NORTH DAKOTA BADLANDS HORSE

REMEMBERING AQUA

​On June 11th, 2021 Marylu found the body of a beloved two-year-old filly, Aqua. Here is the story in her own words.  💔

"BFF- best friends forever is common slang for a friend who is always there for you no matter what happens. Often, these are siblings, joined by blood and family togetherness. Aqua (2019 Sapphire x Vamoose) and Bockar (2020 Sapphire x Vamoose) spent their first year together enjoying the relative calm of harem life with their bandmates.

Unfortunately, as young fillies become of reproductive age, their sires will often either run them off or allow other stallions to take them. I don’t know the story of how Aqua and full sister, Bockar were separated from their band but, when our NDBH documentation team saw them in April, Aqua was being pursued and subdued by Arrowhead. In May we saw Aqua and Bockar along with Blackjack, dogging the Arrowhead band, just wanting to be a part of them, but Arrowhead kept driving them away.

Since then, the fillies have been seen in many parts of the park, never looking like they belonged. This afternoon while driving back to camp, we saw two animals as we drove by. Turning back and stopping, we saw that one was a horse, and one was a coyote; that didn’t look good. We walked in to identify the body and found that it was sweet Aqua who had very recently died. There was nothing I could see that indicate the cause of her death, but, by the lack of any flattening or scuffing of grass, I wondered if she had been struck by lightning from the storms that had rolled through ND overnight.

What a heartbreaking loss of such a beautiful young filly, on June 17th, she would have been two years old. Passing by again about 2 hours later, we notice another horse lying beside her. It was her sister, Bockar, guarding over the body of her best friend. Some think that horses don’t grieve, but we have often witnessed the grieving of mares for lost foals and bandmates for their fallen companions, but this was particularly poignant to see a little sister, lost and alone, watching over her big sister, her best friend.

We mourn the loss of this sweet young filly and for her family, especially her little sister Bockar. We pray that Bockar finds a new band to call home so that she can find comfort with other horses.


Rest in peace sweet little Aqua, we will always grieve that you were taken from us too soon."💔