A Saturday Wild Hunting Adventure

Zephyr and I were working on harvesting items for crafting (our newest horses need tack) when PintoMustang sent us her first private message. She is a lovely Horse Isle 2 player who also happens to have paid this blog a visit. She has noticed, as we have, that some of this blog's screenshots show up near the top of an internet image search for "Horse Isle 2." Way to go, virtual equine beauties. XD

PintoMustang is quite involved in the Lifecycle version of HI2, but she prefers the wild hunting on the version my sisters and I play, HI2: Eternal. Naturally, Pinto suggested we meet up to do just that. A  wild hunt seemed like a great thing to do on a quiet Saturday afternoon.

Since Lily had already been playing for a while, I talked her into letting me be the one to go on said wild hunt. I climbed aboard 7Up the Shagya Arabian, while PintoMustang rode Andromeda, her adorable dappled Highland Pony.

Meeting up on Angled Forest Isle

We sailed to Islands Lake Isle, where PintoMustang found our first wild within 15 seconds. 

A trio of dappled rumps

This brown Cape Boerperd stallion had 4/6 stats and the "Royalty" personality. XD Pinto let me have the honor of lassoing him when her first attempt was unsuccessful.

While I was distracted with the Cape, several other players arrived on Islands Lake. Feeling rather crowded, Pinto and I decided to move on.

Off we sailed to the Leaf Isles. First up: little Bulb Isle. A crafty POA was hiding on the extreme southern edge of the beach. Pinto caught this one.

Hello, spotty.

Unfortunately, we didn't find a single wild horse on the rest of the leaf isles we explored. The isles looked "picked over" when we arrived on them (already harvested ores, chunks of beach debris, fairy rings, etc.), so it's not a huge surprise. Pinto was even brave enough to go inside the maze on Flower Isle. 7Up and I just rode around the perimeter. (It took Julie and Nightshade at least a half hour to get out of it once, so now we're all a bit paranoid...)

Next stop: Brown Isle, one of the Meadow Isles and a popular wild hangout. It also looked recently looted. We were heading back to the dock when a white gray Orlov Trotter poofed into existence right in front of Pinto. I love it when that happens! =D

Er, Andromeda, you may want to back up...

After catching the Orlov, which was a 3/6 stallion with the "Unique" personality, I rode northeast and stumbled upon yet another freshly spawned wild. This one was a 3/6 flaxen chestnut sabino Morab, I believe. Pinto caught it.

So pretty!

Our last stop was Big Forest Isle. We made our way deep into the forest, and Pinto found wild #5, a bay Canadian Horse.

I bet she was thinking that nobody would check this far north. XD

Then, Pinto had to return to the real world and poofed away. Since I still had a little more time and there was still more island to search, 7Up and I kept at it. I sure am glad we did! Check out wild #6, a palomino sabino Missouri Fox Trotter. 

I'm so stealthy.

Wow, she makes Quasar look tiny!

Ouch! -81 for her breed.

Because she is gorgeous and has terrible stats, she was a perfect candidate for our Millennium Fields. You can find her standing around on the far western circle of grass if you ever visit our ranch isle. I named her Elodie.


All in all, it was a highly enjoyable afternoon. I hope PintoMustang had as much fun as I did. =)

Fishy

Hi everybody. Meet our virtual koi buddies. They like to follow the cursor, hoping you will click to feed them. =)

They are named, of course.

white = Britta

black = Enrique

orange = Clementine

gold = Torpedo

silver = Sharky

If you'd like to create some virtual koi of your own, here's the link: Virtual Koi Pond

Misanthrope Morab Mare

Check out who Kestrel and I found on Harbor Isle this morning! 8^D

Kestrel lost no time in making friends with her. XD

Her avatar may be fairly average, but don't let that fool you! She's a beautiful 6/6 +89 Morab! 

I love that brown spot in the white coronet on her hind leg. <3

misanthrope n. a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society

Her personality cracks me up. XD It's rare to find such a difficult horse.

I've already named her, which pretty much means I'm keeping her. The name I chose was Umber. Umber is a natural dark brown pigment (darker than sienna and ochre). You may remember seeing crayons or colored pencils called "raw umber" and "burnt umber." That's where my inspiration came from. ;^)

How can I resist when her appearance reminds me of my real-life chestnut Morgan mare, Dune? Good thing I have lots of other horses to ride while she gets used to the idea of being around people. I think she'll come around eventually to at least tolerate me, lol. 

Here she is under saddle. (Yes, I was able to stay on her long enough to take a screenshot. XD)

Finally, here is an updated tally of the number of 6/6 wilds caught by each of us:

Me (Bethany): 3
Felicity: 2
Julie: 3
Lily: 4

Julie and I are coming for you, Lily!

A Surprise for Julie

So, I'd been chatting with one of our buddies on HI2, SpiritedRain, about our dream horses. She has several horses of specific breeds and colors on her list. Among them was a really cool silver dapple black bladgon Gypsy Vanner. She finally got tired of waiting on Wednesday and ordered her dream Gypsy Vanner. You should see that horse's avatar - so pretty. <3

Rain casually asked me which breeds I was looking for. I mentioned AQHs (Julie's favorite), Nez Perce Horses (my HI2 favorite), and Salernitanos (Lily has long admired them on HI2). (Bethany recently got a Missouri Fox Trotter, one of her fav. breeds. She also doesn't exactly need help finding horses, the little livery stalker. XD) I also said I especially liked duns and roans. 

On HI2 this morning, my buddy happened to be online when I came on and said she had something for me. It was...

Talk about cute markings! Julie loves the one sock that doesn't quite match. 

A red roan AQH stallion! Boy, was Julie ever thrilled when I called her over. Thanks a million, Rain. You made my sister's day. =) 

Horse Isle's AQHs have such friendly expressions on their faces. 

As you can see, he's been trained quite a bit already. He's actually been around since 2011, hence the impressive 5,630 experience points. 

Here's what he looks like when ridden:

Oops. Blinking avatar. XD

His avatar reminds me a lot of the 6/6 red roan Welsh Mountain Pony we sold because of his tiny size. Julie has missed that little pony the most, so I'm glad she is the one who has ended up with a red roan. I wonder what she will decide to name him?