Registered name: The Art of Trouble
Call Name: Trouble
Will do the tasks when I have time.
~Required Tasks~
~The Retrieval~ The black Mitsubishi truck trundled down the lane, the trailer hooked on behind it. Two people were inside, A very gothic young woman, with black hair and blue eyes, and a young black haired man, also dressed entirely in black. Darkreh was astounded to hear that her second application had been accepted. This time they had sent her photos of a silver buckskin stallion, and a clear warning that he was aggressive. The truck stopped. They had arrived.
This time they were at a different location, Ellesmere Island, Canada. Darkreh lifted the hood of her coat. Once again she would have to hide those ears and that tail.
"Come on, the reception is that way" said Darkaz pointing to a small brick building.
"Coming, this place isn't like the last place is it?" asked Darkreh looking around the rocky landscape.
"Nope, a lot less windy for a start" came the reply. Darkreh rolled her eyes and started walking to the reception. This time inside the building it was just as cold as the outside, as no heating could be seen. Darkreh cleared her throat,
"excuse me, my name is Darkreh from RavenBlack Stables, I've come to retrieve my AISP".
The receptionist looked up blankly
"Ah, yes. You horse is in the small paddock waiting" and with that she returned her gaze to a stack of papers.
"And where is the small paddock?" asked Darkreh raising an eyebrow.
"Over by the fountain" came the unhelpful reply.
"I'll show them where" came a voice from the doorway. Darkreh and Darkaz spun round to see a girl of about fifteen standing outside.
"Come on, he's waiting for you" she said turning round and walking briskly away towards a battered barn. Darkreh sighed,
"lets go".
A couple of minutes later they came to a stone fountain.
"So you come from RavenBlack stables, what is it like?" asked the girl. Darkreh scowled
"It's as good as it gets" she replied unwilling to talk any longer. Unfortunately the girl didn't seem to notice.
"Bit of a biter that horse your getting" she went on
"don't get many visitors so these horses haven't had any other contact with anyone but me".
"Are we almost there?" Darkreh snapped irritated that she had to listen to this for so long,
"Yup, we're here" said the girl excitedly.
Darkaz sighed in relief. In a rocky field was a buckskin stallion. His eyes were wide and he looked very young. Carefully Darkreh opened the gate and stepped in the field. Immediately the stallion reared and cantered to the far end of the fence. Ignoring everything else Darkreh edged towards him slowly holding out her hand and talking in a soft voice. The stallion snorted in alarm and bucked before cantering away from her. Slowly, not making any sudden movements Darkreh turned round and tried again holding the back of her hand out.
This is going to take a while she thought edging closer without making any eye contact, but she knew that she couldn't rush things and had to be patient.
Eventually after seven hours the stallion began to tire and Darkreh was getting some progress. He now let Darkreh close enough to almost touch him before running off. Then when Darkaz came close to the fence and distracted the stallion a little, Darkreh slowly slipped on the halter. Snorting in surprise the stallion head-butted Darkreh, but she still held the rope firmly. Tossing his head the stallion kicked out narrowly missing Darkreh, for another four hours they struggled. He trying to break free, and she trying to hold on. Annoyed the stallion planted his feet and refused to move. Darkreh sighed exhausted.
Summoning strength she coaxed and persuaded the stallion until he moved. It took a while but eventually he followed Darkreh to the gate.
Not without doing few bucks and head-butting her a couple of times however.
~Read onsite vet check~After a huge struggle they finally made it to the trailer. Now was the time that Darkreh was dreading. Darkaz opened the jockey door at the front and lowered the ramp. Taking a deep breath Darkreh tried to lead him up the ramp, the stallion reared almost breaking the halter and jerked back.
"Darkaz, get the sugar beet out please" said Darkreh holding on to the horse. Darkaz nodded and went round to the truck. Soon he came back with a bowl full of soaked sugar beet. The stallion turned his head and looked suspiciously at Darkaz, then tried to snatch the bowl.
Darkaz dodged and handed the bowl over to Darkreh who let the stallion take a look before letting the rope go slack and tempting him up the ramp. The stallion wasn't easily fooled and stubbornly planted his feet again. After five more hours of more struggling the stallion was finally in the trailer.
"Here you go, you deserve a treat after that" said Darkreh giving the stallion what remained of the beet.
Looking up the stallion sniffed the food and bit Darkreh so quickly that she couldn't jerk her hand away in time.
"Ouch! I wont have that thank you!" scolded Darkreh tapping the stallion on the muzzle and rubbing her hand. Sighing she gave the stallion the rest of the beet anyway keeping her hands well away.
"Even though you probably didn't mean it, you've certainly given me some trouble today, and I think Trouble Is quite a fitting name. What do you think?" she asked the stallion who was munching on the beet. He completely ignored her and carried on eating.
"Yup, fitting name indeed" sighed Darkreh waiting for the stallion to finish. Once he was done Darkreh carefully took the bowl back and closed the jokey door.
She had a feeling that it would be rather eventful with Trouble around.
(967 words)
~Onsite Check-up~"Well, let’s see what we have here then" said Darkaz slowly walking over to the stallion. The stallion flattened his ears and tried to head-butt Darkaz. Dodging Darkaz carefully reached out and touched the stallion on his back. The stallion snorted and tried to kick. Gently but firmly Darkaz began to checking his legs. Running his hands down the stallion back, Darkaz checked everything.
"Looks like he's pulled a muscle on his left hind leg" said Darkaz avoiding another kick
"We'll have to keep an eye on that, though he doesn't seem too bothered by it". Darkreh nodded. The stallion snorted and tried to kick out again as Darkaz checked the other side. Holding the halter firmly Darkreh trotted the stallion up a stretch of ground.
“Seems ok, do the other side please” said Darkaz.
This time it proved more difficult as the stallion was reluctant because of his pulled muscle. Tuning him in a circle was just as hard, the stallion kept trying to run off and head-butt everything. After an hour of dodging hooves and trying to keep hold of the stallion, both Darkaz and Darkreh were tired. Checking his teeth was also a real struggle.
One of the stallion's back teeth was chipped. Eventually the check was over,
"He's healthy but needs a lot of work" commented Darkaz after dodging yet another kick.
"Hopefully once he's at the stables he'll settle down a bit" replied Darkreh,
"though I have a feeling that he'll be wild forever".
(250 words)
~Introducing to the new area ~A truck with a trailer stopped at the entrance of RavenBlack Stables. Darkreh climbed out of the passenger seat. Frost crunched under her boots.
"Come on Darkaz, lets get Trouble out" she said opening the jockey door.
"Coming" Darkaz replied walking towards the ramp. Carefully he lowered it onto the floor and staying well away from Trouble's back legs undid the rope behind the stallion.
"You can back him out now" Darkaz called. Darkreh untied the lead rope and tried to back Trouble out. The stallion reared and rushed out dragging Darkreh with him
"Ouch! Darkaz watch out!". Darkaz dodged and grabbed the rope steading Trouble.
"That hurt" winced Darkreh folding her arms.
"I bet it did" remarked Darkaz handing the lead rope back to Darkreh and avoiding another bite. The stallion was interested in everything.
For once he didn't try to kick or bite, he was to curious in his surroundings. He carefully inspected every stable, drank out of every water trough, took a bite from pretty much every bale of hay, and tried raid the teat bag. Most of the horses lived out and only came in if there was really bad weather, so it was surprisingly very peaceful and quiet. When Trouble had finished looking around he was back to his usual self. Both Darkreh and Darkaz had to avoid several kicks, bites and head-butts on the way to the field. This field was about seven acres, and had a small pine forest at one end, a small shelter with some hay and water on the other end and tall fence surrounding it all.
(267 words)
~The Release~ Darkaz opened the gate and stood well away while Darkreh led Trouble in. The stallion stood very still listening to every little noise. As soon as they were in the field Darkaz slowly closed the gate behind them. Gently Darkreh untied the halter and backed off to the side. Suddenly Trouble Reared and galloped off to the other end of the field,
"hope he doesn't try to jump the fence" murmured Darkreh walking back to the gate where Darkaz was waiting,
"that horse does indeed suit his name".
Trouble headed straight for the trees. Tossing his head he slowed down to a swift trot and began to investigate the small woods. It was rather dense, but there were some clearing where there was enough room to lay down. After about half an hour Trouble came across a fence cutting through the forest. On the other end a mare was resting with her back towards him.
Trouble neighed and stamped the ground with his hoof, the mare turned to face him, then got up and walked away back through her side of the pine forest. Trouble snorted. This whole place was a little bit strange, but he was sure that he could deal with it as long as the human and the wolf hybrid didn't try to interfere with his life. Trouble shook his head and walked back to the clearing. Then he chose his favourite spot and lay down, everything still on hyper alert for anything going on around him.
(250 words)
Borders are not mine 
