The four of us were loaded onto a very large trailer and separated by a moving metal wall, Josie with her dam and me with Holly, before the man and woman went to 'discuss business matters' whatever that meant. Holly helped keep me calm while we waited until finally the thing the humans rode in -right, the truck- and we began moving down the road I assumed i came in on just earlier this morning.
I stuck my nose to the window, barely being able to see out of it, and took a deep breath, searching for any familiar scents. Holly scratched my back gently with her teeth, grooming my coat while I stood there, distracted by everything. Fields and trees flew past us as we traveled, taking my focus completely. I noticed the very second we began slowing down, we'd past several fields of horses and something else -bigger with horns and thin tails- before we turned around almost completely -which gave me a view of the barn, where I assumed we'd be put.
The trailers locks unlatched and the man and woman began getting us out, allowing me to walk of my own free will alongside Holly. I didn't bother trying to run. I had no idea where I was, nor where I should go. I vaguely remember momma telling me a story about massive furry monsters in the woods that would chase a foal if they could. My ears tipped back as I remembered I couldn't, well, remember much from before I woke up in the man's trailer and it irked me.
I followed Holly into a stall and immediately laid down, completely exhausted after the emotions of today.
They put Josie and her dam in the stall beside ours, gave us hay and left, turning the lights off as they went.
"What's going to happen now?" I asked, lifting my tired eyes to meet Holly's gaze as she dropped some hay for me.
"I'm not sure... I guess we just wait and see what they do with us." She answered, settling down beside me.
"Get some sleep little guy, I'm sure everything will be ok."
I nodded sleepily, putting my head over her back and closing my eyes.
"G'night Holly." I nickered softly, shifting slight to get comfortable.
"Goodnight little one."
~~~~
The sound of a creaking door woke me up the next morning, sunlight pouring into the barn from the windows and the open barn door. I jolted to my hooves and watched as the man from yesterday put bags of hay in each of the stalls. Holly was still asleep, so was Josie and her dam.
The man approached, his lips turned upwards as he approached our stall door with a bag, his light brown eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Good mornin' boy." He greeted, unlatching the door and stepping in, keeping a careful eye on Holly and I. Holly stirred, but didn't seem to be bothered by the human in our midst. He hung up the bag and moved on, his eyes scanning over our bodies as he left. Holly stood and nudged me over to the hay, her way of telling me to eat while she was still tired. We spent the entire day in the stall, overhearing the man briefly speak of a vet coming out in a few hours to check us over.
I spoke with Holly and Josie's dam briefly, my curiosity shining through my wariness on several occasions, especially when a woman in a long white coat entered the barn.
"You said one mare, an older filly, a newborn filly and a yearling colt?" She asked, glancing at the dark haired man who brought us here as she approached our stall.
"Yeah. They all looked good -maybe a little underfed but otherwise fine. I haven't worked any of them just in case something happened." He replied, unlocking the door and pulling it open for the woman.
"Why don't we get these two to the round pen to check for lameness first?" She made her way over to me and ran her fingers down my neck gently, a soft smile playing at her lips.
"You're the vet."
"Tell me something I don't know."
The man chuckled as he grabbed the halter that had been used on Holly the day before, slipping it onto her face.
My ears slipped back and I sidestepped closer to the older horse, my muscles quivering with anxiety.
"It's alright Lo, they're just going to make us run. Stay with me." Holly urged as the man led her out into the aisle and towards the big barn doors.
"Lo?" I questioned, my tail flicking in irritation at the nickname as I trotted after her.
"It stands for Little One, since we don't know your name." She explained, watching me as I nearly face planted into the dirt.
"I don't know why I can't remember.... I remember some stuff, but most of its just blank." A sigh passed through my nose, earning a worried glance from the mare.
"It's ok Lo, we'll figure it out." Holly promised, allowing the man to take the lead from the halter. She nudged me towards the opposite side of the large, circular pen while the man stepped towards the gate, taking a long stick-like thing with a tail from the woman who brought us here with him.
He made a clicking sound and swished the stick-like thing towards our rumps, to which Holly began walking.
"Holly...?" I began curiously, trotting after her uneasily.
"The humans use whips to get us to move. They wave it at us like he did to tell us they want us to go. The more they wave it, the faster they want us to go." She explained quickly, speeding up to a light trot as the man made the clicking sound and waved the stick- er whip slightly.
"Take the pressure off, Orion. You're scaring the poor foal." The woman called from her place outside the fence as I cantered alongside Holly, my ears flicking every which way.
"I'm just trying to get them to move so Tay can actually get a feel for them." The man -'Orion'- huffed, setting the tip of the whip in the sand but still following us with his eyes as we jogged in meaningless circles.
"They look ok." The woman in the white coat muttered, slipping through the bars and standing beside the man, scrutinizing our movements.
"I'll get some blood samples and deworm them and then maybe in a week or so we come back and reevaluate? In case they have any diseases we don't want them to get any of the other horses sick."
"Sounds like a plan, thanks Tay." The woman agreed, her eyes focused on the man.
A/N ok two things; one, 'Lo' is pronounced 'low' and two, did ANYONE catch it???? If you didn't I'm not saying anything more about it, but if you did, I like you so much more than I already did lol
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Running Wild
FantasyFor Juliet and Everett they've always valued family. If anyone threatened their family that person was never heard from again, that's just how they were. As a colt Jasper was taken from his family and, unbeknownst to him, had run into the same probl...
