Opening my eyes, my gaze meets the wall of my stall. With a slight grunt, I turn and poke my head out into the barn, nickering for Nick to give me my feed. He doesn't show up, but about ten minutes later, he walks in leading a horse. But not just any horse, it was one I know quite well, and haven't seen in a while. And as Nick leads him by me, I reach out to him. My nose brushes near his, his neck arches, showing off his large muscles. A squeal erupts from him, spooking me back into my stall. Nick shushes him quietly, while pulling the stallion from me. I stick my head out once again and nicker to him as they round the corner and head to the arena.
" Momma?" I hear Sky from a stall away. I back away from the stall door and turn to the stall that SkyFire stands in.
" Yes, Sky?" He walks closer, touching his nose to the metal grill that keeps us from each other.
" I'm hungry." I put my nose up against the grill, inhaling Sky's musty scent. A couple whinnies light up the barn, and the scuffle of Nick's boots approach my stall.
" Hey, Cassie. How are ya, girl?" He hooks up my hay net and props himself up on the stall door, watching me. I walk up to him and nudge his arm. He smiles and strokes my nose, reaching over Sky's door and placing the flake of hay down. Sky turns to Nick and drops his head down, hopefully eating his meal. He has a short history of not accepting his meal in the form of hay, therefor showing that he isn't taking his weaning well. Rose on the other hand, she's taking it fine. She is maturing, growing taller, and becoming more and more independent. Every day we get let out into our pasture, Rose usually sticks around the rest of the mares and I and grazes while Sky frolics around with the other two foals in the pasture. Rocky and Summit, two twins of Ashka, a dark bay mare. Rocky is the chestnut with a snowflake blanket pattern and Summit has more of a varnish roan like pattern. Those two are trouble makers. Always finding ways to enrage the humans, ways to escape the pasture. I've told Sky to stay away from them, or at least teach them better. They were almost 3 months younger than him and Rose, and are still getting into more trouble than Rose and Sky ever did.
" What do ya say, Callie? You gonna let me groom you today?" Nick stares deep into my eyes. I break the gaze, looking at my barrel. I haven't been groomed ever, and am just starting to allow Nick, and only him, to touch me. I've let him halter me, but only to the pasture.
I turn my side to him and gulp down some water, still feeling Nick's presence. I hear the metallic jingle of a halter and the quick squeak of a stall lock. Light fills my stall and I now realize, he's coming to grab me. I turn my head to his chest, rubbing my forelock against him roughly. He gets knocked back against the stall wall and laughs slightly.
" Come on now, let's go." He slips the halter over my head and clips it up under my jaw. Without hesitation, I follow behind him. And suddenly, he cuts the corner and walks into a stall like area. I stop in front of it, my head held high and my tail tucked close behind me.
" Easy girl, all I want to do is give you a quick wash. Clean your coat, you know?" He gives the lead a quick tug and I lunge forward quickly, but with my front hooves only. It is an awkward position for me, my body stretched out and my front hooves a little higher than my back hooves. I take in a deep breath and jump forwards, crashing into Nick. He grabs my neck from under me, hanging from me like another piece of rope. I spin around and he gets thrown from my neck, landing in the opening of the space. I toss my head up a couple times before rearing up high, falling forward and back onto my hooves. Nick scrambles up and holds his hands up high.
" Hey, hey... Easy, Callie." He says calmly says, slowly walking towards me. I let out a squeal, backing up into the wall. It isn't hard like stone, as it looks, it's more soft like the ground after a cold winter, springy yet solid. I take a look behind me to see what the wall might be made of, and suddenly, my halter feels lighter. I spin my head around and see Nick holding my lead in his hands. I try to step to the side, but my face gets pulled the other way. I now realize, there are now two leads connected to my halter, on either side of my head. I watch Nick throw the lead rope down and grab a brush. I raise my head as high as possible and watch as he steps up to my side, bringing the brush to my withers. I flinch, expecting a brutal strike, but nothing but a subtle swipe against my fur. I open my eyes, turning my head to look at him. He continues to glide the brush across my barrel and up my neck. And the more he does it, the better it feels.
After he finishes brushing me, he puts away the brushes and grabs something small. The light reflects off one side of it, making it look like a blade. I jump to the side, my head staying in place.
" Easy, its okay. Its just a hoof pick, to get all the dirt out of your hooves. It's not gonna hurt-" I lunge forward, the leads on either side of my face pull my head to my neck. Nick steps back and looks down at the brushes. I cock my head slightly, confusion flushing over me. Seeing me in this state, Nick now approaches me, bending down and grabbing my fetlock and tugging on it. He slowly pushes my shoulder with his, taking some pressure off my front right leg. My hoof leaves the strange ground and a scraping sound comes from my hoof. Nick drops my leg and my hoof feels as light as it was when I was born. He finishes cleaning out the rest of my hooves and returns the pick to the box with the brushes and stands in front of me.
" Now, that wasn't that bad, was it, Cal?" I blow out, calming myself. I guess he was right, it wasn't that bad. I mean, it can't be that bad to live with the humans.
Authors Note-
Wow, I finally updated! Sorry about the wait, but wait... Is Aurora actually considering staying with the humans? I will try to update quicker, so you can find out what will happen in the next chapter! So, a little fact about me as a writer, I actually write more and better when school actually going on then when I have time to write. Weird, but true ha! Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! -Acacia
P.S The horse on the front is Rose:)
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Born Free
AdventureBook 1: Born Wild Book 2: Born Free ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a little foal, Aurora has always loved to run. She sometimes sneaks in with the race horses and gallops along with them, just to get that feeling of the race. After getting told not to do that a...
