Hunter

Hunter is very submissive in the herd and is best friends with Archer - even seeming to inspire the best in Archer. He has made quite a name for himself around here. He has become the default timid/beginner horse and has given several people their first ride in decades if not years. He has been helping folks regain their confidence who have lost it due to past traumas/injuries and has proven himself time and time again when it really mattered. He has been on many trail rides with great results every time. Once he even hauled back an injured girl to the trail head so that she could get to the hospital after her own horse hurt her. Another time he ended up hauling an injured woman back down the trail and then being used to fetch the ambulance and the EMTs with their gear. Hunter can be ridden in any position in a trail string or even alone, he loads/hauls perfect, stands nicely for mounting, and has a reputation for staying calm during chaos with great trust in his rider. Everyone who meets him likes him, everyone who rides him adores him and wants him. He has an amazingly steady temperament, calm nature and the patience of a saint.

Update 6/2/18:
Hunter has come back from his adopted home through no fault of his own. He has spent the last 7 years as an older gentleman's last riding horse. He has been being used as a trail, arena and occasionally cow-sorting horse. Hunter has been well taken care of, but he has gotten older. He is still suited as a trail horse for a competent beginner rider, but he likely can't go all day and night anymore. He does, like nearly all gray horses, have a few small tumors but those shouldn't have any effect on him. He also should probably go on a joint supplement just because he has worked all his life and he possibly has another decade to go.

Backstory from BLM:
Oct. 13, 1997 - Captured in Oregon from the Sheeps Head - Heath Creek HMA
June 1998 - Adopted to someone in Ravensdale, WA
March 28, 2000 - Titled

At the 8/1/10 auction there were a lot of big gray horses... but only one kept trying to be petted through the pen bars. This big gray boy looks like a draft cross with his blocky head, thick bones, huge feet and upright build... however he is a branded BLM Mustang. Hunter (who did not come with a name), is a 13 year old mountain horse who has been-there-done-that up in the high country. Over the hills, through the woods, splashing through the river we go. He came in with a poor down-trodden TB gelding as his pack pony out in the deep woods... but the TB ended up having to be put down. I had been concerned that Hunter would cause a fuss when taken away from his buddy since most the horses I have bought who were stalled together did, but not this boy. He lead away just fine; was very respectful and well mannered without a trace of herdboundness showing. He behaved himself just dandy, although he was very interested in trying to keep track of all the chaotic things going on around him. A big bonus is that if you reach for his feet he assumes you want them and picks them right up for you - a real nice trait since most drafty-ish horses I have worked with have been beasts about their feet. Kari offered to ride him after the sale so we took him out to the round pen and he slurped up his bit without fuss even though we had to mess with it a bunch to get it to fit him right. Even when Kari got a leg up to mount him he just stood there like a gem and waited for a cue to move off. She rode him all around without any difficulty at all except when she wanted him to go faster then a trot... this is a nice slow boy and he simply kept it slow. After Kari was done riding him around, Karen wanted to ride him. Again, he was a perfect gentleman and so she got a nice relaxing ride. Afterward when everyone was getting their horses sorted out, he stood there with me nice as you please without pawing or being impatient... even when mares flirted or stallions challenged him. He jumped up in the trailer when asked, hauled nicely, unloaded perfectly and settled in quickly. He is a perfectly sound, healthy, well mannered, well broke, gentleman of a horse.