![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging.saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/old-warriors-charles-1-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhere\u2019s Charles? Have you seen Charles?<\/p>\n
Those were the questions our long-time volunteers would ask each other.<\/p>\n
Who is Charles, you might ask?<\/p>\n
Charles was one of the oldest horses on the river\u201430 years old.<\/p>\n
Do you remember what we\u2019ve mentioned before\u2014that some stallions make better lieutenants than lead stallions? Well, we\u2019re not even sure that role fit our boy, Charles.<\/p>\n
Charles may have been born a crotchety old man\u2014the kind who yells at everyone for being in his space, for breathing too hard, for walking on his grass\u2026you get the idea.<\/p>\n
Charles was a drifter. He had a way of wearing out his welcome with lead stallions\u2014not because he was challenging them for breeding rights, nope\u2014Charles was just bossy. He liked things done his way.<\/p>\n
He served as a lieutenant in Champ\u2019s band for a while, until Champ had had enough and (not too politely) banished Charles from the group. So, our boy Charles journeyed on.<\/p>\n
As he got older, Charles preferred to keep a low profile.<\/p>\n
A couple of young bachelors would seek him out for guidance, then move on. And it was during these years that the Where\u2019s Charles? game began.<\/p>\n
One day, a volunteer would post a sighting of Charles at Water Users. Another day, someone would share a blurry Charles butt shot from Sheep\u2019s Crossing. It became a daily game among our volunteers.<\/p>\n
Until one day, the game stopped.<\/p>\n
Our last official sighting of Charles was in July 2016. All great warriors know their end game.<\/p>\n
Seeing Charles on any given day, was always an honor and privilege.<\/p>\n
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Man, The Myth, The Legend \u2013 Charles.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this is: \u201cAs the River Flows.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photos by Luanne Hedblom Destini Rhone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you remember what we\u2019ve mentioned before\u2014that some stallions make better lieutenants than lead stallions? Well, we\u2019re not even sure that role fit our boy, Charles.","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":81400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"yoast_head":"\n