Red Outlaw

Long Days

It was them days when Red was happy. When he was little and everything seemed to be right.

The herd was gettin' a drink again, led by Red's grandmama and her new colt. He was a weakling, a runt. Her last and final baby. He was a real light smoke color with a white spot on his rear, so his name was Patch.

Patch wasn't much for playin' and he and Sepia made real good friends. Just like Red and Ash been, but they didn't know the cat smell.

Luckily, the cat been full for a little while.

Red splashed around with his ma for a while but got bored real fast. He was probably a week old or so now. He got pretty good choppers gettin' in and got to wonderin' about that stuff his mama was chompin' on.

She slurped up the water and didn't even blink while doin' so, just gulped and gulped more of the stuff down.

Red put his nose down and sipped a little but it was still second to milk in his mind. It was so flavorless.

He put his head down and take another sip when something slimy come into his mouth. Appalled, he spat the thing out and licked his lips.

Lookin' down into the water he seen these little silver lines, all a wigglin'. They look like they was headed somewheres, but couldn't get there cause the current was too fast.

Them little minnows is easy to suck up when you're drinking. The older horses find spots without fish in them and drink there. Red wasn't quite clever enough for that.

He went back and bit some on his pa's ears while the lower ranking mares drunk their fill. He didn't mind til' Red got his pearly whites workin' on them, and then he gave Red a good bite.

He was gettin' closer to where he could handle a nasty blow, too. That was Red's first introduction to harem stallions, and how they'd be treatin' him eventually.

Red wasn't concerned with the future though, and forgot all about it. He and Dot went and played.

Dot was a real good friend a his now and they was basically inseparable as babies. They slept together, run together, ate together, drank together, and didn't do really nothin apart. They was best pals, and Red made sure Dusty knowed it.

As time passed, and Red got to be about a month old he was already eatin' more grass and nursin' less. He didn't even stay near his ma all that long anymore.

It started as a thought. He got them choppers that would work real good on that grass. Plus he was hungry for somethin' his mama couldn't just give him.

He peered over at his ma and done the same thing she did. Put his head down, felt the grass with his lip and pulled it up with his teeth.

He had to be careful, though or else dirt would come with it. Red didn't much like the taste of dirt.

He liked that grass but didn't eat too much of it. It got to be a fun game for him to rip it up out of the ground and throw it away, though.

For a couple days he and Dot wasted the harem's feeding ground, ripping up the grass and scattering it around. Them older horses were not happy about that, and held a grudge to those troublemakers.

Red found some real tall grass one day and ate a little. It had a colorful part on top, a sunflower, and Red thought that was very tasty.

He tired of eating them soon and started ripping them up, though. He grabbed that sunflower and took it away from the stem, galloping back to his mama. He throwed it on her back and she spooked but then was very mad at him for that.

So he went back to his game of ripping things up and tossing them around everywhere. He made the place quite a mess, but the mares ate it all up.

He picked up a sunflower to see if Dot wanted to play, and throwed it at her but she didn't spook or run. Instead she start eatin' on the colorful parts til' they was gone. Red thought she was crazy. Those is toys, not food!