1) Name yourself.
EarthStar
2) Number of horse you want.
#2
3) Story of this horse.
.::My past in brief::.
Known as the "thunderstorm" or "rainstorm" mare, Thella was born to a small barn out in a rural country town.
The mare didn't have exceptional bloodlines, and didn't appear to have much promise, but yet, a lover of dapple gray's herself, her breeder kept her, intending her to be just a family mare, to give her young children rides and to coddled over like a doll. She was to be the pampered princess pony.
She was in fact, far from the pampered princess she was supposed to be however.
She was unruly, she did the opposite of what you asked, the more fancy equipment you applied the unhappier she became. Using well known equestrian techniques, known to work on any horse the mare became more and more agitated.
After a while her breeder and owner gave up on the mare and banned her to her stall until she could figure out what to do with her. Day in and day out Thella lived in that disgusting stall. The only one who seemed to care about the mare was the breeders young daughter Felicity. Felicity knew horses well, and instead of applying the typical equine training techniques, she instead worked on a more natural approach.
Behind her mothers back she worked, building a relationship with Thella that many top rated trainers still envy today.
All seemed to go well, Felicity was making great progress with the mare and her mother hadn't an inkling of what her daughter was up to. It seemed that life couldn't get better, until the thunderstorm.
Late one night dark clouds began to form, hanging low, threatening to burst.
The dark clouds loomed above the barn, everything was eerily silent.
Suddenly, a burst of lightening, a boom of thunder, and a sharp crack.
Fierce neighing followed, ringing through the hollow wooden aisle ways of the barn, the lightening had struck a tree just outside.
Running outside the family gathered around the barn, quickly measuring the damage they ran into the bursting flames and herded the horses from the barn. The horses flew through the barn, screaming shrilly. The family followed the horses outside and herded them as best they could into the large far pasture to keep them far away enough from the barn.
After that night the breeder of the horses, obviously the mother in the family, decided that the only way to make enough money to build a new barn would be to rigorously train every single one of their horses and enter them relentlessly into competitions, drugging them if need to be to keep them healthy enough to compete.
The once innocent training and breeding operation had turned into a nightmare.
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.::The Rising Storm::.
The sun rose high in the sky, but was shaded by wisps of dark clouds, threatening a warm drizzle.
Today was the day I had been dreading. My mother would enter Thella in her first show.
Ever since the thunderstorm she had trained the mare I had worked so hard with, beaten her down, suppressing her basic needs and rights beyond what I thought was capable.
The mare had responded with numb, thoughtless, stiffness and resistance. She had hidden her true self deep within her, therefore making her an introvert, and introvert hiding her intense emotion under a blanket.
Essentially, she was a time bomb, waiting to completely explode.
I watched from my window as Thella walked numbly up the trailer ramp, her eyes dull.
My mother grinned at my father, saying how she could train any horse to be a sweet docile companion.
Companion? As if! I cringed as my mother slapped the mares rump, forcing further into the deep blackness of the trailer.
At the last moment I realized I had to go with them, I had to be there, something awful was going to happen, I could feel it in my gut, and I was the only one the mare could trust.
I threw some clothes on, not caring what they were, and pulled my hard-toed, high-heeled riding boots onto my feet. As a ran down the stairs I made it out the door just in time to hop into the truck that was pulling our horse trailer, and secure my seat belt before we drove off.
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.::The Show::.
Dressage; complicated, yet it had to look very fluid and together. It was one of the hardest disciplines to master in my opinion.
I watched Thella, her robot-like legs often banged into each other, or turned the move into some painful looking dance. I shuddered as I watched my mother kick and whip the mare I loved.
I watched even more nervously, to the point where I was almost trembling, as my mother rode Thella into the arena.
The pattern started.
At first they looked pretty average, my mother was excellent at faking perfection, and this was no exception.
As she neared the middle of the arena, about a third of the way through the pattern she had to pick up a canter.
Thella refused, instead giving her a tight off-balanced trot. My mother tried subtle cues, before finally lowering her heels and digging them hard into Thella's sides. She whipped the mare, she kicked her, she yanked on the reins when Thella tried to avoid the bit.
The dressage performance had turned into a tug-of-war.
I lowered my head into my hands, tears trickling from my eyes as I imagined how the mare would look when she came out of the arena with too many bruises, scratches, and cuts to count.
My mother had released Thella's ticking time bomb, and I've got to give the mare some credit for putting up a fight. Rearing, bucking, kicking, even trying to rub my mom off onto the fence.
Finally the mare decided to leave the arena.
Picking up a fast gallop she ran straight over the low dressage arena boundary and straight for the stables and the rode.
I ran after the pair blindly, praying for their safety.
Suddenly the clouds above us began to gather and grow, swelling with evaporated water.
As Thella neared the rode, my mother clinging on for dear life the clouds broke open.
Still I ran, blindly wiping the stringy, wet locks of hair off of my forehead.
Finally Thella began to slow down, tiring as she reached where the main road connection was.
I came up to her, ordering my mom to get off.
My mom refused, screaming and swearing at the mare, calling her names I hadn't even heard before.
Finally I convinced her to come down.
I gently approached Thella and let her sniff me before undoing her much too tight girth and ill-fitting saddle and removing her double bridle equipped with a bit I didn't even know we owned. The bit scared me, it's chains and curved bar that fit into the horses mouth were much too harsh for a mare of Thella's sensitivity.
That was when I finally admitted to my mother that I had been working with the horse, and I offered to show her what I had been doing, just as soon as we could nurse the mare back to health.
By that point my mother was displaying every emotion I had ever seen across her face at once. It was a mixture of sadness, anger, confusion, and much more.
My mother did agree in the end, and once she saw what I could do with horse she angerly turned over the mare to me, papers and all now she was my own horse.
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.::Life After Hell::.
I worked with Thella so much after that, and she was moved along very fast under my guidance.
Eventually we were offered to go on a week long camping/clinic/showing/competition event designed for the most committed riders and horses in the state.
I immediately accepted the offer, and ran outside in the soft drizzle of rain to hug my precious mare and whisper of what would be a wonderful trip into her ear. After that event many people recognized the potential we had, and from then on I entered in many shows, winning many ribbons, and using a natural courteous approach to training.
It wasn't long however, before a serious leg injury plagued my dappled mare.
After a scary few months she was pronounced healed, but not enough to ever compete again.
It didn't bother me at all that we couldn't compete, I knew exactly what we would do next.
I was planning on becoming an amateur natural horsemanship teacher to spread the word and the lessons about this wonderful way of playing with your horse while building an incredible relationship, and so it went.
(My future stories will be about Felicity's journey with her horse and instructing others, as well as taking Thella on great and daring adventures through the wild woods of her hometown.)
4) Name and gender of horse.
Thella, Mare
5) What will you do with this horse?
Though it has been significantly delayed, I am still hope to create a barn/stable to keep all of my horse chars in and write stories about them. Until it's up and running she will be kept in my char thread. I plan on ordering art of her if possible. U also hope to write a story about her.
6) Payment. How much coins you give?
34
