[HowlingHooves]

Username: ~Honey
Show Name: GSS Full Blown Insomniac
Barn Name: Insomnia
Gender: Stallion
Height: 18 hh

Sire: Foundation
Dam: Foundation

Phenotype: Silver Dark Bay
Genotype: Ee Aa ZZ
Eye Color: --
Breeding Notes:
- Dominant for Silver.

[Kruxly]

Show Name: GSS Full Blown Insomniac
Barn Name: Insomnia
Eye Color: White

thanks hoovicals <3

Before he was known as Insomnia, his mother named him Hunter just so you dont think i've completely lost my marbles on day four lol

[Kruxly]

Daily Objective:

Image of Silver Horse

Optional Objective:

Silver Fact;
An undesirable effect associated with the gene is eye problems,
notably multiple congenital ocular anomalies.
[source]

Optional Event Objectives:

Write a Haiku;

Nothing matched the dark
Within himself he was lost
Silent he lived, alone.


Personality Playlist;

Beck - Up All Night
Joji - Slow Dancing In The Dark
Tim Minchin - Not Perfect

[Kruxly]

Daily Objective:

Small Group

Optional Objective:

Link to the first silver draft

Optional Event Objectives:

Write a Haiku;

Winters shortened days
Brings only the cold and dark
I wish for summer

Sketches of Raj;

boop

Short Story;

Insomnia is known as somewhat of a social recluse amongst the herd, he keeps himself to himself and doesnt like to talk to others, he prefers the company of small birds and rodents such as mice which are much less of a nuisance to him. He suffers from night terrors, anxiety, depression and insomnia, the latter being how he got his name. He has medication that helps lessen the effects of his afflictions but they do not work 100%.

As a foal he was distant from his mother which caused much concern to staff, he wouldnt nurse much and had to be bottle fed in the end - which probably didnt help him socially but it was the only way he was going to survive. He struggled forming bonds with other horses and eventually gave up trying altogether. His dark coat and piercing white eyes made him look mysterious and spooky which led to many false rumours and tales circulating around the herd that he was somehow supernatural in some way, however there is no evidence that this is true in the slightest. He was bullied by the other colts and even some of the fillies which added to his willingness to be alone and to seek out other forms of company, sometimes he would just talk to himself - an odd behaviour that the other horses found abnormal and weird. Eventually though they grew tired of picking on him and just left him alone.

It is hoped that one day the right horse or person can help bring him out of his shell and become more of a sociable horse and maybe help end his night terrors and other afflictions without having to medicate him but until then he seems pretty content to just stick to the edge of the herd.

{300 words}

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[Kruxly]

Daily Objective:

Mare and Foal

Optional Objective:

Tissue paper turtle plate

You Will Need:
- Tissue paper of any colour cut into 1 inch squares
- Glue and a brush
- Paper plates
- Glitter (optional)
- Scissors
- Marker pen
- Googly eyes (optional)
- Sellotape (Optional

Decorate the back of the plates with the tissue squares/glitter so it looks like a turtles shell

Draw, cut out and attach a head, 4 feet and a tail from another plate (pr from coloured card) for the turtle and attach them to the rim of the turtles shell either with glue or tape

Draw a face on the turtles head or attach googly eyes with glue and draw two nostrils and a mouth underneath them

Optional Event Objectives:

Coloured bust of Raj when he was younger


Personality Playlist;

s e s h - Drowning In The Deep
Faithless - Insomnia
The Fray - Heartless
Johnny Cash - Hurt


Tale;

The night before it had rained, not immensely but enough to cause water to lay upon the land. Insomnia woke early the following morning, he was covered in sweat from his usual night terrors and so he got up and began to seek out the small lake in the nearby cove. The lake was surrounded by small trees and bulrushes, he walked quickly over to it and pawed the mucky water, splashing his lower body with mud before walking around in the water and finding a good place to roll. Dropping to his knees he quickly rolled onto his side twice, looked around for danger before rolling onto his other side, making sure to get himself covered - head to toe - in mud. After he was finished and sure that he was coated fully to get rid of the sweat and keep away the flies, he got up and shook off the excess. He looked around again for any signs of danger before returning back to the large expanse of meadow that he'd come from.

As soon as he reached the taller grasses he dropped his head and started ripping up the delicious green dew covered foliage, chewing it furiously and swallowing quickly to try and get himself to calm down. His gaze however was focused on his surroundings, especially since it was so early in the morning, he knew the rest of the herd was soon to wake and they caused such a noise that he often had to leave the area. This meant he had only a short time frame in which to grab some of the better foliage before he would head out to the lower plains that ended just before the beginnings of the blocked off marshland The foliage that grew upon the plains was short and dry in comparison to the foliage available in the meadow but it was much quieter down there for him with very few interruptions from the other horses, though the humans were more persistent but atleast they always came to him with food.

Insomnia quietly ate and moved across the expanse of the meadow, picking out his favourite grasses and flowers to chew upon when out of a nearby bush his only friend an english robin he had nicknamed 'Red' hopped out. The stallion lifted his head momentarily and his ears twitched nervously but when he saw it was only the bird he went back to eating. The robin chirped and hopped about on the ground looking out for flies or worms to eat. Insomnia nickered softly to him and kicked over a small rock for the bird, underneath were some bugs that quickly tried to escape back to darkness. Red chirped excitedly and immediately began feasting on the fleeing bugs.

A distant snort caught Insomnia's attention and he whipped his head up to see who it was, one of the larger stallions from the herd had woken up and was slowly heading in his direction. Insomnia panicked and turned quickly on his heels towards the plains. He turned his head slightly to see if the stallion was following him but it appeared he had stopped moving. He sighed, slowing to a brisk walk before looking around to see if Red had followed him, the small robin chirped and landed at his feet with a quizzical look on its face. Insomnia sighed again, even his bird friend didnt understand his problems. Atleast Red didnt judge him like the other horses seemed to.

The young stallion walked on towards the lower plain and found a spot to lay down and watch the sun come up, a small breeze wafted through the air, it made the branches of the nearby trees rustle and let loose a few of their leaves which twirled gracefully towards the ground. Insomnia watched them before reaching over his back to rub his face on his side to relieve an itch. His muddy coat had dried a little and was beginning to flake off in places, he breathed in some of the smaller particles and sneezed violently causing Red to flinch and flutter in the air for a moment. Insomnia regained his composure before looking apologetically at the robin. He stood slowly and wandered about the plains for the best part of 7 hours, Red following him as he paced up and down the same area, both of them focused on eating and killing time, even though the foliage was of very poor quality.

Another hour passed, a small black rabbit hopped past the pair. Insomnia watched as it headed towards the marshland and wondered what it was doing. His thoughts were interrupted however by the sounds of footsteps getting closer, he turned his head quickly and watched as 3 humans came slowly towards him. He snorted and signaled to Red for him to hide and the bird instantly fluttered off to a nearby tree.

The humans appeared to be talking among themselves but they were very clearly there for him, one male carried a long rope, another, a female had some carrots and other treats and the last, another male, a halter and lead rope. He snorted and pranced away from them, trying to figure out which way was best to run.

The female pocketed the treats and held onto the halter and lead rope as the two men held onto the ends of the larger rope and separated in hopes to corner him off. Insomnia felt his anxiety and adrenaline rise within him and he zig-zagged, trying to get out of the triangle shaped trap but each time he moved in one direction they seemed to be able to predict it and followed suit. The stallion snorted and reared up before trying again to run, he headed towards the female but she simply raised and flapped her arms about causing him to turn and run the other way, directly towards the men. He whinnied and turned around on the spot a few times, his head snaking a little with his ears pinned. Was he actually trapped?

{1009 words}

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[Kruxly]

Daily Objective:

Link to an In-Hand Draft Image

Optional Objective:

Write a short story in your Raj’s point of view. (50-500)

"Hunter? Hunter.. get up" the gentle voice of my mother roused me from my short sleep, I yawned and looked up at her but pinned my ears quickly and looked away. "Hunter, whats wrong" the mare nudged me confused about my behaviour. I squealed and clambered to my feet before backing into a corner and turning my back on my mother. I didnt want to talk to her, I didnt want her to even exist! She walked over and tried to get me to face her, trying to move my feet and get me to obey her but no, I wasnt going to listen. I bared my teeth and bit and kicked at my mother, charging around the stable and crashing into the walls several times.

The commotion caught the attention of my owner, Cassie who ran over and watched my antics, my behaviour was strange and erratic, something which she'd never seen before in a horse so young. I squealed again and tripped over the water bucket landing face first into the hay bale that hung on the wall, my mother quickly caught me and tried to see if I was okay but I kicked out again before collapsing to the floor in full panic attack mode.

I heard my owner talking to someone on the phone but the words were foreign to me, not a lot of time had passed however before more humans came to join her and watched me struggling to breathe on the floor, this seemed to concern them and so they decided to separate me from my mother. A vet was called who inspected me but didnt know what to do with me. I lay there on the sawdust exhausted from my run around and panic attack, my white eyes flickering closed as I drifted off to sleep, the humans fading away in my mind.

A long piercing scream broke the night air and I shot up from my sleep to realise that the noise had come from myself. I was covered in sweat and shaking. My mother was pacing in the next stall, watching me with worried eyes, she nickered to me but I ignored her and tried to regain some composure but in truth I was scared out of my mind and I didnt know why.

I heard the rush of footsteps as my owner ran towards his stall, a flashlight in hand, she entered his stall and checked me over for any signs of injury, apart from the bruises I'd given myself yesterday I seemed to be fine which confused her "Whats wrong bud" she whispered stroking the young colts forehead. I closed my eyes at her touch, not knowing how to feel about it. I yawned a little and buried my head in the sawdust hoping to fall back asleep but as much as I tried to, I just couldnt.

Little did I know, this was the start of something which would haunt me for the rest of my life.

{500 words}

Optional Event Objectives:

- Full coloured bust

- Full coloured body drawing of Insomnia as a foal

Tale;
(continuation from yesterday)

The female threw a couple carrots at his feet but he ignored them, eventually though she was able to throw the lead rope over his neck and quickly fasten the halter onto him. Insomnia tried to rear again but stumbled and was not able to balance correctly forcing him to stay grounded. The humans then attached the larger rope to his halter. it went right around the length of his body. Using this method they were quickly able to lead him back to the stables without further rearing and attempts at bucking and kicking. They released him into a stall just big enough for him to fit but he couldnt turn around.

Another human approached them, a female wearing a long white coat and glasses. Insomnia whinnied and stood there shaking, he began to panic and threw his head up and down repeatedly. The lady dressed in the long coat was a vet and she quickly injected Insomnia with a tranquilizer, not enough to put him to sleep but just to calm him down a little "This should take effect soon" she said trying to reassure the other humans. The vet then turned fully to face the younger female and smiled "I'm Juliet, we spoke on the phone"

The other female nodded introduced herself as Cassie and then introduced the men as Taylor and Kody respectfully. Cassie explained that Insomnia seemed to suffer from night terrors along with other afflictions but the vet seemed to jut in before she finished her sentence. "So this isnt the first time you've brought him in since he was turned out as a yearling?", she glanced to the younger female who responded quickly "Oh, no, he's been in before but he doesnt like being confined" she explained as she watched Insomnia succumb to the tranquilizer dose. Juliet nodded her head as she received answer. She got out a notebook and started writing things down, she asked further questions before gesturing to move the horse to a larger stall.

A while later Juliet was done with her inspection of Insomnia, she'd asked the relevant questions and got the relevant answers and so she wandered off to go fill in forms leaving Cassie, Kody and Taylor to talk among themselves. All they wanted was the best for Insomnia and if it meant having to medicate him then they would have to make that decision. The two men left Cassie to be alone with the horse whilst they dealt with other horses on the yard along with retrieving some from the herd out in pasture. Although the horses retained their wild nature, they always submitted to the humans and followed them, the only one who didnt was Insomnia.

An hour passed and Insomnia had woken up a little from the dose of tranquilizer he had been given, he stumbled around the larger stall and sniffed everything trying to get his bearings. He nickered realising where he was, a distant memory forming in his head "Hunter?..." he shook it away from his mind and snorted. Cassie looked up from her phone and watched Insomnia pace about the stable a few times before resting against one of the walls, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a sugar cube which she offered to him, he sniffed and nudged it with his muzzle but didnt take it. He wasnt about to start trusting these humans now, regardless of the state he was in. Cassie sighed and pocketed the sugar cube again "What are we going to do with you?" she whispered placing her hand on his muzzle gently, this caused Insomnia to freeze up, he wasnt used to being touched like this.

Juliet returned with paperwork she had filled out, she handed some over to Cassie and explained what she had written and how she had come to those conclusions based on what she had been told. "Im going to need you to put him under 24 hour surveillance for the next few days just to monitor his mental health, you can keep him in the stall or move him to a larger pen but dont put him back out with the others until i return to watch the video" she stated. Cassie nodded in agreement though she didnt like the sound of this, it would only stress the horse out more. "I just want to see the evidence before i give proper medication" she handed Cassie a long band of material that had wires passing through it "This will measure his heart rate and breathing rate, this is important to properly diagnose him, please put it on him and leave it until i return, any questions?" Juliet asked, tilting her head slightly and watching Cassie. The younger woman shook her head "Thankyou for coming to see him, i hope that we can get a proper diagnosis soon, takes the guess work out of it all" she chuckled nervously and shook the vets hand. Juliet smiled, checked Insmonia one last time and left quickly.

Taylor had returned at this point with two horses in tow, a young stallion named Noel and a mare named Boudica, he stalled them up, fed and watered them before walking over to Cassie to get the run down of what the vet had said. He studied the heart/breathing monitor before looking up to Insomnia "Well, this is going to be fun isnt it" he sighed "I'll put it on him but you'll have to hold his head" he said opening the stall door slowly. Cassie entered and held onto the halter that Insomnia was still wearing whilst Taylor tried to fit the monitor around the barrel of his body, he turned it on and saw lights flash and then go out "I guess its on?" he said quizzically "We should move him to the round pen before he wakes up fully" he stated. Cassie nodded her head, she passed him a lead rope and attached one to her side too, the two of them slowly led Insomnia out to the round pen.

{1009 words}

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[Kruxly]

Daily Objective:

Link an image of a horse of your choice!
My real horse looking a little funny :3

Optional Objective:

Personality Colour Palette;

✿✿✿
✿✿✿

#361d1d #ba2828 #f49b9b
#ea8f1e #0040BF #357a2f

✿✿✿
✿✿✿

Misunderstood Agile Innocence
Loyal Sorrowful Fresh

✿✿✿
✿✿✿

Optional Event Objectives:

- Coloured bust of Raj

- Coloured full body of Raj

Tale;
(continuation from yesterday)

They both entered the pen quietly with the 18hh semi-sleepy horse in tow, they removed the ropes and left him there to get comfortable whilst they set up the cameras as the vet had instructed. Insomnia paced around the pen for a few moments before choosing to lay down in the middle, his mind felt foggy and slow but was improving as each minute passed. Eventually he felt awake enough to look around and properly inspect where they had put him. The pen was outside but under cover, protected from the weather, there was no food or water yet but he assumed that would be brought to him eventually.

The sounds of other horses hit him next and he felt the anxiety rise within him, getting to his feet he walked around the pen and looked out at the yard, he noted the rows of stables on either side that seemed to multiply endlessly, way more than that were there when he was a foal. He snorted and turned towards the half open, half sheltered barn/stable conversion they'd just brought him out from.

At this point Cassie and Taylor had returned after fiddling with the cameras, they were carrying food and water and left it for him just inside the round pen entrance. Insomnia stayed on the other side as they entered and watched them carefully, when they left though he quickly trotted over and gulped down the water before diving into the food bowl and finishing it off in lightning speed. Finally full he began to pace around the round pen and stared out of the gaps in the fences, he watched as the humans brought more horses in and cared for them. He didnt take much notice of the horses in particular as he didnt know any of them very well. Continuing to pace around, it wasnt long until a trench began to form where he walked.

Days passed and Insomnia grew increasingly agitated about being kept in this confinement, he hadnt seen Red in days, he hadn't been able to be by himself mentally, the constant checkups by the humans was aggravating and he was getting more and more aggressive every time they tried to handle him. The vet arrived as she said she would and checked on him too, she made more notes and left to check the camera footage and the monitor results, it would be several hours before she returned and spoke to Cassie about what she would recommend.

"He's showing clear signs of night terrors and insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks and probably depression too" Juliet passed Cassie a sheet of paper "I recommend that we start him on this medication, see what happens, you're going to have to put it in his food, i'll set you up with 2 weeks worth for now and check back on him after that. If his state doesnt improve we'll have to think of something else" the vet sighed and glanced at Insomnia. The two females then walked away with Juliet saying "I also think you should move him to..." her voice getting quieter they got further and further away.

Later that day, Cassie, Taylor and Kody walked up to the round pen where Insomnia was still pacing about, they had the ropes and other items they used to catch him in the field which instantly put Insomnia on guard, he backed against the other side of the pen and pinned his ears. They opened the pen and nervously walked in trying to figure out between them how to do this without hurting him or themselves in the process. Insomnia studied them and watched as the failed to close the pen fully, he pricked his ears and tried to lure them away from the exit. It seemed to work as they moved sideways accordingly. With a mad dash he headed out of the pen and out into the yard, adrenaline flooding his body as he cantered down through the stables and headed towards the meadows, he tried to ignore his instincts that were telling him to hide and be quiet, all he wanted to do was get back to the grass.

Suddenly out of nowhere a quad bike revved around the nearest corner and stopped in his path. Insomnia reared and turned on his heels, running back in the opposite direction but it was clearly another trap, they had him cornered. Eventually he was caught and led to a new stable that was large but also led out into a secluded pasture. Insomnia checked out this new area cautiously, he stared at the camera in the corner of his stall before snorting and cantering out onto the grass. He looked around for other horses but saw none. Slowly he calmed himself down and got to grazing, something he'd missed doing in the last pen.

He was kept here for a long time, many months it seemed, Red visited him from time to time but it seemed the Robin had a family of his own to look after now. Insomnia was improving on the medication and was getting used to the humans that looked after him. He'd even started to make friends with a foal in the next pasture who had been rejected by its mother for seemingly being mute, having breathing issues and panic attacks - he was being kept there until a foster mare could be found but until then he was bottle fed by the staff. His name was Montague but Insomnia called him Monti for short, the two of them just walked up and down the pasture fence all day grazing and not talking much, in the case of Monti that was incredibly easy to do. The staff hoped that this was the start of something good for the both of them and that having each other would help bring each other out of their shells a lot more. For Insomnia it was the first real opportunity to share his proper name with another horse "I'm Hunter by the way..."

{1006 words}

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