Name:

Bandiaozi (bahn-dow-zhee)

Meaning:

Chinese for 'blunderer' or 'incompetent'

Nicknames:

Bandi, Idiot, Oaf, Ox

Age:

4 years old

Herd:

Hangs out at a Lakota Village, but doesn't really belong anywhere

Color:

Appaloosa-- Roan blanket with spots (mahogany bay head, neck, chest and shoulders, tanish-roan midsection with a few light brown spots, white-blanket rump with darker spots, dark brown legs, 4 white socks, black muzzle, blue eyes, black and light tan mane, black, white and silver streaked tail).

Breed:

Arabian/Mustang

Sire:

Purebred Grey Egyptian Arabian named 'Pharaoh'

(OPEN character)

Dam:

Appaloosa Mustang

(OPEN character)

Mate:

OPEN

Foals:

none yet

Siblings:

OPEN

Friends:

OPEN

Personality:

Slow, clumsy, awkward, completely unaware that he is in fact slow, clumsy and awkward. Never looks where he's going, has a bad habit of knocking things over, knocking people over, stepping on things, tripping over things, causing mayhem and damage, and then not even knowing that he did anything wrong. Completely oblivious to his clumsiness. Thinks everyone loves him, and often misconscrues anger and shouting for love, affection and play. He is truly a beautiful idiot.

Likes:

Corn, rubbing his butt on things, hanging out with humans especially Indians, walking (slowly), rolling in the dirt, taking long naps and he LOVES it when humans shout at him. He thinks their yelling means they love him XD

Dislikes:

Galloping, going faster then a trot, other stallions, ropes, being tied to trees, war, gunshots and fenced-in areas (he thinks fences were made to be eaten).

Voice:

Brad Pitt

(Voice of Metro Man--Megamind, Mr and Mrs. Smith, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Interview with a Vampire)

Bio:

A small family of Chinese immagrants came to the wild west with the hopes of breeding their prize Arabian Stallion, Pharaoh. They picked Pharaoh up from Egypt on their journey to the Americas, and they were very pleased with Pharaoh's bloodline, his appearance and beautiful grey color. They planned on opening a stud farm with Pharaoh as their herd sire. The only problem was, Pharaoh was an untested 2 year old. They couldn't very well offer Pharaoh's services without testing his genes first, so they hired some ranchers to catch them 3 wild mares of 3 different colors. The cowboys came back with a palomino mustang mare with 4 white socks and a blaze, a black mustang mare with 2 white socks and a star, and a brown blanketed appaloosa mustang mare. The owners set Pharaoh free in the pasture with the mares and waited.

11 months later, the palomino mare gave birth to a lovely white filly. She was colored just like Pharaoh and she was very refined and looked just like an Arabian. The black mare gave birth to a gorgeous coal-colored filly. She also looked very refined with an Arabian-dished face. The appaloosa mare, however, needed help giving birth to her foal. He was born backwards, and the owners had a heck of a time pushing him back in and turning him around so he could be born the right way. They were disappointed to see that the foal was even louder in color then his own mother. Though he had the Arabian look they desired, his color was all wrong. Plus, when he stood up for the first time, he lost his balance and fell into the water trough, splashing water on everyone. The Chinese owners named the foal Bandiaozi because they felt he was a blundering fool. Displeased, they released the appy mare and her ultra-refined but far too colorful little colt into the wild.

The mare couldn't find her original herd, so she joined another. Bandi soon found himself picked on and mocked by the mustang foals. The mustangs, short, stocky and rather hairy, made fun of Bandi because of his super-refined face, high-set tail and funny name. He didn't like the other foals, and the ridicule just worsened as he got older. The other colts would tell him that he looked like a girl because he was so refined. Bandi didn't like confrontation, so when he was old enough, he bid his mother a farewell and struck out on his own.

One night while he was asleep, he was yanked to his feet, dragged to a train, pulled aboard and after a long, cold journey, he was roughly yanked out of the train (the sun was blinding so he couldn't see where he was). During the frenzy, he was pulled into a paddock, latched with all sorts of leather straps and then yanked into another pen. He was still blinded by the bright sun after so many hours on a dark train, but he could hear a great roar coming from all around him. The scent of humans and horses filled the air. Suddenly, a massive weight was dropped on his back, and then gate of the pen he was in swung open. Bandi stood there, bewildered, as his eyes adjusted to the light and everything around him took shape. Bandi was standing in the middle of an arena surrounded by a crowd of cheering, drunken men. He turned and noticed the man settled upon his young underdeveloped back, grunting and urging him to move foreward. Cautiously, Bandi took a few steps foreward and, ignoring the fact the he was supposed to be a rip-snorting bucking bronc, started sniffing the ground and exploring his surroundings. The men in the stands began to laugh. The cowboy on Bandi gave him a sharp kick with his spurs. But Bandi didn't notice. He felt really good being out of that scary train, and decided to drop to the ground and roll in the dirt. The men in the stands howled with laughter, and the man on Bandi's back turned red with embarassment. Needless to say, he stripped Bandi of all the rodeo trappings and tossed him back in the wilderness.

Bandi didn't mind, and he thought the experience was fun and that it was very nice of the human to invite him to the party. So, he clumbered along in the new area. He didn't know where he was, but he liked the solitude. It lasted about a week before the US Army captured him and brought him to their camp. He was a breeze to train; no buck, no rearing, no biting. Bandi enjoyed the attention, he liked the cozy stall they gave him and he thought they were just so polite to even give him food and a shiny new bridle. The soldiers liked him, and one General in particular became quite fond of Bandi's calm attitude and trainability. Bandi was excited to go on a "big trip" with the other horses and the men...until he realized the big trip was actually a battle. As soon as Bandi saw some of the other horses in the front lines fall from being shot, Bandi came to a sudden and unexpected stop, sending the General sailing over his head. Bandi then high-tailed it back to the camp and hid in his stall. The soldiers all laughed. The General was so mad, he pulled Bandi out of his stall, stripped him of his saddle and shiny new bridle and tossed him out in the wilderness.

Bandi thought they were very nice for letting him stay a while, then he continued plunking along, eagerly looking foreward to meeting some new friends. He wandered around for a while before coming upon an Indian encampment. They were Arapaho Indians. They thought his magnificent color was a sign of good fortune, so they caught him and brought him into the camp. Bandi liked them, and thought it was very nice of them to grow such a beautiful field of corn just for him. The next morning they shouted and yelled and cried, for their winter food storage was now inexistant. They yelled some more before throwing him back in the wild.

Bandi thought they were very hospitable for giving him so much food and then "singing" to him as he plodded away. He travelled very far, and soon came to the Navaho tribe. They thought he was a beautiful horse and caught him. Bandi thought these people were very kind, especially since they had set up a line of wood fencing around a field where a group of small fluffy things bounded, played and grazed. That night, Bandi rubbed his butt on the fencing. He had an itch near the top of his tail, so he rubbed it against the fencing really hard...until the boards broke. Then he just moved onto the next board, and the next, and the next. The next morning, the Navaho were shouting, screaming and crying, for all their sheep had escaped and all their fencing was broke. Bandi was found near the only standing post, just rubbing his butt against it. The Navaho shouted some more before kicking him out of the village.

Bandi thought it was very nice of the Navaho to leave so many good butt-scratchers around their village for him to satisfy his itches. So, he wandered around again, heading west. He found a Lakota tribe. He really liked the horses there, as well as the people. So he wandered into their camp and started to sniff the ground. The Lakota saw this as a blessing, for such a beautiful horse had never just wandered into their village! They vowed to keep him no matter what. That night, Bandi was so relaxed, he rubbed his butt on a teepee until it caved in. He moved onto the next one, then the next, then the next. In the morning, there was a great cry in the village. Bandi, being used to this, thought it was the humans way of saying 'good bye, come back anytime' and he went to leave. But for some reason, they stopped him. They took him and put him in a pen. Bandi thought it was very nice of them to give him his own 'room'. He nibbled the wooden boards. Wow...an EDIBLE room! He spent all night biting the boards. The next morning, the Lakota people started their day with more shouts and cries. Bandi had eaten the round pen and had made his way to their only fresh-water spring within 10 miles...and decided to turn it into a mud wallow.

The Lakota were very angry with him, but he was such a beautiful horse, they thought it would offend the spirits if they let him go. So, the next day, they tied him to a tree. Bandi did NOT like the rope, and an hour later when the Lakota returned to check on him, he was all tangled in the rope and had managed to somehow get his whole head lashed against the tree. They cut him free and decided to tie him to another horse. Bandi did NOT like that either, and an hour later when the Lakota returned, Bandi had tangled the other horse in the ropes, tripped it, and was dragging the poor trapped thing from field to field, eating all the best corn.

The Lakota decided to risk the spirit's anger and they let him go. But this time, Bandi decided not to leave. He felt that these particular humans loved him too much and he didn't want to break their hearts by leaving them. So, he stuck around the village. He thought the humans were very nice to run out of their little teepees to chase him away from their food in their little game of 'if I catch you, I'll bash your skull in with a tomahawk'. It was Bandi's favorite game, and he soon made a habit out of making the Lakota chase him everywhere. He just loved playing with his friends!

One time, when he woke up, the whole village was gone. But he found them the following afternoon about 25 miles away. He also enjoyed theis new game of moving the entire village at night while he was sleeping so he had the fun task of finding them in the morning. Bandi loves his friends, and he is absolutely convinced that they love him too.

The other horses think he's an idiot, but the mares like his cute-but-dumb antics.

Relation to Spirit Movie:

Stalks the Lakota tribe.

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Head and body shots done by MW Roach with colored pencils and sharpies.

Bandi (C) MW Roach