[Sandy Hoofprints]

Username: I Like Bees
Name: Acorn
Gender: Stallion
Colour: Palomino x Red Dun Chimera
Genotype: ee/AA/Crcr x ee/aa/DD
Eye Colour: Murky Waters

[I Like Bees]

I wish to claim this horse!
Username: I Like Bees
Name: Acorn

[I Like Bees]

Entry 1: Capturing

Today my colleagues and I went out to capture a horse, and found a gorgeous, yet terribly muddy, stallion. He was successfully captured, and I look forward to interacting with him tomorrow.

Entry 2: Gaining Trust

The new stallion, which I've temporarily nicknamed Dusty after his currently dirty brown coat color, was originally very much against the idea of interacting with, or even being near, any humans. Carrots, apples, even sugar cubes... None of it was enough to encourage him to come anywhere near me. He spent a lot of time pacing back and forth in the high-fenced pen, and, although he had not yet panicked to the point of trying to kick down the gate, he certainly seemed to be coming close.

Eventually, after much failed persuasion and effort, one of my colleagues brought in Stardust, the calmest of our current residents. Although she did not directly interact with Dusty, instead staying near the other side of the pen and quietly enjoyed eating the dewy grass, she helped a great deal. Somehow, her presence in the pasture seemed to help Dusty calm down. My assumption is that he saw her being comfortable in an enclosed space, and decided, 'I can do that too!'

Once he had calmed down, I attempted to approach him again with the same snacks as before. After a few moments of sniffing my hands, he devoured the treats in a total of about two bites. Perhaps I should rename him after his appetite?

Entry 3: Naming

After spending a few days in the smaller pen we use for newer horses, I decided that Dusty had adjusted to an enclosed space enough that it was time to move him to the larger pasture where all the other horses normally graze. He still isn't too keen on being touched by humans, though, and he remains covered in mud and dust. Dusty got along quite well with Cookie Dough and Stardust, though Dusty doesn't seem to be very much of a social horse. Although Dusty and Gallant only grudgingly tolerate each other, I have yet to see any signs that they may start a fight, so I feel comfortable leaving them in the same pasture for now.

There's this one old oak tree growing on the eastern side of the pasture. The tree's roots extend too far for the tree to be easily removed, and the tree's many branches provide the horses with much-needed shade in the warmer months, so we've never bothered to request that it be cut down. Anyways, today Dusty decided to spend most of his day under the oak tree. Some of the branches at the edge of the tree hang much lower to the ground, and Dusty managed to reach up in order to shake down the acorns! Neither myself nor any of the staff have figured out why, but his strange actions did earn him his new name: Acorn.

Entry 4: Training... Or... It Was Supposed To Be.

Acorn, as I learned today, is an extremely intelligent horse. He's intelligent to the point of being an absolute nuisance, actually.

Acorn spent the night in the stable with the rest of the horses, and seemed perfectly alright with becoming kept in a smaller and more enclosed space than before. When I came in this morning to begin adjusting him to wearing a saddle and tack, I found this stable empty, and the saddle hanging next to it stolen. Guess who stole it?

The horse. The horse broke out and stole the saddle. The horse!

Sometime during the night, Acorn managed to undo the latch on his stable door and escape. Somehow, likely because he's seen the other horses wearing saddles before, Acorn knew that the saddle hanging next to his stable door was intended for him, and he stole it.

We managed to track him down after a quickly-organized search. Acorn hadn't bothered to go very far. In fact, he "hid" right in the pasture. He managed to unlock the gate by himself. One of my colleagues thought that maybe someone snuck onto our land and opened all of the doors for Acorn, but we couldn't find any human footprints to support this theory. Acorn is just a very, very smart horse.

After finding Acorn and spending awhile laughing over his smug horse expression, I decided that he had earned a day off. Hopefully, I'd be able to convince him to wear the saddle tomorrow.

Entry 5: Bath Time!

Acorn had been scratching and rubbing at his muddy coat for a couple of days, and had also made great progress in adjusting to physical contact with humans, so the time had finally come to give him a much-needed bath.

Acorn watched me intently as I twisted the little wheel to turn on the water flow. I'm not sure if he was just being curious, or if he was worried that I might do something to harm him. When I picked up the hose to show him that it was just water, not something that would actually harm him, the stallion backed up a few steps, obviously concerned. After a few moments of watching the water fall out of the hose and onto the ground, he slowly moved forward, until he was close enough to reach out and grab the hose. Assuming that he would just sniff the hose, or maybe drink the water, I wasn't too focused on holding tightly to the hose. This error allowed Acorn to grab the hose from my hands and run off with it.

"Acorn!" I yelled, as the stallion charged away. "Acorn, come back!" I swear, the horse was laughing at me as he pranced back and forth, showing off the hose that he had "captured." On the bright side, the hose was splashing Acorn's front with water, which slowly began to wash some of the first layer of dirt off his coat. I began walking towards him, but, similar to how a dog will run away with a stick, Acorn ran farther away with the hose. Knowing what would happen next, I yelled out again, hoping the horse might manage to understand me.

Unfortunately, this encouraged him to run farther off, and eventually, the hose ran out. The hose jerked out of Acorn's mouth, spraying him with droplets of water as it fell to the ground. The stallion whirled around, confused. He looked down at the hose, and tried picking it back up and walking away with it. It didn't work, of course; the hose couldn't reach any farther.

I laughed as I approached, which earned me an annoyed glare from Acorn. "Well, seeing as you can't steal the hose anymore, I think it's safe to start your bath," I said. Acorn tossed his head back, almost as if he was rolling his eyes. I chuckled, holding the hose up to start washing the many layers of dirt off his coat.

[I Like Bees]

All of my journal entries are complete. (:

[Sandy Hoofprints]

Congrats, your hard work has paid off, let's get this dude cleaned up <3
(P.S. he is a surprise chimera congrats!)

[I Like Bees]

Whoa! I was not expecting a chimera.
He's absolutely stunning!! Thank you so much! (:

[Sandy Hoofprints]

My pleasure, thanks for participating! Hope to see you around, I recommend checking out the fanclub, maybe find him a mate or do a slot swap to get some foals <33