[ShadyBro]

Rescued from the event.
For MelMellyMel.

"This stallion put the workers through quite a bit, as he was almost impossible to handle and was constantly biting and kicking the other Walkers. He seemed to have quite the nasty personality and had been nothing but trouble since he came into the auction house. As one of the stable hands tried to ride him down the aisle during bidding, he bucked them right into the stands, and when another worker tried to hop on instead - well, long story short, both men are in the hospital now. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise because this little tantrum made sure that not even the kill buyers wanted him, and our rescuers were able to snatch him up for next to nothing. No one knows much about his past but it was written in his forms that he had been dropped off expecting slaughter due to being 'too aggressive'. While he may have had some issues in the auction house, it should be noted that our rescuers didn't have too much trouble haltering him outside the sounds of the crowd and away from the other equines. Perhaps, with a little TLC, he could be a lovely companion."

Owner: X
Show Name: Calm Before The Storm
Barn Name: Hugo
Gender: Stallion
Post: X

Halter will be added once all tasks are complete.

[Unicorn Narwhal]

I will adopt him

[MelMellyMel]

Ah, he's beautiful! Thank you so SO much. :")

Show Name: Calm Before the Storm
Name: Hugo
Halter Color: Gray with sparsely laid out lighter gray stripes (almost like shiny metal)

Task 1: Done!
Task 2: Done!
Task 3: Done!

[MelMellyMel]

What have I gotten myself into?, I thought as I looked at the blur of gray now running himself silly around the circular, high-walled arena. The moment I saw him at the SWE rescue center I knew I had to have him, but what I hadn't thought of was how I was going to handle such an aggressive horse. Well, now was a good a time as ever to try to introduce myself. I hopped down from the perch I had gotten myself onto to look over the high, sturdy walls of the arena. I grabbed a looped rope I had thought to take as precaution and went to open the latched fence. As soon as I stepped into the arena the blur of gray stopped its trek around the circle. I slowly reached into my coat pocket to pull out a carrot chunk and tossed it across the arena right in front of the stallion. He cautiously walked up to it and sniffed at it before deeming it safe to eat. I repeated this until we were more or less face to face. I reached my hand out flat holding a carrot for him to either accept or decline. It felt like I waited years there with my arm outstretched for him before he finally reached down and gingerly picked the carrot up off of my palm. As soon as he had finished his treat and not decided to run in the opposite direction, I slowly extended my hand toward his muzzle. I nearly had my hand rested against his muzzle when he went wide eyed and bolted to the other side of the arena. "Oh well, maybe next time, right bud?"


(side note: So sorry for getting this in so late. I've been really busy with finales and getting gifts for Christmas that I nearly forgot about this. If I handled anything above in the wrong way I do apologize. I love horses with a passion, but didn't have the privilege of owning one or even being around them a lot when I was younger, so the behavior above may be totally wrong for a horse that aggressive.)

[MelMellyMel]

I patted the smokey stallion as I leaned with him over his stall door. It had taken weeks for him to warm up to me, and he now there are instances where his trust will falter. I had contemplated waiting longer before calling up the local vet for his checkup, but I knew I could put it off no longer. The thought of getting Hugo more comfortable around other people besides myself sounded like a good idea before having him subjected to a checkup, but the thought of something seriously being wrong with him and me not knowing constantly nagged at the back of my mind and I caved.
He was already getting antsy, as if he knew what was to come. Now was a better time than ever to walk him out of his stall, so I carefully opened the stall door and had him follow me out. Just as we passed through the barn threshold the vet's van came rolling up the drive. "How's he doing?" Vic, the local vet, asked as he stepped out into the open.
"He's been doing better, still pretty defensive against strangers though," I responded.
"Well, that should make my job real easy, shouldn't it?" Vic joked as he stepped up to Hugo. I tensed my hand on the lead preparing for a outlash that never came as Vic extended his hand toward Hugo's muzzle. He hovered it just above it for a few seconds, staring into Hugo's eyes before gently placing it down upon it. I loosened my grip on the lead rope and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"I honestly expected him to rear away from you."
"Yeah, well, one victory doesn't win the war. You'd better stay near him as I do the checkup to ensure he stays as calm as possible."
"Got it."
Vic checked over Hugo and there were only a few bumps along the way. One being when he checked over Hugo's legs and hooves, and another when he checked over Hugo's mouth. Those two areas also happened to be the only areas with any sort of problem. Vic had discovered that Hugo had some pretty old gashes on his legs that never fully healed and some sores along the sides of his mouth. Both most likely caused by his unwillingness to listen with a rider on his back, and how he used to always pull at the reins while being ridden. Vic treated placed ointment on the gashes and treated the sores accordingly, as well as floating Hugo's teeth while he was at it (a difficult task considering his behavior, but it had to get done).
"Thanks so much, Vic! I was beginning to worry about this guy, and am happy to hear that he doesn't have anything really bad."
"No problem, I'm happy to help. Hugo did great today, let's hope he continues to do well around people."

[MelMellyMel]

"This is it, Hugo. You've been doing so well with people lately, let's see if you can handle being around other Walkers." I spoke to Hugo as I led him toward the pasture behind the stables. This would be the first time Hugo even got to step a hoof within the pasture's confines. I didn't let him go out previously due to his aggressive nature toward people at times, the last thing I needed was someone else's Walker getting hurt by him if I had to leave him unsupervised while he was in the pasture.
Surprisingly however, Hugo had begun to warm up to the regular stable hands that would walk by his stable everyday, and soon enough he was so calm around them that they could walk up and give him pats no problem. Granted, he still was unsure of strangers that would visit, but baby steps. Because of this change in behavior toward people, I assumed it was time to introduce him to other Walkers residing in the stables.
I unlatched the gate leading into the grassy clearing currently occupied by a few other Walkers. I led him inside and he immediately tensed up, I patted his neck to calm him a bit. "It's okay, Hugo. Everything will be okay, they won't hurt you." I whispered. Now that I thought about it, it is very likely that Hugo's previous owners also had other Walkers with anger issues. They potentially could have been aggressive toward each other, because of this I opted to lead Hugo up to the others by his lead role as opposed to letting him loose right away. We slowly approached and the other Walkers took notice of us and they made their way toward us. Hugo tensed up again, but as the Walkers stepped right in front of him and made no move to kick or bite he seemed to relax. Hugo made the first move and softly neighed at the other three Walkers in front of him, they replied back in unison.
At this point I felt it safe to release Hugo from his lead rope and did so. The second it was taken off he began galloping across the field, his three new-found friends hit on his heals. They pranced around together for what felt like forever before slowing down to relax and graze.
"I'll leave you to it, buddy!" I called out to Hugo as I exited back out the gate. That went phenomenally better than I thought it would.