Task 1
I stared at the horse through the fence, frowning. She was beautiful...
Beautiful and abused.
"Hey," a man walked up to me, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder, "as of now, she's yours."
"Oh, really?" I asked, mildly surprised. It had been a decision among the barn owners to assign certain abused SWE's to riders. He nodded and told me the things I had to do. By the end of that year, I would have had to have her controlled or she'd be given to someone else.
I let out a shaky sigh. I had to get this done soon.
"Here...do you like bouncy balls?" I asked, sitting on the fence as I held out a rainbow splattered bouncy ball to the cremello horse.
She snorted and flattened her ears to her neck, walking backwards.
"No no!" My eyes widened as I spoke urgently, "I'm not going to hurt you, babe. I just wanna help you." I climbed down. After a solid minute, I had to jump the fence to avoid being trampled.
"How about nothing, eh?" I bent my knees a tad, keeping most of my side turned to the horse. "You and me, friends?" The horse stared, ears pricked. As I examined her, it looked like she was half starved at the auction. I frowned, "You're beat up, eh gal?"
The horse lowered its head, looking me up and down.
This time I was able to leave willingly.
I climbed over the fence with a smile, holding a red velvet bag in my hand. "Hey babe," I greeted the horse as she turned to me. She sniffed the air and immediately seemed curious at the bag. "Oh, what?" I smirked, holding up the bag, "This~?"
She took a step towards me, sniffing at it. I opened it and pulled out a small white cube. "Sugar makes everything great, right~?" The horse edged closer. Closer...
I held out the cube on a flat hand, "Here." I whispered. Hesitantly, the cremello stretched her neck out just enough to eat the cube. I smiled.
Within a week of simply giving small sugar cubes to her, she finally let me touch her for the first time. I called her babe, yes, but I thought of a better name. Something from one of my favorites bands.
Helena.
