Echo River Bandit
1982 - 2013

Statistics - A Description of Echo

Echo River Bandit goes by the barn name "Echo". Born April 27th, 1982, he is a registered appaloosa gelding. And he is 14-2 (or 58 inches) at the withers, but his old swayed back is much lower than that.

Echos main body color is white with reddish brown spots and two tone spots all over; he is considered a red leopard colored Appaloosa. Both his tail and mane are also white with a few reddish brown hairs mixed in. He also has a white star, blaze on the bridge of his face, and a snip on his nose. He has one white sock on his right hind that goes about one third the way up his leg.

The Beginning - How We Obtained Echo

Echo was the first baby born to ranch ownership. His mothers name was Alkar’s Melody Echo (see the In Memory page), she was a black leopard. His fathers name was Milk River’s Frost. Approximately eleven months later and wah-la, a baby.

Appaloosas rarely take the same color as their parents, so it was a surprise when Echos birth color was very simular to his fathers. He was reddish brown on his head, neck, and legs. And his body and rump where definitely a white blanket with spots.

But when Echo lost his foaling coat (a few weeks after birth), he was the red leopard color that he is today. And every year it seems as though he gets more spots.

Horse Tails - Funny Things & Stories About Echo

           The Early Years

Echo was about a week old when he was testing his new legs kicked his mother in the forehead with a solid wack. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt. He was quite a spunky little fella, because a few days later a saddle pad was set upon his back and he exploded into a buck and run.

At seven weeks old, Echo accompanied his mother on a two hour trail ride at Capitol Forest. He followed along playfully and pranced very high when he heard his own footsteps on the wooden bridges. On the trailer ride home, he was so exhausted from the days excitement that he layed down and slept sprawled between his mothers feet.

Only a couple weeks later, Echo walked beside his mother in his first parade. He was very friendly and the people along the parade route were eager to pet him. During one of his meet and greets, he bit into and stole away with a large wad of cotton candy.

From then on, he loved crowds, as he could almost always beg food out of someone. A simple nicker would usually warrant attention that resulted in part of a hot dog bun or some other tasty treat.

As a weanling, Echo was shown in 4H halter at the county fair and earned a second place ribbon. But his purpose was to be used as a trail horse, thus that ribbon also ended his show horse career. Over the next couple of years, he was ponied on trails for many miles and picketed on camping lines along side other horses.

           Becoming A Trail Horse

When Echo was four years old, he was used as a pack horse on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCNST). The following year, he was broke as a saddle horse, and yet again used as a pack horse on another part of the PCNST.

Both of these trips were very adventurous and a book was written about them. The title of the book is Five Plus Three Equals Eighty.

Click here or on the picture of Echo with his pack saddle to open the book and read about the adventures.

As Echo matured, he was ridden in a distance riding competition known as Competitive Trail Rides (CTRs). He and his rider won several second place ribbons and he helped his rider receive one of the highest trail scores (9 out of 10) with his attentiveness to the trail.

Another horse sport, Competitive Mounted Orienteering (CMO), was new to the state and Echo was frequently used to compete in these. In 1988, he was one of about ten horses who qualified for the first and only National CMO Championship held in Minnesota. He did not compete however, because his rider had two horses qualified and chose to take the other horse.

The Present - What We Think About Echo

Over the years, Echo has had many adventures and has always been well loved by everyone who has met him. But don’t let his relaxed attitude be deceiving, there is plenty of jump and kick in him when least expected.

In the last couple of years, Echo has lost his back teeth. To help him hold his weight, he receives soaked grain everyday. In recent months, he has shown signs of arthritis in his knee and hock joints. This unfortunately makes it very painful for him to walk and he is loosing muscle tone. So we have retired him from the trail and he stands in his paddock and calls to the other horses when they ride out.