Lindor’s band lost a beautiful family member and we feel like we did too! We are so sorry to report that Cascara was the dead horse floating in the river yesterday.

We could not tell immediately who it was, as she was underwater and had to be pulled out by fanboat. Thank you so much MCSO for doing that. She now has a dignified place on land where she will go back to nature.

As soon as we could tell that it was Cascara, the auntie to Wonder and Splendor, we got really worried about the rest of the band, but we found them quickly and all other band members are accounted for and in great condition.

Cascara was a beautiful roan, exactly 6 years old this August, and she was the most wonderful auntie to Splendor and Wonder. Her sire was Cisco and her dam was Bayberry. (See image from our app.) Cisco’s band has since disappeared on the Reservation, so it was great to have their offspring still with us. Cascara did not have any offspring herself.

With heavy hearts we examined the body. It did not have any wounds of any kind on it, but her abdomen was extremely bloated. We went through the previous days records and she was seen with the band, by volunteers as well as by members of the public. While examining some videos, she may have been a little lethargic, but those are things very hard to detect in the wild as they can also just be sleepy.

We believe Cascara most likely died from Mesquite bean colick. Ever since we had rain last weekend, our field team has been on high alert for colick, because after it rains on the mesquite beans, they go bad. If a horse eats too many, they will form gluelike balls in their colon and if they dont clear it, they will die.

There have been years we’ve had 6 to 8 horses die in August and we’ve done many necropsies on them. (That can only be done if they are close to the road when they die) We hope that there will not be any more!

While cut far too short, Cascara had the most beautiful idyllic life in the wild. In the most natural way any horse could ever live, she had a great family and was very active, social, adventurous and loving. We will miss her beautiful presence. Run forever free beautiful girl. 💔

SRWHMG.

Pictures by Karen Carney, Destini Rhone, Christine Burkhart.