[Sandy Hoofprints]

Username: HailHydra
Name: Little One -- "Kleine"
Gender: Mare
Colour: Sooty Buckskin Overo
Genotype: Ee/Aa/Crcr/STYSTY/nO
Eye Colour: Strawberry Jam

[voxtexy]

I wish to claim this horse!
Username: HailHydra
Name: Little One -- "Kleine"

[voxtexy]

Task one: Capturing the beauty
.........................It was a daunting task. A wild mare was roaming the land surrounding the farm, and she had caught the interest of the workers there. One day they told the owner of the land, and he sent them out on a mission, to capture the mare and put her into a corral. The mare was lone, she had no herd, and she didn't seem too troubling, she was quite small, and what harm could she bring to his men?
.........................Apparently, she could do a LOT of damage to his men. They tried to catch her seven times before they stopped and realized something; this mare had sent three men to the hospital, and injured three others. She was feisty for a little mare, her attitude was that of a stallion, which interested the land owner even more, "That mare, she has spunk. She has fire, I want her." The land owner watched from his room, his glasses on the edge of his nose as he watched, she would be caught, if it was the last thing he did.
.........................It took him nearly three months to capture the spunky mare. He had his workers set traps, but none seemed to work, not until he used another horse to capture her. She was a lonely mare, and she took to the pawn the land owner had way too easily. She was lured in by their stallion Tainted King, the mare was drawn to him and the stallion was able to lead her into a trap, which upset the mare, but it was well worth it; he knew she'd come around.

Task two: Gaining the beauty's trust
.........................The mare was distant for two months. After some convincing from a certain stallion, she finally agreed to start to try to form trust within the humans. The land owner hobbled out every day, he sat by her corral, or leaned against it and read poetry and played classical music, sometimes he'd bring her treats, and he'd set them on the ground first, and slowly set them on the corral fence until the mare was alright with being so close to him. When she was eating treats off of the fence with ease, he began to tempt her to eat out of his palm. She refused the first few times, but eventually she slowly approached him and used her lips to move the treat into her mouth or onto the ground before eating it. But she was getting somewhere, and those treats definitely helped. Sure, she was caught, but she didn't hate it as much as she thought she would.
.........................Within the time the mare was easing up to the land owner, she was dubbed as Little One, or for simplicity's sake, Kleine. She was petite, so the name fit. Besides the treats, she also gained trust with the owner of the land by getting used to him entering her corral to sit and observe her, he started to bring less treats when he did that, and he only let the mare eat them from his palm, and so the mare started to get used to him. The land owner hadn't touched her much, and the first time he did, was the day the mare gave in and began to trust him. His hand caressed her cheek softly and she simply snorting before pulling away and trotting to the other side of the corral.

Task three: Introducing the beauty to the others
.........................Sure, the mare had met one horse, but she still needed to meet the others. The land owner, Lee, clipped a lead onto her halter and lead her to a pasture where the others were grazing and playing in. Kleine was hesitant to enter at first, but Lee gently tapped her flank and she steadily trotted in, ears pinned back against her cranium as she looked around. All eyes were on her, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. The first horse to greet her was Tainted of course, he galloped to her and tossed his head a little in a greeting, "Come on!" He turned and trotted over to the horses, and watched as Kleine slowly made her way over. Lee trailed after her, making sure to stay nearby in case one of his other horses acted out. The last thing he wanted was for her to get injured or for one of his other horses to get injured.
.........................Kleine stopped a few feet away from the other horses, her audits still pinned against her cranium as she watched them. Lee smiled as one of his newest mares, Isis, stepped up and approached the muddy mare, her bright eyes softly observing the mare before she dipped her head and introduced herself, "I'm Isis, who may you be?" Kleine was unsure of this, but the mare seemed nice, and she looked to the human and he motioned to the mare in front of her. The muddy horse nodded back, her ears slowly moving up from their pinned position, "I'm Kleine."

Task four: Training the beauty
.........................This task, would be most challenging. The mare might have learned to stay timid around the horses and the land owner, but making her train? That might be a little challenging. Lee was able to get a halter and lead on her, but could he do more? Lee tried to put a saddle on her, and for the first few tries, she reared up and stomped at the ground. So he chose to just lead her around a round pen, clicking his tongue to speed up the pace, and to familiarize her with it. Kleine was a little uneasy, but she warmed up to the walking exercises and she began to associate faster speeds with the clicks. Lee was proud, he had worked a few months on getting her used to being reined and worked in a corral.
.........................The next challenge was the saddle. Did he really want to do that to her? Certainly not, she was dirty, and he didn't want to clean a saddle. He'd wait until she was bathed to put that onto her back, besides, she'd make a great broodmare, at least in his opinion; so he didn't find it worth it to put a saddle on her and ride her. Lee much preferred bare back or a small saddle pad at most. He would stick with reining her and making her adjust her pace with his clicks and whistles anyways, he was sure she wouldn't take well to a saddle yet.

Task five: The beauty's unveiling
.........................Man, was she dirty, and for a while. She wasn't completely caked in mud. At least not anymore. Lee had patted her down and got rid of big clumps of mud, so pieces of her fur started to show, but he knew she was far from being willing to take a bath. Lee was way too excited to see how she truly looked, after all the time he's had her, he had a valid reason! Lee wanted to know if she looked as beautiful and fierce as she acted, plus that could determine if he'd keep her or not. Another thing it could reveal, is what he'd have her do. He wasn't sure yet, maybe she could do dressage, or show jumping? Lee was uncertain, but he was certain that he wanted to see her and work with her more.
.........................Leading the mare to the wash stalls, Lee tied her up so he could use both hands to wash her, and so she'd be more secure as he washed her. Kleine opposed quite often, tossing her head back, threatening to nip him, but eventually she stopped, and let him flush water all over he pelt, getting rid of the dirt and dry mud clumps that had stuck to her; and boy did it feel good! As much as Kleine hated being tied up, the cool water against her coat felt like heaven, and she honestly couldn't imagine anything better than that at the moment. So she closed her eyes as Lee rubbed soap into her pelt and wash more cold water over her. Lee was quite satisfied, he worried the mud might have stained her coat, but he was far from right. Lee was smiling the whole time he was washing her. It was relieving to see the mud and dirt wash away from her coat, and it was even more pleasing to see the mare close her eyes and relax as he bathed her.

[Sandy Hoofprints]

Congrats, great job with this mare, let's look at her all cleaned up!