Entry for EUPHORIAN THOROUGHBREDS #829-830

[blackhoeses]

This will be a joint effort by my self and Ghouly_

Euphorian Thoroughbred #829-830
The mare's show name is Thistle on the Myre, Duchess for short.
The filly's show name is Emerging from A Chrysalis, Rysa for short.


feel free to post

[blackhoeses]

Most people look at Duchess and Rysa and see their extremely close bond and think they must be mother and daughter. But there is a whole lot more to their story and bond than meets the eye.

It all started on a stormy night with a very pregnant mare jammed in with a bunch of other horses in the cargo bay of a ship. Some of the horses there were gotten from legitimate means but most like the mare were stolen right out of there pastures or even stalls. As the ship rocked wildly due to the waves, the mare started to grunt in pain. Her foal was coming, she had tried to wait as long as possible but this baby was determined to meet the outside world. The mare moved to the edge of the group and the others sensing what was going on tried to give her some space. A short seal brown paint mare moved to put herself between the mare and the rest of the group. Trying to give the laboring mother more peace of mind. The mare Duchess stayed by her side throughout the whole process and kept encouraging the mare. Many nerve wrecking hours later a tiny little filly was born.

[HarperTheKiv]

[blackhoeses]

Due to all of the traumatic events and the foaling process the mare was super weak. But for her youngster she struggled to her feet encouraging her young foal to get to her own feet and nurse. Duchess did her best to offer support but shortly after the filly started to nurse the humans opened the hatch on the cargo bay to put in another tariffed horse with the group. As they lowered the horse down it was kicking a thrashing about. Making the herd nervous and shortly after the new horse hooves touched the floor the storm chose this moment to let out a giant clap of thunder and lightning, with the hatch door open the little herd had no buffer between the storm's sounds and themselves. The booming echo of the storm's fury sent the already nervous herd into a panic. Soon all of the horses were kicking, rearing and moving about in terror, which separated the Duchess from the filly and her mother. To make matters worse the ship started to move making things even more chaotic in the ship's hold.

The little mare did her best to keep herself between her foal and the rest of the group. Even taking some kicks and bites in an attempt to protect Rysa, unfortunately despite the mare's best efforts the young filly was kicked in her right eye. Soon after this happened the herd began to settle down. The young filly and her mother were not the only ones to be hurt, Duchess came limping over to the pair. She had bruised the muscles in her shoulder, the two mares started to groom each other, while Rysa finished nursing. Soon both mother and foal were asleep on the floor with Duchess standing over them like a guardian angel.

[HarperTheKiv]

[blackhoeses]

As the days wore on, it became apparent to both mares that the filly's injury to the right side of her face was affecting her sight. It was hard for them to tell due to there only being one light source in the hold. Both Duchess and the filly's mother did there best to help the youngster. But both mother and foal began to struggle with the lack of food, water and the injuries started to take their toll. It was not long before Rysa's mother passed away, the hardest part not only for the young filly and Duchess but for the whole herd. Was that it took the humans a few days to notice she had passed on and remove her from the hold. At that time they also tried to take Rysa as they planned on tossing her over the side of the ship since she was "worthless". Duchess was having none of it and would chase off any human that got too close to Rysa. She even managed to tear the pants of one of the humans that tried to take Rysa away. Soon they gave up and left Duchess and Rysa alone.

[HarperTheKiv]

[blackhoeses]

Poor Rysa was so weak that she could not stand most of the time and Duchess spent a lot of time curled up next to her. Grooming and doing her best to comfort the young filly. This just reinforced in little Rysa’s mind that Duchess was her other mother. She had no idea that a foal was only supposed to have one mother. A few days after that there was a loud commotion and banging sound from all over the ship. Unbeknownst to the horses a policing vessel crew had boarded the ship due to suspicion of it transporting stolen goods. Duchess was standing over Rysa in a protective fashion due to the fact that Rysa was so weak she could no longer stand. Soon a few humans with small bright beams of light came into the hold. This started the herd to move around restlessly, bumping into each other and the walls in an effort to get away from these new strangers and their bright lights. Duchess was standing firm over Rysa when a large draft gelding accidentally backed into her forcing her to step away from Rysa or risk falling on her. As Duchess moved, the movements of the herd continued to force her step by step away from Rysa. The little filly noticing that her mother was not near her began to call out weakly, and try to struggle to her feet. This brought her to the attention of one of the officers, the young man who had grown up on a farm took one look at the tiny filly lying on the floor. And grab his partner to go rescue her, they were soon waded their way through the herd. Taking a few bits and bumps to scoop Rysa off the floor.

Poor Duchess was absolutely frantic looking for Rysa; she kept calling for days, circling the hold constantly sniffing the spot on the floor that she had last been. As the days passed even with more light, food and water benign brought to the horses in the hold. Duchess began to get depressed, she barely ate and was listless. Unless approached by humans then she became aggressive. She did not hurt anyone but she also would not let anyone approach her either.

[HarperTheKiv]

[blackhoeses]

At the same time poor little Rysa was taken straight to a local horse rescue, which also happens to be the local branch for Euphorian Retired Racehorse Project They immediately began the process of getting her clean and having her cheeked by a vet. Which is when they found that her right eye was damaged and when the vet took a look on top of the infection in the eye and it being almost swollen shut, there was a small crack in the bone above her eye. The vet had to go in and remove the small piece of bone. The staff began the around the clock process of trying to nurse Rysa back to health. They were constantly with her keeping her eye clean, feeding her and helping her learn to stand again. The staff noticed that as she got better she would keep calling out looking for her mother. This had the team worried that her mother was still on the ship.

Even with everyone trying to make things move as quickly as possible to get the horse from the ship off and into proper care. A ton of bureaucratic red tape and paperwork made it take nearly a month. In this time an effort had been made to find Rysa’s mother but since they were looking for a mare that had milk they completely looked over poor Duchess. But finally everything was taken care of on the human end and the horses from the ship were taken to a holding pen at the rescue. It took the little herd from the ship most of the day to calm down and adjust to the new surroundings.

Duchess seeing she was someplace new let out a half hatred call for Rysa. She had almost given up but she missed her little filly. To Duchesse utter shock an answering call came back from the barn. Duchess began to pace along the fence and call out periodically to Rysa. Anytime that the staff approached the holding pen she would stop and move back into the herd. This had the staff completely puzzled as to who Rysa was talking too. The filly was doing much better and they had been able to take the bandages off her face. And other than the milky spot in her right eye and the fact she had trouble seeing on that side,she was on the mend even if it still looked absolutely frightening to an outsider. Rysa had healed enough so that the staff no longer had to be with her 24 by 7, so as the staff said good night for the evening after such a odd day. They paid special attention to Rysa and her stall making sure that all was good. Soon after the last human left the barn Duchess eyed up the fence keeping her away from Rysa. She backed up and made a might jump, if anyone had seen her do this they would have fallen over in shock. Duchess stood on the other side for a minute catching her breath, then one careful step at a time made her way to the barn. The staff had left the main doors open to the night breeze so Duchess was able to walk right in. She called out to Rysa, flaring her nostrils trying to find little Rysa smell under all of the unfamiliar and overwhelming smells.