bravo, jest

♘ chapter 1

the warm summer's wind blew softly through the black and brown strand's of Jests' mane as he galloped through the lush, green grass that felt like clouds beneath his hooves. his rider's hands were soft on his mouth as they prepared for a large log jump a few strides ahead of them. ears pricked, Jest picked his knees up and popped over the jump as though it was nothing more than one of the horse jumps sitting on the bookshelf of his rider. Jest lengthened his stride when he felt the pressure on the reins loosen and pressure on the side of his stomach from the leather boots of his rider who had the worlds biggest smile on her face. they moved as one, flying over jumps and open fields as the world watched them with pride. this was where they were supposed to be. Jest and his rider worked as a team & put everything into each other. Jest tried his best to make his rider happy but his past trapped him in a cage that kept him firmly trapped far away from all his rider wanted to achieve.

Jest loved his rider more than anything (well... maybe not food) and he wanted to give her all she had given him and more but the things she saved him from were not easy to escape. when Jest was a colt, he was boisterous & full of energy as most young horses are. It was a summer afternoon & Jest was playing with his older brothers & friends when a black shadow touched a tree with a tiny stick, causing it to set alight. the searing heat was overwhelming and combined with the screaming neighs of his herd, Jest was confused and lost amid the chaos. as he struggled to keep up with his herd & escape the fire he took a wrong step and fell over the water jump that lay in the horses' second paddock & snapped his leg in half. he let out a shrill whinny in which his mother replied with a heartbroken one, but she could not risk her life for his, not with all her foals to look after. once the firefighters had successfully put out the fire they found him lying still, covered in mud and sweat. this was the day he met his rider,  Nadia. Nadia's father wanted to put Freckles down, but Nadia fought for him. during his rehab she visited him every day & nurtured him, creating an unbreakable bond. as both Jest & Nadia grew so did their skills & teamwork. Nadia broke Jest in and began to teach him cross country as that was where she felt she excelled. she was overjoyed when Jest took a liking to it as well & they loved to spend their time galloping over the open fields and jumps, discovering new routes & jumps as they explored the property. only they could never compete because almost every place that held a competition had a water jump & no matter how hard she tried, Nadia could never get Jest to jump it. she hid her disappointment toward this with a small smile & pats, but both she and Jest knew she'd love to jump it. One day, they both told themselves. But when would this day come?