[KathrynKat]

 Owner       >>>  PuddlebyOnTheMarsh
 Name                >>> Helen
 Gender         >>> Female
 Adoption Price         >>> 10 sharkies
 Training         >>> Fully Trained
  =====
  . She is very young
  . very shy but tamed
  . very gentle

 Offspring;
 None

 [Discipline >>>>> ]
 [Shows Entered > R: W: E:]
 [Shows Won >>>> R: W: E:]

 [Ej > ] [Ep > ]
 [Eh > ] [Ws > ]
 [Wp > ] [Wt > ]
 [Rf > ] [Rs > ]

She took about an hour to round up, and seems very shy. She doesn't seem to have an aggressive streak in her though for what I found out later. After I had gained a bit of her trust I started to fall in love with how gentle she is but also shy. She is still fairly young but no clue who her parents might be. I finally had the vet check her, and they said she looks good to go, and able to breed a few times, but will not be able to breed to often and will need longer breaks. She can have max 4 foals, and only once per month at the most. She will need to be fixed after 3-4 foals. She is able to be ridden, and she has tamed down a bit being at my stables. She just needs somebody very gentle and can't be penned with rough neravontii.

[PuddlebyOnTheMarsh]

Helen had such a hard time in her young life that I wanted to just let her relax and get comfortable with her new surroundings and the rest of the herd before I even approached her. The day she was brought to my farm, I had the agency just release her in the pasture. As soon as they slipped off the lead rope she disappeared over the ridge. I wasn't worried about her getting out because I had spent the previous week riding the perimeter fence and everything checked out fine. They said she had calmed down at the foster farm but I guess the abrupt change of location had upset her. I didn't even see her for the first few days. Then she started coming in with the herd at feeding time but hung way back till I had left. After a few weeks, she finally came all the way up to the barn but managed to be elsewhere if I moved even slightly in her direction. With a great deal of persistence and patience though, I finally won her over.

To begin with, I didn't even look at her. I pretended she didn't exist. I'd pet, feed and play with everyone else. Day by day she ran away less and started to get curious as to why the others seemed to like me. Finally the day came when she was only about 6 feet away and I was passing out treats. I threw a baby carrot so it landed about halfway between us and she started away for a moment so Skhiz snapped it up and looked at the young mare as if to say, "you're afraid of a carrot?" then turned her back on the newcomer to see what else I had to give. I handed out a few more assorted treats then carefully tossed a cheese cube toward Helen. This time she stretched out her neck, sniffed briefly and snapped up the snack before anyone else had a chance. I gave her an equal share of the remaining goodies but she never quite came close enough to hand feed her. The days passed and I finally could look straight at her without any reaction then I moved to the next step. I made a point to be near her as much as possible, still mostly ignoring her up close. I'd reach past her to pet another Nera, or to pick a wayward stick out of ear fluff. From time to time I lightly brushed against her in the process. Once she was totally accustom to this, I increased the contact time. It took over a month but I finally reached the day I got to rub the ears of this cutie and she enjoyed it as much as I did.

[PuddlebyOnTheMarsh]

Once I had convinced Helen I didn't bite, she became a regular part of the herd. My Nera were all so laid back that she didn't have to worry about fighting for anything. This was a good thing because she was still quite timid. I hoped that this was something that was just part of being young combined with memories of her earlier life and she would grow out of it in time. It would be difficult to ride her if I had to worry about her bolting whenever something new showed up. Speaking of riding, the agency listing said she had been ridden before so, hopefully the next step would just be a formality.

It was a lovely fall day and I carried my much used tack into the corral to find out the young mare's reaction. I had let Helen and Iris in earlier and they were playing with a large ball I had put out for their amusement. As I slung the ungainly contraption over the fence rail they both stopped at the sound and flipped their shaggy ears forward with interest. The paint mare didn't even flinch, it was clear she was familiar with the tack. A whistle brought Iris over and Helen decided to follow, (as I had hoped). I handed out a few treats and gave both girls a good ear massage. I casually lifted the bridle and slipped it on the young girl's head and she took the bit with very little fuss. She tasted it and decided it was okay. I loosely tied her to the rail then proceeded to saddle her up. The only issue I had was her tail hand wanted to be in the middle of nearly every buckling and adjustment. I nearly cinched it under the saddle at one point.

[PuddlebyOnTheMarsh]

She was still quite young and I'm not exactly jockey sized so I didn't want to ride her for long. Still, she was saddled and, to all appearances, perfectly happy so I thought I'd just check to see how it went. Toe in the stirrup and up I went. She shuffled forward a bit as I settled in but then stopped and turned her head toward me. I'm not sure I'll ever get completely use to the lack of eyes on the Nera. On a terrestrial equine you can tell a lot by watching how they roll them or how wide open they were, etc. I was forever searching their face to be sure I didn't miss some clue that might mean trouble. In this case I needn't have worried. She curled her lip up in a fair approximation of a "horse laugh", only the carnivore's fangs made it a bit unnerving. She then walked forward, toward the gate. I think she wasn't as fragile as I had thought. I opened the gate and we headed out into the pasture.