tolter event - dnp

[eel.]

day fifteen:

falden stretched out his neck before shaking the sleep off of his body and ducking his head below the stall door to munch on some hay. it was early in the morning, and the sliver of sky falden could see from his stall was clear, blue, and cloudless. today would be a nice day for riding.

falden's ears pricked up as he heard footsteps approaching his stall, and he looked up to see one of the humans that looked after him walk in. the human was humming quietly to herself and held falden's lead rope in hand. falden's fur prickled with excitement. they were probably going riding!

falden let the human clip the lead rope to his halter and bring him to an open space where she groomed and washed his coat to rid it of the dust it had collected in the pasture the night before. she still hummed through all of this. as soon as the human left and came back with falden's tack, the tolter straightened up with excitement. a ride was exactly what he wanted!

the human secured his bridle and saddle, and lead falden to a mounting block once the last strap of his saddle had been closed. she mounted him, and with a small tug of the reigns, the two were off.

the ride started off just fine. falden and his human traveled the well worn path through the forest that falden knew well, and could probably walk with his eyes closed. so he was definitely surprised when his human tugged him off of their usual path and onto another, smaller path falden had never taken nor cared to take before.

he proceeded down this new path with caution, his ears spinning every which way and his nose going frantic, trying to figure out if any danger lay ahead on this path. falden eventually settled into this path and began to decide it wasn't dangerous - that was, until the day his human took him the full length of the path instead of turning back halfway through.

falden wasn't wary of the rest of the path, but what came after it. his human seemed to know; she smelled excited and from the way she was grinning and occasionally whispered words falden did not understand to the stallion, and guiding him on at a canter on occasion - a gate she usually did not have falden use.

the stallion and human eventually reached the end of the trail and falden squinted into the distance, trying to make out what his human was so excited about. he saw a mess of buildings in the distance. another stable, maybe? the human's old home?

as they approached the buildings, falden deduced that they were headed to another stables, or a farm of some sort. he smelled horses, chickens, cows, goats, sheep, other tolters, and...was that dog scent he smelled? so a farm, definitely. but there was one problem falden had with this farm - it was loud.

shouts of young human foals bombarded falden's senses, as well as the constant braying of the donkey, and the barking of the dogs - on and off, on and off.

falden did not like this new place.

he flattened his ears to show his human his discontent, but she apparently did not see or ignored this gesture, pushing him on and through the entrance of the farm.

falden huffed in protest, but he let the human guide him forwards until she stopped him and dismounted, reconnecting his lead rope - wait, she had brought that? to his bridle.

his human pulled the annoyed falden ahead until she met another human. unlike her, this human was a male, and he was also much taller.

as the two talked - and talked - and talked falden grew tired of the donkey's braying. dogs, he could get used to. human children could not understand him. but the donkey on the other hand...

falden drew in his breath and whinnied towards the direction the donkey's noise was coming from. ''you shush up this instant or, i'll...you'll see!"

falden knew his threat was empty, but the donkey did not. so it shut up. and falden was satisfied. the man pointed at falden and then in the direction of the donkey and laughed, and falden's human laughed as well. this new human was loud, just like this new place. Which meant falden automatically did not like him.

the humans finally finished talking, and falden's owner grabbed his lead rope again and lead him over the dirt path, down a small hill, and to an open inside space. there she took off his tack and grabbed a brush and started grooming the dirt and dust of the path off of falden. she was humming again.

to falden, this did not feel right. why was his human - and more importantly him - in this new barn? why was his human owner brushing him with a foreign brush she had probably never held before? why was she acting like this is fine? this new place was terrible!

falden had flattened his ears again, and hadn't noticed until his human stroked them lovingly. ''oh faldy, you nervous of this new place? i tell you, it's brilliant though. i'm sure you'll love it when i introduce you to the children. they'll probably get to ride you! how exciting is that?"

falden did not understand her, other than the fact that she was trying to be calming. and he recognized his name. and the word ride. if taking another ride so soon meant going back home, then yes, he wanted to go on one.

falden allowed his human to finish grooming him before she tacked him up again and led him outside and down a different farm path, the lead rope coiled around her hand. they passed by the donkey's enclosure. it brayed once. falden shot it a death glare. the donkey shushed up.

holding his head high at the victory, falden tried to grow accustomed to the sounds and smells of the new farm when his human stopped him and tied his lead rope onto a wooden post. she went around the corner of a nearby building, and falden called after her, wondering where she was going. that was soon answered when she reappeared with another tolter - and eight human foals.

no. oh no. falden saw the helmets on their heads and new immediately he was going to be ridden by one of them. he backed up as far as his tied lead rope would let him, glaring at the human foals. the other tolter tilted it's head curiously at falden's actions.

''they're just human children.'' laughed the tolter, their eyes amused. "they will not hurt you."

falden's gaze met with the stranger's as his human tied the other tolter to another wooden post, and despite the amusement, falden saw sincerity in the other's gaze. he looked down at the human...children had the other called it? they stayed a good enough distance away from falden, and did not look evil or like they wanted to harm a tolter.

falden hesitantly approached what seemed to be the eldest child and sniffed her. she smiled and held out a hand in a friendly gesture. deeming her no threat, falden moved on to the others, blowing air at them as a way of greeting. the youngest giggled and his greeting.

back a few steps away, falden glanced at his human who looked excited. ''this is my tolter, faldy. or falden if you want to call him by his show name. i brought him here to get him used to children, and to get him used to children riding him. who would like to go?"

falden had an idea of what had been asked. which child was going to ride him, he assumed. every single one of the humans' hands shot into the air but falden shared a glance with his human and glanced pointedly at the oldest child. despite their kindness and obvious good intentions, falden still did not feel very safe with these human foals - children.

falden's human pointed towards the oldest child, and she approached falden carefully, respectfully, and silently. she walked to his side as falden's human untied his lead rope from the wooden post and the child mounted falden. the stallion was surprised by the ease at which she did it. apparently she was an expert at riding horses.

falden's human called to another, older one, and the new human came and helped the youngest child onto the other tolter before taking the rest of the group of human children elsewhere. falden's child clicked her tongue, and pushed the sides of her feet gently into falden's side - the stallion's sign to start moving. he started out with a walk, his human following close behind with the other child and tolter, guiding them after falden. the child on his back - maybe 15 or 16 in human years, falden had determined, guided him to a riding rink for clicking her tongue again and pushing harder into falden's side. the stallion sped up his pace to a trot. joy was flooding through him now, and the stallion realized, slowly, he liked riding with children.

every week or so, he and his owner would return to the 'children's farm' as falden called it to ride with the children, unless they had an upcoming show. children were lighter and more happy when riding, and falden loved their happiness.

he even grew to tolerate the donkey.

(1,584 words)