Kiowa Chief

20 years ago Mary’s godmother, Janet, was left with an abandoned stallion. With only a couple options at hand she called Mary’s mother, Audra, asking advice on how to proceed. The primary option was not one she wished to take so she offered the stallion to Audra.

Audra said she would consider it if she was able to use basic handling with him. He was a stallion at the time, and unfortunately aggressive due to being neglected and abused for about 10 years. So the task at hand was quite a demanding one.

But by some grace they fortunately had a click moment and he allowed her to approach him, and not only that, he allowed her to do all the shenanigans that eventually led him to his new home. With a bit of spunky reluctance on his part of course.

A deal was stuck between Audra and Janet. Payment for the stallion would be in form of a foal. The breeding would be between Chief and a mare named Dusty. A mare that had been rescued from a similar past to Chief’s.

As a new life was set to enter the world one was set to depart. Janet would not live to see her new friend as she would tragically pass from a car accident.

On the unsuspecting summer morning of June 5th 2005 a fuzzy little figure could be seen from the kitchen window down the hill, beside a wooden fence.

Audra rushed down the hill and quickly to the foals side. The little fella was already causing trouble on his first day, he had rolled under the fence away from his mother. Audra scooped him up into her arms and carried him back to Dusty.

Shortly after he would be given the name, Janet’s Kiowa Spirit, in honor of a woman he would never meet. Chief had quite the start in his new home, and more was set to follow.

Audra had him retrained and he became her AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference, a heavy veterinarian regulated sport focusing on the health/welfare of the equine) Endurance horse for about 10 years.

Chief carried Mary through many a mountain adventures after she outgrew her Shetland pony, Patches. They did everything from endurance, gymkhana, obstacle challenges, CSHA Royalty, etc, together.

Most importantly he was the loyal steed that carefully carried her during her cancer recovery. He allowed her to rebuild herself safely, and restored her confidence.

Chief has always held a spritely passion for endurance riding and he did relatively well for himself within it.

In 2022 he competed his last 25 mile LD AERC ride with one of our students. It was his last ride and her first, and they won what is known as the Turtle Award. This is an award given to the rider that crosses the finish line last, within cut off time. Seems simple, but it is much more difficult than one would think.

During this last ride of Chief’s one other horse/rider crossed the finish line behind him. He was in a battle of the pulse downs at this point (a horse must pulse down to 60 bpm, in a set time, in order to complete.) Chief pulsed down within the cutoff time, whilst the other horse unfortunately did not. This secured the turtle award for Chief, and on top of that this ride earned him the Longevity Award with AERC.

As this wise gentleman has gracefully aged, he was lost the ability to efficiently chew solid forage. He only retains tiny little ground nubs of teeth.

Horse’s teeth perpetually grow throughout their lifetime, and while they are growing they grind as the horse chews. When surface has ground away the tooth grows to replace itself. Well, eventually, if an equine lives long enough, there will be no more tooth left to grow. So in light of this, he now eats what would be the human equivalent of porridge, but foraged based. Fortunately this diet still retains everything he needs to stay a thriving senior pony.

Exercise carefully shaped to his physical needs and benefit is also a factor to not only his physical, but mental health. Properly building exercise, throughout his lifetime, is a major factor to his age, and shape at said age. Your age does not determine your physical needs, you physical capabilities do. Just the right amount of physical activity keeps him strong, healthy, stable, and comfortable in his final years.

Another important aspect to this subject is the equine must be relaxed in the physical activity they are performing in order to properly build themselves. If they are subjected to a stressed state, whether from too much exercise or uncomfortable exercise to them mentally and or physically, they will not build up, but instead they will break down. There is always a balance, not too much, not too little, and many more little nuances lay in between.

Chief’s veterinarians marvel at his physical condition, and have encouraged that he proceed with a physical fitness routine, within his means and including mounted work, in order to retain said physical condition.

A healthy senior horse should not be abnormal.

He is now retired from AERC Endurance and is frolicking in abundantly flowered redwood mountains to his mental/physical need and hearts content. Often there are gentle sunlit days Mary lay resting by the window in her favorite chair, while Chief stampedes with his thundering hooves in the trees.

There are times he catches sight of her presence watching over him, and he whinnies in greeting hoping for her to come catch him for yet another adventure. In the cases she takes on his calling, he happily leaps and plays towards the gate and halter in Mary’s hand. With his nose he pushes his head downward into the halter, vibrating in anticipation, and once he is secured he pushes his head forward and leads Mary down the path. Often he leads the way and chooses where the trails will take them.

Not only does he lead Mary, but he now leads new generations on his mighty coastal forest adventures while a spark gleams in his eyes.