her heart, and instead of leading him back to the ranch, she followed him back to his herd and became one of his mares.

Head and body image render (c) me

Background © Spirit:SoTC