username;
Obsessed
show name;
Night of the Dead
barn name;
Pandora
gender;
Mare
halter color;
Blue and yellow swirls
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Information For Handlers:The Good:___________________The Bad:Calm________________Short-temperedObedient________Overly strong attachmentsAlert________Aggressive towards EquinesActive__________Poor animal socializationWell-behaved_________________Lazy(?) ApatheticExcellent human socialization________________Escape artist• On The Lead: When walking Pandora she behaves beautifully, following commands from a slight touch and moving in such a way as to show her coat, neck, hocks, chest, and back. Ears alert, walks next to handler, does not lunge or stop unless a fear trigger is present (Unclear what 'fear triggers' are, as wild animals do not seem to trigger her), works well in and out of the ring on the ground. She lunges, loads, and stands without a problem.
• Under Saddle: Pandora performs beneath the saddle with more difficulty. Her gait and manner is more listless and requires more prodding in order to achieve the high, sweeping style she is capable of. Even then, she lacks a 'spark' visible in other competitors. She is more likely to simply stop and brace her legs, refusing to take another step. Will shy at cats and charge dogs; not recommended to ride in an area where pets are present.
• At Comps:
Note: Competing with Pandora is not recommended unless you have a strong hand and are familiar and confident working with both horses and Pandora. Pandora is aggressive towards other horses as the showgrounds, particularly stallions. Firmness is a must. Separate stabling and pasture is recommended. If at all possible, stabling off of the showgrounds is more conducive to a good show with Pandora. Requires light crop in order to perform at best; will not roll after grooming and trailer ride does not affect performance.
• At home:
○ In Pasture: Pandora is calm in the pasture. She will separate herself from any other horses present and graze quietly. Recommended to bring her in before dusk, as she is known to jump fences. If this has happened, please call (***) 744-9083 and inquire about their daughter. If not, she can be found again at sunrise. Pandora, otherwise, if perfectly behaved. If pastured with other horses, please be aware that she is prone to aggressiveness is bothered and separate pastures are safer.
○ In Barn: It should be said immediately that Pandora knows how to open latches. Unless firmly secured and locked (recommended: locks with keys or codes) Pandora will escape from the barn. Pandora plays with buckets and bedding, but is tidy. Any mess created will be minimal and easily cleaned when the stall is mucked. Vices such as cribbing and kicking are not present and she will stand to be groomed without a problem.
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»»Theme Song:««
Merry Go Round Of Life
»»Personality:««
Pandora, until two years of age, was a fairly normal filly. It was afterwards that her true personality developed into the, erm, unique thing it is now. Pandora always was different, and she knew and knows it. She doesn't care what people think of her, and isn't afraid to attack those who bully her. She stands up for herself and doesn't stand being treated badly. She doesn't really speak, but her eyes are expressive. She likes the dark side of life. Not morbidly dark, but literally dark: nighttime, owls, ravens, wolves, and foxes are her best friends. She thinks of the moon as a sort of guardian and because of when she was bullied as a filly is very protective over foals and children.
»»Theme Poem(s):««
'Brooding In The Still Night'
Li Bai wrote:Bright moonlight before my bed.
At first I think the floor is all frost.
I gaze up at the mountain moon,
then drop my head in a dream of home.
'Looking At The Moon And Thinking Of One Far Away'
Zhang Jiuling wrote:The moon, grown full now over the sea,
Brightening the whole of heaven,
Brings to separated hearts
The long thoughtfulness of night….
It is no darker though I blow out my candle.
It is no warmer though I put on my coat.
So I leave my message with the moon
And turn to my bed, hoping for dreams
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Pandora has known she was different from the time she first developed self-awareness. She knew she was different in the way colts teased her and her mother shielded her and she never knew her sire. She knew, because as she grew she knew what she looked like. That she was strange, in the eyes of men and in the eyes of horses.
It started, she noticed, when she was shedding her foal colt, and the splatter of white and black was beginning to take shape. She was out under the moon, her favorite time, when all was silver and velvet. She felt as safe in the moon's embrace as she did by her dam's side. Wading through the shallow pond sent that silver and black ripping out. She wanted to be in it, that night, for reasons she did not know, and rolled in the water.
Her coat for many months now had been changing. Like a butterfly from it's chrysalis she emerged from the water bathed in silver, splattered with white, a skeleton over flesh and a different mare than when she had gone to the water. Pandora was quiet, before.
Now she bordered on mute.
And yet she was not perturbed by it. She was shunned by other horses for being strange and different. Pandora preferred the company of raccoons and coyotes, anyway. Deer were frightened of her, birds avoided her, but her companions were those of the canine family.
Before she had been very close to her mother as her only source of equine companionship and protection from bullies. She hated to be near the colts because of their bullying, and the solid side of her dam had protected her from their harsh words and sharp hooves.
Now she was secure.
She drew distant from her mother as she became more introverted. Something snapped when the same colts, now a rowdy mix of geldings and stallions, came to bully her. She lashed out, nearly killed their leader, and was separated from that herd. It made Pandora happy to be away from them, happy to be by herself.
She found she liked young humans, humans who saw difference as beauty, and humans with soft hands. The smaller the human the more she liked them, though she had no desire for a foal. She nuzzled small ones that smelled of milk and newness, supported those who could barely walk, humored the ones that could.
As she grew she found she liked young girls more. Only a handful of boys passed her inspection. After a whole childhood of bullying at the merciless hooves of stallions she had little patience for males of any species. She developed an affinity with owls. Owls became a more common sight as she grew older, learned each one by name.
She decided one night that she would run away. It was a bad idea from the start, borne from her dislike of other horses and being penned and missing her coyote friends. She galloped, jumped, clipped the fence, and continued on. She ran with wolves as though it were natural, felt owl talons tangling in her mane before lifting away again, and met a girl.
Young, human, alone at night.
Pandora knew of humans. They slept at night, in strange barns, with other humans. Especially small ones.
The night around them was alive and the stars above were a swirl of colors. Her wolves hung back, quiet and somber, and Pandora took a step towards the human, who looked up at her, having only just noticed with weak human senses. The wolves huffed, the owls landed, the moon shone.
And the human flung herself onto Pandora, arms wrapped around her neck, small fingers gripping her mane.
Pandora took the child home with her, cared with her until morning found her hungry and humans coming to the farm to take her away. Under the moonlight Pandora had met a child, a foal if she were a horse, who told her as a 'guardian angel' of the injustices she suffered. And Pandora was protective of her, as much as the oblivious troubled parents.
This tiny human who she sudden loved so fiercely came back to her through the several miles of woodland separating them, guided by wolves and owls and the moon's bright shadow. And each night Pandora came to meet her, to listen to her woes, to protect this tiny life she was so fond of. This little human became one of her best friends, learned to ride on Pandora and was frequently scolded for only being five and sneaking out of the house.
Their journeys through the belt of woodland were long, and the small human came to learn each wolf, owl, fox, and bird that Pandora knew. Pandora taught her in any way she knew how the map of the stars and trees from the splattered black and white of her back.
Like her, the human girl, Iris, was different from the other humans. It made her, the girl whispered against her flank, bullied by the children in a place called 'school'. Pandora didn't understand. She was different, yes, but beautiful like a Cremello, with pale skin and a white human-mane and red eyes. It made Iris sad.
As time wore on, though, Pandora helped her find solace. She was different, but that was not bad. Pandora regarded this human girl as her own foal, and the human parents of the girl began bringing Iris during the day. They seemed surprised at her, at Pandora and Iris both, but Pandora didn't mind. She found a special human of her own to care for.
With Erin:
Pandora met Erin upon arrival. The shy
stallion frequently ducked and ran from
her, which she found incredibly annoying,
as she interpreted it as his avoiding her
because of her being different. He came
close, but would not speak to her. The
other stallions introduced themselves, but
watched her very carefully. She was
different, an outsider, and therefore not
accepted yet.
Or ever. She didn't care.
She saw Iris less since coming here, and
that made her sad and irritable. She ran
away quite frequently to her home,
waiting for the small girl to return from
her 'school'. Her wolves came around as
often as they could, but Erin, the Erin
who avoided her, always panicked at
the sight of them, drawing human attention
and sending them running. There was too
much activity in not enough space, and
she disappeared when she felt she could
go unnoticed into the stretch of woods that,
she knew, eventually led to Iris and her
home stables.
She had already run away and been brought
back four times when Erin spoke to her
- 'deigned to' as she thought then. It was late,
and she was pacing near the fence, getting
ready to leave again. Erin stood a short ways,
watching her, ears pricked forward. She
backed up, rolling her hindquarters in preparation,
and he spoke.
"Don't go."
She paused, looked at him from the corner of her
eye, and jumped the fence. His anxious voice
sounded behind her, an alarm she hoped wouldn't
rouse others: "The wolves! Watch out for the wolves!"
But creatures were his friends, her companions,
and she was only concerned that he was loud as
she bounded away into the night.
He followed her, nipped at her flanks and called
for her to stop. She finally lost patience, spun
around so fast he barreled into her and they fell hard.
His sides were heaving, his eyes watching the
surrounding woods. She could smell her wolf pack
nearby, and noticed now the scars on Erin that she
did not see before.
There was a small gash on her neck, but she ignored it.
"You hit me." She said. Erin hesitated visibly,
looking down, and back up at her, and then down again.
"I didn't want you to get in trouble with the people or,"
He paused, looking around at the trees and brush and
velvet night, "the wolves."
Quiet, for a moment. Not night-quiet, but utter quiet.
Pandora took this in and broke it. I will be fine.
She thought, glaring, shaking the leaf litter out of her
mane. And Erin nipped at her, gently, eyes pleading.
"Don't go." He said, and it pulled at her heart, tore it
into two halves: one that longed for her human, and
one that longed to satisfy the anxious stallion. She
huffed, looked towards the direction she had been running.
"Fine."
One word, her fourth spoken to this stallion. He made a
giddy noise, jumped in place, and looked nervously
around them once again. One of her wolves was close,
and Erin had begun to sweat, eyes wide and nostrils
flared. She walked him home, his flank pressed against
hers, until the woods and wolves were left behind. With Honey
When Pandora met Honey, they it off immediately.
Pandora loved foals; Honey loved foals. Pandora loved
the woods; Honey loved the woods. Best, Honey spoke
to fill the gaps left where Pandora did not speak at all.
They ran together, away from horses and men and those
who thought them odd.
Honey reminded Pandora of her mother, of every mother,
for she smelled soft, her gaze and touches were gentle,
and her patience infinite. Pandora enjoyed her company,
the first equine company enjoyed and not simply
tolerated since she turned two.
Pandora began convincing Honey silently to come with her
on her nightly escapes through glances behind and impatient
waiting. And, to her surprise, Honey did come. She came, and
loved Iris as much as Pandora did. They were both in trouble,
yes, when they returned, but it did not deter Pandora from trying
again.
This now included Honey, it seemed.
Nightly (or as close as she could get) escapes to her human girl,
and daily runs to a secret spot far from the ranch that Honey
showed to her, confided as 'her' place. The grazing nearby was
good, the air cool, the trees tall.
Best with her new friend Pandora decided was that Honey did not
mind the wolves and the foxes and the raccoons and the coyotes.
She didn't like them as Pandora herself did, but she didn't mind them
either. She assigned nicknames, 'to tell them apart', and didn't object
when they tagged along.
It relieved Pandora.
Honey hadn't particularly seemed different when Pandora met her,
but she was beginning to see each horse was different in their own
way. She appreciated Honey reaching out to her.
(Honey initiated, obviously. It started with Milap, her herd's stallion,
and Kiwi, her herd's lead mare, shunning Pandora, and that was all
it took for Honey to decide to be Pandora's friend.)
And now she was certain she had a friend.
A true one, who like being away from the world of men and who called
one of her wolves 'Ragdoll' for reasons she couldn't understand and teased
that Erin was her soulmate.
They ran one afternoon past Honey's place, far away from the ranch and
humans and into the mountains that bordered the flatlands. They ran
as day turned into night and the moon rose and cast everything in a
different light than it had been during the day. They ran because they
could and because Honey somehow knew that Pandora was sad, her heart
heavy and she couldn't understand why, why she was so sad, only
that she was and it would not leave her.
They ran together until they could run no more, and sometime Honey's
colt Roger joined them. Pandora wasn't sure when, only that two became
three when they stopped at a cliff that burrowed inwards to a grove.
This grove was a hole cut out of the mountain, scraggly trees growing out
of the rock, grass growing on rich soil, a little pond from water hidden
beneath the earth.
They spent several nights here, where Pandora met Honey's son, until her
sadness melted away and she could realize what had caused it: she missed
her human. More so, she missed protecting and nurturing something that
needed her. And this need filled, they returned down the mountaintop, more
slowly than before.
Three days later they were back at the Ranch and Honey had moved in Pandora's
mind from 'friend' to 'best friend'.
The time in the mountain grove under the moon, grazing sweet grass, was
a memory Pandora held very close to her. 
