[waverly,]

Username: Bella278436
Name: Freed Spirit // River
Gender: Mare
Eye Color: Brown
Foundation.

[Bella278436]

aaahh yay! <3 <3 One of my dream tolters!
I was hoping for a bay with a brown eye! Are you some sort of mind reader?
yay! She's perfect!!! Thanks so much Gator! <3
totally not stalking for you to post the info
I need a perfect name for her... hmm...
If anyone has any names, I'd love if you could PM me <3

[waverly,]

I'm glad you like her! I'm really happy with how the rabicano turned out c:

[Bella278436]

It looks just absolutely amazing, I'm very impressed! Not that I ever doubted your skills <3
I think I've got a name for herhahahaha just kidding!

Now I will train her! then breed a bunch of rabicanos and take over the world with their beauty! mwhahahaha!

[Bella278436]

Ahh, I still don't have a name for this beauty!
OH! I just thought of a really good name for her!!
She's going to be a mare, and named Freed Spirit // River

Do I pick the halter now or after training?

[waverly,]

Lovely name, and you can pick the halter now, just tell me how you want it designed.

[Bella278436]

okay! c:
May I have something like this for her halter?
And thanks! c: I just realized it matches my stable name perfectly, which I'm fine with since she's my favorite Tolter I own and I haven't even done her taming writing yet woops

[Bella278436]

River's Taming Tasks
River's Post

Task 1: First Encounter
I run outside of my classic farm style house when I hear the rocks of my driveway shuffling. About a week ago, I signed up to home an untouched and un-ridden tolter. I hadn't seen any pictures of the horse, nor did I have any idea of its past or history. Nothing. I didn't even know if I was getting a stallion, gelding, or mare! Although, I had hoped I'd end up with a Bay, a rabicano, or one with a small white snip. And the hope of one with a brown eye was always there. Oo how much I love the classic brown eyes tolters, the eyes of a horse are the gateway to their spirit, their soul. Something about those brown eyes on tolters, it was a sign to me that they would be the perfect tolter, one with spirit, but one who wanted to learn and listen. Everything I had wondered about, came down to this white pick-up truck. As the white truck came to a stop, I noticed details on it. Its tires were a dark brown, covered in fresh mud from the rain we had gotten last night. It had a line of dried, light brown mud from the tires shooting up dirt and mud onto the car, which stood out against the shinning white truck. Attached to the two door pick-up truck was a white shinny trailer with a gleaming silver rim. The sun's bright light beamed in my eyes, as it reflected against the white paint.

I slowly approach the trailer. I know what lies ahead of me, the beautiful animal who stands inside that trailer is wild at heart. It will be an adventure, life changing for not only the horse, but for me too. It's a challenge, and I hope I'm ready for it. Step by step, I have mixed emotions. Excited for the project ahead of me, scared for what might happen, joy for the horse getting a new home, fear of failure.

I stood on the left side of the car, next to the passenger's door. A man came out of the driver’s seat. A tall man with medium length jet black hair walked over to me. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans with rips in the knees, with a dark blue, light blue, and white plaid shirt. That's all I noticed, I glanced at him for a second before spotting the papers in his hands. I looked at the few sheets of papers. One thing caught my eye. A photo, stapled to a crisp light blue sheet of paper with what looked like very neat writing, done in pen. A single photo told me so many things. Never until now had I realized how much the expression "A photos worth a thousand words" was true. The thing that caught my eye, brown. Not any brown, dark brown. Next to a black mane and tail, I got a bay. But on the tail, a beautiful white streak, and upon its face, a small white and pink snip. That's all I could see, before the tall man shifted the papers from his right hand to his left hand, and offered me his hand to shake.

"Hello Bella, I'm John” he started as I held out my hand to shake his. As I shook, my eyes went from his eyes, to the papers trying to find any more information about the horse, to the noisy trailer. He continued, “ Thanks for taking time to take in this horse and tame it. It's a mare, she's around 7 years. She's been with us for a few years now, we got her back in 2013. We haven't handled her much other than moving her, she's never had a halter despite the fact that we've moved her a quite a bit in the past few years. We don't know any of her history or where she was rounded up from, your guess is as best as ours. I won't have you wait any longer, I'll introduce you two." The man's voice was deep. I couldn't even get words out, I just nodded. I guess he could tell by the look on my face that I was anxious to see her.

I opened the gate to the empty, small paddock where I'd plan on keeping the mare until she got used to things around here at Free Spirit, mainly me and the other horses. The paddock wasn’t super close to the main one, which was huge and housed all of the horses. When I say huge, I mean like giant, I had over 70 acers of paddock, and I could expand if I needed to since we owned a good chunk of the forest surrounding Free Spirit! But the new mare would still see the horses and get used to them, while not fully introducing. From inside the trailer I heard hoofs pounding on the metal flooring of the trailer. Hoping she’s be a good horse, I gave Josh a thumbs up for him to start backing up. He started the engine, and I heard a muffled snort coming from inside the trailer. The man backed the trailer up so she would go right into the paddock when we opened the trailer door.
"Ready?" He called out from the other side of the trailer. We were both right outside the paddock opening ready to open the door. I had one hand on the trailer door, and one with the large metal peg that held the trailer up. John had already undone the other 2 hooks keeping the door shut securely. From inside, I heard more snorts and hoofs prancing and pawing, an anxious horse was inside.

"Yup," I replied back. Simultaneously, the two metal pins were pulled up and we let go of the door. With a bang, the trailer door released, and slammed to the ground and splashed in a mud pile. It almost seemed as the door hit the ground, the mare inside went with it. The bay mare, with an unknown marking, something with white, bolted out of the trailer and into the far end of the field. The man and I picked up the trailer door together, and I held it up as he put the pins back in, holding it in place from falling while he did so. John quickly hopped back into the driver’s seat and I blocked the gate, one hand out and the other touching the metal of the gate, ready to close it. I readied myself to close the gate as he drove the trailer just far away enough so I could close the gate. As he backed away, I pushed the metal gate through a puddle and shut it. I looped the chain around the fence post and the gate, and clipped them together. I scanned the field, and spotted the bay mare. Not only a bay mare, but a dark bay rabicano mare. One with brown eyes. As I searched her face from afar, I noticed a special sparkle in her eye. I gazed into her eyes as she seemed to be getting closer. Before I knew it, the mare had her nose inches away from mine. I looked into her eyes once again. She had spirit, she was free and wild. I lifted my hand to stroke her face, but as I did, she snorted and galloped back to the field. She seemed to enjoy playing in the puddles. I smiled at her spunky attitude, and curious ways.

"I got her from here, thanks!" The man and I exchanged good byes after he gave me paperwork and informed me a bit more about the Bear Run Tolter Taming Event. I was handed the final paper work, and the gleaming white truck and trailer left, with the familiar sound of rumbling rocks. The only difference, now I had plus one horse.


Task 2: Adjusting to the new home
That day I continued working as I normally would. Filling water buckets, exercising and training horses, mucking, everything I normally would. I wanted to give the new mare time to get used to new surroundings. From watching her throughout the first day, I could tell she was scared. Everything was new for her, which I understood. But something really stood out to me. She was curious, from the second I got her. She was curious about who I was and what I was doing, but as soon as I went to stroke her, she ran away scared of the unknown person trying to touch her. The bay mare seemed to love to explore new things, which she's done a lot of so far. When changing water buckets yesterday, she came a few yards away from me as cold, clear water trickled out of the hose and into the grass as it rested on the fence. I grabbed an end of the small black rubber trough and dumped it out into the grass. When I did, a bright yellow shopping bag with a blue logo, I couldn't read it, flew out from behind the bucket. I didn't think much of it, but the mare did.

She freaked out! The mare squealed, then bucked, kicked and galloped away. The bag seemed to chase her, she ran in the direction the wind did. In the mean time, I had moved the hose which was resting on the fence post to placing the running water into the bucket. With the mare still running, I didn't think twice and I ran over and chased the bag around. Finally, I grabbed it. Out of breath, I looked at my feet and bent over as I held the bag in my hand, hands on my hips. When I looked up, I noticed the mare had walked over to me. I held my hand out for her to sniff. She sniffed me gently. I went to stroke her and she pulled her head a little closer to her. When I went to pet her again, the wind picked up, and the bag crinkled in the wind, scarring her. She bolted away, then slowly walked back towards me, head low and ears perked up high.

When she came back to me, I held out my hand for her to sniff. Then I tried to move my hand up and stroke her. I touched the little snip on her nose, and with that, I turned back and released pressure on her. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw her licking her lips, a sign that she was learning. I did this with her for a while, slowly moving up her face each time. With patience, I eventually got to fully stroke her face.

By now, and by now I mean it's been 4 days after I got her, she's sort of gotten into the swing of things. She gallops around and comes right up to the fence when she notices some of the other horses are coming into their stalls to get fed, and some(the calm, not aggressive ones, such as Blue, Aolani, and Arctic) getting black rubber pans of their oats placed in front of them in the field. After going to the store for stuff for River and everyday used items that were in need of replacement, such as a cheep, simple blue rope halter, a feed pan of her own, a few extra lead ropes, a new lunge line, and a bucket. When going to use the feed pan for the first time with River, I put her normal amount of oats and grain in it. Opening the gate with one hand, and then closing it after me, I noticed that River was waiting in her normal spot. About 3 strides away from the gate, near the water bucket.

I placed the black rubber pan down closer to her, backed away, and watched her feet. I didn't want to pressure her by looking her in the eyes, but I still wanted to see what she was doing. She moved one foot and lower her head. I heard her sniff the rubber. Suddenly she threw her head up and backed away. I took an extra step back. I wanted her to figure this out.

I waited what seemed like forever but probably was only a few seconds before River stepped up near the oats again. She hesitated before lowering her head again. She sniffed the outside of the rubber, then the rim of it. She looked as if she was thinking. Then, our of no where, River took the rubber pan of food by the rim, and threw her head up high, sending the oats out flying. River then trotted around in a circle around the large area of where her dinner had flew to, her neck arched and tail raised high, prancing as if she had just concurred some giant monster and her prize was the food. I watched as the rubber food pan swung from side to side with each step she took. After about two and a half circles, she came to a halt. I just stood and started at her. As she grazed on the low grass, picking up small pieces of oats as she walked around the "food zone" I knew this was something we'd have to work on.

River learned by the next night that she can actually eat out of the food pan, and she doesn't have to remove the food before eating. She learned fairly quick. I was stroking her head that next morning as I held the food pan. I put some water into it, and placed it near her water trough. I bent over as River stood and stared at me. With one hand, I slowly placed my hand into the food pan, and swirled it around. Then I took my hand out and put my hand into her water trough. I did this a few times. "River" I called. By now she had already learned her name. I would be starting to teach her that when I say "come" she comes to me. But I'd do that after I got her used to the halter; something I'd plan on doing tomorrow. River took a step forwards. I backed away to give her space. When I did, her curiosity got the best of her. She placed her lips in the small amount of water I had put into the black rubber feed pan she had "concurred" last night at dinner.

I left the paddock/dried pan/gave oats/finish this section. WIP


Task 3: Introduction of the halter


Task 4: Meeting a friend


Task 5: Gaining your horse's trust


Task 6: First time with saddle


Task 7: Ground work


Task 8: First ride


Task 9: Free Spot; Personality
River, when first being given to the owner at Free Spirit Ranch, was full of spirit, curious, protective over herself, and cautious about everything new before she explored it, but all around, seemed like she would turn into a great little mare. And she did. When being trained, River never lost her spunky attitude. Although River was a little weary at first, she learned super quick, always understanding what she was meant to do by the 2nd or 3rd time she was shown. It might of helped quicken the training process because she was untrained for a few years in a holding pen, but had contact with humans. Either way, she's turned out to be a great little mare, and we could not have been happier! River is always running around feeling the air rush between the strands of hair in her mane. Most of the time River's got her happy face on, enjoying the company of everyone around her. While hanging out with other horses is fun, when there's something she doesn't quite understand, River's one of the first ones to investigate! After a bad storm, the fence gate had to be replaced, and all the horses were put into their stalls. When going back to the pasture after we fixed the fence, River saw a similar, yet unknown object had taken place of the old fence gate, and used her clever mind to help her open, yes, open, the fence! However, she was not the one to go walk out, she simply left the door wide open, and went back to grazing. Sometimes River will start to freak out, such as when we introduced her to the whip. She bolted around the round pen until we put the whip down and calmed her. On another day, I was out in the pasture filling water buckets as River watched me. Behind a bucket stuck between the fence and the rubber water trough, was a neon yellow plastic shopping bag. The wind picked up and it blew in the air, totally spooking River. We are still learning the things that freak this little mare out, but there aren't many. River's smart, and thankfully she gets over her fears quickly once learning that they are not going to hurt her. We assume her panics are from some sort of negative experience in her past. Some things she liked, such as a beautiful bald eagle she met when she was still new here. She galloped and followed that eagle to the fence line where she came to a short stop, and it would turn around and soar to the other end with her. We've also learned that she finds comfort in white, but also very, very pale, almost white colors. Slowly but surly, River is making all her friends here at Free Spirit Stable, and soon, she'll be friends with everyone! Well, almost everyone. There might be a few horses she won't be with, as she doesn't trust them, and protecting herself in her fight or flight instinct is one of her top priorities, second to pleasing the people who helped her. There's still lots to learn about River, but we're sure whatever we learn and do with her next, she'll continue to be one of the favorites here.

Task "10": Free Spot; undecided



-edit: Okay, I prettied stuff up and made spots for the rest of the tasks so I didn't forget if I'm lucky enough to keep River, I hope you liked the short little piece I wrote-

[waverly,]

Congrats, you're keeping your wild tolter! I'd like to see you really getting into developing this babe, okie? c:

[Bella278436]

aww gator thank you so, so much! It really really means a lot to me! I was thinking about it all day, it's huge relief that I get to keep my baby <3 I didn't realize until now that she literally has all my favorite things: Rabicanno, dark bay, brown eye, snip, and irregular white marking(her sock)

Since I was thinking about her a lot, I have almost my entire taming story done in my head, so I'll probably finish it soon! But first I'm going back and making bigger paragraphs, I got really close to the dead line last night and had to type quick to get some ideas out to finish! I can't wait!!

One other thing, if I wanted to use my challenge thread points to buy her an eagle feather to put in her mane, would you be willing to do that? And if you would, how much would that cost? I couldn't find it on the prize thing on the thread. I plan on having an eagle being something very important to her, which brings me to one other thing I wasn't sure if you'd do, but would you maybe give her an eagle? Not sure if you would, I get it if you'd rather now! Also, how much would it be, I also couldn't find it for that? Let me know! c: